"Long live rock 'n' roll!"
- RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW Oleg's review / Ratko's review
- RAINBOW RISING Oleg's review / Ratko's review
- ON STAGE
After the odd funky-sounding Stormbringer album Deep
Purple's guitar player Ritchie Blackmore left the band in 1974 and proceeded
in grabbing Purple's opening band Elf (an American band that was noticed by
Roger Glover who also produced two of the band's albums) in order to record
a few songs Purple ruthlessly rejected. Elf's guitarist Steve Edwards was instantly
sacked since the egomaniacal Ritchie had to be the ONLY guitarist in the soon-to-be
band and this new outfit was humbly (and cheesy) named Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
Expectedly enough the guys recorded a helluva more than just a few songs planned
and a whole new album was completed. Rainbow's debut was released in 1975 which
was by most counts the last great year for seventies hard rock giants. Led Zeppelin
managed to scrape up enough material for the double LP Physical Graffiti
which definitely had a number of weak points but is often regarded (and probably
deservedly so) as their last classic album. Black Sabbath bounced back with
Sabotage and Nazareth were still going strong with Hair Of The Dog.
And of course, without Blackmore Deep Purple started seriously sucking ass but
they've stopped playing hard rock entirely so I guess they weren't relevant
anymore. Anyhow, Rainbow really did play a crucial part in preparing the world
for dungeons&dragons heavy metal that was getting ready to burst out. In that
respect they were the only major hard rock band that seriously went metallic
and along with Judas Priest set the stage for the New Wave Of British Heavy
Metal.
And what's their music like then? Basically it's reasonably gritty and energetic
hard rock smoothly balanced with either Dio's bombastic evil imagery or standard
radio-friendly material, and even though it rarely reaches the heights of spectacular
it often serves as a solid excuse for inspired fist-pumping. It has to be mentioned
that Rainbow obviously didn't have the twin guitar attack of Judas Priest but
they used what they had, and used it well. First off, they had Ritchie Blackmore's
immense guitar talents; and secondly, they had a singer that was well before
his time. I mean at that time there was nobody in the genre that sounded so
ferocious like Ronnie James Dio so his nasty roars were rather revolutionary
for the seventies hard rock scene. There wasn't a singer in the business that
tried it that way especially considering that Judas Priest's voice wunderkind
Rob Halford obviously took his lessons from Ian Gillan and copied his trademark
high-pitched screams (and even elevated them to some new levels). Also, and
back to the point, I suppose I could waste my time on drawing Rainbow's huge
family tree for you but I don't intend to. This band's lineup was all but stabile
over the years and I honestly don't think you need to know all the changes that
had happened since the only important persons in Rainbow were always Ritchie
Blackmore and his frontman of choice, whoever that character may be.
THIS ONE SUCKS! SUCKS TERRIBLE! NOT A SINGLE GOOD SONG CAN
BE FOUND HERE! VOCALIST IS THE REAL NIGHTMARE AND RITCHIE BLACKMORE SUCKS HIS
GUITAR'S ASS IF YOU ASK ME! AND WHAT DA FUCK WITH DRUMS?! KEYBOARDIST IS THE
FULLY ZERO AND THIS BASSIST... SOMEONE, PLEASE, KILL HIM! AND "MAN ON THE SILVER
MOUNTAIN" SUCKS! AND RAINBOW SUCKS AS USUAL!
Ah, just kidding. And if you believed in my words so you must be a real reader-not
that dorks that usually see what the rating is and go away from the page. Please,
let me thank you. Seriously now, the album is classic. And it's really deserve
to be a classic album-hard rocking power, great melodies, magical riffs, absolutely
great harmony and work of the band. Even lyrics that are idiotic sometimes (SOMETIMES,
Dio fans, I said - S O M E T I M E S). Ritchie Blackmore maybe got the peak
of his career as the guitarist, but I don't care-he just plays awesome, and
that's all I need. After "Still I'm Sad" I can easily say-if Blackmore isn't
the God, I am the alien from Mars.
[HEY? WHAT'S UP THERE? UH, THAT'S COMMANDER! AND YOU KNOW, SIR, I REALLY WANT
BACK TO MARS, BACK TO MY NATIVE HSHMULANA, WHERE MY MOTHER LIVES... I REALLY
MISS HER... BUT, I NEED TO WORK ON THIS EARTH AND KILL AS MANY HUMANKINDS AS
I CAN... UH, WHAT A LIFE. BY THE WAY, DON'T YOU FORGOT THAT YESTERDAY IS MY
BIRTHDAY? YES, I UNDERSTAND THAT I AM TOO YOUNG, BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM 3987-OLD
MARSIAN, EH?]
