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Two more Rainbow previews
Two more preview tracks from Rainbow Memories in Rock – Live In Germany live album recorded this summer.
Spotlight Kid (Bietigheim-Bissingen, June 18, 2016):
The second one is Man on the Silver Mountain from Loreley, June 17, 2016. You’ll have to got to third party sites to watch this one as Powers That Be™ made it impossible to show it here.
My guess this is it for the previews as the album is out tomorrow, November 18.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Some great rock & roll played by professional musicians. Sounds fantastic & looks sharp. I love it!. Uh oh- now here come the haters to disparage everything…. Faaaaaaaark!. Smiles to ya.
November 17th, 2016 at 22:23I knew Ritchie had problems in his finger, so his playing would not be in top shape. So, that I can forgive.
What I didn’t know is that he was deaf also. He fired far better musicians for far superior performances than this band he assembled. Specially the rhythm section.
What a sad spectacle.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:10It is perhaps not as exciting as it used to be, but Ritchie will always touching me yet. For the time being I still will be a fan as i was for the past 46 years.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:23I still won’t buy the DVD but I guess it would make a lovely Xmas present for big Ian. Spreed the love and laughter!!!!!
November 18th, 2016 at 12:39https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O87q6jFcmmc
November 18th, 2016 at 12:50Sad to say this but to my ears this is utmost rubbish. The only point for doing this must be Mr Blackmore’s disinterest / indifference towards his reputation as an idolised guitar hero. By this he is saying that he doesn’t give a shit. And that, actually, is quite an adorable attitude. Long live Ritchie!
November 18th, 2016 at 14:06The solo break was great! The band actually looked they were enjoying themselves!
November 18th, 2016 at 18:36This sounds even weaker than I remember it from the gig! With the exception of Herr Romero who, poor guy, has to sing those dreadful Turner/Glover lyrics (never liked the song even in its original form, it’s a silly number), nothing sounds right, drums more punkish than heavy (no, I don’t mind his mohawk, he’s a nice guy), that god-awful jazz-middish-honky bass sound (great for some music, but not for Rainbow), the hesitant and demure keyboards. My politesse prohibits me from commenting on the guitarist, nice hat and he does sound a bit like the guy who used to play with Deep Purple in places.
I have the double CD lying here before me on the desk (it came in today) and I dread to hear it. Oh my.
November 18th, 2016 at 21:18Ok, so I manfully heard the double CD through. All the renditions are extremely sluggish, even plodding. Imagine Bad Company on qualudes playing Rainbow. Now I love Bad Co, but Rainbow songs (and most DP tracks, especially the Mark 2 ones) need some edgy insistence to work, not a laid back mood. Nothing pushes here, it all coasts. 70ies Rainbow’s “vandals-at-the-gate”-hammering thru of the songs in live concerts sounds like Metallica in comparison.
Bob Nouveau’s bass playing is higher in the mix than on any Rainbow live album you’ve ever heard (in Rainbow’s 70ies and 80ies output, the bass was traditionally relegated to the background in the mix, that is obviously how Blackers liked it )- now I’m not complaining, he plays pleasantly enough (and more notes than all of his predecessors put together, he’s nicely melodic and ambles through the songs like he was playing in an inspired session), but utterly lacks forward drive and attack like Jimmy Bain, Bob Daisley, Roger Glover & Greg Smith all had (undermixed as they were). So while he is a guilty party for the music not really rocking, his bass playing is weirdly also the most inspired performance on the live recording save for Romero’s vocals which cannot be faulted though heeze prenounzeeayshun needs some getting used to. And the little punk valiantly gives it all he’s got, but his drumming lacks ooomph and authority and the very mellow production of the live recording doesn’t help that at all.
