The Rainbow Family Album is part of a series released by the Connoisseur Collection in the 1990's that assembled collections of artists related to a particular band. Yes, Fleetwood Mac, and Deep Purple (and probably others) are part of this series.
What makes the Rainbow collection so compelling is that it really drives home two points: (1) Ritchie Blackmore recruited from the strangest places, and (2) more often than not members of Rainbow go in light and emerge heavy. When you have a band that did not retain the same lineup for two consecutive studio albums, things get interesting!
There probably wasn't room to account for everyone, which is fine (I wasn't really dying to know what David Rosenthal did post-Rainbow), but the credits are a bit erroneous. First off, the opening track (Deep Purple's "Speed King" with the opening guitar solo cut) should credit Roger Glover alongside Blackmore. The Elf song "Wonderworld" should also note that Craig Gruber, Gary Driscoll and Mickey Lee Soule were also members of Rainbow's first album. Finally, Jimmy Bain should also get credit for playing on the final track (Dio's "Don't Talk To Strangers").
As I seem to like to do with compilations, a little bit of who's where:
Guitar:
Ritchie Blackmore (1975-1984) - Formed the band after leaving Deep Purple and split the band to rejoin Deep Purple. Left Purple again for one more Rainbow album and now plays Renaissance-inspired music that I hear is big in Germany.
Singers:
Ronnie James Dio (1975-1979) - Joined the original lineup along with most of his old band Elf. Quit to join Black Sabbath and later formed Dio (the band).
Graham Bonnett (1979-1980) - Lead singer of 1960's sensation The Marbles who suddenly emerged out of nowhere for Rainbow's fourth album. He was fired after one album and went on to front other 80's metal outfits like Alcatrazz.
Joe Lynn Turner (1980-1984) - Joined the Rainbow ranks after a 1970's career in relatively soft rock and like Bonnett seems to thrive in the hard rock and metal climate post-Rainbow, including a notorious stint with Deep Purple.
Keyboards:
Mickey Lee Soule (1975) - Joined Rainbow with Dio, but his honky-tonk style never clicked with Blackmore and he left quickly. Most recently was seen working backstage for Deep Purple.
Tony Carey (1975-1977) - Pretty much joined Rainbow out of nowhere, then went on to enjoy considerable fame as a solo artist in Europe. Not bad for a California native!
David Stone (1977-1979) - Following Carey, the keyboard slot dissolved into a virtual session-man position, so not surprisingly, Stone is mainly known for various session work.
Don Airey (1979-1981) - Airey was another session guy, fresh off a gig with Black Sabbath. He's settled down a bit, calling Deep Purple home for the past ten-plus years.
David Rosenthal (1981-1984) - Yet another session man. Hell, he was backing up Billy Joel on his last tour.
Bass:
Craig Gruber (1975) - Joined the band from Elf, along with Dio and Soule. Dubious claims about his participation in the creation of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell abound. He's been working with a bunch of bands I've never heard of since then.
Jimmy Bain (1976-1977) - Another artist brought out of obscurity by Blackmore. Post-Rainbow he would form the pseudo-supergroup Wild Horses, then later join Dio on a number of his solo albums.
Bob Daisley (1977-1979) - After Bain was fired, the bass position dissolved into a number of failed replacements, which reach the point where Blackmore ended up take over the part himself for most of the album Long Live Rock and Roll. Daisley, an all-around journeyman both pre- and post-Rainbow, would handle the rest. Daisley is probably best known for his work on Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums and "erased" from the remastered versions by the management (and thankfully restored in later editions).
Roger Glover (1979-1984) - It seemed that the whole bass gig for Rainbow was a raw deal when an unlikely person took on the role and kept it until the band folded. Glover was fired from Deep Purple by Ritchie Blackmore in 1973, yet Roger is such a nice guy he didn't turn down the invitation to join (and largely steer) his old nemesis's band. The two stuck together past Rainbow all the way to Blackmore's stormy departure from the band in 1994.
Drums:
Gary Driscoll (1975) - Driscoll always sounds great on the old Elf albums, but he hit a wall on Rainbow's first album and was quickly dismissed afterward. He stuck around the New York music scene into the 1980's and was murdered in 1987.
Cozy Powell (1975-1980) - Hailing from various low-key projects punctuated by some successful UK singles, Powell put the real heft into the band's second and third (and probably best) albums. When Blackmore decided to steer the band in a more commercial direction, Cozy quit and his 1980's career would include a number of big name metal acts. He died in a motorcycle crash in 1998.
Bobby Rondinelli (1980-1983) - He pops up in a lot of places, usually heavier acts. Oddly enough he is the only member of the Difficult to Cure lineup that was never in Deep Purple (past or future).
Chuck Burgi (1983-1984) - Like the keyboards, the drum spot was essentially a session-man position by the end of the band's lifespan. And wouldn't you know it, he was ALSO playing with Billy Joel on his last tour!
Egad that ended up being a lot more than I meant to write. Serves me right - I should know there's a lot of Rainbow alumni out there. Since it wasn't in the scope of the collection, I did not include the personnel from 1995's Stranger In Us All, which featured an entirely different band working with Blackmore (although Burgi was recalled during the subsequent tour). Anyway, the solo/spinoff output of the Rainbow alumni is worth exploring. It's not all gold and you probably need to step outside your musical comfort zone at times. That's what's so great about bands like Rainbow. They get you exploring new musical terrain. Hopefully some of their work will show up here and I can share a bit more about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment