RAINBOW

The new Rainbow line-up, from which a new album was expected, but only a few concerts were given. Also interesting, why not? Ritchie Blackmore is already 71 years old, and you can feel it in his careful solos in Highway Star and Spotlight Kid - less improvisation, slower speed. The same in the proven concert number Mistreated, which is initially slow, and then throughout the concert. Understandable. Otherwise, the age of the legendary guitarist does not affect anything. Probably, the new team of young musicians does not allow to relax.

I really like the vocal work of Ronnie Romero. In Highway Star he sang very similar to Ian Gillan, in Mistreated - almost like David Coverdale, and in the songs of the Dio era, in places it seemed that the great Man on the Silver Mountain was resurrected for this concert. Up to some of his specific, slightly growling intonations. A magical feeling, I can imagine what the audience felt at the concert. There is something to say about the contribution of the other musicians. They accompany perfectly, do not take the foreground and create a wonderful background for Ritchie Blackmore's passages. Drummer David Keith played beautifully on Difficult to Cure, but that is not why we love this instrumental. Although the jazz touch that is present in this version and the medley of famous classical pieces definitely do it good. Original! The performance of the famous Stargazer, which has not been played for a long time, is also pleasing. Very passionate and powerful. Of course, you can criticize Ronnie Romero for singing as if he is in a tribute band, but I liked it.

It was a good idea to include some Deep Purple songs in the setlist of the concert. Perfect Strangers is a little lacking the majestic keys of Jon Lord, but keyboardist Jens Johansson knows his stuff: after all, he played with the power metal band Stratovarius, Yngwie Malmsteen and Dio. The unexpected reincarnation of Child in Time also does not disappoint, although I never really liked this song. It sounded quite fresh, and Richie Blackmore's expressive solo simply takes your breath away.

Overall, a great concert. It's a pity that there were few such performances. And perhaps it's good that a studio album was not recorded. It would hardly have surpassed Stranger in us All, not to mention Rising.

A decade after Rainbow disbanded, the band returns as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow with a new line-up. All the musicians are unknown, but they play professionally. And from the very first fast and fiery song Wolf to the Moon, it becomes clear that something special awaits us. And so it is. The recognizable signs of Rainbow are all in place: Ritchie Blackmore's inventive guitar, Doogie White's bright expressive vocals, a powerful drum rhythm. You don't hear the keyboards very often, but this can be lived through, considering that Jon Lord and Don Airey are not here. The overall musical background is very powerful, although the songs are still closer to the Rainbow period of the early 80s. The chaotic and eclectic Stand and Fight, the soulful romantic Ariel, the dark and solemn Black Masquerade are memorable. As before, there is no mention of the classics, this time it is a magnificent arrangement of Edgar Grieg's Hall of the Mounting King, even with lyrics. For me, this is the apotheosis of the entire album, when Ritchie Blackmore's solo sounds faster and faster, accelerating to an incredible speed. At the end of the album, Ritchie's clearly favorite song Still I Sad, which was often played at old Rainbow concerts, sounds nostalgically.

I read that this album did not take high places in the charts because the mid-90s were the heyday of grunge and alternative rock. But rock experts will confirm: music that left a mark on the history of rock does not often make it into the charts 😁 It doesn't matter. Ritchie Blackmore at that time had long since ceased to need to prove anything to anyone. He once again recorded a wonderful album, focusing not on musical fashion, but on his own idea of ​​what music should be. This is Ritchie Blackmore. His obstinate nature soon showed itself again when all his fans learned about Rainbow's latest disbandment and its leader's intention to move away from hard rock to folk rock and neo-renaissance territory in the group Blackmore's Night. But that's a completely different story.

The same line-up as Bent out of Shape, the last album before Ritchie Blackmore broke up the band, and one of the last concerts before the triumphant reunion of Deep Purple. The song Spotlight Kid demonstrates excellent drive, then Miss Mistreated keeps the rhythm, the baton is picked up by I Surrender, one of the undisputed hits of the last period of Rainbow's work. Joe Lynn Turner's vocals are almost as flawless here as in the studio version. The same can be said about his singing throughout the concert, where his vocals become lyrically tender, then driving and harsh. Still, Joe Lynn Turner managed to organically fit into the band and please the picky Blackmore (it was no coincidence that it was the man in black who lobbied for his appearance in Deep Purple a few years later). Catch the Rainbow is again sung perfectly, a wonderful song from the Dio era, very close to the original, but it is not an imitation. At the same time, the guitar part sounds different than in the classic version. An excellent medley with excerpts from the classics precedes the good song Street of Dreams. Once again the musicians will remember the classics during the performance of Difficult to Cure, which, supported by the symphony orchestra, again sounds large-scale and majestic. A very good introduction, a little reminiscent of the famous Stargazer, which we will not hear here, unfortunately, then a little improvisation and here it is, the monumental Beethoven's Ninth, where Blackmore's guitar competes with the orchestra, sometimes coming to the fore, sometimes hiding behind the main melody, then bursting into the main melody again. This is simply musical ecstasy and the apotheosis of the entire concert, when all the musicians in turn show everything they are capable of. The symphony orchestra does not lag behind. I like this version even more than the studio version from the Difficult to Cure album. But still not as much as at the concert Come Hell or High Water, which took place 10 years later and captured Ritchie Blackmore's last performance with Deep Purple. Then there are two wonderful solos on guitar and drums and a wonderful instrumental blues, which is called Blues. These improvisations give Joe Lynn Turner a chance to rest a little, who begins to exploit the microphone with renewed vigor with the song Stranded, whose first chords are consonant with the Deep Purple song Enya. Along the way, he does not forget to rock the audience with his lines and at the same time briefly recalls the old school song, Hey Joe, which was popular in the 60s and got a second wind in the performance of Jimi Hendrix. Very good.

Unfortunately, the overall drive in the first part of the concert is somewhat slowed down by long pauses between songs, when the vocalist communicates with the audience. Of course, interaction with the audience is important, but everything is good in moderation. It is also disappointing that they mainly perform songs from the Joe Lynn Turner era, and such indisputable Deep Purple masterpieces as Women from Tokyo and Lazy are played in fragments. It is good that they played Smoke on the Water in full at the end of the concert.

Conclusion: this concert recording is a good document of the final era of Rainbow's short but bright history (not taking into account the band's short reincarnation in 1995). The selection of songs convincingly demonstrates that Ritchie Blackmore is not very interested in the period of Rainbow's creativity before Joe Lynn Turner's arrival. Therefore, you should not form your impression of Rainbow based on this concert. At the same time, it is a wonderful illustration of the musical evolution of one of the trendsetters of the genre from complex, sophisticated music to simpler musical forms, while maintaining his style and image.

This concert has better music quality and a more complete list of songs from different albums of the band. But the most important thing is that Graham Bonnet sings much better than in Down to Earth tour in Denver and Long Island. Including in classics Rainbow, Stargazer and Catch the Rainbow, very decent vocals. Especially in Catch the Rainbow, at times it seems that it is Dio singing (or Graham imitates him well). It seems that after a year Graham Bonnet has finally found his place in the group and managed to fit in with the rest of the musicians. Although, apparently, this was not enough to stay in the group. The quality of the recording is also much better than at the concerts of 1979. At the same time, it is a pity that Ritchie Blackmore does not add variety to the set list of the concert: again there are many songs from the album Down To Earth, again not the best song from this album Lost in Hollywood is turned into a long improvisation with the same inserts from classical music, especially from Beethoven's Ninth. This has happened before and will happen again later. Although it sounds great, no questions asked. + 1 * for the wonderful improvisations of Ritchie Blackmore, Cozy Powell and Don Airey. Unfortunately, the next Rainbow line-ups will never have such strong musicians, and accordingly their new albums will be weaker.

