Rising - Rainbow

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 ...
...underwater in some mythical 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 ... more

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 fist dragging up a rainbow from underwater in some mythical 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 and released in 1976 originally on Polydor Records. This review is of the remaster that I bought spanking new off Amazon for a measly £4.09....although it came from California so it took a couple of weeks to arrive!

A great long keyboard sequence starts off the opening track Tarot Woman, before a lovely big riff kicks things off. "Beware of a place, a smile on a bright shiny face, I'll never return now do you know, tarot woman..." growls Dio, in one of his classic moments. As the guitar thunders along, the keyboards come back in to end things off. What a brilliant record this is.

Run With The Wolf is a hard rock masterpiece, constructed around a high, clean sounding Blackmore riff with fine improvisation throughout. More of those mystical lyrics we've all come to expect from Mr D, "there's a hole in the sky, something evil's passing by..."

The hard rocking carries on with Starstruck, a tale of a rock star fighting off a besotted fan. Of course "struck" is rhymed with "luck", of the bad kind. Yes, these are bog standard rock lyrics but this is quality hard rock music, well played and timed. If you want pretentsion, listen to an ELP album! This is a great big throbbing pulse of a hard rock tune, probably the most accesiable tune on this album to non-lovers of this genre. But then if you didn't love it, you wouldn't be reading this far would ya?

Do You Close Your Eyes, asks RJD, when you're making sweet love to me? We sadly don't get to find out, but this belter is constructed around a tight, tearing riff that Jimmy Page would be proud of. Watch out woman, because "I see a glow around you", sings a triumphant Dio, "open your arms, cos I'm coming to ya, running, straight on through!" Back to the main riff and the song ends suddenly, a surprise as it has been very evenly paced all along.

The two epic tracks that made up the old side two, Stargazer and A Light In The Dark, together tell the story at the centre of this album; a magician using slaves to build a tower for him to fly from, it is built with much pain and hardship, and, after he perishes in the attempt, a rainbow rises over the tower and the slaves make their way home again. See, I told you what to expect! Stargazer, which it's fair to say owes more than an IOU to Zepp's "Kashmir", begins as a steady paced number, building slowly and majestically to its monster finish. The bit where Ronnie goes "look..look...look...look at his tower of stone...I SEE A RAINBOW RISING, UP THERE ON THE HORIZON......" one of my favourite bits of a record anywhere. Just for good measure the Munich Symphony Orchestra's string section get a gig on here too. Well, why not......

A Light In The Dark, the second half of the story, is faster-paced, propelled along with pummeling skinwork from Cozy Powell and some blistering keyboard work. Both tracks weigh in at over 8 minutes long, but are so well-structured that you don't notice the time they take.

Rainbow would bring out another great album "Long Live Rock and Roll", before a late 70s move towards a more diluted, albeit commercially successful, sound, but as the sales got bigger, the albums got steadily worse, the line-ups kept changing and they even committed the heinous crime of getting Russ Ballard to write hits for them. This, along with the latter album and their self-titled first, remain the bands best recordings.

I think you can probably gather I love this record. After all, you have among three of the very best musicians of their day, Dio, Blackmore and Powell........(and Cozy, big man, we still miss you terribly down here)..........all very capably backed up by Bain and Carey, and they produce a classic rock album in every sense of the word. So you proud sons of Sweet Albion, cry Harry for St George and England, and mind that lake, sire, there's a damsel in distress to be saved................

 

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