 | Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)Genres: rock, classic rock, hard rock |
review by thomas
Compared to ”Rising” this one is much more rock than heavy metal. After Ritchie Blackmore left Purple he took the band Elf (Elf was often support band to Deep Purple), got rid of the guitarist, and used it as his back-up band. The singer in Elf was one Ronnie James Dio, the only survivor after Ritchie fired everyone else and got new recruits for “Rising”. The tempo of the songs are much slower than the songs on “Rising” and later albums. Standout tracks includes “Man on the Silver Mountain”, “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves”, “Catch the Rainbow” – all of them concert classics – and the more overlooked “Self Portrait”. Rainbow even tried to rock out in an early sixties way with “If You Don’t Like Rock ‘N’ Roll”, easily the worst moment on the album. Here are also two covers present: a good version of “Black Sheep of the Family” and an instrumental version of the Yardbirds’ “Still I’m Sad”, a song which Rainbow then included, as a vocalized version, in their live set for quite some time. The song is a decent one but not something I listen to each time I give this record a spin. And there are a couple of more songs like it: decent or semi-satisfying ones.
Great vocals and guitar, some good organ here and there and at the top four great songs.
 | Rising (1976)Genres: classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
Once honoured with "Best Hard Rock Album" in a serious poll, one can understand that to a certain degree but in reality it's slightly exaggerated. It's the "real" Rainbow though; Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitars), Tony Carey (keyboards), Jimmy Bain (bass) and the been-a-member-of-every-band-in-the-universe drummer Cozy Powell. Ronnie's voice is in great shape; mighty, mystical (due to the lyrics?) and pleasant, Ritchie delivers some of his best riffs ("Tarot Woman", "Stargazer", "Run With the Wolf"), Cozy's drums are thunderous. The keyboards are present way back in the sound on songs like "Do You Close Your Eyes", "Run With the Wolf" and "Starstruck" but more prominent on "Tarot Woman", "Stargazer" and "A Light In the Black".
Now to my explanation why the record's overrated (slightly overrated that is). First: I don't have any information concerning which song they (probably the record company) put out as a single, but "Starstruck" sounds like an attempt to charge the charts. Further: "Do You Close Your Eyes" is a decent 3-minute rocker but questionable and with tame lyrics. So the criticism ends and the praise begins. The two other tracks on side A (besides "Starstruck" and "Do You...") are both real gems, "Tarot Woman" opens with a keyboard swirl before Blackmore riffs in, "Run With the Wolf" are a great short rocker.
Side B consists of just two - lyrically connected - songs: "Stargazer" and "A Light In the Black". "Stargazer" is so good it's hard to describe. It's heavy, real heavy but at the end the Munich (the album was recorded there) Philharmonic Orchestra comes in, splendid, indeed. "A Light In the Black" is just as heavy and features two powerful solos from Ritchie, he bends those strings like a madman.
I suggest you put "Rising" on and just marvel!
