Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow [Original recording remastered]

Circa 1974, Ritchie Blackmore must have been tired of playing in Deep Purple, because after nine albums with them, he finally left. Elf was a blues rock act who opened for Deep Purple in recent years, and Blackmore was really into them. He joined forces with the members of that band, and his new band, Rainbow, was born! With future heavy metal star Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals, Blackmore and company set out to rock the world! Did they succeed with their first album? Read on and see.

The first thing I should probably point out is that this album, while a classic rock power album, is a far cry from Rainbow's later material - it's much more bluesy than their later material. This is because this is essentialy "an Elf album with Blackmore." But, what we get is a solid album nonetheless. The opener, Man On The Silver Mountain, is a solid classic hard rocker that would go on to become one of the band's biggest hits, as well as a fan favorite. If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll is the most bluesy track on the album, but it's still excellent. Another one of the excellent bluesy tunes here is Black Sheep Of The Family. And, of course, who could forget the gloomy yet melodic stylings of songs like Self Portrait and Catch The Rainbow? These are underrated classic rock masterpieces. The Temple Of The King and Sixteenth Century Greensleeves hint at a medieval sound, something that fascinated Blackmore (and would eventually destroy his career, but I'm not gonna get into that here.) A short but sweet instrumental entitled Still I'm Sad finishes off the album. All in all, a cool album.

THE TEXT IN THIS PARAGRAPH REFERS EXCLUSIVELY TO THE WARNER BROS. AMERICAN REISSUE OF THE ALBUM. The record company did a fine job remastering and rereleasing the Black Sabbath catalogue, as did they several other artists. Unfortunately, they didn't really do anything outside of improving the sound quality. You don't get expanded liner notes, interviews, bonus tracks, combined albums, or anything. Oh, well. I still think it's a damn fine album.

Even though Blackmore was no longer a part of Deep Purple, this album more than proved that he was still a capable rock artist. This was also the band that would really launch Ronnie James Dio's career - he'd become a big time heavy metal legend in the eighties. If you're a fan of Blackmore or Dio, or just good classic power rock, Rainbow's Dio-era material is some good stuff you simply can't overlook.

1. Man on the Silver Mountain - very good rock song, very good lyrics, still one of Dio's popular live songs. 4.75/5
2. Self Portrait - quite good, but a little bit too bluesy 2.75/5
3. Black Sheep of the Family - this is a cover song, but not speacial one 2.25/5
4. Catch the Rainbow - a beautiful ballad, very touching lyrics! 4.75/5
5. Snake Charmer - just like "Self Portait" but a little bit more blues song 2/5
6. Temple of the King - a very beutiful song, good lyrics and good keyboards! 3.75/5
7. If You Don't Like Rock & Roll - basic rock song 0.5/5
8. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves - good riff, good lyrics! 4.5/5
9. Still I'm Sad - an instumental song, nothing interesting 1.25/5

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow in resume, is an anticlimatic record with a few sparks of geniality.