Rising (Rainbow, 1976)

I've spilled more than a few pixels here talking about Rainbow. In fact the band's leader, Ritchie Blackmore, was the focus of the first post here for 2015 (in our exciting new weekly format). Since Rainbow doesn't get a lot of attention in the United States, in spite of numerous American band members, here's a very brief sketch:

Rainbow was born from a Blackmore solo single turned album using members of the soon-to-extinct Elf in 1975. By the end of the year, Blackmore was long gone from his old band, Deep Purple, and had fired everyone except singer Ronnie James Dio and refashioned the band as a premiere proto-metal outfit. The new band, built around Blackmore, Dio, and drummer Cozy Powell released two solid albums. Dio split to ultimately join Black Sabbath and the rest of the band went in an increasingly commercial direction with new singers Graham Bonnett, then Joe Lynn Turner, all the while assisted musically by another ex-Purp, Roger Glover, on bass. In 1984, Blackmore and Glover returned to Deep Purple and the band promptly folded in spite of improving chart performance. When Blackmore left Purple again, 10 years later, he reflexively reformed Rainbow with all new personnel, but in the end his heart was somewhere in the late Renaissance and he broke up Rainbow in favor of Blackmore's Night. Although there has been substantial chatter about a "return to rock" by Blackmore, nothing has been substantiated.

Anyway, the album in question here, Rising (sometimes fashioned Rainbow Rising), takes us back to Rainbow in its absolute peak formation. It's the first album to sport the Blackmore-Dio-Powell nucleus, with then-unknown keyboardist Tony Carey and fairly-unknown Jimmy Bain on bass. The olf "Elf" lineup, save Dio, is gone, something that is readily apparent from the hard-hitting "Tarot Woman", a beautiful chunk of pure proto-metal and showing off a sound that was utterly absent from the debut album. The rhythm section plays harder and Tony Carey holds his own for the entire first minute solo intro. This is no slam to the Elf guys, it's just that the nature of the music has shifted beyond their strengths. For example, Mickey Lee Soule is a fine honky-tonk style pianist, but on the first album sounds lost, mostly playing other types of keyboard instruments. While Tony Carey is no Jon Lord, he works the synths and the organ far more effectively. However the really dramatic change is in the rhythm section. While Carey and Bain (and hell, even Dio) were not particularly well-known pre-Rainbow, Cozy Powell was a veritable force of nature on the drums and well-connected with the 1970's hard rock scene. If you have to pick one member of the band who most transformed Rainbow, it's probably him.

"Tarot Woman" is a beast of a song and "Run With the Wolf", the second track is just about as uncompromising, though a bit slower in tempo. Ritchie especially steps up his game for this track, with some particularly amazing fills toward the end of the song, complementing Dio's lyrics extremely well. Some have noted that Ritchie seemed to be a bit down since Deep Purple's Burn in 1974, with the following album, Stormbringer, and Rainbow's debut lacking some of the fire from that album. Well, I'm happy to report the fire has returned! Furthermore, they were just getting started.

There's a little detour in the third and fourth tracks, in which the needle slips over to hard rock from the aforementioned proto-metal. "Starstruck" demonstrates the band still has its chops when it comes to the blues, just in case the fans thought the band was going full sword-and-sorcery a la Hawkwind. "Do You Close Your Eyes" take things even further, the shortest track of the album and a little reminiscent of the first album's goofy seventh track "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll". While not as impressive as its peers on this album, it would work very nicely on stage.

If the first side of the album showed a remarkable departure from the previous album, the next side would show the band outdoing their own work from the flip. Without a doubt, "Stargazer" is the one Rainbow song that must be heard in anyone's lifetime. Yes, it's that big a deal. Ritchie brings out the big guns for real here: monster drum intro from Cozy, epic solo by Ritchie backed with a full freakin' orchestra, and Dio reveling in his preferred and now fully-developed fantastical lyrics. And if that isn't enough, fear not. "A Light In the Black" is a sequel of sorts to "Stargazer", continuing the story. Where "Stargazer" is played at a fairly moderate tempo, its companion is designed for speed. Although the lyrics are a little less profound, Carey and Blackmore completely blow it up with a lead-instrument duel that brings back the warm and fuzzy feelings of the trademark Blackmore vs. Lord showdowns the world had been missing since early 1975.

In a perfect world this album would have been the template for the ultimate successor band to Deep Purple. In fact, today's Deep Purple Appreciation Society started life as the Ritchie Blackmore Appreciation Society in 1975 and their publication was called Stargazer (later, with the club name change, it would in turn change to Darker than Blue). That's how ripe with promise Rainbow was in its early days, even when Deep Purple's fourth lineup was in direct competition. However, one must predict Ritchie's career decisions only with great peril, and as early as 1977 the band showed signs of pulling back. While the live On Stage showed the superiority of the second lineup over the first on an apples-for-apples level, delivering particularly forceful versions of "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves", almost all of Rising was omitted from the setlist except for a "medley" treatment of "Starstruck" stuffed inside "Man on the Silver Mountain". Even the 2012 deluxe edition only adds "Do You Close Your Eyes" from another show. For some reason "A Light in the Black" and then "Stargazer" were removed from the setlist and never enjoyed a position as a staple of the live show, which is hindsight seems kind of shocking. The 1978 album Long Live Rock and Roll, wracked by personnel issues, particularly bass, also pointed to more commercial leanings, though only after Dio's exit in 1979 did in become clear that Ritchie was leading the band in a more commercial direction.

