| Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art by David Willardson | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 5 September 1975 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 20 February – 14 March 1975 | |||
| Studio | Musicland (Munich) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 36:54 | |||
| Label | Oyster (UK) Polydor (rest of the world) | |||
| Producer | Ritchie Blackmore, Martin Birch, Ronnie James Dio | |||
| Rainbow chronology | ||||
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| Ronnie James Dio chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow | ||||
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Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is the debut studio album by American/British rock band Rainbow,released in 1975.
During studio sessions in Tampa Bay,Florida on 12 December 1974,Blackmore originally planned to record the solo single "Black Sheep of the Family"- a cover of a track by the band Quatermass from 1970 –and the newly composed "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves",which was to be the B-side. [4] Other musicians involved included singer/lyricist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Gary Driscoll of blues rock band Elf,and cellist Hugh McDowell of ELO. Satisfied with the two tracks,Blackmore decided to extend the sessions to a full album. [5]
The other members of Elf,keyboardist Micky Lee Soule and bassist Craig Gruber,were used for the recording of the album in Musicland Studios in Munich,West Germany during February and March,1975. Though it was originally planned to be a solo album,the record was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow,and later progressed as a new band project. Blackmore and Dio did promotional work for the album. While rehearsing for the tour,Blackmore decided to fire Gruber and bring in Jimmy Bain on bass,and after that he fired Driscoll. As a consequence of that,Soule decided to quit the band to play on a Roger Glover album and tour with the Ian Gillan Band. [6] This first line-up never performed live,and the live photos used in the album art are of Blackmore while with Deep Purple and of Elf playing live. [7]
The last track of the album,"Still I'm Sad",is an instrumental cover of a song by the Yardbirds from their 1965 album Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds . A version featuring vocals subsequently appeared on Rainbow's live album On Stage and their 1995 studio album Stranger in Us All .
The original vinyl release had a gate-fold sleeve,although the later budget re-issue on Polydor was reduced to a single sleeve. On the cassette version of the album,Side One features the last five tracks,while Side Two plays the first four. On the case insert and on the cassette itself,"Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" is written as "Sixteen Century Greensleeves".
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was re-issued on CD in re-mastered form in the US in April 1999. The European release followed later in the year.
Vocalist Ronnie James Dio considered this release his favourite Rainbow album. [8]
Despite the title implying the record being a Ritchie Blackmore solo release,in later years Blackmore has jokingly stated that Dio's contributions warranted a re-titling of "Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio's Rainbow". [9]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [10] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 6/10 [11] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [12] |
| The Rolling Stone Record Guide | [13] |
The album was praised in British contemporary reviews for its fantasy/heroic-like lyrical content and the innovative rock style. [14] However,the reviewer for the American magazine Rolling Stone disparaged the album,describing Blackmore's playing "listless and bored in relation to past performances" and the band "a completely anonymous group." [15]
Modern reviews have a similar tenor. AllMusic reviewer wrote that the album has "a few listenable tracks",with young Dio "at his best when he fully gives in to his own and Blackmore's medieval fantasy leanings in hard-rocking tracks like 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves' and 'Man on the Silver Mountain'",but remarked how the band became "a true embarrassment when they try to lighten up and boogie down." [10] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff noticed that on this album Blackmore "confirms the creative vacuum that was much in evidence towards his last years with Purple",offering a "boring,dated,diluted and largely illogical smorgasbord of guitar rock stylings,all inexpressively played over". He also criticized Martin Birch's dull and inexpensive production,"which ruins what is already a limp noodle of a record" and saved only by the songs 'Man on the Silver Mountain' and 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves',"which approach the worthiness of Rising ". [11]
The album's songs have been performed by subsequent Rainbow line-ups and covered by other bands.
All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Man on the Silver Mountain" | 4:42 | |
| 2. | "Self Portrait" | 3:17 | |
| 3. | "Black Sheep of the Family" ( Quatermass cover) | Steve Hammond | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Catch the Rainbow" | 6:27 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Snake Charmer" | 4:33 | |
| 6. | "The Temple of the King" | 4:45 | |
| 7. | "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" | 2:38 | |
| 8. | "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" | 3:31 | |
| 9. | "Still I'm Sad" ( The Yardbirds cover) | Paul Samwell-Smith, Jim McCarty | 3:51 |
| Chart (1975-1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [16] | 55 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [17] | 83 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) [18] | 26 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [19] | 40 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [20] | 24 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [21] | 11 |
| US Billboard 200 [22] | 30 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [23] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Ronald James Padavona, known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.