Some of Ritchie’s solos sound like they were “enhanced” in the aftermath in the confines of a studio, but then that is nothing new with him, “nobody’s perfect” after all! ; – )
I’ll listen to it some more, but it takes discipline to have your mind not wander off. Cozy Powell once said to the NME that Rainbow’s music “demanded attention” and could not be played as background to a dinner, yet nothing DEMANDS attention here. There are some moments when you think that Ritchie’s playing might just be on the verge of taking off, but then it descends back into docile and tame soloing along – lacking any of his trademark intensity and off-the-cuff inspiration.
November 19th, 2016 at 00:49Man on the Silver Mountain actually sounds really good. Although the lack of rehearsal was pretty apparent right before the bit when Ronnie interacts with the crowd.
November 19th, 2016 at 00:52Just watched the MotSM clip. It’s a rather static performance…seemingly without fire or drive. What I was impressed with was that the decision was made to keep in the Ronnie Dio shout out. That could easily have been snipped in the post editing process.
Will I buy this? No. There’s no reason. Am I glad that Ritchie decided to do a few shows, if even for the sake of nostalgia? Oh yeah. A lame performance, on which this borders, is always a treasure. Rumours are about of potential further shows. For those that have never seen Ritchie sans acoustic medieval setting, I hope it happens.
November 20th, 2016 at 17:26Aaaahhh… nostalgia eh?, it ain’t what it used to be!. Ooh err, that’s not how I remember it, that’s not how it should be played…. Hmmmm.
If we had never ever heard of RB, Rainbow, or any of these songs before RB & his crew played these 3 concerts, then I reckon that people would be raving on about how good this set was & is, without all this utter nonsense of comparison to long gone history.
All of the various incarnations of RB’s band have been different from one another. The thought occurred that maybe this could be considered the ‘Middle Of The Road’ version of his band.
So, as for all of those amongst you whom don’t like it, then may I offer all of you this thought: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!.
Don’t worry Mr B, I love this live set & I’ll happily fork out the cash for it & I’ll play it to death. SO THERE!. 🙂 Be happy.
November 21st, 2016 at 01:31Sad….very sad…
November 21st, 2016 at 19:11No 9: I caught Bad Co in Nottingham last month. Very excellent indeed. And not as laid back as I expected, either. Wonder what the result would have been if Blackers had got his way and recruited Paul Rodgers instead of giving an unknown a break…
November 21st, 2016 at 20:45I always keep thinking about this gig specifically the one in Loreley which I spent a good bit of money to get to from Ireland. Its a case of the spectacle upstaging the actual band/performance. I did get a feeling from the thousands of fans around me after it that it was an underwhelming experience for them and my gut spoke to me at the time when they began with Highway Star and Ritchie struggling with the solo that this was going to be a rather pedestrianized performance and not just ‘on the ball’ with the whole thing…I even thought the support band Thin Lizzy were better than Rainbow! I would never criticize Ritchie per se but a lot of folk paid more money than they should to see Rainbow at the three concerts and he should have been better prepared…its rather ironic because he is a perfectionist . I wouldn’t say he doesn’t give a shit ( as no 6 said )…but the fans who pays the big money and those who don’t I might add should have been treated better…if it wasn’t for Ronnie the whole performances would have been far more painful to watch and listen to..for me anyway he elevated the performances
November 22nd, 2016 at 11:10I’m still ploughing through it, again and again, that is how faithful/nerdy a fan I am. The songs that are more laid back by nature – eg Catch the Rainbow, Mistreated, Child in Time in places – work best, I even like the groovy 16th Century Greensleeves that doesn’t do the sonic assault (it has always reminded me of Uriah Heep’s Gypsy and I wager to guess there was some inspiration there) of the original (or the Rainbow Dio-era live versions) any justice, but is now a different song in its own right.
Ronnie Romero does put his heart in his performance, no doubt, only a few bum notes (utterly forgivable), but I sometimes do wonder whether he actually understands what he is singing. He’d probably be brilliant singing in Spanish. Overall, the Purple songs are worst, but then Rainbow – irrespective of line up – was never especially adept at sounding like Purple. Without Ian Paice’s swing and Jon Lord’s organ groove, that is obviously hard to do. The keyboards are mixed down – and for good reason too, the playing is often hesitant and quite unorganic -, but since Ritchie is not the most “filling” rhythm guitarist on earth (hence his preference for playing with keyboarders), the new Rainbow sounds hollow and shaky. Since I saw Uriah Heep only yesterday opening for Status Quo, the difference is especially stark – Heep’s sound these days is even more dominated by an overloud Hammond C3 than Purple was back in Mark I days.
November 22nd, 2016 at 12:48Be careful what you wish for:
“If we had never ever heard of RB, Rainbow, or any of these songs before RB & his crew played these 3 concerts, then I reckon that people would be raving on about how good this set was & is, without all this utter nonsense of comparison to long gone history.”
Oh, that is sooooo easy, if the current Rainbow had no baggage you mean and had opened for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Thin Lizzy as a new unknown band at the two German gigs? Then people would have wasted no time and said: “Himmel, what an underrehearsed lot these guys are and lame to boot. Only hopeful is ze singarrr wiff ze strrrrong accent, he should quickly – Vamos! – find himself a more dynamic outfit. And the guitarist sure wears funny hats.”
And for some of the Purple renditions they did, any other band without the Ritchie pedigree would have been – rightfully – bottled off stage. Those performances had zilch groove and Purple is all about groove, more so than nearly all other hard rock outfits.
Ritchie was living off his (albeit justly deserved) laurels at these gigs, don’t fool yourself.
November 22nd, 2016 at 18:10Goodness me, not sure what you were all hoping for from a 71 year old that had been away from hard rock for 2 decades. I was at Birmingham and thought it was just brilliant, the DVD is fine too. We wanted Ritchie to return to rock, well he did, on his terms, and it was great. It’s not 1976 anymore, Ronnie Dio, Cozy and Jimmy Bain are all gone sadly, it can’t be like that again, enjoy it for what it is, they’re not making any more Ritchie Blackmores!!
November 22nd, 2016 at 21:41@17 uwe, my previous entry @12 was obviously a provocative dig meant specifically for you & a couple of others in particular…. I understand the fanboy in you, but c’mon, you’re not Sheldon from television’s ‘The Big Bang Theory’!. It’s just entertainment, your life doesn’t depend on it!. How can you take this shit so seriously?. You’re an adult, so get over it buddy.
I have played this concert recording to other ordinary people that have been unfamiliar with Rainbow… Every one of them say this album sounds good. For me, ‘Difficult To Cure’ had a couple of odd spots in it. And the drum solo was a little lighter than what I was used to (but well played). There wasn’t anything in the whole effort to put me off buying it.
You know, I believe with Deep Purple that there are some songs that suit Steve’s guitar style better than others… e.g. Lazy, The Battle Rages On etc work well. However, it’s taken decades for me to get used to Steve’s playing of Strange Kind Of Woman & some others. I think there’s a similar thing happening with this Rainbow concert…. some songs suit this band better than others.
Am I the only one that thought these concerts were played at a similar speed/feel to the original R.B’s Rainbow album of 1975?. Actually, I’d love to hear Candice step up & sing these songs… Yowza, yowza, yowza!. Now wouldn’t that really piss you off?!.
Anyhow, if you think this music was off, then I wonder what you would make of the youtube clip of the band ‘Vains Of Jenna’ playing Smoke On The Water. They seem to have forgotten the chords…. Lol. BE HAPPY.
November 22nd, 2016 at 23:44“Am I the only one that thought these concerts were played at a similar speed/feel to the original R.B’s Rainbow album of 1975?”
Good ears, there is a similarity in Nouveaux’ and Craig Gruber’s playing especially, playfully melodic and a bit more rhythmically oriented than you would expect from a white boy in a heavy rock band. They are both not very edgy or attack-happy players though (Glenn Hughes is a funky bass player too, but forceful). And it is telling that Ritchie wanted a bass player with an almost punkish energy (and otherwise pretty much a root-note shredder) such as Jimmy Bain for the live line up of early rainbow, not a consumate melodicist and rhythm nuancer like Gruber (not that his style of playing would have lasted a minute with Cozy thundering away behind his Yamaha Fortress of Solitude!). Blackers wanted Brit grit, not Yank sophistication to pair with Cozy (I’m writing this as a fan of Gruber, does anybody remember Jimmy Bain for a single bass run on Rainbow Rising?).
But Elf as an ensemble were shit-tight (from years and years of playing together), the new Rainbow line-up is just not in that realm.
BTW, I thought that especially the Bain/Carey line-up of early Rainbow was guilty of playing a large part of the songs live way too fast – some songs such as Man on the Silver Mountain really suffered for it too, I never heard a live version matching the grandeur of the studio original in its measured tempo.
November 23rd, 2016 at 16:19The band is ok!Its not a carrer band for a living,its a jam to have fun with friends.And the crowd still yelds Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie Ritchie…
November 23rd, 2016 at 18:27I must confess to enjoying, in a humorous sort of way, these recent comments of Uwe’s in regards to his torture sessions with the recent Rainbow concert release! @ 8 – “I have the double CD lying here before me on the desk (it came in today) and I dread to hear it. Oh my”.
November 24th, 2016 at 06:37Am I the only one wondering as to why Uwe would purchase such a release, that he is totally down on in so many ways? I know that I am not! Let alone suffer through the torture of listening to it!
@ 9- “Ok, so I manfully heard the double CD through. All the renditions are extremely sluggish, even plodding”. Yes, Uwe has stated this before, but credit where credit is due, he seems determined to go through the process again, for some strange reason! I am not sure what he is hoping to find, he has written this off from the beginning.
@ 16- “I’m still ploughing through it, again and again, that is how faithful/nerdy a fan I am”. Glad to hear it, but it seems a pointless task don’t you think, The Rainbow gigs are not up to your want or desire, as you have said repeatedly. “Ronnie Romero does put his heart in his performance, no doubt, only a few bum notes (utterly forgivable), but I sometimes do wonder whether he actually understands what he is singing. He’d probably be brilliant singing in Spanish”. Not sure what Uwe is getting at here. Onward “Overall, the Purple songs are worst, but then Rainbow – irrespective of line up – was never especially adept at sounding like Purple”. Rainbow in any era or lineup, NEVER EVER tried to sound like Purple! TOTALLY different bands, totally different direction etc etc! I am repeating myself again. @ 17 – “And for some of the Purple renditions they did, any other band without the Ritchie pedigree would have been – rightfully – bottled off stage. Those performances had zilch groove and Purple is all about groove, more so than nearly all other hard rock outfits”. I am relieved you said ‘nearly’ there.
Anyhow I am pleased Uwe is listening & more importantly, purchasing these ‘lame’ concerts, such a waste of money I would have thought Uwe. I give you another pat on the back there also, I haven’t parted with any hard earned cash for these gigs, & I don’t mind them for what they are! Each to their own as we say! Cheers.
Blackwood Richmore- I have been reading your comments & enjoying them, hence my silence of late as to Uwe & his comments! Plus I try to discipline myself, a little at times anyway! Although I presume you were joking when suggesting Candice should sing those songs. Cheers.
So much negativity regarding a 71 year old going out and playing some old songs. If you were expecting On Stage type performances from 40 years ago then your expectations were way above.
Personally Ritchie playing slower and considered was great, none of those dreadful playing fast for the sake of playing fast or simply just noise.
It was never going to be anything but a let down, unless you were there or unless you could not drag yourself out of the past.
I was at Birmingham, it was amazing, talking to young (in comparison to my years) fans who didn’t get to see Blackmore at his peak like I did and comments such as “best gig of my life”, “amazing”, “life changing” among others were spoken. The Birmingham gig was unfortunately not the one filmed so we have the what is akin to a rehearsal. And it’s pretty good. It’s not life changing but it’s a good representation. Ronnie is a good singer, Robert a good bass player (with bad trousers), Jens is a quality keyboard player but could’ve done better and David Keith is a great drummer (ignoring his kit size, which seems to be a factor his drumming on the DP songs was vintage 70’s Paice style and he hammered it out on the Cozy stuff)
November 24th, 2016 at 13:16MacGregor: But I’d buy a 5.1 Dolby Surround Bluray of Ritchie’s assorted farts and give it repeated spins!!! I even have that 70ies Adam Faith album for the few seconds of noise Ritchie makes in the intro and let’s not even talk of William Shattner albums where Ritchie guests, ok?
Coming to grips with Purple-related releases is nothing new to me, you have no idea how long it took me to like Jon Lord’s Windows or IGB’s Clear Air Turbulence (which is today one of my favourite Ian Gillan-outside-of-Purple releases – along with (no joke) Sab’s Born Again and Accidentally on Purpose!).
I’m really the faithful type, you know. That is why I’m also allowed to criticize.
Besides I make myself listen to new Coldplay and U2 releases too, you can actually only despise convincingly what you know. : – )
November 25th, 2016 at 18:55“Rainbow never ever tried to sound like Purple!”
LOL, sure had me fooled! I’m sure Ritchie – at different points of Rainbow’s career – only invited Ian Paice, David Coverdale, Jon Lord, Ian Gillan – who all declined – and Roger Glover – who didn’t – to join Rainbow in order to get away from the Purple sound. Makes sense. Just like using Martin Birch as producer for the first four Rainbow releases, all to get away from that old sound!
Even the drama of early Rainbow performances followed Purple Mark III gigs more or less slavishly. The fast starter, the elongated improvisations, drum, keyboard and guitar solos, the G major-blues interlude and, finally, the guitar smashing.
And after the first jam back together in 1984, Ritchie beamed at Jon: “How do you get your sound? I’ve been looking for a keyboarder like that for years!” And Jon said: “Well, in the first place you have to be me!”
November 25th, 2016 at 19:10@22 MacGregor, oh the fun we have!. Yeah,,, as it happens I would love to hear a BN (Rainbow Moon?) album (live & studio) of Rainbow’s songs. But just for me & no one else!. They’ve played so many of them already over the years. Add them up. I loved that belting little take on Stargazer that Candice sang that I found on youtube. :-).
A lot of published reviews of previous Rainbow concerts, such as the 1984 Japan tour were critical of Ritchie for playing the tunes way to fast… & they were right. That’s probably why I’ve enjoyed ‘Memories In Rock’ so much, such a distinctive contrast to what RB did before in the past.
Now, there’s only one more important question to be answered… seriously MacGregor, what exactly does a good (Aussie) Scotsman wear under his kilt?. Lol. 😉 Smiles to ya.
November 25th, 2016 at 19:51uwe @ 25- So when Blackmore was jamming, co creating songs etc with Rainbow members he said to them, ‘I want this to sound like my previous band, Purple’? Are you serious? Of course his guitar playing is going to have that sound & feel to it, that is who he is & in rock music, that has a particular resonance to it! The same with any other dominate rock guitarist who is a major influence on the band he is playing in, show me one who doesn’t have that particular sound & influence! I don’t recall any where that Ian Paice, Jon Lord & David Coverdale at one point or another, being asked to join Rainbow! But what would I know, or anyone else outside that circle! Gillan I have heard over the years, was approached. Glover was brought in as a producer on DTE wasn’t he, then ended up in the band. Doesn’t mean Blackmore was trying to sound like Purple. Throw me some songs that show Rainbow were trying to sound like Purple! Drummers trying to emulate Paice, keyboard players trying to imitate Lord? Totally different vocalists & melodies, that is the end of it all! The guitar smashing gimmick has nothing to do with it, by the way. As if Blackmore didn’t know how Lord made ‘that’ sound? More like his memory may have been a little hazy, or he was being quirky about it, with a comment like that & Lord’s reply, says it all really! In regards to Martin Birch’s production, the first 3 albums isn’t it? Birch would have been someone Blackmore was comfortable with, in many aspects. I cannot imagine Blackmore saying to Birch, “now I still want to ‘sound’ like DP, if you know what I mean Martin”! Not to my ears at least anyway, I have never thought ‘hmmmm, Rainbow sound like their trying to sound like DP’, Never! Cheers.
