RAINBOW BAND

3.5 stars really!!!

First album of the group that will change its name just as this album was released (a Canadian band was named that way too), but it came out in the UK and Scandinavia anyway. A sextet (the standard prog quartet, plus a singer and a wind-player) that developed a bluesy jazz-inflicted rock, RB was an amalgam of local Copenhagen musicians from different local groups (although I'd hesitate to call it a "supergroup", even if Burnin Red Invanhoe and later, the superb Secret Oyster would also arise that way),

The opening tracks Where Do You Live and King Of The Sun are average tracks that are rooted in blues-rock and can remind Colosseum, Savoy Brown other late-60's and Early-70's blues-rock. The double track Nobody/BM is easily the first side's highlight with an intriguing piano intro, a haunting flute and fascinating construction. Bronstead's finest hour, if you ask me, in Nobody, while BM is a bit of free space for Stief's bass to extend and ends up in a jam.

Obviously most of the attention on the flipside will be paid to the 14-min+ Living On The Hill, and it does indeed prove to be the album's apex. Built on a mid-tempo blues (this could easily be on Savoy Brown's superb raw Sienna album), the track develops into a large instrumental boulevard where plenty of interplay between Hesselman's winds, Frost's fuzzy guitar lines and Stief's bass. Bronsted is strangely absent/low-key in this track. Ending with Rainbow Song, the album is a pleaser, but by all means never approached anything even remotely groundbreaking.

The proghead could do a good deal by choosing the Long Hair release which holds both version of the album, but gives the preference the Rainbow Band artwork rather than the Dean artwork of Midnight Sun, which is just as well as it is much more charming. After having released this album, the group fired their vocalist and had to change their names, so for odd reasons, they chose to redo their debut album, which this writer thinks was unnecessary, as I prefer this version because of its immediacy.

"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.