Ian Paice's time with Gary Moore caused his fans a lot of confusion at the time, what with the fluid line-ups, and most particularly the rash of live and studio albums released when the band became successful. These included recordings which preceded Paice's time in the band. Therefore, a quick catch up is still in order, even more so because Don Airey appears on many of Moore's pre-1982 recordings.

Between 1974-1978 Gary Moore recorded three albums with John Hiseman's Colosseum II, a band which also included future Deep Purple family tree members Neil Murray and Don Airey. The band imploded in 1978 after Moore left for a third stint with Thin Lizzy and Airey accepted an offer to join Rainbow. Before leaving Colosseum II Moore recorded solo album "Back on the Streets", featuring Don Airey and members of Thin Lizzy.

After Moore quit Thin Lizzy mid-tour in 1979 he put together 'G Force', with former Ian Gillan Band drummer Mark Nauseef, Willie Daffern (ex of Captain Beyond) on bass - although he went by the name 'Willie Dee', and vocalist Tony Newton. There's also another Purple connection, as Daffern and Newton were only brought in after the original singer / bassist on the project Glenn Hughes quit as "he wasn't ready to be in a band again yet" according to an uncharacteristically diplomatic Moore. The band was short-lived, but came briefly to the attention of Whitesnake fans by providing support on their UK 'Ready And WIlling' tour. In November 1980 two solo shows at the London Marquee club were recorded, and released in 1983 as 'Live at the Marquee'. The band for the shows included Don Airey on keyboards, and Tommy Aldridge on drums. A solo studio album was recorded in 1981 with Don Airey, Charlie Huhn, Tommy Aldridge and Ex Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain. It was released in the UK in 1984 as 'Dirty Fingers'.

The line-up above emerged circa May 1982 but played just a couple of shows at The Marquee club, London, and The Reading Festival - the Marquee dates being in August although they'd been scheduled for earlier on originally. Paice was given a dazzling drum showcase at Reading, on a jazz-rock instrumental called 'Dallas Warhead'.

Ian Paice and Neil Murray originally joined up on a temporary basis in order to help record Moore's solo album 'Corridors Of Power', but soon joined full-time. The album was recorded between March and May 1982, with Moore handling the majority of the vocals. For the live band the main players from the album were retained, with the addition of Ted Nugent singer Charlie Huhn, who had previously sung on Moore's then unreleased 1981 solo album 'Dirty Fingers'. Of the other musicians, Tommy Eyre had played along with Moore on Greg Lake's 1981 solo album, while Neil Murray had been with him in Colosseum II. An EP from the 1982 Marquee shows was issued as a bonus disc with initial copies of 'Corridors Of Power'.

'Corridors Of Power' was released in September 1982, and reached #30 in the UK album charts. A new touring band was put together to promote it. Don Airey had already toured and recorded with Moore for some years. Vocalist Jon Sloman (ex of Uriah Heep) had briefly participated with Neil Murray and John Sykes in Badlands, a band which lasted a mere two gigs before Sykes took up the offer of a place in Thin Lizzy and Murray decided to go full-time with Gary Moore.

The new line-up began gigging in November 1982 and were captured on the live album 'Rocking Every Night' issued only in Japan initially, and taped there in January / February 1983. It was released in the UK in 1986. Sloman packed it in around February time, having had voice problems throughout the tour, so from May 1983 the group were down to a foursome.

For the June / July 1983 US tour Don Airey opted out to join Ozzy Osbourne, and Moore replaced him quickly with UFO keyboard player / rhythm guitarist Neil Carter.

In October 83 this line-up began recording the studio album 'Victims Of The Future' where events become a little confusing. Around November 1983 Murray, who'd only done a couple of tracks, left to rejoin Whitesnake. Bassists Bob Daisley and Mo Foster helped out for the rest of the album, but in January 1984 they got in a permanent replacement Craig Gruber, via Elf, Rainbow and Ninja.

Ian Paice only drums on a few of the tracks from 'Victims Of The Future', which was issued in February 1984. It seems Ian went down with the flu during the album sessions, and there was so little time left before the tour, which was all booked and ready, that Moore got in Bobby Chouinard - the Billy Squier drummer who had also done one track on the' Corridors Of Power' album.

The album was an instant success (peaking at #12 in the UK charts), assisted by a lot of media coverage (UK TV included 'Sight And Sound In Concert', 'The Tube' and 'The Whistle Test') and extensive touring. A live album 'We Want Moore' was put together from recordings in the UK and Japan during February 1984, and Detroit on 23rd June 1984 (by which time Paice had returned to Deep Purple).

'Empty Rooms' was re-mixed and released as a single in 1985, around the same time that Gary Moore brought Glenn Hughes into his band.

Glenn Hughes with Gary Moore, 1985