In 1975 Ritchie left Deep Purple and recorded with guys from ELF (Ronnie James
Dio, Gary Driscoll, Craig Gruber and Mickey Lee Soule) records the first Rainbow
(I think Ronnie got the title). What's the result, you ask? Let's see, now,
let's see... The album opens with endless classic and my personal favourite
on here - "Man On The Silver Mountain". One of the best Ritchie riffs ever and
great chorus with powerful Dio vocal makes me re-listen this song again and
again. Great solo in the middle, too-I really love that groovy Ritchie self-loving
style, yeah. Then goes "Self Portrait"-gloomy atmosphere and dark lyrics ("Paint
me a picture... Colour it darkly-the lines must start to crawl) with great guitar
tone makes the song unforgettable. The song is short (only 3:16), but it sounds
like a good, side-long epic.
"Black Sheep Of The Family" is the fast rocker, written by Hammond. It's really
funny with great Dio vocals (as usual) and good bass line. The song, in fact,
causes the depart of Ritchie from Deep Purple-he got an idea to Deep Purple
covering it, but Coverdale and company disagreed... So, they lose more-comparing
to all of this shit from Come Taste The Band this song sounds like the
best song ever.
Next "Catch The Rainbow" is the worst song on here-6:40 minutes of moody atmosphere
and band's noddling here and there. Dio singing on here is far from perfect
and the whole thing is so boring-just not a single hook on here. For me it was
surprise, but the song usually called fan favourite. Yes, dear fans, I can agree
that it's beautiful song, but beauty is not the main factor I'm judging the
songs.
"Snake Charmer" is the most powerful on here with absolutely great keyboards.
Blackmore doesn't lead the melody, as he does usually-only give us a single
notes on his "dirty" guitar which I love. In chours he plays just with Dio vocals.
His solo is the best on this record. Listened to the first time for "Temple
Of The King", I claimed it "crap" and threw into the bin like the weak outtake
of "Catch The Rainbow", but I was an idiot. This song is really beautiful, has
great melody and how I can not to mention the touching Dio singing? Great solo
again-Ritchie goes acoustic and goes into the very right direction, but, then,
solo turns into usual Ritchie Goddlike-electric playing. Nothing else. He is
God.
Then goes old rock 'n' rocker... oops! rolling roller... Fuck it all, then goes
rolling rocker "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" that maybe get us back to Elf
times and Mickey Lee gets one of his best solos. Chorus is catchy as Hell and
very clever-definitely, if you don't like rock 'n' roll that it's too late now!
I like rock 'n' roll and I am only 13, so now I'm going to say something to
all 13-year old people reading my reviews: HEY GUYS! YOU LISTENED THAT, YOU
DON'T LIKE ROCK'N'ROLL. KICK OFF YOUR LIMP BIZKIT RECORDS AND TURN ON RAINBOW!!!
Another Rainbow classic goes then-"Sixteen Century Greensleves". Lyrics rule-Dio
finally did something clever and penned a story about small riot in small country.
The music rule too-Blackmore gets great darkly atmosphere. Album ends by rip-roaring
cover of Yardbyrds' "Still I'm Sad" which I like a lot. I said before-if Ritchie
isn't a God, so I am the Martian.
[WHAT? WHAT, COMMANDER? I'M GOING BACK TO MARS? OH YEAH!!!!!]
Must-have for all.
If you're a fan of Ritchie Blackmore then the first thing
you're bound to notice here is that as far as his trademark guitar virtuosity
goes Blackmore isn't really putting in too much of an effort here. The riffage
is fresh and more dangerous than on Deep Purple's Stormbringer but while
he also supplies some steady rhythm playing the leads aren't exactly a top draw
and the restrained soloing thrills just on a few rare occasions. While that
does lower the rating somewhat I can clearly see that the overall state of the
songwriting shows some much needed improvement over the last Purple efforts
with stinging memorable hooks racing all over the place. Musically, this style
is more laid back and somewhat funkier than you'd expect from Blackmore but
the man obviously had little time to recuperate from the abysmal Coverdale terror
and will eventually toughen up the sound. If anything, the material here is
always hook-filled with fluent captive melodies. Lyrically, Dio sure gets it
on letting out steam and blurting his silly fantasies in a rather convincing
and powerful way. I admit that the lyricism isn't any better because of that
but you can clearly see that Dio tries to include you in his cheesy medieval
world as best as he can and if you don't mind taking a little dose of dragon
rock from time to time, he will be successful.
