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Rainbow - Long Live Rock & Roll CD (album) cover

LONG LIVE ROCK & ROLL

Rainbow

 

Prog Related

3.61 | 318 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
2 stars Live long, and prosper

I have never held Rainbow's third studio album in the same esteem as I have for their first two, or indeed for the following "Down to earth". While it is a competent and enjoyable affair, it lacks the factors which distinguished those albums.

Take the opening title track for example, is there a more prosaic sentiment than "Long live rock and roll"? The song is clearly designed as an anthem to be used at live performances to motivate the crowd. It is however rather an ordinary number which could have been recorded by any of a thousand AOR/Melodic rock bands such as Styx or Foreigner. Only Ronnie James Dio's unique vocals offer anything to set it apart. Likewise, "L.A. connection" is obviously aimed at the American market, and at radio plays on rock radio.

It is only when we get to "Gates of Babylon" which closes side one, that we find anything approaching the quality of previous albums. Here Blackmore finds room to do something useful with his guitar, backed by the Bavarian String Ensemble. The song has the power and pomposity missing from the album as a whole.

Cozy Powell is credited as a co-writer of two of the tracks, including "Kill the king". The song had been around for some time, appearing first on the live album, before this studio recording was released. The song, which is similar to the previous album's "A light in the black", once again features a superb Blackmore solo. "Rainbow eyes" is little more than an attempt to recreate the atmosphere of "Catch the rainbow", but while it is indeed delicate, it lacks a decent melody and the performance is prefunctory.

In terms of prog, there is little here of interest. The songs are straightforward rock numbers, with little invention or development. Only "Gates of Babylon" might be deemed to offer something beyond the basics.

Putting it bluntly, I have to rate this as the poorest album in the Rainbow catalogue. It is little more than a collection of songs which would succeed in a live environment, but which are devoid of atmosphere or stimulation.

Ronnie James Dio would leave the band after this album, later joining Black Sabbath, while Ritchie briefly returned to the Deep Purple fold before resurrecting Rainbow with a new lead singer.

Easy Livin | 2/5 |

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