Members of 'Rainbow':
'Rainbow' History:
Masterminded by Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist of Deep Purple, Rainbow recorded nine studio albums between 1975 and 1995. The period between 1975 and 1978 (also known as the Dio Era) would be remembered as the most important incarnation of the band. Blending hard rock with classical music, Rainbow paved the way for many Progressive and Progressive Metal bands with their musical virtuosity and the "sword, magic and wizardry" imagery in their lyrics. Blackmore´s strength in improvisation led to many live albums, which are still being remastered and released until this day. Deep Purple and Elf In 1974, after Deep Purple had released "Stormbringer", Ritchie Blackmore had become disillusioned with the funk/soul elements that were being introduced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, and also wanted to express his ideas that were being suppressed in Deep Purple. He went into the studio with an American band, Elf, which were to act only as a session band. Rainbow's debut was actually recorded whilst Ritchie was still a member of Deep Purple! This took place just before Deep Purple's European tour to support "Stormbringer". The line up at this stage was Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Gary Driscoll (drums), Craig Gruber (bass) and Mickey Lee Soule (piano, Mellotron, clavinet and organ). Blackmore instantly struck up a strong working relationship with the lead vocalist of Elf, Ronnie James Dio. Their shared interests in both medieval and hard rock music would build the foundations for "Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow", in which Blackmore and Dio shared all the songwriting credits. Extremely pleased with the results of the recording session with Elf, Blackmore decided to quit Deep Purple and form Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow. The Dio Years "Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow" was released in August 1975, but even before its release, the first of a long line of musicians had already been fired. Bassist Craig Gruber was given his marching orders and this marked the beginning of Blackmore´s policy of firing and hiring musicians at the drop of a hat. After the debut album was released, all the members of Elf (except for Dio) were replaced. Blackmore recruited two unknowns, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Tony Carey. Former Jeff Beck drummer Cozy Powell was brought in to complete the line -up. Their second album, "Rising", contained three lengthy compositions, "Tarot Woman", "A Light in the Black" and the all-time classic Rainbow track, "Stargazer" which featured The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. This album is widely regarded as the essential Rainbow album among their legions of fans. Many of the shows on the 1976/77 World Tour were recorded (many so safely guarded that they would be released twenty years later), and a double live album, On Stage, surfaced in 1977. The live album included Rainbow's version of Deep Purple's "Mistreated" and the classic "Catch the Rainbow" from their debut album, which clocked in at over fifteen minutes. Many regard this line-up (Blackmore, Dio, Powell, Carey and Bain) as the classic Rainbow line-up. In May 1977, bassist Jimmy Bain was replaced by Mark Clarke. That same year in August, Clarke as well as keyboardist Tony Carey were replaced by Bob Daisley (bass) and David Stone (keyboards) At the end of that year, Rainbow released "Long Live Rock ´n Roll". On the track "Gates of Babylon" Blackmore decided to use The Bavarian String Ensemble. String accompaniment was also used on the ballad, "Rainbow Eyes" Rainbow at the Crossroads (The Graham Bonnet Years) By January 1979, Ronnie James Dio decided to leave in order to join Black Sabbath, with whom he remained until 1982 (he would then leave to form his own band, called simply Dio). Suddenly, without his main songwriting partner, Blackmore recruited his old friend, bassist Roger Glover, who used to play with Deep Purple. Glover would also help with the songwriting and production chores. Keyboardist Don Airey (from Colosseum II) and new vocalist Graham Bonnet were brought in to complete the new line-up. This new line-up resulted in the band moving in a more straightforward rock direction with a more commercial feel to their overall sound. They had two top ten hits with "Since You Been Gone" and "All Night Long" The Joe Lynn Turner Years After almost two years of relentless touring, Blackmore unpredictably decided he wanted Rainbow to move into a more melodic direction. Joe Lynn Turner was recruited as the new lead vocalist, bringing more of a "radio friendly" sound to the band. After five years behind the drums, Cozy Powell also decided to leave. He was replaced by Bobby Rondinelli. The 1981 album, "Difficult To Cure", brought them their biggest hit single to date, "I Surrender". Rainbow suddenly found they were attracting a new audience as they moved into a more mainstream/AOR/Rock direction. More commercial than the last album, "Difficult to Cure" still had some less commercial sounding tracks, most notably being the title track 'Difficult to Cure" an instrumental, which was an interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth. In 1982, Don Airey was sent through the revolving doors of musicians and was replaced by keyboardist David Rosenthal. This line-up released the album "Straight Between the Eyes". 1983 saw the release of "Bent Out Of Shape, with Rondinelli being replaced by Chuck Burgi. This album was in the same vein as its two predecessors. There were still traces of Blackmore´s stellar guitar work on tracks like the instrumental "Snowman", although most of the album would be considered straightforward melodic rock. Rainbow gave their last two shows at The Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan in March 1984. The instrumental "Difficult to Cure" was performed with a full symphonic orchestra. This live version of the song was later released in 1986, on the album, "Final Vinyl". In April 1984, Blackmore rejoined Deep Purple, and Rainbow would only be heard from ten years later. 90´s Rainbow Fast forward to 1994. Ritchie Blackmore decided to form Rainbow once again, with a completely new line-up. The 90´s Rainbow line-up would be Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Doogie White (vocals), John O Reilly (drums), Greg Smith (bass) and Paul Morris (keyboards). The band released an album by the title of "Stranger in Us All", with tracks like "Hall of the Mountain King" and "Ariel" being reminiscent of the Dio era. Sadly, this was the last Rainbow studio album. Many of the lyrics were co-written by Candice Night, who would later join Blackmore to form Blackmore´s Night. 2000´s and beyond In 2006, more than three double live albums were released from the 1976/77 tours, plus a live DVD, "Live In Munich 1977". Although most of these double live albums have similar track listings, Blackmore´s strong tendency to improvise makes each of these recordings different to each other. Although Rainbow enjoyed their biggest success during the Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner eras, their most creative and progressive period was between 1975-1978. |
Rainbow Discography:
| Release Title and date | |
| live in munich 1977 disc 1 2006 | |
| live in munich 1977 disc 2 2006 | |
| catch the rainbow: the anthology disc 1 2003 | |
| catch the rainbow: the anthology disc 2 2003 | |
| all night long - an introduction 2002 | |
| pot of gold 2002 | |
| the very best of 1997 | |
| stranger in us all 1995 | |
| bent out of shape 1983 |
| tokyo 23-11-95 disc 1 | |
| tokyo 23-11-95 disc 2 | |
| virginian night 1981 (disc 1) live in fairfax, virginia, u.s.a. | |
| when evening falls (disc 1) | |
| when evening falls (disc 2) |