Like any other record of this magnitude would, this album opens with a pure
classic. Without a shred of doubt, this opener here is one of Rainbow's all-time
greatest compositions and it still remains a true rock radio staple as well
as fan favorite. While the slow to mid-tempo opening licks of "Man On The Silver
Mountain" do not show the expected departure from the Coverdale-styled sound
(since the main riff continues to bring traces of funk into the song) this "Smoke
On The Water"-influenced stompy riff alone stands higher than just about anything
on Stormbringer with the possible exclusion of the shredding title track
(which would have been a worthy addition to this album, come to think about
it). The officious vocal melody is a particularly strong one with Dio slowly
but forcefully roaring the dumb lyrics "I'm the sun, I'm the sun, I can move,
I can run" as only he can and thusly turning them into some exceptionally fiery
hooks. Elsewhere the rather short but considerably doomy epic "Self Portrait"
has a intricately constructed vocal melody (paired with a dreary guitar tone
and some quite menacing lyrics) that eventually produces a slightly descendant
feel in the chorus which then fits in the sluggish tempo marvelously.
"Black Sheep Of The Family" evokes the rocking madman in me and while it's a
fairly simple and ordinary-sounding tune the hook-laden chorus grips me by the
throat more mightily than I really expected. It's one of the better rockers
here (being breaknecky and all) but the melody just isn't one of the very best.
By the way, this tune was one of the songs that Deep Purple refused to record
for Stormbringer and thusly the reason why Blackmore left. You didn't
really need to know this but I just thought I'll mention it. For the Pink Floyders
in the audience the lengthy mellotron-driven classic "Catch The Rainbow" should
be a worthwhile listen as it expands on the usual balladeering elements adding
atmospheric guitar lines and deep touching solos very much in the vein of that
band. It sounds rather simplistic but technically precise and dammit, despite
the slightly depressive vibe it's still completely concise and, well, gorgeous.
Dio's singing is emotional and the whole package generates a certain feeling
of mystical beauty.
"Snake Charmer" continues in the funky Stormbringer-styled groove and
it almost seems like an outtake of sorts, but still a remarkably powerful one.
If nothing else this ferocious song seriously benefits from Dio's unmatched
vocals – just take the line "SNAAAAKE CHARMER!!!" as a prime example of that.
Blackmore isn't up front this time around and he tends to let Dio and the keyboard
guy have a little fun on their own but his guitar solo is really a smoking highlight,
I'll give him that. Anyhow, in case that anyone would want to hear another ballad
Rainbow delivers the folky acoustic-to-electric song "The Temple Of The King".
It isn't so anthemic as you would think since the level of dramatic effects
is a tad low but Dio's vocals do bring out the best out of this, ehm, more humble
and less drawn out material. Lyrically, this is pure Dio and while that doesn't
really sound like a recommendation the gentle well-developed melody more than
makes up for it, and so does Blackmore with yet more of his charming soloing.
The only true low point I've noticed here is the heavy boogie of "If You Don't
Like Rock ‘N' Roll" that adds virtually nothing to the record but takes away
quite a bit. While it is an acceptable dirty rocker there's actually nothing
here that captures my attention so I frequently use the fast forward button
to get to the next track entitled "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves". What does
this one offer then? The standard dose of thumping rock ‘n' roll, of course.
This track possesses a strong threatening groove which is then further enhanced
by the grinding vocal effort and you know... that majestic thudding riff. The
lyricism is pretty entertaining too, telling a tale about some incredibly evil
tyrant with a nasty rebellion on his hands. This song is very deservedly a top
draw. To finish off the record Blackmore decided to make a comprehensive instrumental
cover of the Yardbirds' "Still I'm Sad" which is about the only time when Ritchie
really lets loose and gives his best throughout. It must be said that even this
shining performance isn't up par with the stuff he'll do on Rainbow's live albums
but on this rapid number he does give us some valuable insight in what he plans
to do later on. Without a doubt this is a tune that's very worthy of inclusion
on this album and it does bring a much needed amount of energetic flashy guitar
lines to this collection of songs which are wonderful, but still not the balls-to-the-wall
shredfest most people were hoping for back then.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
After the first Rainbow record Ritchie threw away all these
Elf guys, except Ronnie James and picked up some new. Who are those Ritchie’s
slaves you may ask?Well, first of all, it is prorably the best drummer in history-mr.