November 26th, 2016 at 11:06Blackwood Richmore @ 26 – Yes, the songs over the years have been played too fast at times, I quite enjoy the tempo of these latest releases in many ways. In regards to wearing a kilt, being an Australian Scottish throwback, I have never had the pleasure of wearing a kilt! Maybe I should seek one out & if I do, then I may find out eh? Ha! Cheers.
November 26th, 2016 at 22:35Sigh!, lieber Herr MacGregor, where shall I start?
“I don’t recall anywhere that Ian Paice, Jon Lord & David Coverdale at one point or another, being asked to join Rainbow!”
I do and I’ve only been a fan since 1975. All three have confirmed in interviews that they have been asked (Paice and Lord while they were in limbo between PAL and Whitesnake, DC for Blackmore’s initially slated solo album which morphed into the Rainbow debut). You probably don’t know that Ian Paice auditioned around that time for the vacancy at The Who following Keith Moon’s death as well, but Townshend felt more comfortable with Kenny Jones as someone he knew from the 60ies, btw: Little Ian would have done a better job than Kenny IMHO. Reading Ian Paice interviews in drummer magazines helps, he always has something interesting to tell.
“The same with any other dominant rock guitarist who is a major influence on the band he is playing in, show me one who doesn’t have that particular sound & influence!”
Perhaps Jimmy Page isn’t dominant enough for you, but I heard (and continue to hear) fewer parallels between Led Zep and The Firm than I heard between Deep Purple and Rainbow. I believe he was consciously leaving the Zep sound behind, not that his fans thanked him for it at the time.
May I recount a memory? I heard Come Taste the Band and the Rainbow debut pretty much side by side and remember how hard it was for me to get used to the then new Mk IV sound, while the Rainbow debut sounded pleasantly and comfortably familiar from the first notes of MOTSM – it fit me like an old shoe. It sounded like DP with another singer (less obsessed with “sex & luv’ “) and a subdued/undermixed Jon Lord (Mickey Lee Soule – by his own admission – wasn’t much of an organist, he preferred and excelled at piano playing of which I am great fan, new remasters of Carolina County Ball and Trying to Burn the Sun just came out, buy them!!!!)
“Glover was brought in as a producer on DTE wasn’t he, then ended up in the band. Doesn’t mean Blackmore was trying to sound like Purple.”
Your point being that a producer has less influence on a band’s sound than a bass player? LOL!!! Or that Glover’s production style is about as removed from Martin Birch’s style as omelettes are from eggs? Glover just puts a bit more commercial sheen on top than the rather dry producing Martin Birch. Glover’s production style is so quintessentially purplish, he even made Judas Priest sound purplish on Sin After Sin. Perhaps you should als give Down to Earth another listen and notice for the first time that that album is the first Rainbow album to feature prominent percussion work (not just drums) and how that percussion influence (courtesy of Roger) was also a key factor of DP Mk II albums, listen to the tambourine on Fireball and how much it leaves an imprint on the song. When I heard the tambourine on Down to Earth tracks first, I remember smiling and thinking “Ok, Roger’s back!”, it was so typical for him and his production work (just listen to the percussion on the Nazareth albums he did).
“Throw me some songs that show Rainbow were trying to sound like Purple!”
Errm, should’t the question be: “… were trying to NOT sound like Purple”? It would make the answer shorter, but since you queried: “MOTSM”, “If you don’t like rock’n’roll” and “Catch the Little Wing” could have all come from either Burn or Strombringer. “No time to lose” wouldn’t have been out of place on Who Do We Think We Are, “Love’s No Friend of Mine” was – by Blackmore’s own admission – a replacement for “Mistreated”, “Can’t Happen Here” was almost a Purple pastiche, “Death Alley Driver” a rewrite of “Highway Star”.
