Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Album by Album thread

I decided this would be a fun album by album thread to do as it’s quick and easy. Plus a lot of people may not be that familiar with Rainbow and may peak their interest to purchase some albums.

I got into Rainbow because my friend got me into Dio. After hearing most of Dio’s solo stuff, I moved to the Dio-era of Black Sabbath and then purchased his Rainbow stuff. Actually, like Iron Maiden, I let my friend be the guinea pig and had him purchase Long Live Rock And Roll and Finyl Vinyl. I like them as well so I went ahead and got those. My friend bought the first album and he returned it as he hated it so much. It was too “slow” for him. I then got Rainbow Rising, loved it, and liking the Finyl Vinyl material, I started getting the post-Dio Rainbow albums. Soon I had the whole collection. It was the summer of 1992 I believe.
From Rainbow I moved onto Deep Purple as I loved Ritchie’s playing so much. It was very backwards as probably most people like Deep Purple first and then go from there.

After Gillan and Glover left, Deep Purple began a new era recruiting Coverdale and Hughes. Richie’s dream was to have a blues-based hard rock band as he was obsessed with Free. He wanted Paul Rodgers to join DP but Rodger’s opted to form Bad Co. instead. The first album of the Mk4 lineup was Burn, Ritchie and company certainly accomplished the sound that they were going for. It was a very strong album which included corkers like Burn and You Fool No One and the tour de force, Mistreated. After a successful tour they quickly went back into the studio and to work on their second album together, Stormbringer. Ritchie became disinterested in the funk/rock direction they were going and was minimally involved in the whole writing and recording process. He even played the solo from Hold On with just his thumb! One song, Soldier Of Fortune would be a precursor to Blackmore’s Night sound many years later.
Glover and Paice produced Elf’s first album. The band was then signed to Purple Records and opened up for Purple on the Burn tour. Ritchie liked what he saw and mostly interested in their lead singer Ronnie James Dio so he asked Elf to play on a planned single he was recording, a cover of Black Sheep of the Family, which was rejected by Purple as he wanted to record it for the Stormbringer album. He then needed a B-side and was so spurned on with the sessions that he decided to record a whole album with them. Once the self-titled debut was recorded Blackmore fired everybody except for Dio. Dio was lead to believe that the band members would stay on for further touring and recording but it didn’t happen. This would be the start of the many lineup changes that Rainbow would endure in its 9 year history.
Ritchie stayed on for a short UK tour with Purple. Luckily a few shows were recorded and listening to these you can hear how he is in his own world. At these shows, he would tease riffs that would be eventually on Rainbow’s debut. These concerts and the first few Rainbow albums and tours ushered in a second golden era for Blackmore.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (Aug 1975)
Ritchie Blackmore (guitar)
Ronnie James Dio (vocals)
Gary Driscoll (drums)
Crag Gruber (bass)
Mickey Lee Soule (keyboards)

1. Man On The Silver Mountain
2. Self Portrait
3. Black Sheep Of The Family
4. Catch The Rainbow
5. Snake Charmer
6. The Temple Of The King
7. If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll
8. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
9. Still I'm Sad

Essentially this is Elf with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. If you have heard Elf’s last album, Trying To Burn The Sun, it’s not very different from that. If just Cozy Powell was added to drums for this album, it would probably be twice as heavy. I think when this first came out, fans expected a big guitar album with bunch of songs that sound like Highway Star and Burn but it wasn’t the case. Because of that, I think that’s why they didn’t break through in the US because the band wasn’t guitar heavy from the get-go. Listen to this album and try to fit it in a certain category of rock- it’s impossible. Still it’s a solid album, although Rising is better.
Man On the Silver Mountain- I remember being shocked on how slow the studio version of Man On the Silver Mountain was. I was used to hearing the lightning fast Finyl Vinyl version. This song was briefly featured in a Coors Light commercial recently. Too bad it didn’t cause people to rush out and buy Rainbow albums like what happened when Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ was used in the Sopranos. It’s a classic song and I probably like the sped up live version ever. On Dio’s Holy Diver Live album he slowed it down to almost the speed of the album version.
Self Portrait- I like this song a lot. Too bad they never played after the 1st tour. Blackmore’s Night resurrected this recently.
Black Sheep Of The family- This song is what made Blackmore start a solo thing. To this day I don’t get why he ljked this song so much. It’s a weak song.
Catch the Rainbow- Brilliant song made even more brilliant in a live setting.
Snake Charmer- This sounds like this could go on Stormbringer as it’s rather funky. I enjoy Blackmore’s guitar work on this.
The Temple Of the King- Another great song that was never played live except for the first tour and this was also resurrected during The Stranger In Us All tour. There’s a live B-side of this song on the Arial CD single.
If You Don’t Like Rock And Roll- This song is terrible and very Elf-ish. Worst song on the album.
16th Century Greensleeves- Another song that become a big tour-de-force live. The 3.5 minute version is good here as well if you don’t want to sit through the 16 min+ vrsion.
Still I’m Sad- I like the studio version of this and I love the cowbell. You always need “more cowbell.”

