Hardcore, Punk & Heavy Metal > Pop Metal Hardcore, Punk & Heavy Metal > R

Stranger in Us All.

Advantages: Superb incorporation of classical scales into Rock, great riffs and leads.
Disadvantages: Rainbow's last album

Ritchie Blackmore, (creator of one of the most famous rock riffs - Smoke on the Water) after shuttling between Deep Purple (1965 - 1974, 1984 - 1994) and Rainbow (1975-1984,1994-1997) came up with this brilliant Album during his second stint with Rainbow, featuring vocalist Doogie White of Scottish Origin. Blackmore uses a scalloped fretboard with wood shaved of b/w frets meaning that he plays with a light touch, resulting in a furious pace. This ...
...opener Wolf to the Moon which starts of with a signature fast paced Blackmore Riff. Doogie White, proves that his recruitment by Blackmore into the band is no stroke of luck. The entire album has ritchie blackmore's classical influence portrayed in great style with some neat riffs. With the album of to a great start with the fast paced Wolf to the Moon, (which would also be a great concert opener), the next song Cold Hearted Woman marks the beginning ...

alex2000_mc 22.05.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Stranger In Us All - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

A fitting epitaph?

Advantages: All the hits and some of the bands finest work
Disadvantages: Compared to CD1, CD2 just don't cut it!

Rainbow are a classic rock band formed from the fragmented sections of Deep Purple by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.  Taking bassist Roger Glover and incorporating the dwarf-like Ronnie James Dio on vocals he crafted a group that, while churning out traditional and anthemic rock songs, also dabbled in classical music - check out 'Difficult to Cure' which is just Beethovens 'Ode to Joy' with more balls.  Unfortunately, and I hate to say this because ...
...their musical output, which often excelled with tracks like 'Stargazer' and 'Kill the King', tended to lose its edge and become a very thin, watered down american version towards the end of the bands life.  In fact, if you were to listen to the 'Catch the Rainbow' collection in its entirety you would hear the brilliance of their early work slowly fading as CD2 played through.  They did grace the charts with songs such as 'Since You've Been Gone', ...

david_1967 29.02.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Catch The Rainbow (The Anthology) - Rainbow

A classic heavy metal album

Advantages: Classic HM
Disadvantages: The look might put some people off

Rising was the second offering from Rainbow, the band fronted by guitar maestro Ritchie Blackmore, ex of Deep Purple, and I think it's fair to say it pretty much defines the whole HM/hard rock genre in the mid to late 70's period, having those old tried and trusted HM themes we all know and love like magicians, holes in the sky, warlocks, wolves and tarot women, not to mention of course shagging. Coming complete with a great album cover, a giant ...
...scene, with inlay pictures of the band in lycra, tight shirts, flares, flowing locks and medallions (I kid you not) you just know what to expect even before you hear it. And what you hear is HM and hard rock of the finest quality. The band lined up as follows: Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitars), Jimmy "gimme" Bain (bass and white stuff), Tony Carey (keyboards) and the late great Cozy Powell on drums. It was recorded in Munich ...

pinkmatchstick 02.06.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Rising - Rainbow

Not Zippy,Bungle and George!!!

Advantages: You get a free rock map..Woohoo!
Disadvantages: Its not the rock you get at the seaside...

...his head is the title,The Very Best Of Rainbow. The inside cover has various pictures of band memebers on stage,and some very posed photographs.In one picture Dio looks like a 17th century Dandy.What a flamboyant imp he is! The best thing is when you fold out the inlay thing,it has a comprehensive list of albums,a giant rock family tree,and a detailed biography of Rainbow. It really is an exeptional inlay.You could base a whole pub quiz around ...
...run naked through Sherwood forest. Very slow and sublime,and nice to listen to without being gooeeeyy. We believe we catch the Rainbow... Starstruck This song was released in 1976 and also sung by Dio.This song is about an obssesed groupie.Hence the title. It is a really fast song,with fast punchy lyrics,and a great riff to it.There really is some great drumming in this too. Dead easy to wail along to. If I were high on a hill She'd be still ...

kittyfluff 13.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Very Best Of Rainbow, The - Rainbow

Between a rock and a soft place

Advantages: It's better than Down To Earth
Disadvantages: but neither is it really good

...Rounding off we have Difficult To Cure, another instrumental, which sees Blackmore taking Beethoven's Ninth and adding some electric guitar to it - again very nice if you like that kind of thing. I don't. As I've mentioned this is a pretty good example of early 80's rock - it's hard rock but going curly at the edges, as many older established bands were doing at the time. (for comparison: Foreigner "4", Blue Oyster Cult's "Fire Of Unknown Origin", ...
...whilst still not as good as Rising or Long Live Rock & Roll, it's a lot better than that pathetic stab at the pop metal market called "Down To Earth". Turner is a much better singer and holds a note better than his laughable predecessor Graham Bonnet. So this album represents a time when heavy rock began to lose it. By the middle of the decade this kind of music would be shamelessly watered down and mushed up for mass consumption. Things got so bad ...

pinkmatchstick 01.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Difficult To Cure - Rainbow