Don Airey, now in Deep Purple, has appeared on many albums through the years including ones by Ozzy, Whitesnake, Ten and Rainbow ('Spotlight Kid' is one of the great air keyboard songs in my book!). This is his second solo album and features guest spots by members of Thunder, drummer Darrin Mooney (Primal Scream/Gary Moore), bass player Laurence Cottle (Sting/Eric Clapton) and vocalist Carl Sentance (Geezer Butler/Krokus).

There is an overall space theme linking the music and many of the instrumental pieces like 'Ripples In The Fabric Of Time' sound like Vangelis meets ELP. Don Airey uses a lot of Hammond organ throughout the album, which will delight Deep Purple fans in particular. Some of the music, like 'Big Crunch', does veer too much into jazz rock territory for my personal taste. Elsewhere, Lidia Baich adds some stunning violin to 'Into Orbit'; doubtless we will hear more of her as she is very talented.

Of the vocal led songs, the classy hard rocker 'Shooting Star' sounds like an Ian Gillan/Deep Purple tune, especially as Carl Sentance has a hint of Gillan in his delivery. Thunder's Danny Bowes pops-up on 'Love You Too Much' which will certainly be enjoyed by fans of the band and Thunder's Harry James takes the mic for a cover of 'Rocket To The Moon', which is great fun!

A varied and enjoyable solo album that sees Don Airey delve into his current and past bands for musical inspiration, as well as adding progressive and jazz rock influences. My score reflects fans of Don Airey's past/present bands and those into artists like Vangelis who should get this album, with the casual music lover recommended to try a few songs first. Either way it is a musical delight and comes highly recommended, with hopefully some live dates to follow.

***½ (for the casual music lover) **** (for fans of Deep Purple/ELP/Vangelis/Don Airey)

Review by Jason Ritchie