The production and band is so-so. Ritchie, Dio, and the songs themselves standout.
Their peak would come next.

4 stars/5

PS- Did the lineup credits always say "The band consisted of"? I always found humor in that.

Also, check out all things Rainbow here: http://rainbowfanclan.com/

 

I've always much preferred the studio version of "Man On...".
The live versions just don't have the groove and weight of the studio version imo. Good album but "Rising" was the pinnacle of Rainbow.

 

I like it, I recently discovered on another thread that this was recorded while Ritchie was still in Purple which I had no idea...my fave song is Cath The Rainbow, least favorite is Black Sheep (which sounds as bad as the original Quatermass version, IMO) I do think the Rainbow is a bit soft for my tastes though, and Dio's lyrics are pretty lame in the Spinal Tap mode....

 

Good idea for a thread (is it Blackmore week on the SH Forums??)

I'll post my thoughts in the morning (its getting late here) but Bartles meant to say the first album of the Mark III line Up was BURN and Ritchie certainly didn't play Hold On with just his thumb (its one of his best solos ever!), but he might have played a slide guitar solo on Holy Man with a screw driver that he picked up from a stool and did in one take,without saying a word, and then walked out.

Ritchie also agreed to complete a short European tour to finish his time with Purple, not Uk, and the results were released as Made in Europe (1976) and ultimately The Final Concerts (2005).

For me the first album was underwhelming. Some interesting bits but like Jon Lord said in 1975..."his next one will be a bitch"

 

Great debut, fav tracks:

Man On The Silver, Self Portrait, Catch The Rainbow, The Temple Of The King,
Catch the Rainbow (live is amazing!!), 16th Century, Still I'm Sad

(thanks for the link Bartels!)

 

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - Interesting way to start a band. Probably Rainbow's most diverse album but not everything works however. I do like the studio version of Man on the Silver Mountain. I used to play it on 45 RPM sometimes when I was a teenager. Favorites - Man on the Silver Mountain, 16th Century Greensleeeves and Catch the Rainbow. I give this a B+. One note on Rainbow is they're the only band of all my favorites that I actually grew up with from the beginning. I remember reading copies of Circus, Creem and Hit Parader hoping to find news about them. I hope you young people appreciate how hard it actually was to follow a new band back in the 70s. Sometimes you wouldn't know a new album had been released until you saw it in the store.

 

A decent album but those songs worked betetr live. Still I'm Sad when performed live was when Richie did his guitar destruction bit.

 

Blackmore's Rainbow - got a couple of hours?

Yeah, this band was m second major obsession after Alice Cooper. I read a Circus magazine inteview with Richie and Ronnie and that was it - I had to hear this band. My first purchase was LLR&R, but more about that later.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is a pretty strange album in retrospect. Some of its dragon-rockin' tracks are as molton (in concept if not in execution) as anything Rainbow ever did. Others are generic boogie garbage. The production is a bit, I don't know, I wanna say cheesy, but it's not really that. If you think of a good Glyn Johns or Jimmy Miller production as a steak (and I do), this is creme brulee. It's not really bad, but it lacks a certain authenticity and authority. But it is sweet.

Man On The Silver Mountain: Best, most iconic song on the album. The slow, stomping groove here is so much better than the breakneck live versions. The layered guitars are beautiful, like an intricate stained glass image. I don't know what orifice Dio pulled this lyric out of, but it's admirably eccentric even as it is pompous. I would regularly play this track to friends when I was young, and all of them fell in love with it.

Self Portrait: One of Ronnie's best lyrics. Another molton groove. Clever use of the mellotron. This has never been my favorite track, but I've always had respect for it.

Black Sheep of the Family: I agree with bartels76, I never understood why Blackmore was so enamored with this song. It's totally out of character for Ronnie, and wouldn't have been up Coverdale's alley either. Generic boogie crap.

Catch The Rainbow: An obvious and instant classic. Probably a clever re-working of Hendrix's "Little Wing." This is another fantastic Dio lyric, and melody. Also, it seems a first cousin of "Mistreated", the studio version of which is also a model of restraint, while live versions are lengthy guitar showpieces. Listen closely - the same keyboard sound is here as in "Self Portrait."

