GLENN TIPTON - And Then There Was One... Page 2
by Martin Popoff

"But yes, we did the first batch of songs, and at that point in time, Atlantic were interested. But they felt that the lineup was a little, in inverted commas, a bit 'old school,' and encouraged me - and I had very little choice at the time - to work with some younger musicians over in the states, Billy Sheehan and Shannon Larkin and Robert Trujillo, to name a few. And honestly, a really good album came out of that. And we used a couple of tracks with John and Cozy, but there was a mixture of musicians on that album."

"The first batch of songs, I always had a lot of affection for. As a three-piece band, it was pretty magical, and I always hoped that they could see the light of day. It wasn't until recently, when Warners heard them - this is Rhino - that they said, 'Yeah, people have got to hear these tracks. There's some phenomenal playing on there by John and Cozy.' So I would say that Baptizm Of Fire is probably a more modern metal album, even though it was done back in '96, because it's got the younger musicians on it, all of who are excellent musicians. And I would say that Edge Of The World probably has more character as a band, because it was just me and John and Cozy. So that's the way I would differentiate between the two."

The bench depth continued, with the use of one Don Airey, of Rainbow, Schenker, Ozzy and (now) Deep Purple fame (surprisingly, Don also helped out on 1990's maniacal, cackling Painkiller album by the Priest). "Don worked on both Baptizm and Edge Of The World," confirms Tipton, "not on every track, but he was instrumental, for want of a better word, on a couple of them. And it is fitting that Don would work on both of these albums, because he was always a good friend of Cozy. They were great friends, and they had worked a lot together. So it was very instinctive. We knew what we wanted, and I don't think I've ever met a musician like Don Airey. He can play almost anything you can ask him to play. And he could play it sounding like the original thing. Any classic song or keyboard part. He just has an unbelievable memory, and he's pretty much an unbelievable musician."

GLENN TIPTON - And Then There Was One... Page 3