Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow — Ritchie Blackmore's R-A-I-N-B-O-W

intothewellsabyss
Aug 4, 2023
4 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

When ELF members Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010) (Lead Vocals), Mickey Lee Soule (Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar), Craig Gruber (Bass) & Gary Driscoll (Drums) united with former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore!

August 4, 1975 — Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow released the bands first full-length studio album, Ritchie Blackmore's R-A-I-N-B-O-W via Oyster Records (UK) & Polydor Records (worldwide). (Apple Music or Spotify)

The album was produced by late Engineer/Producer Martin “The Wasp” Birch (December 27, 1948 – August 9, 2020) (Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake/David Coverdale, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, and Iron Maiden).

Background:

During studio sessions in Tampa Bay, Florida on December 12, 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 Electric Light Orchestra. 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. Shortly after the album was released, Soule quit the band, while Gruber and Driscoll were sacked. 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 Information:

The original vinyl release had a gate fold sleeve, although later budget reissues on Polydor 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 remastered form in the US in April 1999. The European release followed later in the year. Vocalist Ronnie James Dio considered this release his favorite 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.

Critical Reception:

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 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 have “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 stated 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 𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚢 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 the songs Man on the Silver Mountain, and Sixteenth Century Greensleeves which approach the worthiness of Rising.

Songs Covered by Other Artist’s:

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.

• German Rock group Scorpions covered The Temple of the King on the tribute album Ronnie James Dio - This Is Your Life.

• German Heavy Metal band Angel Dust covered The Temple of the King on the tribute album Holy Dio: Tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

• Now-classical Rock guitarist Axel Rudi Pell covered the song Still I’m Sad on the tribute album Holy Dio: Tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

• German Power Metal group Primal Fear covered the song Kill the King on the tribute album Holy Dio: Tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

• German Power Metal group Gamma Ray covered the song Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll on the tribute album Holy Dio: Tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

• Swedish Power Metal group HammerFall covered the song Man on the Silver Mountain on the tribute album Holy Dio: Tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells