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Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
Studio album by Rainbow
Released	14 April 1978
Recorded	May–July and December 1977
Studio	The Strawberry Studio, Château d'Hérouville, France
Genre	Hard rock heavy metal
Length	39:48
Label	Polydor
Producer	Martin Birch
Rainbow chronology
Rising (1976) Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) Down to Earth (1979)
Singles from Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
"Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" Released: 24 March 1978 "L.A. Connection" Released: 15 September 1978

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Rainbow, released on 14 April 1978 and the last to feature original lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio.

Background

Recording of the album commenced in April 1977 at a studio in Château d'Hérouville, France, featuring Ritchie Blackmore, Ronnie James Dio and Cozy Powell. Keyboards were initially played on a session basis by former Rainbow member Tony Carey, while bass parts were started by Mark Clarke. Clarke was soon dismissed, however, and the bass parts were recorded by Blackmore himself. By July 1977 seven tracks that ended on the album were in demo form. Recording was suspended while the band recruited Bob Daisley and David Stone and thereafter commenced extensive touring of Europe in the summer and autumn of 1977. A return to the Château d'Hérouville studio in December saw the band finish the album and also yielded a final track, "Gates of Babylon".

Although Daisley and Stone are listed on the album credits for their contributions, they joined the band partway through the recording sessions and only appear on three and four songs, respectively. Stone wrote parts of "Gates of Babylon", the middle 8 section during the guitar solo. He was paid for the work, but not credited on the album.

Artwork

The original vinyl release was in a gatefold-sleeve cover illustrated by Debbie Hall, with a lyric-sheet insert. The crowd picture is actually from a Rush concert, with the wording on the banner the fans were holding replaced by the Rainbow album title and the visible Rush T-shirts airbrushed to black.

Original copies of the single "L.A. Connection" were issued on red vinyl and featured aspects of the previous studio album's cover picture on the B-side's label.

Release and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide

Geoff Ginsberg of AllMusic wrote that Long Live Rock 'n' Roll "would turn out to be the last great album Rainbow would ever make, although they did enjoy a great deal of chart success in the post-Dio era."

The album, among other Rainbow releases, is often cited as a strong influence on formation of the power metal genre, especially on its fantasy-themed lyrics and aesthetics.

Reissues

• Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was remastered on CD for the US market in April 1999, with the European version following later. The US version had a matte booklet/insert, which matched the original vinyl sleeve for all markets, whereas the European issue was the standard glossy type.
• Long Live Rock 'n' Roll Story, an album and a book about the making of the LP was released in June 2009 in the "Rock Landmarks" series. The inlay story was written by Jerry Bloom, author of Black Knight, a Ritchie Blackmore's biography.
• On 12 April 2012 a picture disc album version of Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was released in the US as part of Record Store Day 2012.
• A deluxe edition version was released on 13 November in Europe, featuring rough mixes of the album tracks from July 1977 except "Gates of Babylon", which was written later.

Track listing

All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio except where noted. All lyrics by Dio.

• Track 3 - Many vinyl copies label the song's length as 3:35.

2012 Deluxe Edition

Disc one contains the original album with no bonus tracks.

• Track 7 - "Rainbow Eyes" is an early version. Tracks 10–14 are prerecorded with live vocal by Dio.

Personnel

Credits taken from album liner notes.

Rainbow

• Ritchie Blackmore – guitar, bass on tracks 1–3, 6 (also bass on rough mix tracks 1–6, 2012 Deluxe Edition)
• Ronnie James Dio – vocals
• Cozy Powell – drums
• Bob Daisley – bass on tracks 4, 5, and 7
• David Stone – keyboards on tracks 4, 5, and 6, piano outro on track 3
• Tony Carey – keyboards on tracks 1, 2, and 8

Additional musicians

• Rainer Pietsch – scoring and conducting on "Gates of Babylon" and "Rainbow Eyes"
• Bavarian String Ensemble – strings on "Gates of Babylon"
• Rudi Risavy – flute on "Rainbow Eyes"
• Max Hecker – recorder on "Rainbow Eyes"

"'Rainbow Eyes' String Quartet":

• Ferenc Kiss – first violin, concert master
• Nico Nicolic – second violin
• Ottmar Machan – viola
• Karl Heinz Feit – cello

Production

• Martin Birch – producer and engineer
• Max Hecker – classical instruments recording engineer
• Bruce Payne – direction
• Recorded at The Strawberry Studio at Château d'Hérouville, France, May–July and December 1977

Singles

• 1978 – "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll / Sensitive to Light"
• 1978 – "L.A. Connection / Lady of the Lake"

These two singles were also re-released in the UK in July 1981. "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" was also used for many years as a jingle by the British radio DJ Alan Freeman.

Charts

Certifications

Accolades

Notes

References

1. Popoff, Martin (2016). The Deep Purple Family (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-908724-42-7.
2. Prato, Greg (23 April 2020). "WENDY DIO Says RONNIE Never Spoke To RITCHIE BLACKMORE Again After Getting Fired From RAINBOW". Brave Words. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
3. "Music Week" (PDF). p. 88.
4. "Music Week" (PDF). p. 41.
5. Saulnier, Jason (1 June 2010). "Tony Carey Interview". Music Legends. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
6. Jerry Bloom, The Long Live Rock and Roll Story, ISBN 9780955754227
7. Classic Rock magazine, September 2002
8. "L.A. Connection". 17 July 2012.
9. ^ Ginsberg, Geoff. "Rainbow Long Live Rock 'n' Roll review". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
10. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 552.
11. Dunn, Sam. "Metal Evolution, Episode 110: Power metal". VH1. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
12. Ritchie Blackmore Book Review
13. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
14. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4598b". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Rainbow – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
16. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Rainbow – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
18. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
19. "Norwegiancharts.com – Rainbow – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
20. "Swedishcharts.com – Rainbow – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
21. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
22. "Rainbow Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
23. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
24. レインボー レインボーのアルバム売り上げランキング (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
25. "Rainbow Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
26. "British album certifications – Rainbow – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
27. "Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century". Record Collector (245). January 2000. Retrieved 6 December 2013.

• 1978 albums
• Rainbow (rock band) albums
• Albums produced by Martin Birch
• Polydor Records albums