Rainbow Rising - Song By Song

[Zzzptm]

Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975 and basically bumped out Elf's guitar player, changed their band name to be Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and did Man on the Silver Mountain and launched his next band quite successfully. For the 1976 Rising album, however, only Dio remained from Elf, with Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain, and Tony Carey coming in to really up the game of Blackmore's Rainbow. The sound took a new, much harder direction, with fans and critics alike considering it to be one of the most important albums to define the concept of heavy metal.

TAROT WOMAN

This song kicks off the album with a take-no prisoners set of solos from Carey at first and Blackmore in the middle, with Dio coming into his own as the Voice of Metal. This is Dio singing like never before - Elf was hard rock as was the first Rainbow album, but *this* is metal! Cozy and Jimmy do solid rhythm work. The whole track is a master class and shows that Blackmore doesn't necessarily need Deep Purple behind him to take things to the next level.

I love this song, it has always been electrifying to me.

[Tyr66]

A return to my youth, guys:
1979 was the year of my discovery for Heavy Music. First AC/DC then Van Halen, Scorpions Motörhead. My father seeing his 2 sons discover this style of music which he didn't appreciate more than that knew a friend of him  who was a a fan, a guy who walked around with a belt with a steel buckle forming the Kiss logo. One day, my father brought us a whole pile of vinyls that this Metalhead had lent him for us to discover the bands of the 70s. I will remember all my life the albums : Uriah Heep Live, Grand Funk Live, the first Montrose, Sammy Hagar live and .... Rainbow Rising ! I already knew Ritchie Blackmore but not Ronnie James Dio, well not really because I already knew his voice : I remember this video song "Love Is All" cartoon video which was shown from time to time on the tv when there were a few minutes to fill in the program. This powerful voice had captivated me.
Back to Rising : First of all, this magnificent gatefold cover. At the time, the majors were putting everything in place to please the fans. 3 years ago, I had also seen this fantastic work of Ken Kelly in record store windows without knowing anything about this band but the picture had necessarily marked me.
Then this inner band photo that has become iconic. You know it as well as I do. Only huge musicians who have become cult with Ronnie in the middle with his stars. Magic !
I put the vinyl which starts to spin, the diamond arises and catches the groove and it's gone: this sound of Tony Carey brings us directly 10 years later. From the first notes of this intro - undoubtedly one of the best -, we feel that something is happening. So much ahead of its time. Then Ritchie's Stratocaster in the distance first then ramping up, Tony comes back, Jimmy , Cozy .. and Ronnie arrives in apotheosis. The chorus is unforgettable. We are only in the first minutes of a legendary album. it was done, I was a fan.
My first listening of Tarot Woman will remain an unforgettable memory for all these reasons.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^ Awesome

----

I'll do my piece tomorrow!

[Zzzptm]

My first listening of Tarot Woman will remain an unforgettable memory for all these reasons.

Same here. I had already bought all the Black Sabbath albums before Born Again and all the DP before Perfect Strangers, so I needed some more records to discover... at the local half-price book store, that Rising album was always in the racks, and I'd always liked the front. But wasn't Rainbow that band with Joe Lynn Turner in it?

Not on this album, he wasn't. When I looked at the back, I flipped out when I saw Dio was the vocalist, and this was from *before* he was with Sabbath? Whaaaaaaaat? I didn't know Cozy Powell, but his drumkit looked awesome... so I bought it and took it home. Went upstairs to my room, put the vinyl on, put on my headphones - big Nova cans - and sank into my black beanbag... it was during summer vacation, so I had the whole rest of the day to jam out. Good times.

[Tyr66]

^^^
Thanx Zzz, I love to read these shared personal moments. We all have these memories within us that have built us as we are today.
God Bless this no download era ! To discover something, you had to read, walk on the street, push the door of a record store, look for our favorite rack labeled Hard Rock, browse albums relying on covers and names, asking to listen to it on headphones, sometimes in a cabin. The boss accepted most of the time. Then this pure moment of discovery once isolated by hearing the first seconds only this little crackling of the contact of the vinyl. Indescribable.
I remember perfectly in which record store I bought all my vinyl albums and the little moments that go with them. Regarding CDs, it's less clear.
Now we do everything by clicking on the mouse. Much more choice, of course, but what a loss of feeling.

