RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW

True to the type of brazen egomaniac that Ritchie Blackmore is purported to be, he'd feel the need to slap his name on each product, three or four times for good measure. So the name of the band is RITCHIE BLACKMORE-lead guitarist to DEEP PURPLE-'s Rainbow? I wonder who the guitarist is. I'll bet it's Tony Iommi, that jokester. And who's this lead singer? Ronnie James Dio? I ain't never heard of him. Oh, yeah I have. He's the prototypical metal sneer artist. Got a good set of pipes and? Here is what makes Rainbow such an interesting band for the first few years of its existence. When you look at everyone Ritchie has paired himself with, and when you take everyone Dio has paired himself with, you get the feeling that they were meant for each other. Blackmore always had a taste for the medieval, and Dio had always had a thing for sorcery (hell, his first big rock band was Elf!) I never for a moment thought Dio fit in well with Black Sabbath, and Blackmore pairing with Gillian was merely a matter of place, not vision. Blackmore was always more mystically overblown than Jimmy Page ? mainly through the fact that Page didn't take it very seriously. He played overblown mystical crap because he thought it was fun and cool ? plus he was a pothead. Blackmore and Dio have been entranced by the overblown mystical crap because it's deeply imbedded into their cores. Just take a look at Blackmore's Night, a band we could all do without ? but wholly devoted to the gimmick. Rainbow was their chance to meet and create arguably the greatest statement from (and the Deep Purple fans will crucify me) both their careers. At the end of the day, the band's debut is a classic gem in the birth of heavy metal. 'Man on the Silver Mountain' has a killer riff that beats the hell out of Smoke on the Water. Most of the songs have solid riffs and interesting vocal melodies. 'Self Portrait' has Dio crooning at his best. You do have a few forgettable hard rock boogies. 'Black Sheep of the Family' is less than amazing, but what are you going to do? Well, I prefer to listen to the Pink Floyd inspired 'Catch the Rainbow', myself. It has these subtle, swaying guitar lines that build into a great electric ballad. 'Temple of the King' has a snapping, magical beat to it. These songs are all good, you just have to listen. It's a damn good classic metal album. It might just be the best overall thing either of the fools had in them. They both lived out their D&D fantasies without anyone to stop tem ? the perfect pair. It's a shame this incarnation of the band only lasted for three albums.

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