Customer Reviews

Rising

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On Sept 3rd 1976 I went to see my first ever concert at the Liverpool Empire, it was Blackmore's Rainbow and it changed my life.

The monstrous setup of a giant Rainbow over the stage, guitar smashing, 1812 overture drum pounding, stereo effect keyboard solos and Dio's amazing voice made this concert a comparison for every concert I have been to since. I remeber Blackmore lauching his destroyed strat in to the audience smacking some kid clean in chops then he was mobbed by people fighting for the parts, the theatre was wrecked after this concert.

There there is the album - every part is stunningly incredible, from the artwork, gatefold sleeve [vinyl] quality pressing by Polydor. This album remains the treasure of my collection 26 years later.

Simply ahead of its time, setting trends for years to come this is an original piece of musical work. It has the best ever combination of rock band and orchestra in the studio. My only complaint of this album is that is was simply too short :-(

an excelent CD well worth its weight in gold, every song excluding Do You Close You Eyes(the weakest one) is amazing, my favorite being Stargazer, a very well written and performed album and a classic in hard rock.

this is where power rock started, way to go what a team blackmore and DIO! the only thing better than this line up was DIO's sabbath days!

Since Ritchie Blackmore is such an unruly and meglomanic b*tch, EVERY SINGLE MEMBER(except Ronnie) was kicked out. Even though that shows how much of an ass he is, it proved to have two desirable results. A) Those guys didn't have to deal with Blackmore anymore, and B) We gained one of Rock's best drummers, Cozy Powell (god rest the man's soul). The album starts with "Tarot Woman", which is a solid rock song (even though it begins to show the constant loop that Ronnie has in his lyrics, including "carousels" and "I don't know" ;). Then we have "Run with the Wolf". Eh, the only song that isn't that good. The 3rd track is "Starstruck". Easily one of Rainbow's better songs. The bass is so simple (then again, so is Jimmy Bain), but it hits nice and hard. Then we have "Do You Close Your Eyes". Actually, let me correct myself. "Run with the Wolf" is actually a pretty good song. "Do You Close your Eyes", FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRT. "Stargazer" is a classic Rainbow song that is excellent. The album ends with "A Light in the Black". This is the best song on the record. Overall, this is Rainbow's best album, and easily one of the best rock albums of the 70's.

Before the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, before Thrash/Death/Black/Speed/Power/Gore/Gothic Metal, there was bands with the pretention to make Rock'n'Roll more hard and sofisticated than ever made. Bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, The Who, Black Sabbath and Rainbow. They created Heavy Metal.
This album is a relic from this age. The compositions are perfect. Blackmore plays his guitar very well. The voice of Ronnie James Dio is amazing. The cover drawn by Ken Kelly (the same who drawn some Kiss's and Manowar's albuns).
Everything perfect. It is all I have to say.

Rainbow Rising (1976.) Rainbow's second album.

When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple following that band's Stormbringer album, it's doubtful that many fans knew that he would rise again, and recapture his former glory. Sure, Rainbow was never as popular as the mighty Deep Purple, but their music was still nothing short of excellent. The band's first album, while a bit uneven, was still excellent. Following its recording, Blackmore ditched all of Ronnie James Dio's former Elf comrades and hired some new musicians, so that he could take the band in a new, more "power rock" oriented sound. With new bandmates Jimmy Bain on bass, Tony Carey on keyboards, and Cozy Powell on drums, the band went into the studio, recorded, and released their second studio album in 1976. How does this one measure up? Read on for my review of Rainbow Rising.

Rainbow's advancing in a new direction was one of the smartest moves of their career. This album is much more of a power/hard rock than the first Rainbow one was. There are a few bluesy elements present, but now that most of Elf was gone, the sound was much more hard rock oriented. Tarot Woman, the track that kicks it off, features awesome keyboard effects, similar to the ones in Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group and Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band. It eventually becomes a hard and melodic rocker. Track two, Run With The Wolf, is a very memorable mid-tempo melodic hard rocker, symbolic of the rock that Dio would continue to make for years to come. My favorite cut here is Starstruck, in which Dio tells the tale of an obsessive fan he can't get away from. The vocals and instruments here are tough to forget. A Light In The Black, the closing track, is an awesome hard rocker reminiscent of the New Wave Of British heavy Metal, even though that wouldn't be unleashed for at least two more years. In the end, this album flat out rocks.

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 Rainbow 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 guess we can't have it all.

Rainbow's second album is damn fine - enough said. If you're a fan of classic hard power rock, this is a release well worth adding to your collection. It's a shame that Blackmore and Dio's Rainbow days tend to go overlooked in favor of the more popular material they did with other bands, because this is some of their finest work. Check it out - It's unlikely that you'll be disappointed.

I bought Rainbow Rising because Axel Rudi Pell, the German
Heavy Metal King, cites it as a main musical influence in his youth. Well here we have an example of the pupil surpassing the master! Repetitious heavy metal without creativity or melody just
won't do it for me; it's OK for 5 minutes after days of musical abstinence but then I'm bored. ...

I am a Led Zeppelin lover. That aside, I , like most people, have other bands that I keep close to my heart. One of them is Rainbow. When I first heard of the the band it was in a guitar mag about Euro-Metal. I had heard a bit about Deep Purple, but, I didn't know that Blackmore had another 70's metal band. The name didn't exactly fit with my vision of hard rock metal. My mood quickly changed when I found out they had Dio fronting the early years.
This line up and album should stand as one of the all-time greats. Only two people were carried over from the debut album. Blackmore struck gold with Bain and Cozy Powell( who I think is the greatest drummer ever) giving him a brick wall of crushing drums and bass.
This album carries very Deep Purple sounding songs. But, with one exception. These are ten times as better. "Stargazer" is one of my all time favorites. Sure it's a Zeppelin rip-off, however, the harmonies, double kick drum, and Dio's tenor-esque voice stirs up passion in you when you hear it.
The other is "Tarot Woman". This track is the lesser known and should have been on the the Very Best Of Rainbow. The old 70's keyboards never sounded cooler. That and the song reminds me of an old friend.
From an enginering stand point this is one of the clearest sounding old school cd's out there. Too bad other classics like Blizzard of Ozz and Machine Head couldn't match it.
This is a must for drummers. If you don't know who Cozy Powell is . . . you need to wise up. And bow down to his glory. Dare I say it, but, he out does John Bonham's sound from Zeppelin IV's "When The Levee Breaks". There I said it.
Final word: Get this f*cking album! You'll be happier.
Also get one of the best live albums too. Rainbow On Stage.

really the only thing i can do is repeat what other reviewers have been saying about this classic album,everysong here is a classic truly not one weak track.light in the black is the most underrated hard rock/metal song ever,it ranks right up there with sabbath's paranoid and purples smoke on the water.other standout tracks are tarot woman and stargazer.this is an unbelievable album all fans of metal should own.if you don't own this ,then you are really missing out on some great music.the only complaint that i have is that there was'nt enough songs,the cd could have used another 3 or 4 tracks.

This is one of those albums that is a total classic.

The second Rainbow album is a "dream band" byitself: Dio, Blackmore, Powell, Bain and Carey. Uau! All of them at the peak of their creativity, energy and youth. Dio's voice will leave you breathless, wondering how can someone sing like that in a rock record.

Unfortunately, this line up would not last long (Blackmore's famous bad temper being the cause, I guess...)and Rianbow would try to make America using the pop singer Joe Lynn Turner...