Producer/sound engineer Kevin Shirley (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AEROSMITH) has issued the following year-end wrap-up:

"A recap of 2010, for me professionally. The year started on New Year's Day 2010 - remixing the DEEP PURPLE album, Come Taste The Band. A couple of days later we went into the studio and cut four exploratory tracks with the guys that became known as BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION - and it wasn't too long before we had the debut album in the bag, and after an uncomfortable semi-public spat between me and a band member, everything turned out fantastically. the record has done very well, and I am flying home from having produced the first of the Black Country Communion gigs in England - all SOLD OUT and blisteringly good too. In my mind, the best rock act of their ilk out there. Not that they'd challenge the mighty Maiden for spectacle, because Maiden is the best live show in the world, in my opinion, but they do have 30 years of experience and material to draw from.

Speaking of Iron Maiden, right after the BCC sessions, I headed out to Nassau in the Bahamas and spent the next six weeks cutting the new Iron Maiden album, The Final Frontier. Downtime in Nassau was spent finishing the BCC record. February into March saw me mixing the album in The Cave, my studio in Malibu, as well as another unreleased as yet album which is sure to surface soon and make some waves.

In late April, I bicycled up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco, where I started producing the forthcoming JOURNEY album. We had only planned on finishing five or six song that month and had planned to continue in November, but we got quite a lot done, and that ended up being the bulk of the tracking sessions. May was spent mixing an album for a South African band called PRIME CIRCLE, and the album Jekyll And Hyde reached the #1 slot there and has done very well for them.

June was my time off - and I took my family and headed to Santorini to meet all my Australian family, where we celebrated a milestone birthday at my favourite place in the world, with my favourite people!!! Just an awesome time. In mid July I went to Switzerland to produce an unique show with JOE BONAMASSA and his band, incorporating some Greek musicians for a concert (and soon to be record) at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Then it was off to Budapest for my annual F1 pilgrimage, and then straight back to Santorini for the month of August where we layed down some of the new tracks for Joe Bonamassa's new album, which is due out March 22, 2011. And it's a real blinder of an album too.

Back home to L.A. and straight into the studio with MR. BIG, where we had a super-tight schedule which we filled to the brim with a handful of energetic rock tracks by the world's most accomplished virtuosos! Their new album, What If... came out in Japan this year, to ecstatic reviews and has done very well, and is due out in Europe and the States early next year. October was taken up mixing and assembling Mr. Big tracks and assorted odds and ends that needed addressing, and as we decided to have someone else mix the new Journey record I'd produced, I took the November time to work on the forthcoming Joe Bonamassa album, doing some mixes - as well as heading to Nashville and recording down there, where VINCE GILL joined in on a couple of sessions too, which was just fantastic.

I also had the opportunity to work with a hero of mine in JOHN HIATT, and after a terrific session, we've slated more recordings for next year, which is so exciting for me. John also makes an appearance on Joe Bonamassa's new album, and loved Joe's version of 'I Know A Place' from Joe's Black Rock album. So a great month in November. David Kalmusky and Neal Schon did a terrific job of mixing the Journey record, and I did a few mixes for them as guidelines, and they took their time doing it and sent them to me, and it was a great collaborative effort. Look for that next summer...

And here we are in December, and it too has been jam-packed. We began a record of tunes with Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa, which is going to show a different side of them, and it's so cool. Hopefully we'll get that out by next September (which is the plan). And then it was over the pond right before the Christmas meal had even settled, and I dug into producing the first live Black Country Communion shows, which were exceptional, and the second of which was last night. And six hours later, here I am at Heathrow airport, heading home to my long-suffering wife and gorgeous babies, who need their daddy home for a bit. And I can't wait!!!

Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for all the kind words and greetings through the year, and hopefully next year will bring even greater music - I think it's a home run with the release schedules, and the studio stuff ahead looks very promising, but you'll have to check it out for yourselves."