Misplaced Pages

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Cover art by David Willardson
Studio album by Rainbow
Released	5 September 1975 (1975-09-05)
Recorded	20 February – 14 March 1975
Studio	Musicland (Munich)
Genre	Hard rock heavy metal
Length	36:54
Label	Oyster (UK) Polydor (rest of the world)
Producer	Ritchie Blackmore, Martin Birch, Ronnie James Dio
Rainbow chronology
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975) Rising (1976)
Ronnie James Dio chronology
Trying to Burn the Sun (1975) Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975) Rising (1976)
Singles from Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
"Man on the Silver Mountain" Released: September 1975 (US)

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is the debut studio album by American/British rock band Rainbow, released in 1975.

Recording

During studio sessions in Tampa Bay, Florida on 12 December 1974, Blackmore originally planned to record the solo single "Black Sheep of the Family"- a cover of a track by the band Quatermass from 1970 – and the newly composed "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves", which was to be the B-side. Other musicians involved included singer/lyricist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Gary Driscoll of blues rock band Elf, and cellist Hugh McDowell of ELO. Satisfied with the two tracks, Blackmore decided to extend the sessions to a full album.

The other members of Elf, keyboardist Micky Lee Soule and bassist Craig Gruber, were used for the recording of the album in Musicland Studios in Munich, West Germany during February and March, 1975. Though it was originally planned to be a solo album, the record was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and later progressed as a new band project. Blackmore and Dio did promotional work for the album. While rehearsing for the tour, Blackmore decided to fire Gruber and bring in Jimmy Bain on bass, and after that he fired Driscoll. As a consequence of that, Soule decided to quit the band to play on a Roger Glover album and tour with the Ian Gillan Band. This first line-up never performed live, and the live photos used in the album art are of Blackmore while with Deep Purple and of Elf playing live.

The last track of the album, "Still I'm Sad", is an instrumental cover of a song by the Yardbirds from their 1965 album Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds. A version featuring vocals subsequently appeared on Rainbow's live album On Stage and their 1995 studio album Stranger in Us All.

Release

The original vinyl release had a gate-fold sleeve, although the later budget re-issue on Polydor was reduced to a single sleeve. On the cassette version of the album, Side One features the last five tracks, while Side Two plays the first four. On the case insert and on the cassette itself, "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" is written as "Sixteen Century Greensleeves".

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was re-issued on CD in re-mastered form in the US in April 1999. The European release followed later in the year.

Vocalist Ronnie James Dio considered this release his favourite Rainbow album.

Despite the title implying the record being a Ritchie Blackmore solo release, in later years Blackmore has jokingly stated that Dio's contributions warranted a re-titling of "Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio's Rainbow".

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	6/10
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The Rolling Stone Record Guide

The album was praised in British contemporary reviews for its fantasy/heroic-like lyrical content and the innovative rock style. However, the reviewer for the American magazine Rolling Stone disparaged the album, describing Blackmore's playing "listless and bored in relation to past performances" and the band "a completely anonymous group."

Modern reviews have a similar tenor. AllMusic reviewer wrote that the album has "a few listenable tracks", with young Dio "at his best when he fully gives in to his own and Blackmore's medieval fantasy leanings in hard-rocking tracks like 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves' and 'Man on the Silver Mountain'", but remarked how the band became "a true embarrassment when they try to lighten up and boogie down." Canadian journalist Martin Popoff noticed that on this album Blackmore "confirms the creative vacuum that was much in evidence towards his last years with Purple", offering a "boring, dated, diluted and largely illogical smorgasbord of guitar rock stylings, all inexpressively played over". He also criticized Martin Birch's dull and inexpensive production, "which ruins what is already a limp noodle of a record" and saved only by the songs 'Man on the Silver Mountain' and 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves', "which approach the worthiness of Rising".

Covers

The album's songs have been performed by subsequent Rainbow line-ups and covered by other bands.

• Rainbow included an updated version of "Still I'm Sad" on their 1995 album Stranger in Us All.
• Blackmore's Night have released a folk rock cover version of "Self Portrait" on their second studio album Under a Violet Moon in 1999, and "Temple of the King" on 2013's Dancer and the Moon. They also performed a live cover of "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" (titled as "16th Century Greensleeves") on their 2002 live album Past Times with Good Company.
• Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow re-recorded "Black Sheep of the Family" in 2019.

Track listing

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

Personnel

Rainbow

• Ritchie Blackmore – guitar, producer
• Ronnie James Dio – vocals, producer
• Gary Driscoll – drums
• Craig Gruber – bass
• Micky Lee Soule – piano, Mellotron, Clavinet, organ

Additional musician

• Shoshana – backing vocals on "Catch the Rainbow" and "Still I'm Sad"

Production

• Martin Birch – producer, engineer, mixing

Charts

Certifications

References

1. "Richie Blackmore's Rainbow certification".
2. "'Ritchie's Blackmore's Rainbow': 40 Facts About the Classic Album". VH1. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
3. 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.
4. Popoff, Martin (2020). Sensitive to Light - The Rainbow story (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-912782-40-6.
5. "RAINBOW: 1974–1976". The Ronnie James Dio Web Site. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
6. "Padavona.com - Ronnie Dio's Early Years". www.padavona.com. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
7. Popoff, Martin (2020). Sensitive to Light - The Rainbow story (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-912782-40-6.
8. Popoff, Martin. The Very Beast of Dio (liner notes). p. 11.
9. Hotten, Jon (1988). "Black Sabbath : The Dio Years" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
10. ^ Kent-Abbott, David. "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow review". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
11. ^ Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 225–226. ISBN 978-1894959025.
12. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 3960. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
13. The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1979. p. 35.
14. Makowski, Pete (16 August 1975). "Volcanic Blackmore". Sounds. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
15. Altman, Billy (23 October 1975). "Album Reviews: Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
16. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
17. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4034b". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 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. "Charts.nz – Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
20. "Swedishcharts.com – Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". 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 22 April 2018.
23. "British album certifications – Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

• 1975 debut albums
• Rainbow (rock band) albums
• Polydor Records albums
• Albums produced by Martin Birch