Snake Charmer: Now this is what Blackmore should have left Purple for. This has all the boogie of "Black Sheep" but with an appropriate (and outstanding) dramatic occult lyrical theme. Check out that snarling wah-wah! This is a superior track, a merger of intelligence, horror and rock worthy of the best of BOC.

Temple Of The King: If you were wondering, this is where the Blackmore's Night style started. This is a sweet little madrigal containg one of Dio's most charming little pagan fairy tales. His sweet vocal performance here showcases a talent for mellifluousness that he would only display once more while in Rainbow, and as far as I know has only revisited in bits of his solo songs. Too bad.

If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll: Generic boogie crap.

Sixteenth Century Greensleeves: No, Ronnie, Henry VIII didn't write this, you and Ritchie did. Another worthy Rainbow classic that shows RBR as a unique band with a unique sound and attitude. This song would come alive in concert, but the studio version lacks very little in comparison.

Still I'm Sad: This is that most unusual animal, a transforming re-arrangement. I wish I had actually heard the Yardbirds version first so I could get the whole impact of this radical re-interpretation of a largely forgotten Yardbirds single. This is a thing of beauty.

All in all, this is a flawed but still often stunning debut. The four best songs (MOTSM, CTR, SC, and SCG) are brilliant for a debut album, even one featuring such a titan as Blackmore. Dio sounds completely self-posessed and confident, and the remaining Elf musicians all play wonderfully, IMO. I reget that this version of Rainbow never played live. Subsequent versions of Rainbow had some true superstar musicians (Cozy Powell and Tony Carey come to mind), but I suspect that this truncated Elf had a cohesiveness that other Rainbows lacked. I could be wrong though, and there's probably no way to be sure.

I have poor luck in my purchases of this album. I bought two vinyl LP versions in the 70's, both of which skip on different tracks, and both have worse-than-average warping, although not enough to make them completely unplayable. I foolishly passed up the opportunity to buy a cheap used copy of the original CD at Media Play, because I wanted the remaster, thinking that "all remasters are better." Well, it ain't. And I could have bought a Japanese vinyl pressing from a CA Ebay seller for $10, but I didn't bite and it's long gone. So, I'm left with the current remaster (Suha Gur, I think), which tastes somewhat like a burned creme brulee. Oh well. Live and learn.

 

Nice thread.

I remember waiting for this to come out. I didn't care for the direction Deep Purple had gone with Stormbringer...and wanted Ritchie to sound like...well...Ritchie. Anyway, I had to wait to get it because Christmas was right around the corner. Being the nice guy that I am, I bought my brother the 8-track for his gift. It killed me to give it away, because I really wanted to keep it. Everything works out in the end though. He ended up getting me the exact same thing (also on 8-track). Not a bad exchange

Man On the Silver Mtn-Classic. What a great riff. And I thought Dio sounded soooo much better than Coverdale.

Self Portrait. Good, but I never liked the cowbell intro. Just didn't fit anything really.

Black Sheep...errr....not one of my faves. More friggin cowbell in the intro. I think I'm gonna make a T-Shirt that says "Less Cowbell".

Catch The Rainbow...another classic. Really shows the beauty of Blackmore's playing.

Snake Charmer-Dio really kills on this one.

Temple of the King-Classic. What a great melody. Great harmonies as well.

If You Don't Like Rock and Roll---err...well I don't like this rock and roll :thumbsdn:

16th Century-Classic. Along with MOTSM...the most "Purple" sounding thing on here. (lyrics aside)

Still I'm Sad...hey what'ya know...more friggin cowbell. Ritchie kills though.

I love Rainbow (the Dio years pretty much exclusively)...but they are one really poorly recorded band. This is one of their better *sounding* releases.

 

Arguably, it is also the least interesting song on the first Quatermass album, but it ain't "generic" there.

 

Well I find myself agreeing with Bartles and DKMonroe about the individual tunes, so I'm not going to repeat all that.

I remember my first listen to this album and there were two obvious things which struck me. One was, Am I playing this at the correct speed? Its a LP and its going 33 1/3, but it sounds so slow compared to On Stage.

Secondly, it sounded so dated, production wise, it was dated, mushy,lacking definition, lacking sonics even in 1977,when I first heard it. It does actually sound like a debut album from a band who have yet to discover their confidence.

It might be worth giving some background info on this LP as its a very interesting period for Rainbow/Purple fans. There was a huge 6 page spread in the last DPAS magazine which covers this very topic..

