RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW

Medieval dreamscapes and remote castles guarded by dragons - leaving Deep Purple had allowed eccentric guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to explore his visions of high lore and to examine the possibilities of melodic rock with strong progressive leanings, constructing a band of unknowns at the time, in what would become the first iteration (of many to come) of the band Rainbow. The debut album of this new musical outlet had been recorded over in Munich during the spring months of 1975, and later released in September of that year. The music on 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow' features prominent melodic licks and powerful, monolithic riffs, occasionally criticized by some who would've expected a greater touch of Purple in the guitar work, but unlike the majority of his work with his former band, Blackmore seems to have been much more invested in the sound and development of the songs rather than gripping guitar pyrotechnics. The result is an album that is quite hard-rocking and melodic, replete with images of fantasy world and the stunning vocal work of Ronnie James Dio, formerly of the band Elf.

The debut Rainbow album, of course, has several emblematic pieces of classic rock, including the sharp-edged 'Man on the Silver Mountain', a song that is quite omnipresent in the world of the band, with a fantastic main riff from Blackmore and tremendous singing from Dio, the prog-ballad 'Catch the Rainbow', one of the band's finest moments, together with the fabulous piece 'The Temple of the King', a song bolstering beautiful vocals from Dio once again, and the frequent live number 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves'. Apart from these all-time classics, this debut album also features the lesser known but really catchy 'Self Portrait', a well-constructed rock number, the fast-paced 'Snake Charmer', giving us some excellent Blackmore soloing, and the closing instrumental cover of a song by The Yardbirds. One shall also find the mediocre boogie rock numbers 'Black Sheep of the Family' and 'If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll', two Rainbow songs we might prefer not to talk about... Yet this album has remained definitive for its era and has given us a number of classic tracks so there are no reasons not to love it, a great work of hard rock and perhaps early heavy metal.

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