RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW

Deep Purple guitarist R. Blackmore got his name on the title of the first Rainbow album. Rainbow was never very prog, as far as I know. Quite ordinary hard rock with heavy guitars and a ballsy singer, that's all (but of course a classic in that field). Not exactly my branch of music. but since I just recently ordered this to my library and gave it a listen, here's my modest review.

'Catch the Rainbow' has remained a favourite to me from some compilation long ago. I love melancholic hard rock ballads like this (Scorpions have some nice ones too). 'The Temple of the King' is the other highlight; Blackmore plays acoustic guitar in it and actually it has a clear relation to the minstrel style of Blackmore'ä Night two decades later. Unfortunately all the other rocking tracks don't appeal to me. I had an expectation of the closer, 'Still I'm Sad', which is a fine sad song by Yardbirds. But I'm not very interested of this fast instrumental version. (Now, excuse me all the fans, but two stars is quite generous from me for two great tracks.)