Cozy Powell, good professional bassist Jimmy Bain and rather good keyboardist
Tony Carey. The all together sat in studio and, for only 10 days recorded Rising-so
far, it’s the best Rainbow album. And not only the best-it is the most quintessential
album. Not only Rainbow, but the whole metal-some progressive metal, some blues-metal,
some power metal, some speed etc. , etc.
The album is divided in the two parts or two sides. While first side is full
of pure Rainbow-like songs, but much heavier and much better, the second
side contains two famous Rainbow epics-“Stargazer” and “A Light In The Black”.
And while first epic always was a fan-favourite, the second is overshadowed
by “the big brother”, but, if we talk sereously, both songs are almost equal
in the level of perfection.
As I’ve said the first side is full by typical early Rainbow songs (that means-guitar
rules, lyrics sucks, all other factors are nothing), but much heavier. It opens
with fat keyboard improvisation-the opening of “Tarot Woman”. The song itself
is mid-tempo rocker with TWO guitar solos in the middle-one goes right after
another. Dio sings about some woman, who is witch or fortuneteller or whatever.
Tony’s final solo is great too-I usually hate keyboard solos in metal song,
’cos they are kinda boring, but this one is really neArly-perfect metal keybord
solo-rather slowly, gloomy and with great sense of melody.
“Run With The Wolf” is very heavy blues with absolutely amazing vocals. Dio
sings VERY cleary, and control his own vocals with great feeling. Solo in middle
is rather messy, but still good. By the way, it is VERY difficult to remember
anything in this song-as for me, I’d just heard it, but I can’t remember a melody,
a key solo part, a chours. ...Strange...
“Starstruck” has amazing supercatchy chours, but, unfortunately, all of these
nooding makes the song the worst on the album-it is not the bad song, either,
it’s just not fit on here-maybe including in more slowly Rainbow made
the worthy result.
“Do You Close Your Eyes” is the song that better fit on any Deep Purple Mark
III albums-slow, with catchy and easy chours and not so hard. Dio tries to imitate
Coverdale in almost everything-in singing, in pronounciation of phrases, even
in lyrics (“Do you close your eyes when you’re making love?”), but, fortunately,
Dio is still Dio-and it’s good.
Then goes probably most famous and the best Rainbow song-“Stargazer”. Ritchie
has done ABSOLUTELY AMZING work-all of these crazy powerfull lyrics, great arranging
of the final part(Mellotron, violins...)and great solo show that. Dio sings
on here like God, and, in the final part, he starts great vocal improvistaion
with lyrics taken right from his head (I just LOVE when he cries “...and I’M
GOMING HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME). Lyrics suck again, though-“Where is your star?
Is it far? Is it far? Is it far?”. Can’t believe I have forgot to tell you about
opening-certanly, most impresive and weird opening parts I’ve ever heard.
I LOVE “A Light In The Black”-it is just great 8-minute jam with Dio lyrics.
VERY fast, with absolutely majestic keyboard solo in the middle and folowing
keyboard/guitar passage that always reminds me about “Burn”. Ritchie’s solo
is full of narcisism-and I like it! The part when Ritchie repeats one musical
phrase ove and over is very nice too. But the one sing that makes the song always
be overshadowed by “Stargazer” are vocal parts. Hey, guys, you’ve better cut
them and leave ony the middle part.
So folks, I hope you know what to do with this baby-go and buy a copy immediately
-if you’re a standart rock fan you MUSTT have this one in your collection.
