RISING

This is of course Rainbow's best album, and it's the best album on here that's considered prog-related. This album has some very good prog moments, too. The beginning of the album is incredibly awesome (and progish!), with Tony Carey's keyboards creating a really cool atmosphere with the sonic sounding keyboards he's shredding up. After some time on the keys, Ritchie Blackmore's guitar comes in, and then Cozy Powell (awesome drummer) comes in out of nowhere and the song picks up from there. It seems like most people hate Dio's vocals because of its cheeziness and the corny fantasy lyrics that he writes. I have to admit, sometimes I chuckle when I hear Dio singing (listen to Sensitive to Light on Long Live Rock N' Roll), but seriously, you have to admit that his singing is pretty good on some occasions. His singing fits into the music very well, too, and despite his over-the-top singing he can make any song interesting. Anyway, onto the other songs. After the great and bombastic Tarot woman, three short songs come in. Starstruck is my favorite of all the shorts songs on the album, and after I found out what the lyrics meant, I appreciate the song even more. At first I hated most of the solos that Blackmore did on this album (it sounded at first like a terrible attempt at slide guitar and hitting sour notes), but I have grown to love the solos on here, even the somewhat weak solo on Starstruck. Run With the Wolf is also great, and the same statement above applies with the solo. Do You Close Your Eyes was the weakest song on here, but that fact shows how good this album is:the worst song is still great! The last two songs are incredible. The epic Stargazer is very good. The orchestra adds to the song (unlike most times an orchestra appears with a rock band) and the main riff is very good. Dio's vocal performance on this song is, as usual, great, even though I have no clue what he's singing about (then again, not many people do). The last song, A Light In The Black, is also great. I feel like I'm alone with this opinion, but this song sounds like something Iron Maiden would do, just listen to the main riff. Anyway, great album with great songs. Sadly, this group would not continue to follow up on something like Rising (although LLRAR was very good), as Dio and Blackmore could not agree with anything. A must for prog fans and hard rock fans.