BENT OUT OF SHAPE

A personal favourite of mine. This is the best Joe Lynn Turner era album from Rainbow. Ok, it does not compare to any Ronnie James Dio era stuff, but so what? It was a totally different band by then. I remember I bought this album solely on the basis of their most recent single Street Of Dreams, a superb power ballad like their previous Stone Cold, only better. Streets is still a song that moves even today, after all those years and I guess it is one of my top 10 songs by Rainbow of any time. But, with the LP, I was also rewarded with a collection of great songs. I knew I could always count on Ritchie Blackmore´s unique guitar lines and solos and the band´s superb musicianship, but clearly they produced a superior material than the first two JLT albums.

The AOR stuff here is presented by tracks like the opener Stranded, Can´t Let Go and Desperate Heart. But I did not expected they would deliver fine hard rock stuff in the vein of Ian Gillan era Deep purple, like Drinking With The Devil, Make Your Move and Fire Dance. Turner shows how good he can be, even some Gillan-like screams here and there. The instrumental Anybody There is another highlight, its only drawback is its short length, certainly it could be worked for a longer piece. Snowman (a vocal-less version of the famous Walking In The Air) is also of interest. The band was really gelling, even if, as their wont, there was a new member: drummer Bobby Rondinelli quit and was replaced by Chuck Burgi. But since both had the same style you won´t notice the difference. He fitted in nicely and fast.

It is only a pity that, in what it seems at the verge of finally breaking the band in America, Blackmore decided to break it up and reform Deep Purple. One can only speculate how far this lime up could go if he had turned down his former band´s reunion. But Bent Out Of Shape, if it is not the best Rainbow album ever, finished its first lifetime with grace (a second coming, albeit a short lived one, would arise in 1994-95, but with a completely different line up).

Conclusion: the best Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow album. If you enjoy hard/Melodic/AOR rock laced with tasteful arrangements and fine songs (besides Blackmore´s great talent), you can not go wrong with this one.

Rating: 4 strong stars.