How the hell can anybody tolerate having the same lineup for
more than one album? I mean you'll soon have to share the glory with them...
and that's the thing Blackmore feared so he decided to use the trusty old revolving
door technique from now on and to constantly make huge lineup changes. But well,
you know what they say – changes are good. Anyhow, Ritchie Blackmore suddenly
decided to part ways with everybody around starting with the sound technicians
(result – noisier album) and ending with the ex-Elf gang, with the only exception
of that little dwarfy dude called Dio who was so small that Blackmore didn't
notice him in time. When he realized that Dio was still in the band Blackmore
quickly decided to let the little egomaniac stay with the obligatory remark
that he'll boot him out if Dio gets too snotty to take. Feeling pretty darn
happy with himself Blackmore acquired a new bunch of saps including the infamous
Cozy "The Lord Of The Drum Machines" Powell, bass player Jimmy Bain (who now
plays in Dio's solo band) and the virtually unknown keyboard guy Tony Carey
(who got axed soon and thusly remained anonymous). Regardless, despite all these
lineup changes the shockingly bombastic Rainbow Rising proved to be one
of the best albums of seventies hard rock and certainly a worthy entry in the
proto-metal echelon.
I suppose that when Blackmore and Dio set off to the recording studio they wanted
to make this the greatest hard-art-whatever-rock album ever and while it smoothly
failed in that respect it's certainly a quintessential Rainbow record bested
only by the grandiose Long Live Rock ‘N' Roll. In many ways this is also
the most controversial offering from the whole Rainbow catalog as it was long
regarded as the band's pinnacle but it has been put down by most reviewers nowadays.
I can't say I mind it really. The most obvious misfire I've noticed even before
playing the record was its less-than-epic length which could have been excused
by astonishing songs, but wasn't. Don't get me wrong, there's not a single bad
song here but while "Stargazer" and "Tarot Woman" seem a bit more complex than
the earlier stuff the rest just doesn't seem to cut it. All of the songs are
way heavier, rawer and LOUDER and the whole band just seems to be busy sounding
as nasty as possible adding noise, bashing the instruments, roaring away, noodling
in every way imaginable so the final result does seem a bit chaotic – but so
damn energetic too.
Of course while the debut was a relatively humble affair this is where the pompousness
entered the band in a big way and Blackmore added much more synthesizers in
the overall sound, but however, he did it to some surprisingly positive results.
Be that as it may the fartsy artsy symphonic feel was finally achieved and it
wont go away too soon. Taking a little side look from the guitarist's point
of view I can't but notice the immense improvement over the debut as far as
Blackmore's guitar abilities are concerned – he really does show some of that
eagerly awaited virtuosity here. If he was restraining himself on the previous
album he really lets it rip this time successfully blending lightning-fast solos
with relaxed-to-speedy grumbling riffs. Unfortunately, on the downside of these
changes Rainbow Rising was bound to suffer from at least a couple of
faults which although forgivable can still be noticeably irritating. Expectedly
enough the melodies aren't nearly as memorable and the riffage, while being
fairly effective is rather simplistic too (glaring examples of this can be found
in both "Stargazer" and "A Light In The Black" which are accidentally dragged
to anthemic proportions).
Would you look at that? Minute-long spacey synth swirls open the six minute
epic "Tarot Woman" and are instantly followed by an onslaught of brilliant gargantuan
riffage, but instead of vanishing the synths keep going and they blend with
Blackmore's pretty rapid guitar leads so they're woven together for better or
for worse. The tempo is screechingly fast but it becomes slower as it reaches
the mid-tempo sections and is often fattened by the typical Dio chorus. Futuristic
synths add a lot to the all-and-out aggression that's generated by the vintage
riffs, and the guitar soloing sure shows that Blackmore's still on the top of
things but when he needs to back off and let Tony Carey noodle some more he
tends to exit with a bang. Meanwhile the often overlooked "Run With The Wolf"
proved to be one of the most influential numbers off Rainbow Rising as
it clearly founded a solid chunk of power metal, both lyrically and musically.
Blurting his poisonous lyrics ridden with positively evil imagery Dio has cashed
in a blistering and unexpectedly restrained vocal performance well paired with
the musical backbone that is Blackmore's crunchy yet groovy riffage; and there's
more, the man in black delivers a not exactly blinding but still very pretty
slide solo on this track.
