Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Airey, Don
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2018
Running time: 70:16
Rating: 4/5
Don Airey is considered one of the finest rock keyboardists of our time, which is why he was able to step in for the then-retired Jon Lord in Deep Purple back in 1998. With his musical contribution over the past three decades, Airey has left an indelible mark on the history of rock and roll. Not only is he regarded as one of the most accomplished keyboardists of every era of rock, but with his virtuosity and boundless musical talent, this master has etched himself forever into the hearts of lovers of good (!) rock, having played on albums by the following artists: Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Gary Moore, Brian May, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath and, as already mentioned, Deep Purple, of course!
So Don Airey is back, three years after his previous solo album »Keyed Up« came out. »One Of A Kind« is kind of what you’d expect. Airey stays in the creative territory that feels most like home to him, the stuff he loves most and, of course, knows and masters best. The crew backing him is actually unchanged, except that the excellent guitarist Simon McBride (Snakecharmer) has now become the lead guitar on the new record too. This lineup has been accompanying Airey for a few years on his solo live shows as well.
There’s no heavy philosophy here. »One Of A Kind« is an album that fans of Deep Purple (both the classic and the current lineup – meaning post-Blackmore) will gladly take in, along with fans of Rainbow, especially from the era of the album »Difficult to Cure«. And that pretty much says it all. Compared to its predecessor »Keyed Up«, »One Of A Kind« sounds even more focused. In other words, it sounds even hungrier and stubbornly fixated on the passion of the old hard rock school. The school of rock’n’roll pioneering. Tradition from head to toe, in other words. The album feels a lot more like a »band record« than its predecessor, so Airey, with his keyboard tricks, occasionally steps almost into the background. A few of the chorus melodies are incredibly distinctive and lodge themselves in your ear fast, which is how high the musical value is that these melodies manage to build up, or simply possess. So there’s the occasional bit of bombast too.
The songwriting principle, then, follows this classic old school of hard rock pioneering. The cherry on top is vocalist Carl Sentance, whose voice recalls Ian Gillan in the years when his vocal presence irrevocably blew the world away. No wonder the »siren-like« Sentance was taken on by Nazareth. Although Sentance doesn’t sound like a »siren« on this album, his vocal color and approach are incredibly reminiscent of a younger Gillan. Whenever he wants to be. If nothing else does it, the album’s bonus tracks will convince you, including a live version of the Deep Purple classic »Pictures Of Home«. In the highest registers Sentance can also channel Graham Bonnet, and that vocally blooming Bonnet from the days of the Rainbow album »Down to Earth«.
McBride and Airey are downright fascinating in their interplay and the crossfire dialogues of Hammond organ versus electric guitar. That’s the biggest draw of this record. The constant wit and sparkle of these two musicians, first and foremost Airey of course, is a guarantee of the outstanding quality and value of this release, which will blow away all lovers of good old rock made by a generation of musicians slowly heading off to a well-deserved retirement, which means releases like this get rarer and rarer year after year. The crew never runs out of dynamite, so the chemistry is a phenomenon and the driving axis of the band. Airey has more than convincingly carried his songwriting inspiration over to his new album from the recent recording sessions for the current Deep Purple album »Infinite«, and so with »One Of A Kind« he delivers yet another gem to Airey’s rich career of musical creativity.
Lineup
Carl Sentance – vocals
Simon McBride – guitar
Don Airey – keyboards
Laurence Cottle – bass guitar
John Finnigan – drums
Track list
1. Respect
2. All Out of Line
3. One of a Kind
4. Everytime I See Your Face
5. Victim of Pain
6. Running Free
7. Lost Boys
8. Need You So Bad
9. Children of the Sun
10. Remember to Call
11. Stay the Night
bonus CD:
recorded live at the Fabrik venue in Hamburg, Germany, on 14.03.2017
1. Pictures of Home (orig. Deep Purple)
2. Since You’ve Been Gone (orig. Rainbow)
3. I Surrender (orig. Rainbow)
4. Still Got the Blues (orig.Gary Moore)
