Music Review by Bill Rendall

Rainbow Rising

When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple he got together with the members of Elf (minus their guitarist) to form a new band called Rainbow. Before long Blackmore replaced all the band members except for Ronnie James Dio, the vocalist. Lineup changes were a regular occurrence for Rainbow.

Their debut album had some good songs which sounded underdeveloped, probably due to a rushed production. These songs were developed further and greatly improved in live performances in later years.

By the time their second album, Rainbow Rising, was released the band was at their peak. A highlight of the album is the majestic 'Stargazer' which features the big string sound of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra dramatically beefing up the keyboard riff. Another epic song is 'A Light in the Black' which features a stunning keyboard solo along with Blackmore's impressive guitars licks. Even one of the lesser songs on the album, 'Do You Close Your Eyes', proved to have potential for an epic treatment in live concert.

Subsequent albums heralded more lineup changes but maintained the classic Rainbow sound while Dio remained on vocals. In the band's later years Blackmore diverted their sound in a more commercial direction. Maybe it was what Blackmore wanted or maybe it was due to pressure from the record company, but it was a bad move.

Dio wanted to continue with hard rock and split company with Blackmore. Dio is one of my favourite rock singers and I can't recommend any of Rainbow's output after he left.

Dio went on to join Black Sabbath and the band released Heaven and Hell, their best album for a number of years. Later on Dio reunited with Jimmy Bain to form a band simply called Dio and released the classic hard rock album Holy Diver.

Rainbow was most exciting in live concert performance, as was the case with Deep Purple. I highly recommend the video of Rainbow Live in Munich 1977, even though it only features one song from Rainbow Rising and three of the band members who recorded Rainbow Rising.

Although Blackmore is clearly calling the shots in the Munich concert, and shows off his guitar skills with many long solos, he does give other band members the opportunity to improvise. Former keyboard player, Tony Carey, apparently didn't meet Blackmore's requirements for improvisation skills in live performance. David Stone showed that he was a worthy replacement as the keyboard player in the Munich concert, using an impressive array of classic seventies keyboards, including Moog synths.

Dio extended many songs in live performance with new lyrics and vocal phrases. I don't know how much was extemporaneous but it seemed that Dio was sometimes winging it, which added an exciting feeling that anything might happen. There was an amusing moment in 'Do You Close Your Eyes.' Dio left the stage while Blackmore was soloing and appeared to be taken by surprise when called back by Blackmore. He started singing on the backing vocal mic, which was set to a low volume, with a smoke still in his hand.

Cozy Powell had a lengthy spot for a drum solo which was unnecessary, as drum solos usually are. The only band member who didn't get an opportunity in the spotlight was Australian bass player Bob Daisley, who acquitted himself well in a support role.

I recommend Rainbow Rising as Rainbow's best studio recording.