Second in a row of these shorter ditties "Starstruck" has become remarkably
famous over the years since it was under constant exposure to rock radio. Essentially
a speedy formulaic pop song hidden behind the wall of mean distortion it does
maintain a certain happy-sounding aura around it which is then further helped
with odd KISS-styled lyrics. Nevertheless, despite the occasional dumbness in
the chorus that same chorus is still catchy enough to make it all a worthwhile
listen with yet another fine slide solo thrown in for, well... for good measure,
I suppose. Ending the short song sequence is the conventional rocker "Do You
Close Your Eyes" which bursts with adorable poppy chorus lines and grumbling
little riffs making it similar to standard two-to-three-minute Led Zeppelin
efforts. Plus, this is definitely the kind of tune that would benefit from a
more generous running time but alas, it wasn't meant to be. It's funkier and
more down-tempo than most stuff here but taking in consideration Dio's cool
vocal work and the unexpected love lyrics it is a rather interesting number.
"Enough of this pointless meandering" said Ritchie Blackmore and all of the
sudden Rainbow gets deadly pretentious with their ever so popular "Kashmir"-styled
eight minute centerpiece called "Stargazer". The surprisingly heavy and forceful
drumming that kick starts the song would be more appropriate for a violent Judas
Priest number but it functions perfectly well here too, especially when Blackmore
employs that loud as hell but simple riff. The track moves on slowly supported
by well-organized pompous strings which add a lot to the huuuuuge drama that's
generated by Dio's outstanding delivery of this, lyrically, truly grand pocketbook
fantasy. It does get redundant after it passes the five minute mark though.
However, when I've heard "A Light In The Black" I must admit I was surprised
cause for a number that follows the bloated majesty of "Stargazer" this is not
at all pretentious. In fact it's nothing more than fast rip-roaring jamming
session that just happens to go on for eight minutes. It ain't complex or anything
but the keyboards are worth checking out, the merciless riff rocks as usual
and both Blackmore and Dio are giving their best. Also of note is Blackmore's
solo part when he really does sound particularly inspired with all that awesome
shredding going on.
Instead of some smart-ass closing word I'll just say I'd recommend you buying
this if you don't particularly hate Ronnie James Dio (he's seemingly one of
both most loved and most hated singers ever) or at least if you want to hear
how the transformation from hard rock to heavy metal looked in reality.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
- ON STAGE
I suppose that this glorious 2-CD package represents all the best things about
Rainbow and as such, while not being the easiest album in the world for getting
into, it’s certainly your best buy. Not your first buy mind you cause it’s very
likely to turn you away from the band with all those never-ending solos and
stuff, and speaking of the devil these songs here while being marvelously performed
are truly long mostly clocking over ten minutes with only “Kill The King” and
“Sixteenth Century Greensleeves” being the worthy exceptions of the rule. As
it is this is a unforgettable hard rock live experience bested only by Deep
Purple’s Made In Japan and even that one just barely succeeds since I
still prefer Dio over Gillan and this medieval edition of Ritchie Blackmore
over the standard, but of course astonishing one. This record wasn’t accessible
for some time being just an archive release (especially in America where you
could only get it as an import Live In Europe) but is now re-released
worldwide.
Let’s get to the bone then. Ritchie Blackmore rules supremely on the live offering and almost everything he does is purely breathtaking from beginning to end. His trademark hellish soloing cuts through the meat of the record with fearsome power that just kicks and grinds, and in fact, Blackmore’s guitar tone is much more poignant and spacious than on the official record On Stage that I’ve reviewed below. And it is surprising that on neither one of this massive ten-minute epics Blackmore made the wrong move and didn’t play anything sloppy or just plain bad. He simply announces an all-and-out battle with the rest of the band and then practically blows Cozy Powell and his skins off the stage, and you can only imagine how hard that has been. The louder mixing of the guitar helps him though but man, how come he didn’t give at least one bit of this mesmerizing passion in the studio. I mean he was technically correct in the studio sessions but the level of energy and even the proficiency wasn’t really comparable.
“Kill The King” is the opener, a five- minute number that will appear on Rainbow’s next studio album Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll. What can be said about this one? Well, it’s fast, it’s real fast. In fact, this song generates so much excitement and raises the adrenaline level so nothing that follows can really compare. Heck, no. It sure can compare. This first track just served as a nifty warm-up tune and only then Blackmore really lets it rip and when he starts he can’t stop. A lengthy rendition of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” is next. I suppose that it’s not really a rendition since it has little in common with the original, especially considering that Dio’s vocals that aren’t bluesy at all, but they still mightily transcend those laughable efforts by Dave Coverdale on the original. Apart from the vocal improvement this version is considerably loaded with guitar pyrotechnics that have enough time to get in full flight as the track clocks a bit under sixteen minutes. Unfortunately since this is a conventional live release we have to make way for some standard and expected parts like the not-so-necessary guitar/vocal duel. Plus, this call-and-response duet in particular displays some rather awkward moments (in other words, it sounds like crap) and although that lowers the overall impression somewhat you still have to dig that wonderful riff and the tasteful solo, right?
