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Priced at £9.99 (plus P+P) and available by mail order, each CD is signed by Don. Coming in the New Year is an album of printed transcriptions of all the music.  * £10.99 for EU and  £12.99 for US/Canada(even though it’s not labeled.) if you are outside those areas, well, give his webmaster a email, can’t hurt to ask. (right here, with the second form.) And finally, there’s already a review out, and I’m beyond hyped :D http://www.jazzviews.net/don-airey---going-home.html There are summaries of some of the track, for those who are spoiler-conscious. 

if there is a bootleg I kinda really want it though...

Reproduction of the promo press-kit, with the report on the mountaineering tragedy. On tour with Rainbow, they flew over the Himalayas, and Don was struck by the stark view of K2, conical, solitary and ominous.  Towards the end of his stint on tour with Jethro Tull, Airey got a deal for a solo album, and was initially going to write about Everest. However the riffs he came up with sounded too grim, and conjured the image of K2. Armed with this alone and not knowing very much about the incident, he set out to research and eventually tracked down Jim Curran, the cameraman of the 1986 expedition.  The first two page the album included the credits, which is where I derived the information about Mike Airey being on the album. I have also included the final page, where Don states that the original dedication “To rockstars that go up and don’t come down” is written for Randy Rhoads. To this he adds three more names, Cozy Powell, Gary Moore, and Stuart Taylor, the producer. -Information taken from the K2 interviews.

The album was produced by Don Airey and Stuart Taylor, re-mastered by Karl Adams at SRT Cambridgeshire, England, with new cover-art by Simon King-Underwood 1. K2 Overture (Airey) The savage mystery of K2 is evoked by the opening four chords of doom, TV newsreader Gordon Honeycombe’s sinister narration, the unusual 7/4 time signature, and the heavy pulse of Cozy Powell’s drumming. 2. Sea of Dreams Part I (Airey/Thompson) Refers to the twelve day hike from Skardu, Northern Kashmir, across rivers, over passes, and along the Karakoram glacier, to the foot of what Mallory called the most awful sight he had ever seen, “a mountain of inconceivable height”, K2. Vocal is by Manfred’s main man, Chris Thompson, the sublime guitar work by Gary Moore, and all underpinned by Cozy’s austere thunder. 3. Sea of Dreams Part II (Airey) Concentrates on the state of mind of the climbers as they approach the object of their obsession. Vocal is by Trapeze, and Whitesnake singer/guitarist, Mel Galley. The lyrics were written in the pub next to the studio, just prior to the session, whilst Mel warmed himself up over a large gin and tonic! 4. Voice of the Mountain (Airey) Being mainly an avalanche created on Minimoog 2. 5. Song for Al (instrumental) (Airey) Sets the scene as Al Rouse, perhaps England’s finest ever climber, contemplates the Gilkey Memorial at base camp, before setting off on the first stage of his climb. Laurence Cottle’s virtuoso 5-string fretless bass enters the fray, and Gary Moore surpasses himself on lead guitar. 6. Balti Lament (Airey) Sounds the first note of warning of the catastrophe to come, as the native Balti porters mourn the loss of one their number in an icefall. The vocal sound was created using a sample of Italian rock singer Georgio Veronesi, from my Casio FZ10 7. Ascent to Camp 4 Recreates on keyboards only, the penultimate stage of the climb, to Camp 4 at 26,000 feet. Solo is on Minimoog 1, heavy breathing comes courtesy of co-producer Stuart Taylor, and the ending is a tip of the hat to my old band Colosseum II. 8. Can’t Make up your Mind (Airey/Thompson) Loosely based on the argument at Camp 4 between Al Rouse and famed female Polish climber Dobraslawa Wolf, ( aka Mrufka), about the advisability of going the last 2,000 feet to the summit, with a storm imminent. Vocal and lyric are by Chris Thompson, and the solo was played on a Roland JX10 linked to a Yamaha DX7IID. 9. Summit Push (Airey) Hold on to your icepicks as Messrs. Powell, Cottle, and the brothers Airey, power you to the top of the mountain. Vocal is by Keith Airey, and the solo was played on a Roland RD300 piano. 10. Close to the Sky (Airey) Evokes the mystical (and short-lived) high engendered on reaching the summit of K2. Strictly a family affair this, with brother Keith on lead guitar, my son Michael (then aged 8) on glockenspiel, and his Uncle Cozy on timps and cymbal. 11. Blues for J.T. (Airey) A solo piano piece, recorded unbeknownst to me, by engineer Renny Hill, as I messed around on the studio’s 9ft. Bosendorfer. “J.T.” is Julie Tullis, who became after Al Rouse, only the second English climber to conquer K2. 12. Julie If You Leave Me (Airey) The lyric assumes the persona of legendary Austrian climber, Kurt Diemberger, Julie’s partner. They both fulfilled their main ambition together August 4, 1986, by standing athwart ‘the mountain of their dreams’. Vocal is by the equally legendary Zombies’ frontman Colin Blunstone, and the solo played on Memorymoog 1. 13. Death Zone/Whiteout (Airey) Death Zone refers to anything above the altitude of 26,000 feet where the lack of oxygen can have dire consequences. Atmospherics are courtesy of various Moogs, and Laurence Cottle’s bass. In “Whiteout” the vocal is by Genki Hitomi, lead singer of Japanese rock outfit Vow Wow, and the extraordinary double-tracked lead guitar solo by Keith Airey. The instrumental passage that follows conjures up the five-day blizzard at the peak of the mountain, in which Al, Julie, Mrufka, and three other mountaineers who had just reached the summit of K2, died. Cozy adds to the chaos with a marvellous drum break, Gordon Honeycombe reads the obsequies as the four chords of doom re-appear, and the guitar in the coda is unmistakeably that of Gary Moore. 14. Song for Al (vocal) (Airey/Newsinger) The key to the allegory implicit in the whole work is contained in Betty Newsinger’s plangent lyric. Chris Thompson handles the vocals, and Gary the guitar. BONUS TRACK 15. Take Me Home (Thompson/Airey) The song speaks for itself. This track was recorded at Sonet studios in 1987, features Cozy, Keith and Laurence, with Chris Thompson on vocals, and is my adaptation of an upbeat country song Chris originally wrote for Crystal Gayle. The 2-track master had been lost for ten years and duly turned up in Stuart Taylor’s garden shed, none the worse for wear this March.  ~DON AIREY, MAY 1999

(Still one of my most wanted bootleg recording(s). If anyone knows anything, I’d really appreciate it - I know that some Japanese websites sell them, but I have a bit of a personal problem with purchasing legally grey unofficial recordings.)

Theme One, Single from Cozy Powell’s first solo album (Over The Top), from 1979 On Theme One, Don plays piano, moog, and a Yamaha CS80. Seeing as it shares a cover with the album, I’ll put it together.  The second image is from the 2007 Japanese re-release of the album, on which the tracks and credits may be seen. The album is an all instrumental album, and all tracks were arranged by Don.  The last two lines of the credit states:  This album was recorded without the aid of a safety net. Lyrics included. My favourite track off it is Killer - incidentally the one composed by Don Airey. With a line-up of Cozy Powell, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, and Don Airey, it just may be my dream line-up. Don sometimes quote the main riff live.