Rainbow - Rising
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Free Music Notes for Rising
Free Music Review: 4.5 stars
Hit: 4 Stars
Off the bat, you can tell that this effort from Rainbow will be better than their debut. Vocals from Ronnie James Dio are more powerful and confident on opener "Tarot Woman," and the band seems, quite simply, to have written better songs. There seems to be more energy on this album than on the prior effort, as if the band is more in tune with its members' strengths and talents and does a better job of exploiting them.
No weaknesses on this one! Good stuff!
Free Music Review: "Now Where Do We Go?" Simply click here. This is a gem!
Hit: 5 Stars
As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various music supplies and recordings from the 60's and 70's.
Rainbows 1976 album "Rising" began the revolving door of musicians being shuffled in and out of the line-up. Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie Dio are joined this time around by Cozy Powell on drums, Jimmy Bain on the bass, and keyboards by Tony Carey. Over the years the large contingency of Cozy fans have pointed to his ability to play with anyone from Blackmore to Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Some of the accolades besides the obvious and well deserved that go to Blackmore and Dio should be directed to Tony Carey. If you listen closely to his style there are two terrific achievements on the tracks. The keyboards have a perfect sound. What you hear are the notes emanating with the mystical authority to solidify the song and how he picks his spots during the compositions.
After one of the finest debut recordings ever Blackmore once again rose to the occasion. "Tarot Woman" is a terrific opening track, the keyboards are haunting in their texture and the remastered CD puts you in the production booth. "Run With The Wolf" throws in the Black Sabbath reference "Hole In The Sky." Dio delivers the goods singing, "When the world makes a turn the eyes of one will learn." The interplay between Ronnie's voice and Ritchie's guitar is mesmerizing. "Starstruck" turns up the volume a bit but when "Do You Close Your Eyes" takes it turn it leaves nothing standing. Pure unapologetic rock and roll. The original LP ended Side 1 here. Side two was designated for the two longer tracks and it made for a perfect transformation from side to side. "Stargazer" is relentless. "There is no sun in the shadow of the wizard." Blackmore is cutting loose and Dio is a superlative storyteller. How many Blackmore fans dug holes in the vinyl from listening to this track a myriad of times each day? "A Light In The Black" picks up where "Stargazer closes. "All my life it seems is just a crazy dream."
As the final notes of Stargazer leave the record or CD player it is amazing to think how much power and passion Blackmore and company packed into the six tracks. They don't even total 34 minutes but left a calling card to see them "On Stage,"
Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"
Free Music Review: Everything you've heard is true...this is "THE" Rainbow album
Hit: 5 Stars
Yeah, the first one had its moments. MORE than moments, actually..."Man On The Silver Mountain" was as good as any truly "greatest hit" from Deep Purple and it opened the debut album with a bang. Killer trademark Blackmore riff, and DON'T tell me you haven't driven along in your car with this in the CD player as you sang "Come and make me holy AGAIN..."
You HAVE! ADMIT it and don't be ashamed of it! I HAVE!
But "Rising"...wow. Probably the single greatest non-Purple album Ritchie's cranked out in his career. Ronnie James Dio deserves equal credit. I strongly recommend the recent "Live In Munich 1977" CD & DVD for a closer look at the power this band served up in its prime. YES, there are a few technical difficulties...like Dio's mike cutting out during "Do You Close Your Eyes"...but you'll see prime footage of Blackmore, just LOOKING for the right spot on that stage to EXPLODE. You'll see Dio as a confident frontman, a full year before Diamond Dave ushered in a renaissance of no-nonsense rock & roll with Van Halen. I seriously doubt that R.J.D. will EVER receive proper credit for his Rainbow / Sabbath work. Black Sabbath recently released "The Dio Years," and Rainbow owes him the same respect (Although, to be fair, disc one of "Catch The Rainbow: The Anthology" basically IS "The Best Of The Dio Years")...