Stormbringer was to be a double album. Originally called "Silence" after the 6 foot sign above the studio in Musicland Germany. It is clear Blackmore was getting fed up with the "shoeshine" music which Glenn and David had introduced, and now of course they were hardenned rock stars(18months on the road with Purple) not the shrinking violets which Blackmore could mould to his will. He found suggestions over ruled and their response to record Blacksheep was simply "we'll write a better song than that,we aren't doing covers of anyones songs".

Musicland studios are below a Hotel where the band stayed, so people would come and go and do their bits whenever they wanted. This gave Ritchie the chance to record the single with Elf (who had supported Purple on Tour).

The point about Rainbow is that it gave Ritchie a chance to NOT be the rock star guitarist. He was fed up of the Guitar God title and was looking for something where he could play for enjoyments sake without being all over the album and in your face. This might explain his lost in the mix sound and the rather muddy production techniques used. It was probably the record company who insisted on it being called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.

In complete contrast, whilst wanting to be just another member of a band..he also wanted musicians around him who would do exactly as they were told. He could not even get Purples agreement for BlackSheep, so he obviously found his control over ELF somewhat refreshing. But in Dio he found a willing and inspired co writer, something he hadn't had with Purple.

He blamed laziness for not leaving Purple earlier(but had no where to go) along with Inertia and a comfortable "going through the motions" attitude, but now he was having a lot of fun, in control and decided there should be a whole album following the fun he had doing the single.

Coverdale later said he hated heavy metal and that he had only ever written 2 heavy metal songs Burn and Stormbringer just to keep Blackmore happy. It is speculated that had Stormbringer been a double album, there may not have been a Rainbow, as it would have allowed sufficient space for the Funk/RnB tracks and Blacksheep and some rockers from Ritchie, which would have seen them survive this period. It was afterall, just a solo project of Ritchies and Jon Lord had done his own before. However, he decided to offer his resignation but only the road manager knew initially, until press speculation and discussions over the European tour were finalised.

Back to the album, the only other comment worth making is that Temple of the King was a surprise. Blackmore had always said he was an Electric Guitarist, a Rock Guitar Player and wasn't interested in acoustic whenever interviewed. Purple had Soldier of Fortune which was the first time acoustic had been heard from Ritchie since April in 1969. Now 2 acoustics in the same year..interesting, but he never repeated it(until Blackmore's Night 20years later). The DPAS have always been critical of the production of this album and even to the extent that they blame some of the "less than top class" musicians involved. I'm not sure this is correct, but clearly none of them survive(except Dio) to the Rising period, so maybe Ritchie was of the same opinion.

 

I loved Elf. I feel bad for Mickey Lee Soule. He had a lot of talent. I think the album before this "Trying to Burn the Sun" is even better. I don't care for boogie rock either, but some of that stuff was stellar, such as the title track.

 

I must have been a 10 or 11 year old kid back then, so this album passed me by when it was released. But a few years later, in highschool, Rainbow had quite a bit of a following. Being into Alice Cooper, Queen, Golden Earring and Heart at the time, it was only natural that friends introduced mo to Rainbow, whose guitar player was alreay familiar with me because I had the 45 of Child in time. Long live rock 'n' roll was my first Rainbow album, followed suit by Rising and then this one. I didn't like the debut as much as the other two (we'll get to those later, of course), but Temple of the king always was one of my favourite Rainbow songs. It had that mystic feel about it, mainly because of the lyrics, I'm sure.
It was only years later that I discovered that this album featured different players (never heard of Elf before, but I 'got' the story because Glover recorded the Butterfly Ball album around the same time with Dio on vocals). My copy of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow didn't have any information on that, because of the generic inner sleeve. Did the original vinyl issue have an original inner sleeve with lyrics and liner notes?

 

It had a gatefold.

 

I see. My copy never had one - must have been a later issue. And I suppose it mentioned the players and/or the lyrics?

 

I didn't get into Rainbow until around 1983 or so and by then, much of the artwork had been excised from the original releases. The gatefold on the debut, the gatefold on Rising, the inner sleeves of On Stage, the gatefold and lyrics on Long Live Rock and Roll, the inner sleeve of Down to Earth. All gone by the time I got mid 80s US vinyl pressings. I didn't even learn until a few years ago that the packaging had been lopped off...oh well.

Anyway, Rainbow album number one. I think it's very, very good. Some excellent tracks that would come off better live very shortly. I believe Ritchie recorded this in March of '75, while he was still a member of Purple so it's, to my mind, more of a solo album with members of Elf than a true Rainbow album. I don't think Ritchie left until April or May of '75.

