RAINBOW BAND

"Rainbow Band" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by Danish rock/jazz-fusion/psychedelic rock act Rainbow Band. The album was released through the Sonet label in January 1970. Rainbow band was formed in the spring of 1970 by Lars Bisgaard (vocals) and Bent Hesseklmann (Reeds), who came from The Maxwells. They were joined by Per Frost Hohansson (guitars) who came from Young Flowers, Carsten Smedegaard (Drums) who came from The Beefeaters, and Niels Brønsted (Piano) and Bo Stief (Bass) who were both involved in the jazz scene around the Montmartre Jazzclub in Copenhagen.

After the release of this album Lars Bisgaard would leave the band to be replaced by new vocalist Allan Mortensen (who came from Tears). This was not the only major change to occur to the band in 1971 as they had to change their name from Rainbow Band to Midnight Sun to get a worldwide deal with MCA Records. Midnight Sun re-recorded the Rainbow Band album and replaced Lars Bisgaard´s vocal parts with Allen Mortensen´s ditto. That´s why there are two versions of this album around. One released under the Rainbow Band monicker and one released under the Midnight Sun monicker. As described above they are not identical releases though, as the Midnight sun version is completely re-recorded and features a different lead vocalist.

The music on the "Rainbow Band" album features influenceds from both blues rock, jazz-rock/Fusion and a bit of psychedelic music. The material is pretty eclectic which is further enhanced by the dominant use of piano and various reed instruments. The songs with most reeds playing from Bent Hasselmann remind me a bit of the early albums from the English band Audience, while other songs like "King of the Sun" starts out more sixties blues rocking and then while the guitar plays solo the song almost shifts to fusion territory. There is a strong soul influence here too, which is mostly due to Lars Bisgaard´s soul/hard rock vocals. Lars Bisgaard has a very similar voice to his successor Allan Mortensen.

The musicianship is excellent and while the production is a bit darker than on the Midnight Sun version of the album it´s still a great, powerful, and organic sound production, which is a perfect suit for the material. While the Midnight Sun version of the album is the most known version, it´s worth seeking out this first version of the album, if you enjoy the Midnight Sun version, as it´s different enough to warrant such a listen and it´s also a high quality release in its own regard. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.

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