The next Rainbow line-up with Graham Bonnett at the microphone for a short time, and I was interested to hear how they sounded in concert. I rate this performance as not very good, both in terms of the selection of songs and their performance. Firstly, they mainly played material from the latest album at that time, Down To Earth, but even in these songs, Graham Bonnett's vocals leave much to be desired. You can clearly hear how he does not always have time to draw out the ends of phrases in some songs. Maybe he did not have time to play with the group? After the usual powerful expressive vocals of Ronnie James Dio, he sounds rather weak. Ritchie Blackmore is impeccable as always, I especially liked his improvisations in the song Lost in Hollywood, which turned into a real jam session. Roger Glover was wished Happy Birthday during this Improvisation. Don Airey and Cozy Powell did their job well, Roger Glover fits in perfectly with the music, but Graham Bonnet spoils everything. Perhaps the poor quality recording of the concert also played a role in my perception, but after listening to it, it became clear to me why Rainbow's next album was recorded with a new vocalist. Three stars only for the skill of the other musicians, although in reality two is enough.

RAINBOW a rainbow that came out of nowhere, the consecration of a group that will make the musical headlines for a long time! A hidden chronicle of 'Rising' of course!

1 Tarot Woman the intro, yes this disturbing intro, where is the hard? no it's not Juvet but still you remember, space synth, a cinematic tape before its time... and the impression of having something other than noise... what who said prog metal, not me... it would be known; good the riff arrives, your hobbies, your hobbies, the drums, let's go phew, I started to see the proguy fire his cutie... Idon't know; the hard rock title, one of the first albums which will make the DEEP PURPLE forget a little by deploying the Blackmore missile on a rainbow ... multicolored and multi-musical; a thundering solo 2 Run With The Wolf with a nervous, rhythmic but calm title, one of those where the guitar seems to drift on a harmonica sound; good voice, Ronnie at the top of his game, here I see the incredible 'love is all' again, Cozy who puts the bass on so as not to forget himself, a rainbow there, not just a comet 3 Starstruck continues on a boogie rock, a conventional rock, finally a hard rock at the time of its publication; its held by the riff and the vocals, such was the motto; the spleen solo break, with tortured notes, takes you higher and leaves you speechless in front of so much ease; good hard well calibrated that's all 4 Do You Close Your Eyes to the AC/DC intro long before, a nasty riff, a Bon vocal and the guitar of Angus uh from Ritchie doing the job, with some bluesy notes from behind 5 Stargazer and the B side, let's get up to change the LP, the K7 it's up to you, knowing that with the K7 it was blowing a little too much, yes Dolby Pro didn't exist yet... well we would forget this symphonic, orchestral flight, yes I insist on orchestral because this title is a snub to music in general; a long title, a crescendical rise which will ogle on the 'Kashmir' would it have had a pump? short bombastic, ready to put in a trance; the melodic title which does not look like much but which could take you to the firmament and leave you there, the title with final orchestration, stunning for vulgurus hardus, short avant-garde in its time. 6 A Light In The Black and the 2nd, still 8 minutes it raises questions especially considering the intro... without intro... we are already inside; Cozy beats on everything that moves, Ronnie yells everything he can and Tony, not one-armed in himself, shows that he must also be reckoned with in the group; OK Ritchie shifts into 3rd gear and launches a solo, look, imagine, his head yes you see it moving, that's it you're in a trance, OK he calms down and harangues the protruding man who has started nodding his head , yes there is hard prog in there, not only 'prog related' term that always makes me laugh; good 6 minutes and Ronnie comes back, what but I didn't hear Ritchie or Tony damn it then... unless I myself went into a trance! End of course! A possibility to get up and put the teppaz back on the start...

Well what can I say, it was very good for the time, it was exciting, it was innovative, it was intoxicating, it was... just RAINBOW and it is indeed a standard value these days which has used to mold the prog metal drawer, to mix it in the progressive cauldron to release these notes often pulled up in concert, to awaken the filthy beast that lies dormant in you, come on, don't hide behind an excuse. A 4.5!