When Cozy Powell quit after Down to Earth, the old Rising lineup was officially vanquished from the record, The new Rainbow gradually populated its ranks with increasingly radio-friendly musicians, all under the watch of Ritchie and Roger Glover (the former had been nearly fired the latter from Deep Purple in 1973 and now they were best buds - go figure). By the last album the keyboards and drums were largely reduced to session-level (in fact David Rosenthal and Chuck Burgi were most recently sighted on tour with Billy Joel) and the vocals by Joe Lynn Turner were far removed from the Dio years.

Sometimes, in the heat of overanalysis, critics hail Long Live Rock and Roll, or even Down to Earth as the "best" Rainbow album. No doubt there are great songs on pretty much every album; only Bent Out of Shape leaves me at a bit of a loss. However, for consistently good performances across all of the instruments, the six songs of Rising are the standard by which all the other albums should be judged. Deservedly so, all personnel enjoyed continued success following the album: Dio kept true to metal in Black Sabbath and his own band, which would feature Jimmy Bain on its greatest albums; Powell would lend his services to numerous bands, including Whitesnake and Black Sabbath during the 1980's and 1990's before dying in a car crash in 1998; and Tony Carey became an incredibly successful musician in his own right, primarily in his adopted home of Germany, employing a distinctly non-metal singer-songwriter approach.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)

It's been four years and a day since Ronnie James Dio succumbed to cancer, so I was particularly happy to dial up the album that really raised his profile, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. To numerous listeners of the time, Dio was probably seen as an unknown quantity, with all eyes on Blackmore in his first proper solo outing. However the real veteran was actually Dio, who's earliest recordings actually predated Blackmore's by about three years. Before he was the voice of metal, Ronnie Dio (Blackmore added the "James") fronted various upstate New York bands like The Red Caps, The Prophets, The Electric Elves, The Elves, and finally just plain Elf. Everything prior to 1972 is officially out of print, but, thanks to the power of the Internet, readily available as free downloads. Through sheer luck, Elf was discovered by Roger Glover and Ian Paice of Deep Purple and quickly signed to their Purple label and released three albums with Glover in the booth.

Meanwhile, another Deep Purple alum, Blackmore, was toying with leaving the band and recorded a song, borrowing Elf (minus their guitarist) to back him up. A song lead to an album and an album lead to a band, all in 1975. In fact, things were moving so fast that this album and the final Elf album, Trying to Burn the Sun, were released at virtually the same time. Although the two albums have virtually the same personnel, they sound very different. While the Elf album is a capstone achievement for a band that suffered for far too long in obscurity, this album is much more unsteady, with songs primarily designed to showcase Ritchie's guitar playing ("Self Portrait" and "Snake Charmer" are thin constructions around Blackmore's guitar lines). Songs like "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" were early hits for the band, but it was another band, also called Rainbow, that would make these songs huge stage numbers.

A band notorious for not holding the same lineup for two consecutive albums, the Elf-Rainbow lineup of this album rapidly disintegrated in the wake of this album's release. Blackmore moved quickly to replace the Elf members that were playing out of their element, leaving only Dio. In their place arrived a crack team of professional musicians, including top drummer Cozy Powell and the framework for their most successful album, Rising, was in place. This new lineup would also breathe new life into the songs on this album. When one hears the live versions of songs from this album it becomes abundantly clear why Elf was not equipped to handle the greater ambitions of Ritchie Blackmore.

Straight Between the Eyes (Rainbow, 1982)

One of the joys of being a Deep Purple fan is that the band has a lot of interesting roots and branches to explore. I consider it to be the silver lining for a band that was considerably less stable that its big-name peers in the 1970's. Some of these branches, like Glenn Hughes in Trapeze, Ian Gillan's assorted projects or Nick Simper in Warhorse, making for special listening experiences, the kind of stuff that never would have appeared on my radar if I hadn't followed Deep Purple very closely. However, not every branch is solid gold, which is sort of how I feel about latter-day Rainbow.

Rainbow could have been so much more. Ritchie Blackmore had just the right persona to be a major figure in heavy metal, but by 1979 he turned away from all of that to pursue a much more commercial direction, effectively parting ways with the NWOBHM sound he inadvertently helped to launch. His unlikely partner in forging the "new" Rainbow was Roger Glover, who quit Deep Purple in 1973 before Ritchie could fire him. Whereas the early Rainbow albums maybe had a few commercial nods here and there, in the later albums, listeners must sift through a much slicker commercial sound for remnants of the old sound.

Straight Between the Eyes continues the increasingly commercial trajectory launched with Down to Earth (1979) and continued by Difficult to Cure (1981). The opening track, "Death Alley Driver", in spite of some lame lyrics by Joe Lynn Turner, harkens back to the more showy age of Blackmore, complete with a duel by newbie/hired gun keyboard player Dave Rosenthal. Most of the rest of the songs are fairly undistinguished, being either gushy Turner ballads ("Stone Cold", actually a low-level hit single) or arena rock stuff ("Rock Fever", "Power"). It isn't crap, but it's a letdown, both from the opening track's promises as well as material from the bygone era of Ronnie James Dio and Cozy Powell. There's a bit of a save in the final track, "Eyes of Fire", but overall it feels like Rainbow is strangling itself in a vain attempt to emulate bands like Foreigner and crack the elusive American charts.

Bent Out of Shape, released the following year, would continue the "downward spiral" - I use the quotes because that's more my own hindsight feelings. In fact, most of the 1980's albums brought increasingly financial success to the band, although it seems that they were cresting on the charts around this time, one of a number of factors that brought Deep Purple back together in 1984.

For a recap of the Rainbow story, check out this earlier post.

The Rainbow Family Album (Various Artists, 1995)

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.