RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW

When you listen to the first three songs of this album, you really wonder where is the musical difference with an album as "Stormbringer". Same poor compositions, no feeling, no soli. They just fall flat. Boring. At least "DP" features two very vocalists. Not really the case here.

The first song which is a bit better is "Catch The Rainbow". Definitely Hughes oriented (a bit bluesy). A good rock ballad. But the other ones are so sub-standards that it stands out here.

Some PA colleagues might well compare this work with "Machine Head" (???) but IMHHO, it is just like the "Stormbringer" stuff as far as the overall quality is concerned. I really wonder where is all the fuss about this sort of music. Very average hard-rock. I also wonder where is the relation with prog in here ! No one in the sevenites would have dared to call this prog. Whatever related or anything else you would add to it. So ???

Just listen to the boring "Snake Charmer". Insipid and heavy my friend. All the hard-rock clichés are featured here. And these vocals really don't help. The songwritting here is also average. But Blackmore wasn't really productive any longer with "DP", so no wonder on this one since he is co-responsible for it.

The second good song of this album is "The Temple of the King". Another rock ballad. That's the major change compared with "Purple". We'll get some more melancholic ballads with here and there a nice guitar solo (this is still Blackmore on the guitar, right ?).

We'll get a revival tune with "If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll". I can't really tell that this is close to the masterpiece status. "Status Quo" wrote tons of these sort of tracks. One of the best song is the closing number. A good instrumental piece (at least we got rid of these vocals) with great drumming and finally some great guitar. A pleasant way to close this work.

I consider this debut album as a very average album. Wouldn't Ritchie be featured, it would have been totally ignored I guess. I will rate this with two stars, and I'm generous. To discover the prog side of the band, I guess that we'll have to wait for later releases.

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