[Zzzptm]

Memory is one reason why I try to do new things or drive new roads when I get new music. Then I have a memory to go with the songs. If I just listen to it, there's a chance I will have to rediscover it some day when an adventure needs a new soundtrack.

As a result of my philosophy, whenever I hear Will Smith's "Welcome to Miami", I think of El Paso, Texas. I was coaching students at a competition, and we had the Big Willie Style CD in the car I was hauling everyone in.

Another team, this time in Houston... we were a little let down by our performance, but we all needed to come together, so I put on Three Dog Night's "Shambala". They loved it and set it on repeat for the full drive back to the hotel. That's one of my favorite memories of coaching, finding that companionship in time of loss.

[Vyn]

A return to my youth, guys:

...

Great story!

Tarot Woman is a good opener, and sets the tone for the entire record. It seems like they put all they had into this song, but they don't, because there are other songs that prove they had more

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Tarot Woman

A really good start to this album... everyone is on form, a magical song.

Two things 1) if asked what song would best define Dio's vocals this would be a good choice to use as an example. 2) After hearing the synthesizer intro I can almost hear Blackmore saying to himself: "Ha! Do that with your Hammond organ Jon!"

[Zzzptm]

RUN WITH THE WOLF

This song is more in the style of the first album, but the heaviness from Cozy and Jimmy helps it to stand out. I just love hearing Dio sling out those verses and get all majestic in his delivery. I love the rhythm change-up between the main verses and the chorus, as well. It's not a complicated song, just a simple tune very well and very heavily played with Blackmore released from his rhythm guitar duties for the second half, and he LOSES HIS MIND with that outro solo.

[Tyr66]

More in the vein of the first album, indeed. And this is where the power of Cozy makes all the difference. Tony is also closer to the typical Lord game.
Blackmore will cover this riff 6 years later by composing Tite Squeeze on Straight Between the Eyes.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Run With The Wolf

I was coming to this thinking it was little more than filler, but after a couple of quick listens it is much better than I remember. A good effort far from being filler!

[Zzzptm]

Run With The Wolf

I was coming to this thinking it was little more than filler, but after a couple of quick listens it is much better than I remember. A good effort far from being filler!

Kind of like "Never Before" on Machine Head. Not the best track from the album by a long shot, but it's still a right good rocker!

[Vyn]

Yeah, Run with the Wolf is reminiscent of their debut album. I always thought it was pretty cool for that reason - the band has obviously progressed, even to the densest of listeners. It's just about the right length and fits in well with the ret of side 1.

[Zzzptm]

STARSTRUCK

Lots of wham-wham-wham in the intro, so in case you didn't know this was a metal album by NOW, you should have that message received 100%. Guitar is very prominent in the mix... you wouldn't suppose that Ritchie had a say in that, hmmm? It even plays across Dio's lyrics, so there are two melodies to follow- the voice and the guitar.

Lyrics are more great D&D stuff, which Dio always seems to pull off with no problem at all.

Nice to hear Cozy's double bass and snare work in those fills.

Ritchie does a great solo and it's back to the main song... it's rocking along great and Cozy cuts loose even more after the solo, extra fun there.

I like this tune better than Run with the Wolf, but I know what's next, so it gets 5th place in the 6 songs that make up the album.

In fact, *because* I know what's next, I'mma play that track now.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Starstruck

Lyrics are more great D&D stuff, which Dio always seems to pull off with no problem at all.

"D&D Lyrics"! Where! This is surely a song about a groupie or a stalker fan!

It is a great song though, witty lyrics and great musically too.

I would say it is better than Run with the Wolf, so will probably rank 4th for me... because there's a massive turd on the way!