“Sixteenth Century Greensleeves” with its eight minutes of running time seems kinda short but it also goes off splendidly. Here I’ve got another opportunity to praise Dio’s voice and I’ll do it too. This song features one of my favorite vocal performances I’ve heard from the man, no matter if it’s Rainbow, Black Sabbath or his solo band. I cannot but appreciate it fully as the vocal hooks are simply incredible with that, by now famous, “FIRE! FIRE! HIGHER! HIGHER!” bit that I realize was already described by George Starostin, but man, it ROCKS so much I had to mention it too!!!
The last song (or should I say composition?) on the first disc is “Catch The Rainbow” which was already described extensively but since it’s performed differently here I’ll give you a few worthwhile pointers. First thing to be mentioned is the unpredictable yet imaginative “Ave Maria” intro which fits in, but remains an odd and perhaps somewhat awkward choice. The rest is familiar with Blackmore opting for a more pompous feel and with his playing being very heartfelt and touching. Even more wonderful is the energetic jamming section incorporated in this otherwise rather relaxing song, but however, this rendition shows more similarity to Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” than it did originally.
The eternal classic “Man On The Silver Mountain” ignites the second disc and while Dio muffles up the vocals (not hitting the high notes is a real sin on this track), Blackmore isn’t disturbed by it one bit and displays his outstanding abilities once again adding a solid chunk of “Lazy” to the medley. Elsewhere, “Stargazer” is stretched beyond all proportions reaching the seventeen minutes mark and with Blackmore raising hell with absolutely STUNNING fast solos that remain unmatched to this very day. I’ve never heard anything like this from the guy earlier, but perhaps I just love “Stargazer” so much that I unconsciously refuse to think Blackmore sounded better elsewhere. We may never know. Anyway, then we have the former instrumental “Still I’m Sad” which now has vocals and is lengthy as hell incorporating a short but tolerable drum solo by everyone’s favorite drumbasher Cozy Powell who does his name justice displaying his violent but not especially jaw-dropping skills. Blackmore shines as usual and Dio is in top form too.
Eventually, the second disc ends with “Do You Close Your Eyes” which is slightly longer than the original two-minute version and boosts your normal ten minutes of running time. Ordinary, regular, conventional... it sure as hell isn’t! Blackmore is the main star of course and indulges in his by now typically extended mind-blowing solos.
That’s that. The beast, the rage, Rainbow live. It was a sure bet for all sympathizers of hard rock then and it still functions in that respect today, perhaps even more so considering the generally poor state of hard rock nowadays.
This is what Ratko thinks. Now, what do YOU think?
Really nice package but nothing else. This is a fine testament to Rainbow’s second incarnation and while it does beat their fresh studio output by horse lengths it doesn’t truly rock in the way you’ve seen them do on Live In Germany which is basically an extended version of this record but a rather superior one too. While listening to On Stage I do feel the magnitude of the whole shebang and I do realize how exceptional these pyrotechnics that Blackmore’s pulling off are but in the same time I don’t think it’s such an uncluttered and unabashed demonstration of power like it should be. On its own, it is, but when compared to the previous live album it tends to pale somewhat. That however doesn’t mean this isn’t a great buy if you can’t find Live In Germany (although you shouldn’t have problems with that as it was just re-released on Spitfire, I think). First, since I believe there’s a danger of you thinking this is a short disc let me say it is not as these four of these six tracks go on for over eleven minutes just like they did earlier on, well, you know where. What’s downright offensive about this release is the shameful exclusion of the Eastern-styled composition “Stargazer” that simply cannot be ignored. Here you are making the tour of your last record and you have the nerve not to play the ultimate highpoint of your entire catalog. It is even more disturbing to see they didn’t do so because they were afraid to tackle such a long song live or anything since the stuff here isn’t exactly brief – Blackmore just didn’t want to play it. Was he afraid of the massive charisma that Dio had while singing this one or was Blackmore just not in the mood?
