Don Airey- All out (2011)

Don Airey has a bio longer than a train and he has played with half of the people whose name means something in rock music. For almost ten years he has been playing with Deep Purple succeeding the legendary Jon Lord. In between Purple's commitments and various sessions and guest apperances he managed to come up with a smoking solo album that's hands down way better than anything Purple have done for about 20 years. Carl Sentance of Persian Risk and Krokus fame helps out with the vocals and what a great rock singer he still is! ''All out'' is a feast of hammond-driven hard rock. If you like loud 70's hard rock with progressive attitude and keyboard extravaganzas, then look no further. This is a feast of notes! Joe Bonamassa lends a helping hand on People in your head, one of the best hard rock songs you'll get to hear this year. Other highlights include Running from the shadows (70's melodic rock ala Boston), Right arm overture (7 minutes instrumental madness) and Long Road (a beautiful guitar based instrumental full of passionate playing). You rarely get such joyful albums by veterans long over their 60's. Despite age Don managed to set things right in the retro rock scene, setting the bar high for all those newcomers trying to follow the steps of 60's-70's rock giants.