Rainbow are a British rock band formed in Hertford in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Established in the aftermath of Blackmore's first departure from Deep Purple, they originally featured four members of the American rock band Elf, including their singer Ronnie James Dio, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired these members, except Dio, recruiting drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboardist Tony Carey. This line-up recorded the band's second album Rising (1976), while Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) saw Bob Daisley and David Stone replace Bain and Carey, respectively. Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was also the last album with Dio before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.
On Stage is a double live album originally released by the British hard rock band Rainbow in 1977. It was recorded live over several German and Japanese dates in late 1976 during the Rising world tour. The album was released first in the US on 7 July 1977, before being released a week later on 15 July in the UK.
Long Live Rock 'n' Roll is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Rainbow, released on 14 April 1978 and the last to feature original lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio.
Down to Earth is the fourth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow. It is their last album to feature drummer Cozy Powell, their first with bassist Roger Glover and keyboardist Don Airey and their only album with vocalist Graham Bonnet. Released in 1979, it contains Rainbow's first hit single "Since You Been Gone", marking a more commercial direction of the band's sound.
Elf was an American rock band founded in 1967 by singer and bassist Ronnie James Dio, keyboardist Doug Thaler, drummer Gary Driscoll, and guitarists Nick Pantas and David Feinstein. The band was originally called the Electric Elves, but was shortened to the Elves in 1968 and finally Elf in 1972. Elf disbanded in 1975 after recording three albums and after most of the lineup had been absorbed into the newly formed Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
John Gary Driscoll was an American R&B-style rock drummer who performed in a number of successful bands from the 1960s until his unsolved murder.
Mickey Lee Soule is an American musician. He was the keyboard player for New York hard rock band Elf and a founding member of Rainbow.
Carolina County Ball is the second studio album by the rock band Elf, released as an LP in 1974 on the MGM label. It was released in the United States and Japan as L.A.59. The album is the first to feature Craig Gruber on bass.
Stranger in Us All is the eighth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, released on 21 August 1995 by RCA Records. This was the band's first studio album in twelve years, and originally intended to be a solo album by Blackmore, but due to pressures from BMG, it was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, which saw him putting together a new line-up featuring himself and four then-unknown musicians: vocalist Doogie White, bassist Greg Smith, keyboardist Paul Morris and drummer John O'Reilly.
Trying to Burn the Sun is the third and final studio album released by American rock group Elf, released in 1975.
Live in Germany 1976 is a live album released by Rainbow in 1990. The tracks are cherry-picked from a series of German dates during their world tour in September 1976. It was re-released two years later in the USA as Live in Europe on a different label. The content is the same for both although sleeve notes differ.
Elf is the first studio album by Ronnie James Dio's blues rock band called Elf. Produced by Ian Paice and Roger Glover of Deep Purple, the record was released in 1972.
Live in Munich 1977 is a live album and DVD released by the British hard rock band Rainbow in 2006.
The Best of Rainbow is the first compilation album from British hard rock group Rainbow, released in 1981.
Jealous Lover is a four track, 12" EP released by the British hard rock band Rainbow in the USA in 1981. The EP reached No. 147 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. Tracks include two songs previously unavailable in the US, and two songs from their full-length album Difficult to Cure of the same year. The cover art featured the same Hipgnosis photography used for the album, with a different background.
Craig M. Gruber was an American rock bassist, best known as the original bassist in Rainbow. He also played in Elf, consisting of vocalist Ronnie James Dio, keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule, drummer Gary Driscoll, and guitarist David Feinstein.
20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rainbow is a compilation album released by Rainbow. Released on 3 October 2000. The tracks were recorded between 1975–1983, before Rainbow disbanded in 1984.
Rising is the second studio album by the British-American rock band Rainbow. It was released on 17 May 1976.