:-)
YES, it's a shame that "Long Live Rock & Roll" squeezed "Stargazer" out of the band's set list during the aforementioned 1977 tour, because it IS a jaw-dropper. It's Rainbow's "Starship Trooper" or "Roundabout" or "I've Seen All Good People"...a SIGNATURE song. There are a few other songs Ritchie could have kicked to the curb, but I doubt that he cared THEN, and I'm almost positive that he REALLY doesn't care NOW..."In the heat and the rain, with whips and chains?"...huh? "I see a rainbow rising"...YES, Ronnie, YES...I do TOO!
:-)
"Tarot Woman" opens the album with a weird little synth riff and then, at the 1:20 mark, Blackmore's riff comes in, followed by the rest of the band, and you're FLYING, baby.
"Starstruck"...chugs along like an out-of-control train, reminiscent of Uriah Heep's "Easy Livin'" but maybe a zillion times BETTER.
IF you're a fan of Ritchie Blackmore...and if you're not, why are you reading this..."Rising" is so essential that the word "essential" seems like a cop-out. There's GOT TO BE a better word.
IF you're a Ronnie James Dio fan...and if you're not, etc. etc. etc., THIS album is every bit as good as "Heaven And Hell" or "Holy Diver"...maybe BETTER. No, let me take that back...IT IS R.J.D.'s shining hour. Period.
Also...and I say this as a consummate Deep Purple fan..."Rising" proved that he could record a five-star album without the name "Ian Gillan" appearing in the credits.
I can't listen to "Down To Earth." Yes, I KNOW "Since You've Been Gone" was a hit, but I hated it the first time I heard it and each of the 999,999,999 times I heard it AFTER that. I'm pretty much ecstatic that Graham Bonnet has faded into the "Where Are They Now" ether. Irritating, generic, like a million nails scraped down a million blackboards. BUH-BYE. Schenker didn't keep him around EITHER.
The Joe Lynn Turner years? Blackmore trying to be Journey. Or maybe Loverboy. Or Glass Tiger. Or A-Ha. Or any one of a zillion MTV 80s bands I didn't care about THEN, and I don't care about NOW. Sorry, Joe, and YES...I WOULD like fries with that. You were Micky Thomas in search of Starship and you never really found it. The smartest thing Ritchie did after "Bent Out Of Shape" was head back to Deep Purple...until they couldn't stand his diva behavior anymore...but hey, "Perfect Strangers" is nothing to sneeze at.
:-)
But the Dio albums? ESPECIALLY "Rising?" They still sound vibrant and fresh and full of attitude. "Long Live Rock & Roll" INDEED. "Rising" is a triumph, a wonderful ALBUM..."all killer, no filler"...BUY IT already! Don't sweat the fact that it's only 33 minutes long. It's the best 33 minutes you'll ever spend.
Free Music Review: the rainbow begins and ends here
Hit: 5 Stars
Did I not yet review the ultimate example of late 70's speed metal? Why not? What's wrong with me? I must have forgotten all about it.
Just about every song has an amazingly fast pace, and super exciting guitar playing. Ritchie Blackmore is just amazing on this record and really shows us why he deserves to be remembered as the influential brilliant legend he is.
Not a single weak moment anywhere. Radio stations are a fool for not playing this album. That's all I have to say about that. "Stargazer" is a hypnotic journey through the mind and "Light in the Black" will take you to any fast-moving place you want your mind to go.
Make sure THIS brilliant album is in your album collection, and shining every time you take it out of its case.
Free Music Review: THE HEAVIEST ALBUM YOU CAN TAKE WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
This absolutely one of the best rock albums of all time for me! This my third copy of the album already. I've got the first copy way back in the late seventies. Played the LP almost every day so it got worn out until it came to a point where I don't like to play it anymore. I bought again the LP in the 80s. When I came to know of Amazon.com I bought it also in CD.
Songs like Stargazer, A Light In The Black, Tarot Woman and Do You Close Your Eyes are some of my favorites rock songs of all time too.
Listen to Ritchie Blackmore, RJD, Jimmy Bain, Tony Carey and Cozy Powell on this album! This is a master piece in rock!