Overall, the rest of the disc is filled with jaw-dropping performances so I can get pass this sacrilegious move but I will not gave it the highest rating. Okay, I wont be especially generous from a different reason. I’m not really that happy with the quality of the sound. Now, perhaps I have a dated version or a bad set of ears but the muddy mixing that’s going on here is certainly worthy of Deep Purple (not a positive thing cause if any band was cursed with inadequate sound technicians it was Purple). Secondly, the guitar is kinda subdued when compared to the synths and drums – it’s just not so all-present like on Live In Germany, even though Blackmore is the main man of the show here indulging in incredibly lengthy but involving solos and adding all kinds of neat side riffs and lovely speedy jamming throughout. Ritchie’s bandmates do respectably well too with Powell bashing senseless everything in sight (it’s a real wonder he didn’t accidentally ram down the rest of the band) but yet, it’s all perfectly plausible and as a listen it’s quite rewarding. Good ol’ Ronnie James doesn’t give his best though and some songs (oh, well, namely “Man On The Silver Mountain”) really do suffer from it, if not immensely than at least somewhat. Like on the previous album the jams are positively thrilling in most cases and it doesn’t get too tedious unless of course you have a bone against ultra-long (up to fifteen minutes) renditions of the normally subdued studio material. However, if you never minded listening to Cream or something then you might want to try this out.
Well, as this was the same tour the five-minute opener hasn’t changed and it’s, you’ve guessed it, “Kill The King” time all over again. Remarkably predictable or not, it goes off thrashingly fast and in style just like it did earlier. The second song though is a disillusionment of sorts. What we get now is an eleven minute suite of “Man On The Silver Mountain” that has some fine keyboard work wrapped around it and then we get the notorious blues jam where we really see the whole band working together and just noodling along without much point, but it’s all done very tastefully and serves as a respectable intro to “Starstruck” or at least to parts of it. Anyway, while nothing in this medley really sticks out like a sore thumb Blackmore actually doesn’t blow the band off the stage with his shredding and in certain sections this lengthy composition leaves me stone cold, which might partially be because Dio inexcusably destroyed the chorus with his lousy singing. Essentially, Dio didn’t really put much of an effort here just casually going through the lyrics with not a grain of interest in sight and with a tone that’s totally freed of any passion (and let’s not forget that he rather pisses on the high notes than hits them). “Catch The Rainbow” is probably Blackmore’s highpoint here as far as melodic solo fireworks go and if you want to hear some intriguing as well as emotional playing then by all means fast-forward the disc to this point (also, be sure to check out the guitar break in the middle). After that, the rest of the disc is also well executed with the only difficulties being the not-so-steaming and in fact rather tiresome eleven- minute performance of “Still I'm Sad" that simply aches for some cruel editing.
How about some summation, you say? Eh, like you’ve probably
understood by now, I simply don’t feel this outing is on the Live In Germany
level, even though it still stands as a remarkable if not defining document
of the epoch.
This is what Ratko thinks. Now, what do YOU think?
After ending Long Live Rock’n’Roll tour Ritchie thre
away from the band everyone except Cozy and picked up good old pal Roger Glover
on bass,(in)famous session-keyboardist Don Airey and absolutely unfamous vocalist
named Graham Bonnet.You may ask-what’s wrong?Why you give this album so low
rating?For only two reasons, I’ll answer.First of all,the changed completely-it
is just a KISS-like sellout hard-pop with absolutely dumb lyrics from Mr.Glover.The
second reason is completely disaster-Graham Bonnet is not a singer.His weak
hoarse with some tryings to get something good from his voice,but he certanly
could not.Plus-he just singing-nothing more.He can’t even write lyrics,can’t
even add something to melodies of the songs-and this is the vocalist in hard-rock(
read- hard-pop)band?
The music,as I said,is really degeneratic.It is had pop trhat very close sometimes
to KISS-rock(which sucks),pure pop(which sucks even more) and hair-metal(which
is completely disatser).Every song on here sucks,except maybe cool rock’n’roller
“No Time To Lose”-great guitarwork,funny lyrics,driving atmosphere and cool
keyboard solo. Other songs can’t even get that one-they all just the same.I
can’t see difference between,for example,”Makin’ Love” and “Lost In Hollywood”-same
dumb riff,dumb singing,idiotic lyrics,etc. etc. etc...I don’t even need to describe
the songs,in fact!
Don’t buy this,please,don’t.This is rare shit and Mr.Bonnet must burn in Hell.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?