Post-Dio Rainbow

[Progatron]

Today, out of nowhere, I decided to pull the following CDs from the shelf and spin them in chronological order:

Down To Earth
Difficult To Cure
Straight Between The Eyes
Bent Out Of Shape
Stranger In Us All

... I would have included Finyl Vinyl just for the b-sides, but I no longer own that one (since my cassette tape version I had in high school, and who the hell knows what happened to that).

Damn, I actually really enjoyed my afternoon! It was a hell of a lot of Blackmore to take in in one sitting, but I had forgotten about some of the more obscure, deep album cuts that I liked. I think at the ripe old age of 46, I've finally determined that the post-Dio Rainbow albums have a lot more going for them than I used to think!

Any other fans of this era? (Yes, I think Since You've Been Gone is quite cringeworthy.)

[GuitarGeek]

(Yes, I think Since You've Been Gone is quite cringeworthy.)

What's cringeworthy about it? It's a good rock n roll song, though these days, I tend to prefer both the Head East and Cherie & Marie Currie versions. Personally, I think it's one of Russ Ballard's better compositions (right up there with Into The Night and Voices).

Anyway, yes, early 80's Rainbow was basically my introduction to Blackmore. I remember seeing the videos for All Night Long, Can't Happen Here, Stone Cold, and Street Of Dreams getting loads of airplay on MTV in the early days. They also used to show a live clip of Power, which I think was actually the first one I saw, that was sort of the introduction (not counting my oldest brother playing a Deep Purple record, once, I think when I was like 5).

But yeah, I really dig those albums a lot. I also remember watching the Live Between The Eyes concert video on MTV. That was another one of those things that I recorded the audio through the FM cable TV hookup we had. Because to pick up all the Rainbow albums, I spent about 20 years walking around humming that instrumental that they played before Smoke On The Water, before I realized it was Maybe Next Time from Difficult To Cure (and yes, I know the title on the album is some unpronounceable German phrase, but it translates as Maybe Next Time, which is both easier to say and easier to spell).

Anyone know where I can get a Straight Between The Eyes t-shirt or hoodie?

[Scrotum Scissor]

I couldn't stand J.L. Turner's voice back then, and I still can't. There were a handful of decent pop/rock tunes on those three albums with him, though - but flawed and sometimes marred by his vocal presence. Bent Out of Shape has somehowed survived significantly better than the two befire it, IMO - and "Stranded" was a great opening.

All in all I think Rising and Down to Earth were their finest offers. Even the Dio albums had the odd stinker to them.

[JJ88]

(Yes, I think Since You've Been Gone is quite cringeworthy.)

I like that and 'I Surrender'- Russ Ballard was a really good writer of this type of song.

I do enjoy Down To Earth but not so much that Joe Lynn Turner period. The latter had a sort of typical mid-Atlantic AOR voice, I think...technically fine, but lacking the character of Dio or even Bonnet. IMHO.

[Halmyre]

Any other fans of this era? (Yes, I think Since You've Been Gone is quite cringeworthy.)

Whereas 'All Night Long' is the very definition of cringeworthy.

Post-Ronnie, Bonnet was too shrill, Turner little better, although on 'Difficult to Cure' he was singing songs written for Bonnet. Regardless, I bailed out at that point, and although I picked up a 'Best of' collection a few years back, nothing from their later output makes me want to fill in the gaps.

[moecurlythanu]

Put me in the pro-JLT camp. I thought he was one of the best Rock singers of the 80s.

There's a Rainbow documentary on Prime that's worth watching if, like me, there are periods of the band's history that you know little of. It isn't in-depth, but includes a lot of interviews.

[Progatron]

Whereas 'All Night Long' is the very definition of cringeworthy.

That one sounds like a Kiss track. Those are probably the two low points of that album.

There's a Rainbow documentary on Prime that's worth watching if, like me, there are periods of the band's history that you know little of. It isn't in-depth, but includes a lot of interviews.

I didn't know that, I'll check it out for sure, thanks!

[spacefreak]

Rainbow ended when Dio exited. Bonnet was a good singer but he did better with MSG. J.L. Turner's era is close to unlistenable.

[GuitarGeek]

Whereas 'All Night Long' is the very definition of cringeworthy.

See, there again, that's another song I like. I always dug the couplet "I don't know 'bout your brain/But you look alright".

[Trane]

Only one post-Dio track cuts it with me, it's Eyes Of The World (on DTE), but the rest of the album sucks (IMHO)

The JLT albums do absolutely nothing to me either, but then again, I wasn't much of a fan on the last Dio album, who only had three good songs (KtK, LLRnR and Gates).
I guess if Eyes Of The World had been on that album, it might come to Rising's waist heigh and the debut's shoulder height.

[SteveSly]

What's cringeworthy about it? It's a good rock n roll song, though these days, I tend to prefer both the Head East and Cherie & Marie Currie versions. Personally, I think it's one of Russ Ballard's better compositions (right up there with Into The Night and Voices).

odie?

I am also a fan of the song, but prefer the Head East version on the "Head East Live" album. It was always a showcase of their concerts.

[Yves]

Saw them on the SBTE tour. They gave a great show but were upstaged by the opening act: Scorpions (touring the album Blackout). I never really bothered getting any of the albums.

[The_Lurker]

First Rainbow album I owned was Bent Out of Shape. Still a big fan of "Street of Dreams," "Stranded," and "I Can't Let You Go." The two instrumentals on that album are tasty too. Tastes differ and all, but Turner can sing, so I don't know what people are going on about with words like "unlistenable," but to each his own. "Stone Cold" is an excellent song and I also dig "Can't Happen Here," and some of the other earlier songs that have been denigrated here in this thread.

