Rainbow
Rising

THE REVIEW

One of the best hard rock albums ever! Period. Around the mid-seventies, the charismatic guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who had founded the legendary Deep Purple a decade earlier, found himself at a crossroads: continue playing with the band that had made him famous worldwide or seek a change? For some years, he had been tired and demotivated, largely due to the direction Purple had taken towards a funkier sound, which he (and most fans) detested. After the "Stormbringer" tour in the first half of 1975, Blackmore decided to leave. His last date with the group was in Paris in April of that year. "The man in Black," as the guitarist was nicknamed, decided that his time was over and recruited the entire Elf band, led by a certain Ronald Padovana, an Italian-American singer with an incredible blues voice, who would go down in history as Ronnie James Dio. The Elf were a great rock blues band (I recommend listening to any of their three albums, "Elf," "California County Ball," or "Tryin' to Burn the Sun," all released between '72 and '74, fabulous and also quite rare), discovered in 1971 and produced by Roger Glover and Ian Paice, bassist and drummer of Deep Purple. After cutting their teeth in the east coast cities of the United States, for several years they opened for Purple concerts, and Blackmore had no hesitation in turning to them to form his new toy, Rainbow!!

They achieved notable success with their debut album "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow," acclaimed by audiences and critics, and began touring the world, in front of ever larger audiences, using a gigantic neon rainbow as the stage backdrop for their concerts, which became the band's symbol. In 1976, the guitarist decided to fire the entire band on the spot except for the singer and took with him some of the best musicians on the British rock scene of those years. Among them were bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboardist Tony Carey, and Cozy Powell, a great drummer, perhaps too underrated over the years, but capable of holding his own against the exceptional Bonham and Paice.

Blackmore intended to fully exploit the exceptional qualities of the new formation, and in February of that year, they headed to the Musicland Studios in Munich, where their most exciting and unparalleled album, "RAINBOW RISING," was born, produced by a sacred monster like Martin Birch ("Made in Japan," "Machine Head," "The Number of the Beast," just to name a few).

33.28 minutes of pure hard rock, where the guitarist reigns supreme with his epic riffs and solos, canvases on which Ronnie James Dio paints with his powerful and magnificent voice tales of wizards, demons, medieval castles, and knights, giving it all a fantasy and otherworldly atmosphere. It starts with the magical "Tarot Woman," opened by a synthesizer solo from Carey, which then transforms into a powerful Blackmore riff supporting Dio's potent and epic vocals. "Run with the Wolf" follows suit, a very impactful song, opened as usual by an ingenious riff from the man in black, with a splendid Powell adding drive and energy to the track. After the equally ambitious "Starstruck," whose guitar solo was originally intended to be part of a new Purple song but which Blackmore preferred to keep for himself for a solo project, the first side of the record closes. But the best is yet to come!!!

The second side opens with the thunderous "Do You Close Your Eyes," curiously the only song on the album without solos, but equally energetic where Ronnie James Dio perhaps expresses the strongest and highest voice of the entire album. The following "Stargazer" is unanimously the highlight of the entire work: epic, magical, opened by a long roll from trusty Powell, followed by a riff from the best Blackmore, heavily effected and accompanied by Carey's organ that makes it all darker and more evil. The original idea was to close the song with a long violin solo; they did, but they realized in the studio that the tape had run out at the time of the final solo, and everything went down the drain. It was the song most performed live by the band and one of the fans' favorites. This wonderful work closes with the very intense "A Light in the Black," very fast and quite long, with its 8-minute duration and whistles, a fitting conclusion to one of those albums that set the standard for future generations of Heavy Metal bands. Dave Murray of Iron Maiden calls it the best rock album in history (perhaps not true, but said by him...) and even the F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel often listens to it before races, alternating it with Led Zeppelin 4 and Machine Head by Deep Purple.

This album, perhaps the best in Rainbow's production, earned gold in the UK and platinum in the USA, laid the foundations for future new wave heavy metal albums, and consecrated Ronnie James Dio as an exceptional performer. R.I.P great Ronnie!!!!