Rainbow

They kind of lost me after Dio left & Blackmore went in search of a 'hit' single. What happened to their ex keyboard player Tony Carey. Didn't he have some minor success as a solo artist in the States?

I'll stop at the DIO era-Rainbow ! With Rising as a peak! everysong is fantastic bar one real dud! The last track on the side A (do you close your eyes - if memory serves me well)!

But not close enough for inclusion IMHO!

 

I tried as hard as I could to still like them after those albums but it was gone!

Stargazer/Light in the Black -- really one 16-minute suite. As proggy as
most things here ...

LOve the first three albums and the live album On Stage is awesome - Blackmore's playing on the side-long version of Catch the Rainbow is just brilliant

Likewise Tony Carey's leyboard playing on this album is brilliant and definitely it's his contribution that lends some proggishness to proceedings.

Stargazer, Gates of Babylon and A Light in the Black are definite contenders for prog hard rock - hell if Rush's By-Tor is prog then so is Stargazer!

I love the first few Rainbow albums much more than I do Purple - a little more classically influenced a lot less 12 bar boogie (though that has it's place - Live version of Lazy on Made in Japan for example)

Wouldn't include Rainbow on the archive but it's top stuff - definitely on a bands related to prog submenu

 

The oficcial live album "On Stage" does not reproduces the power of the band live.

The RAINBOW LIVE ALBUM is "Live iIn Germany" released years ago by Conaisseur (which released also a number of live Purple albuns). Here yes we have great musicianship from Blackmore, Bain, Carey and Powell, with extra solos of keyboards and drums and the track "Stargazer" unfaily absent at "On Stage". This is one of the best live albuns of all time!!!!!!! Get it if you can!

I too am a BIG fan of Rainbow and love the voice of the "little big man" Ronald James Dio, for me,the greatest heavy rock vocalist ever.
Love their first three albums,but it all started to go pear-shape on "Long Live Rock And Roll" when Blackmore started to become obsessed with Top 40 Singles Chart success.
Graham Bonnet,what can one say,I can never forget how much of a prat he looked at the 1st Monsters Of Rock Festival at Donnington,in his jacket and shades.
Rainbow had prog elements (we've done this before haven't we?)but were never really a progressive rock band,just a gloriously pompous heavy rock band.

dropForge wrote: Certif1ed wrote: Dio/Rainbow (Dio/almost anything!!!) are fantastic! Hey, those words are music to my ears! I finally got all the Elf stuff on CD a while back!

 

I'm still trying to track down the rest of their albums on vinyl.

Nice to see that "Carolina County Ball" contains a track called "Rainbow" - the topic of every other lyric he wrote

RJD was, of course, a massive fan of Jeffrey, George, Zippy and Bungle - but wasn't so keen on Rod or Freddie. He had the hots for Jane like everyone else though...

High noon, oh I'd sell my soul for water
Nine years worth of breakin' my back
There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard
See how he glides, why he's lighter than air?
Oh I see his face!

Where is your star?
Is it far, is it far, is it far?
When do we leave?
I believe, yes, I believe

In the heat and the rain
With the whips and chains
To see him fly
So many die
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
Just to see him fly
But don't know why
Now where do we go?

Hot wind, moving fast across the desert
We feel that our time has arrived
The world spins, while we put his dream together
A tower of stone to take him straight to the sky
Oh I see his face!

Where is your star?
Is it far, is it far, is it far?
When do we leave?
Hey, I believe, I believe

In the heat and the rain
With the whips and chains
Just to see him fly
Too many die
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
To see him fly
But we don't know why
Ooh, now where do we go

All eyes see the figure of the wizard
As he climbs to the top of the world
No sound, as he falls instead of rising
Time standing still, then there's blood on the sand
Oh I see his face!

Where was your star?
Was it far, was it far
When did we leave?
We believed, we believed, we believed

In heat and rain
With the whips and chains
To see him fly
So many died
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
To see him fly

But why
In all the rain
With all the chains
Did so many die
Just to see him fly

Look at my flesh and bone
Now, look, look, look, look, Look at the tower of stone
I see your rainbow rising
Look there, on the horizon oh no, who's rising
And I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home

Time is standing still
You, give back my will
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Going home I'm going home

My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is lead ahead
But it's not home
But it's not home
Ooh

Take me back
You, give me back my will
Ooh ooh ooh ooh

Going home
I'm going home

My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is lead ahead
But it's not home
But it's not home

Take me back, take me back
Back to my home ooh, ooh, ooh

 

I just wanted to add this piece of brilliance

I think that Rainbow certainly are progressive at times- all the Dio stuff is as progressive as heavy rock got. To Richard H's list, I would add 'Catch The Rainbow'- some nice mellotron on that.