[Progatron]

There's a Rainbow documentary on Prime that's worth watching if, like me, there are periods of the band's history that you know little of. It isn't in-depth, but includes a lot of interviews.

I noticed there are actually two of them on there. The one I just watched was called Up Close And Personal, and I really enjoyed it. Cool to hear some of those interviews!

During one of Ritchie's interviews from 1975, there's Tull playing in the background, and one of the songs is from the Chateau tapes! That was really surprising to hear.

[moecurlythanu]

There are a surprising number of bands' films, documentaries, etc on Prime. Just gotta search on the my video tab. I have quite a few on my watch list. Someday I'll get to them all.

[NogbadTheBad]

I have a soft spot for Difficult To Cure as that tour was the first ever gig I went to. None of the post-Dio hold a candle to Rising, RBR, LLRNR.

[moecurlythanu]

I noticed there are actually two of them on there. The one I just watched was called Up Close And Personal, and I really enjoyed it. Cool to hear some of those interviews!

That's the one I watched. I'm now watching the other one, and in the first 10 minutes, they've interviewed the guitarist from Mostly Autumn and referenced Screaming Lord Sutch. Oh,and look! There's Heather Findlay. Not your usual docu.

[JJ88]

Mostly Autumn seemed to appear in most of those DVD documentaries- not that I ever bought any of them, just their names on the back covers! They had a label in common at the time (Classic Rock Productions) and Mostly Autumn got a hard sell from them. Really put me off in fact, all those 'Is this the new Pink Floyd?' adverts in magazines etc.

During one of Ritchie's interviews from 1975, there's Tull playing in the background, and one of the songs is from the Chateau tapes! That was really surprising to hear.

ISTR an interview with him where he said War Child was his all-time favourite album. Probably Record Collector, somewhere in the 00s.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ I personally got into Tull at the behest of a Blackmore interview in 1985 where he namechecked them as "one of his fave bands".

I still like Tull today, but I have little time for Blackmore other than snippets of old DP and Rising.

[Trane]

Saw them on the SBTE tour. They gave a great show but were upstaged by the opening act: Scorpions (touring the album Blackout). I never really bothered getting any of the albums.

saw them on that tour as well (if memory serves, I won the ticket via radio station competition), and yes, it looks like over 60% of the crowd came for the Scorpions, and a fair bit of them left at half-time, leaving Rainbow with much smaller crowds.
Blackmood felt he had to break cheap Strats all over the place to recompensate the fans that did stay until the end of the show.

First Rainbow album I owned was Bent Out of Shape. Still a big fan of "Street of Dreams," "Stranded," and "I Can't Let You Go." The two instrumentals on that album are tasty too. Tastes differ and all, but Turner can sing, so I don't know what people are going on about with words like "unlistenable," but to each his own. "Stone Cold" is an excellent song and I also dig "Can't Happen Here," and some of the other earlier songs that have been denigrated here in this thread.

I did see the MTV clip, but by that time, I'd totally given up on them

What are the instrumental's name, please? I'll give them a listen, as I had no idea there were some

That's the one I watched. I'm now watching the other one, and in the first 10 minutes, they've interviewed the guitarist from Mostly Autumn and referenced Screaming Lord Sutch. Oh,and look! There's Heather Findlay. Not your usual docu.

Yup and nope, those Josh & Heather were common features in the early 00's CSR series

Mostly Autumn seemed to appear in most of those DVD documentaries- not that I ever bought any of them, just their names on the back covers! They had a label in common at the time (Classic Rock Productions) and Mostly Autumn got a hard sell from them. Really put me off in fact, all those 'Is this the new Pink Floyd?' adverts in magazines etc.

Yup, not that their music ever resonated with me of the slightest interest, but they got me severely irked at them for doing that kind of shit: Pushing themselves through older and grander bands was really not the thing to do to get my respect.

I "accidently" saw once Autumn (they were on the bill), hated them, but that Heather chick certainly was a looker (the other one was OK as well)

[JJ88]

They even used to always have this quote from Richard Wright- 'I've been listening to this amazing new band called Mostly Autumn'- in all the adverts. I remember they had some militant fanboys who'd say people who didn't like them all had to be prog snobs who only want 20 minute epics and all that stuff. I think it was mainly that PR campaign which rubbed people up the wrong way, more than their music.

BTW did anyone see any of Blackmore's recent Rainbow shows? I saw some footage and was underwhelmed, to put it mildly and diplomatically.

[Halmyre]

Mostly Autumn seemed to appear in most of those DVD documentaries- not that I ever bought any of them, just their names on the back covers! They had a label in common at the time (Classic Rock Productions) and Mostly Autumn got a hard sell from them. Really put me off in fact, all those 'Is this the new Pink Floyd?' adverts in magazines etc.



ISTR an interview with him where he said War Child was his all-time favourite album. Probably Record Collector, somewhere in the 00s.

I've seen other interviews where he expressed a liking for Tull. Pity he and Anderson didn't work together earlier but I assume politics and the presence of Martin Barre got in the way.

[Progatron]

I knew Ritchie was a big Tull fan, both from interviews and from his own recordings. He covered Rainbow Blues with Blackmore's Night as well as having Ian play flute on the track Play Minstrel Play, but it was still strange to hear him listening to the Chateau tapes in 1975, many years before they were released in any form!

[The_Lurker]

What are the instrumental's name, please? I'll give them a listen, as I had no idea there were some

"Anybody There" and "Snowman." Not shredders. A bit more atmospheric pieces. The latter has a bit of a Planet P vibe to it. You can find both on YouTube and/or Spotify.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ "The Snowman" is essentially Howard Blake's "Walking In the Air" from the animated feature The Snowman. As with the "Weiss Heim" track I find these so-called 'adaptations' one of the least beguiling and most vulgar aspects of the entire 'powermetal' phenomenon.