RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW: STRANGER IN US ALL

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.