Rainbow
Straight Between the Eyes

We are in 1982, the year of the release of the second chapter of the "Oriented Rock" trilogy by the Rainbow, Straight Between The Eyes, which marks even more the decisive turn in favor of the masses undertaken by the iron sergeant Ritchie Blackmore. The lineup - obviously - has changed again, even if only partially: replacing the veteran Don Airey on keyboards is the newcomer David Rosenthal, while the rest is confirmed with the reliable Roger Glover on bass, American Joe Lynn Turner as the vocalist, and Bobby Rondinelli on drums.

Now captured by the American market, Ritchie decides to continue riding the wave of overseas success and, between tours, moves to Canada to record the album in question; a certain hastiness is evident from the lackluster care in the recording - especially regarding some mixing choices - yet the quality of the musicians is undisputed, and what emerges perfectly reflects the atmosphere within Rainbow at that time.

A somewhat chaotic atmosphere, to tell the truth, where the strong personality of the Man in Black lines up his subordinates and completely overshadows them. Indeed, the lack of motivation is quite noticeable, and combined with the glaring submission to record label advances, a breakdown is just around the corner. Yet something good immediately jumps out from the listening experience. Death Alley Driver, characterized by a very fast rhythm and a Blackmore in top form, seems to steer the album in the right direction: the signature frenzied solo, in which Ritchie seems almost to be mocking (but it’s nothing new) the listener with ascending and descending scales, then unleashes like a funnel into the usual and intensely focused delightfully distorted pot-pourri of notes bordering on cacophony; the young Rosenthal on keyboards is clearly heard, and the whole is undoubtedly very engaging and entertaining. But soon the sparks ignited with the opening track fade as the listening continues: the following Stone Cold highlights the melodic side of Joe Lynn Turner's voice, yet some choices of vocal lines are not entirely convincing; Bring on The Night once again increases cruising speed with a good Ritchie solo, highlighting Rondinelli’s excellent rhythm, good in execution but lacking, alas, the personality shown just a year before. Tite Squeeze, rather unsuccessful and decidedly banal, closely resembles what could be considered filler, but the ballad Tearin' Out My Heart somewhat recovers this dip, once again finding as its protagonist Mr. Blackmore's reflective and melodic Fender.

Like a roller coaster, the second part of the album sees the pace rise again, but suffers from a heavy radio-friendly turn with the pair Rock Fever and Power (in the latter, one wonders if the riff is really Blackmore’s work and not a session musician passing by!). Better is MISS Mistreated, where our hero finds a bit of vigor at the end - well accompanied by Rosenthal - and especially the closing Eyes Of Fire, with an excellent Roger Glover and Blackmore once more in perfect form, in a dialogue with vaguely oriental melodies and wandering with extreme class up and down his personal (and known only to him) scales and phrases, distortions, and high-pitched cries, whines, and electric roars... definitely the best and most convincing track.

Overall, we are faced with a good album, not homogeneous but still well played, which suffers from haste and hurry in production and in setting ideas; the delightful touch and skill of Blackmore are always present, but it is clear that the blatantly AOR imprint significantly dampens the expressiveness and genius of this great band.

It deserves to be listened to in order to fully understand the musical journey of Rainbow: from the Rock Olympus to the Limbo of FM Waves, but the class of one of the greatest guitarists of all time remains unreachable.