LONG LIVE ROCK & ROLL

After two masterpieces, Rising and On Stage (and a near masterpiece with their debut), Rainbow started to suffer at the quality department, maybe due to the constant line up changes. Drummer legend Cozy Powell was still on board, but bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboards player extraordinaire Tony Carey were not. And the chemistry that made such unique band work so well was gone forever.

Of course that any work done by such talents like Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio could not be bad. Long Live Rock & Roll is good for sure, but it is not up to their previous effords. This CD seemes to be made in a hurry (Blackmore played much of the bass guitar parts), when the new members didn´t have the time to gel. Besides, the approach on the new tunes were much more toward the 70´s hard rock than of the more symphonic power metal they were famous for. So in the end David Stone does not have much to do. This change of direction is exemplified by the studio version of Kill The King: good alright, but it is nowhere as powerful and convincing as the live rendition included On Stage (you really miss Carey´s classical, screaming Hammond on that one).

The sole exception is the classic Gates Of Babylon, an excellent epic song with some lush orquestration. That´s the centerpiece of the whole CD. The rest of the tunes are fine, but not exceptional, and nothing that compares to Babylon. My favorites are the title song, Sensitive To Light and the closer Rainbow Eyes. The production at the time was not much help either, since it was kind of muddy. I got a russian remastered version that sounds a lot (and I mean a LOT) better than my previous Polygram copy of the early 90´s.

All in all I see this Long Live Rock & Roll as a transitional record. Not as weak as the next Down to Earth, not as good as the ones that came before it. It is still worth having it, but be sure to get their earlier releases before tackling this one. 3 stars.