RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow who would later be dubbed just Rainbow released their debut album in 1975. As the name suggests this is former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's new band. Ritchie Blackmore hired Elf members Ronnie James Dio ( vocals), Gary Driscoll ( drums), Craig Gruber ( Bass) and Mickey Lee Soule ( Keyboards) to play on the album. Elf had supported Deep Purple on tour and Blackmore had been very impressed by the vocal skills of Dio and when the two of them found that there was a positive creative chemistry between them they decided to work together.

The music on Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is hard rock bordering metal. Dio is an exceptional vocalist IMO and his input on this album is of high class as usual. The music is blues rock based but a few neo-classical elements appear here and there. A feature which would be investigated further on subsequent albums by Rainbow. Ritchie Blackmore´s playing is also of high class throughout the album and there are some really intense soloing and great riffs that I find very enjoyable. All songs are good but not as exciting as later efforts by the band and ( this has probably been mentioned before) the opening riff in Catch the Rainbow is close to being a ripp-off of Henrix Little Wing. Blatant ripp-offs always drag my rating down.

The musicianship is excellent even though the three backing musicians here are not as accomplished as Blackmore and Dio. There´s no doubt who the stars are here.

The production is professional but not as good as on the next album by the band.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is a good hard rock/ heavy metal album but it´s like it lacks the final finesse to reach the excellent mark. 3 big stars are deserved though.