Does anybody else find it interesting that there's so much "shoeshine" music on Rainbow album number one? Ritchie apparently left Purple because of the funky soul direction and you'd think he'd come out of the gates with a heavy rocker instead of an album that's fairly mellow and soulfully smooth.

 

The 80s non gatefold US pressing had the players credits on the back cover as well as the lyrics to 16th Century Greensleeves.

 

As far as I recall my gatefold-copy had a big picture of Richie in full blast on stage (with Deep Purple but you cannot see the rest of the band) on one side and on the other were the pictures of the other members.
I can't remember if their credits were there as well along with the the lyrics to 16th Century Greensleeves (Why leave in the lyrics for one song but not the rest - it didn't - and still doesn't - make sense to me) or if that was written on the back ...

 

Yes indeed Jim, lots of little black & white pics beneath the Bigger Pic of Ritchie Throwing a strat into the Floor. This one lyric thing is indeed odd,but Led Zeppellin did it on Zofo (IV) with Stairway didn't they?

 

Yes, that's right ! That's how it was with the pictures inside the gatefold.
I see your point about the one-lyric thing - good of you to mention Led Zeppelin IV in this context.
IMHO it worked with Zeppelin as there may have been an idea with the entire album that could be summed up in the lyrics to 'Stairway To Heaven' (Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't an idea after all but in any case; the lyrics fitted in nicely with the rest of the artwork).
I'm not saying the lyrics to 'Stairway To Heaven' are the greatest lyrics ever but I must admit that during the years I have thought a lot about them.
What is it about this lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and is bying a stairway to heaven ?
She sounds a bit like my wife; she's a shopaholic too ...
However, the lyrics to 'Sixteen Century Greensleeves' sounds more to me like something Dio wrote after having smoked reefers and reading fairytales by the Brothers Grimm at the same time ...
Therefore, printing THOSE lyrics on the sleeve of the first Rainbow album doesn't give me the impression that 'here are the lyrics that somehow sums up this album'.
To me they seem somehow out of place or as an attempt to give the impression that the album is 'a bigger piece of art' than it really is.

And now for something completely different:
Thanks for your great post above (#11) about the story behind the album - and that the original idea with 'Stormbringer' was that it should have been a double LP - I didn't know that.
Very interesting.

 

Jim (Jens) if I get a chance to re-read all that stuff I'm sure to find more interesting snippets which I will post. There is even a notorious mock up of the sleeve for SILENCE with a bleach blonde with black mascara, false eye lashes and false fingernails, shot with a wide angle, but close up to the camera and holding her index finger over her mouth in a SHHHhhh! pose. Quite freaky!
The DPAS were able to publish a shot of Marc Bolan & T.Rex sitting in the console room at Musicland Studios with the huge "SILENCE" sign clearly visible overhead. So thats where the inspiration came from.

As for the Lyric, it always seemed to me a silly idea..almost as if the band were saying the other lyrics aren't important enough to be printed out or they don't matter..because we had all come to expect either full lyrics or no lyrics. Zeppelin of course got away with it because as far as the general public were concerned, Zep 4 was about Stairway, which encapsulated their Celtic mythical style perfectly and became almost bigger than the LP itself. With Rainbow, I personally, would have gone with Catch The Rainbow if I had to choose one.

 

The CD remaster replicates the original gatefold if you open up the booklet. It says "the band consisted of" and runs through the members. Thats how fast Ritchie axed the Elf guys.

 

Great... thanks for this thread!

When I heard RB's Rainbow the very first time I was filled with enthusiasm. A Hard Rock album with a lot of classics, like the stompin' Man on the Silver Mountain, the awesome instrumental Still I'm Sad (...with backing vocals by Ritchie's former girlfriend Shoshona... unfortunately buried in the mix), the fantastic ballads Catch the Rainbow and Temple of the King... and at last the great 16th Century Greensleeves.

I can forgive RB for 2 lousy songs... Snake Charmer and If you don't like Rock'n'Roll!

I would rate RB's Rainbow: 8/10 today...

A lower rating because... the live versions are much better, like Man on the Silver Mountain, where you think they have recorded the studio version at a much lower speed. Or the fantastic intro of 16th Century Greensleeves. I still prefer the studio version of Still I'm Sad over the live improvisation.

 

Right... and don't forget the big RB photo... behind him Ian Paice

 

Mickey is a REALLY talented writer and player. He's been a good friend of my uncle since the 60's. Do you know what he's doing today? He is the keyboard tech for Don Airey in Deep Purple!

The other guy from ELF that should have been huge was Gary Driscoll. He was a great drummer and a real showman----he used to beat the living daylights out of his kit.