RISING

Rainbow's best album by far, but not exactly a masterpiece. Yes if your expectations are low after hearing Rainbow's first effort, or if you forgive the obvious Led Zeppelin copy cat portions of Stargazer then maybe I could see giving this album a higher rating. But, can you forgive the cheesy tracks like Starstruck or Do you Close Your Eyes that are needless fillers in what is a rather short album to begin with. I can't. These musicians have far too much talent to produce a six track 33 minute album with at least two if not three subpar tracks contained in the middle of the album. I will say that Tarot Woman starts out beautifully, but then unfortunately gets extremely ho hum and repetative about mid way through. Stargazer and A Light in the Black are legitimate 5 star tracks, with A Light in Black being my favorite track on this album in terms of creativity, originality, and masterful guitar work. Now, why could they not keep that level of quality throughout the entire album as found on the final two tracks?