A hidden chronicle! R like RAINBOW and an OMNI, not a rainbow that came out of nowhere, or the consecration of a band that will make the musical headlines for a long time! RAINBOW as a ray of sunshine!

1 Tarot Woman the intro, yes this disturbing intro, where is the hard? no it's not Juvet but still you remember, space synth, a cinematic tape before its time... and the impression of having something other than noise... what who said prog metal, not me... it would be known; good the riff arrives, your hobbies, your hobbies, the drums, let's go phew, I started to see the proguy fire his cutie... Idon't know; the hard rock title, one of the first albums which will make the DEEP PURPLE forget a little by deploying the Blackmore missile on a rainbow ... multicolored and multi-musical; a thundering solo 2 Run With The Wolf with a nervous, rhythmic but calm title, one of those where the guitar seems to drift on a harmonica sound; good voice, Ronnie at the top of his game, here I see the incredible 'love is all' again, Cozy who puts the bass on so as not to forget himself, a rainbow there, not just a comet 3 Starstruck continues on a boogie rock, a conventional rock, finally a hard rock at the time of its publication; its held by the riff and the vocals, such was the motto; the spleen solo break, with tortured notes, takes you higher and leaves you speechless in front of so much ease; good hard well calibrated that's all 4 Do You Close Your Eyes to the AC/DC intro long before, a nasty riff, a Bon vocal and the guitar of Angus uh from Ritchie doing the job, with some bluesy notes from behind 5 Stargazer and the B side, let's get up to change the LP, the K7 it's up to you, knowing that with the K7 it was blowing a little too much, yes Dolby Pro didn't exist yet... well we would forget this symphonic, orchestral flight, yes I insist on orchestral because this title is a snub to music in general; a long title, a crescendical rise which will ogle on the 'Kashmir' would it have had a pump? short bombastic, ready to put in a trance; the melodic title which does not look like much but which could take you to the firmament and leave you there, the title with final orchestration, stunning for vulgurus hardus, short avant-garde in its time. 6 A Light In The Black and the 2nd, still 8 minutes it raises questions especially considering the intro... without intro... we are already inside; Cozy beats on everything that moves, Ronnie yells everything he can and Tony, not one-armed in himself, shows that he must also be reckoned with in the group; OK Ritchie shifts into 3rd gear and launches a solo, look, imagine, his head yes you see it moving, that's it you're in a trance, OK he calms down and harangues the protruding man who has started nodding his head , yes there is hard prog in there, not only 'prog related' term that always makes me laugh; good 6 minutes and Ronnie comes back, what but I didn't hear Ritchie or Tony damn it then... unless I myself went into a trance! End of course! A possibility to get up and put the teppaz back on the start...

Well what can I say, it was very good for the time, it was exciting, it was innovative, it was intoxicating, it was... just RAINBOW and it is indeed a standard value these days which has used to mold the prog metal drawer, to mix it in the progressive cauldron to release these notes often pulled up in concert, to awaken the filthy beast that lies dormant in you, come on, don't hide behind an excuse. (4 for the album)

Consolidating its reputation as one of the quite compelling hard rock albums from the 1970s, 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll' is Rainbow's third studio album, released on April 9, 1978, and for some it is among the band's canon work. Heavy-hitting and enticing from start to finish, the record is packed with classics; Led by Ritchie Blackmore, of course, the band for this album also features Ronnie James Dio on vocals, Cozy Powell on drums, Bob Daisley handling some bass duties, and David Stone and Tony Carey splitting the keyboards contributions. A difficult album for Blackmore, however, we have to mention, as he fired the entire band except Powell after it, and Dio left to join Black Sabbath. This one was recorded without a proper bassist as a band member, too, and had to follow up the all-time classic 'Rising'. All of this puts the album in a difficult atmosphere that the music had to somehow overcome.

