LIVE IN GERMANY 1976 [AKA: LIVE IN EUROPE]

It is rather amazing that some live albums are released ages after they were performed. In the old days (the early / mid seventies when I discovered music), live albums were just a continuation of the studio life of the band. Of course, for some legendary bands (to whom "Rainbow" does not belong IMHHO) the temptation to print oldies is a good opportunity to cash in. There is a huge potential of wealthy fans who would blindly buy all this stuff. If you compare the tracklist of this album with the one from "On Stage" (released in 77) you will notice that the WHOLE of this album is featured here. The song versions being even more extended (if it was necessary) on this "Live In Germany". Of course, most of them are so long because of the "audience preparation" like in "Man on the Silver Mountain" which features some "Lazy" moments in the intro.

The whole being a good hard-rock album made of snap shots of different concerts (obviously in Germany) which I only appreciate moderately. IMO, the best live albums are the ones recorded during a single and same concert ("Live At Leeds", "Rock'n'Roll Animal", "Slade Alive", "Genesis Live", "Heep Live", live sides from "Ummagumma" to name some major ones) or during the same sessions (like "In Japan" or "Keys To Ascension").

This album will feature some very weak song introduction in the likes of : "We'd like to play some music for you now...". As if the band is there to do anything else...Those guys definitely need some communication exercises or gurus...

About the two "unreleased songs now. Both come out "Rising". Their best album without any question. One of "Rainbow" best ever written song :"Stargazer" is well performed. Of course it is almost double the lenght of the original, but in "Purple", "Rainbow" will integrate either a long solo in the middle part of the song or play a long intro (or both). The second song is "Do You Close Your Eyes" which was a short three lminutes track. Brought over ten minutes...

But unfortunately, no sign of "Tarot Woman" nor "Light In The Black" some other ones of their greatest numbers. All in all, this is a good album. Slightly better than "On Stage" since it features "Stargazer". So, this one is the best live album from "Rainbow".

Three stars.