Rainbow

[Zzzptm]

Hmmm... I've never really considered side 2 as prog rock though....yes both songs are long and rather monsterous compositions but I still think they lack the usual wankerness of prog...i.e. they are pretty straight forward hard rock/metal songs.

Oh, they're prog, all right. When everyone, *everyone* takes a solo in a themed work of over 6 minutes in length, it's prog time. True, they didn't get into doing math rock stuff with tempo changes or going with 5/4 or 11/8 time signatures or getting Peter Gabriel to sing falsetto, but that's prog.

And it wouldn't be Blackmore's first brush with prog, either. DP Mk1 had a good helping of prog on side 2 of Book of Taliesyn and their third album, and DP Mk2 swam in those waters with "Flight of the Rat" and "Child in Time" - they went into the deep waters with the extended live versions of their tunes, particularly the "Space Truckin / Mandrake Root" set closer.

[Charger]

Okay...during the live preformances sure the lines between Hard Rock / Metal and Prog were getting bit blurred that's for sure...that goes for mk 2 Purple as well but even more for Rainbow.

BUT mere length does not a prog song make. And again there is that certain level of wankery that goes with prog that is missing from both Purple and Rainbow. They were more like raw jams, not that finely polished over the top stuff that was prog so often.

[Zzzptm]

I'm going to debate the wankery part... Jethro Tull were 100% in the progressive rock camp with works like Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play. TaaB has incoherent mumbling in parts and APP has a children's story tossed into the middle of it. But both of those albums have some strong hard rock that they deliver. Aqualung was another massive concept album, very prog but also very good rock.

Remember, "progressive" was the term used to describe bands that were going beyond the traditional country/blues style of 50s/early 60s rock. It brought in not just classical themes (which had already been done in the 50s) but actual classical composition techniques, as well as jazz improv, folk songs, and the like. I look at The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper as a great example of a prog rock album - it has a concept, incorporates a huge amount of British music hall theater material, the lyrics are more for listening to than dancing to, and it features experimental passages - most notably, that ending piano chord.

I like this observation from Robert Fripp's - once "progressive rock" ceased to cover new ground – becoming a set of conventions to be repeated and imitated – the genre's premise had ceased to be "progressive". (copied from the Wiki page on prog rock)

[Charger]

One word:
YUCK!

[AnnoMundi]

One word:
YUCK!

Who’s that she singing?

[Charger]

Ronnie Romero

[AnnoMundi]

Ronnie Romero

Yuck is right Charger.

[Jack the Stripper]

Romero can sing well but he doesn't come across as a heart and soul singer. Just can't convey the feeling Ronnie sang with.

One word:

Unnecessary

[Charger]

Romero's not the problem here. He is a good singer. But agreed he is also not an interpreter.

Musically it's just so bland. Ritchie just should have stayed with Blackmore's Night. He had a lot of passion (granted the last few albums have been bit bland there too) and used every bit of his talent there...but with Rainbow now...it just can't feel it. And that's because Ritchie obviously just can't feel it. It's like he's going through the motions because he feels like he has to. Like he owes it to the fans or something...which he doesn't.

[Jack the Stripper]

It seems Ritchie's heart is not really in it. He is performing the songs in old crooner/lounge band style because he's either not capable of playing with any sort of fire anymore or he's just doing it the way he wants to. Either way, this Rainbow reunion comes across as a cash grab for Ritchie's retirement fund

[AnnoMundi]

Ritchie should bring back Doogie White.

[Zzzptm]

Ritchie set sail for 1983 and landed safely, I see.

The guitar work overall was great. Even if he's still warming up again to rock, he shows he's still got technique and soloing like few could ever attain.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that at least 4 of the other musicians are about to get fired in the next few years, knowing Blackmore...

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[AnnoMundi]

Anyone know if the the new songs recorde with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow with singer Ronnie Romero are available?

I know there were a couple released, but can’t find them, does anyone know where I can find them?

[Tyr66]

The only newly written title. A good one.
They also made a cover of "I surrender", just as inexpensive as the original version and an instrumental title ( a cover again).

[AnnoMundi]

The only newly written title. A good one.
They also made a cover of "I surrender", just as inexpensive as the original version and an instrumental title ( a cover again).

I also read of another one which I think is a Blackmore's Night cover, called The Storm, is this correct?