Thumping bass riffs and majestic guitars, Blackmore's signature classic style is penetrating every song, injecting within it its infectious hard rock power and mystical brilliance, indelibly topped by Dio's tremendous vocal performance. Take the title track or the underrated 'Lady of the Lake', with its magnificent metallic riff, the fast-paced killer 'Kill the King' or the quite exceptional 'The Shed (Subtle)', the last two co-written with Powell (alongside Blackmore and Dio). The album also fratures the legendary 'Gates of Babylon,' the glorious medieval-esque closing track 'Rainbow Eyes' (which might also be the best song on the album), one of the most impactful songs in Rainbow's entire catalogue. 'Sensitive to Light' is no less brilliant than anything else on this album, which is a great, great classic for hard rock overall. A well-known album that deserves the attention that's been given to it, simply one of the classics of the 70s.

The 1995 release STRANGER IN US ALL was intended to be guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's first solo album after permanently retiring the RAINBOW brand name and rejoining / then again leaving the legendary Deep Purple in 1993. Apparently a demand from the BMG label which released the album, Blackmore was forced to resurrect the RAINBOW moniker and put together the umpteenth version of the band that absolutely nobody was expecting to see make a comeback especially in the alternative everything mid-1990s when the grunge scene had all but made 80s hard rockers obsolete.

Blackmore was always up to the challenge and instead of recruiting past members to form some sort of reunion album took on the bold decision to recruit completely unknown but promising musicians who could reinterpret the classic RAINBOW sounds of the past and take them somewhere new. Blackmore was wise to avoid jumping on the bandwagon that many an 80s band did by trying to adapt to the alternative 90s and instead simply looked to the past and picked up right where the last RAINBOW album "Bent Out Of Shape" left off in 1983 thus making it a 12 year gap between albums and going back further by using the moniker RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW which hadn't donned an album cover since the 1975 debut.

The new lineup included American bassist Greg Smith, drummer John O'Reilly, keyboardist Paul Morris, Blackmore's wife, backing vocalist and future partner in Blackmore's Night, Candice Night and on lead vocals Scotland born Doogie White who was somewhat of a departure from all the other vocalists who came before with a grittier heavy blues rock style of singing. Despite the congregation of unseasoned newbies on board STRANGER IN US ALL was an amazingly great album of 70s and 80s sounding heavy metal and hard rock tracks that excelled in crafting catchy guitar driven hooks and strong melodic emotive lyrics which sort of mined RAINBOW's past and included not only fantasy themes but more mainstream themes as well. The album was a true surprise in its consistency and although while not performing well in the English speaking world, did amazingly well in Europe and Japan where it was certified gold.

Little wonder the American scene completely ignored this RAINBOW release since it basically gave the middle finger to anything 90s and proudly looked back and delivered one of the strongest sets of tracks in the band's eight album canon. The majority of the tracks were written by Blackmore and Doogie White. The opening "Wolf To The Moon" is by far the most metal on board and evoked the Dio years of RAINBOW along with more power metal intensity in the guitar riffs however the album cools down a bit in the energy department and remains in simple hard rock territory for the majority of the album's near 52-minute run. "Cold Hearted Woman" sounds more like something off of a Whitesnake album from the 1980 timeline but the following "Hunting Humans (Insatiable)" provides one of the catchiest bass stomp driven grooves with the most instantly addictive hooks.

"Stand And Fight," "Ariel" and "Too Late For Tears" also focus on heavy blues rock with strong hooks, dirty raw rhythms and despite being completely traditional are extremely well designed and performed. "Black Masquerade" reminds most of the Joe Lynn Turner years both compositionally and vocally. "Silence" is probably the track that sounds the most different from any other RAINBOW tracks despite a bluesy based riffing but still recognizable as a RAINBOW tune. The closing two tracks are the most different. "Hall Of The Mountain King" is a reinterpretation of an Edward Grieg piece from his most famous piece from "Peer Gynt" only arranged into a rockin' the classic hard rock extravaganza with Doogie White adding power metal vocals. The closing "Still I'm Sad" is a Yardbirds cover and if you have the Japanese version, the bonus track "Emotional Crime" is included but nothing extraordinary different to get excited about as it's just another blues rock song.

Very rarely do such comeback albums yield anything worthy of investigating but Blackmore hit a home run with this little gem. While nothing that would make anybody love the band if they weren't already on board, STRANGER IN US ALL is nevertheless an extraordinarily strong album that takes RAINBOW to its next level and obvious conclusion that didn't quite happen before Blackmore suddenly shut things down and jumped back on the Deep Purple bandwagon the decade prior. For anyone who stayed with RAINBOW after Dio jumped ship, this is definitely one that should not be missed as it is chock filled with instantly addictive hard rock hooks and excellent instrumental interplay that sounds like a band of well seasoned professionals but are in fact all brand new to the RAINBOW scene. This was Blackmore's last album as a rock performer for 20 years before forming Blackmore's Night with his wife Candice Night and then eventually reviving the RAINBOW brand once again in 2015. Will there be another album from this band? Who knows but if this is the last one ever made, it's certainly not a bad way to go out.

Two albums in after the departure of original lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio, the legendary RAINBOW led by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had found a winner with newbie Joe Lynn Turner who helped reinvent the classic heavy metal RAINBOW into a more commercial hard rock version of the band which allowed the band to capture that Foreigner vibe which led to a slicker crossover appeal and mainstream success. While the first album with Turner, "Difficult To Cure" scored a top 5 hit with the Russ Ballard cover "I Surrender," the album was a bit clunky as the tracks were a bit inconsistent in both quality and stylistic approach. All of that was corrected with the sixth overall studio album STRAIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES which came out the following year in 1982.

The album perfectly captured the hard rock and AOR early 80s sound and fit in perfectly with contemporary acts like Whitesnake, Journey, Toto, Styx and the aforementioned Foreigner but offered more interesting musical performances with top notch musicians including Blackmore unleashing more impressive guitar solos than on the previous two albums. STRAIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES was the closest thing to the same lineup from a previous album with only keyboardist Don Airy being replaced by newbie David Rosenthal. While the album didn't perform as successfully in terms of pop hits and commercial success, STRAIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES showcased nine excellent tracks that mixed the heavier aspects of rock with the AOR leaning elements of ballads. While the lyrics were still far from the Dio led world swords and sorcery, the album hit its stride as a hard rock band that offered instantly catchy hooks with emotive high range vocal performances.

The first two opening tracks were both released as singles with videos. The first "Death Alley Driver" showcased the new reinvented RAINBOW in full fury with that hard rock machismo, quickened tempos all in full decibelage and the closest thing to metal music on the album. The following "Stone Cold" has been a staple on classic rock radio ever since it hit the airwaves and is perhaps one of the best tracks of the post-Dio era. The track was perfect in how it allowed Joe Lyn Turner to display his impressive vocal range and teased the strong melodies to commingle with sophisticated dynamics, instrumental interplay and the use of that by then idiosyncratic atmospheric style that RAINBOW had made all their own. While the rest of the tracks may not be as instantly accessible or addictive as the first combo effect, after a few spins also resonate quite high as the band perfectly nailed a sound that sounded something like Foreigner's "4" album along with classic Deep Purple keyboard led hard rock.

The track "MISS Mistreated" was a dig at David Coverdale's song "Mistreated" that appeared all the way back on Deep Purple's "Burn" album. Every track on this one is fairly strong and some feature extra heft as on "Rock Fever" which offered oscillating keyboard songs and that classic boogie guitar heft. The closing track "Eyes Of Fire" is also a standout as it featured some of the most sophisticated arrangements that including a heavy driving bass groove and the return of some of those symphonically fueled Middle Eastern music scales that made some of the Dio era tracks so classic sounding. Overall this wasn't an album that won me over in the beginning as i only wanted to hear the first two songs but after giving it a fair shake i actually grew to love the entire album. Yeah, if you are totally turned off by Turner's vocal style then this clearly isn't for you but if you fancy 80s hard rock with AOR crossover appeal then you can't do better than what RAINBOW was cranking out back in those days. This one has become a regular staple for yours truly.