Rainbow’s sound was built on the foundations of Purple’s sound: A relatively straightforward, but not dumb rhythm section, lead guitar and organ (and sometimes even bass) playing synch-riffs, an eye to instrumental solo brawn, high-pitched vocals. Granted, Blackmore had, if not invented, molded that DP sound initially too. The NME at the time likened “A Light in the Black” as something that could have been on Machine Head.
“In regards to Martin Birch’s production, the first 3 albums isn’t it?”
It is not, please recount, but perhaps On Stage – Birch’s greatest salvage job in the Rainbow canon, according to him it was hard work to get the album to sound right, Powell complained at the time that the band has already been too knackered from a long tour when the recording mobile was rolled out – was never released in Australia? ; – )
“As if Blackmore didn’t know how Lord made ‘that’ sound?”
Obviously not. I’ve said this before here, Jon’s contribution to the Purple sound was not just his solos and classical runs, but his rhythm work, he was to DP what Keith Richards is to the Stones: a determining factor of the band’s groove. Weirdly enough, it was Blackmore who once said in an interview, circa Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll, that “most people don’t realize that the Hammond organ is a rhythm instrument”. But he never found a rhythm player like Jon – no Rainbow keyboard player had the percussive edge of Jon, they all sounded a little stiff compared to him (especially Stone and Rosenthal, but Airey wasn’t the groove master he became with modern day DP back then either and Carey was very much a solo player which cost him his job in the end). Ritchie repeatedly stated that he wanted someone who could do all three trademarks of Jon’s playing: the solos, the classical influence and the rhythm groove, last but not least Jon’s uncanny intuition in “following” Ritchie’s solos. He never found someone like that. Obviously, it is not so easy to sound like Jon Lord as Rick Wakeman – himself no slouch on the ivories – has repeatedly attested (he’s a great fan of Lord’s sound on Hush, saying that he could never get his Hammond C3 to sound like that). Reading Rick Wakeman interviews sometimes teaches you something too, lieber Herr MacGregor!
November 28th, 2016 at 15:23And as regards Ritchie making “new” music with Rainbow after leaving Mk III, why not let the man himself speak: When confronted with the Rainbow debut being no radical departure to Burn and Stormbringer, he stated and I paraphrase: “That wasn’t the point. Deep Purple with their new guitarist are offering a different style now. They moved away from what I wanted. I wanted to get back to rock’n’roll and what I’m good at.”
November 28th, 2016 at 16:54Hi MacGregor, I think I’d concede to uwe over this issue if I were you…. he seems to be speaking from his heart & years of detailed research!. Uwe’s gone well out of his way to prove a point & there’s really nothing to be gained from this by continued squabbling. 😉 Be happy guys, that’s an order!.
November 28th, 2016 at 23:46uwe@ 29- I am always forever grateful that I hear what I hear. We all hear certain things, some go looking for more than there may be, for whatever reason. As I said, I hear the similar sounds, techniques & influences of a guitarist in any thing they do. Page has & always will have his style & sound, technique etc. The Firm has it, he is the guitarist & a contributor to their music. Different vocalist & melodies though, also drummer & bass guitarist. Never trying to sound like Zeppelin, but obviously having Pages stamp on it, so to speak. Same with Rainbow, Blackmore’s influence, sound, technique & style permeates through out it. Nothing else though, different melodies, vocalist & on & on we go! In regards to DTE, seeking the ‘commercial’ path obviously by then, all different personal excepting Cozy, doesn’t sound like a Purple direction though, does it? Even more so with JLT era Rainbow! Producers usually have their slant on things, just like musicians. But seriosly, DTE sounds nothing like previous DP. Neither did the Dio medieval Rainbow. totally different feel to those bands. “I don’t recall any where that Ian Paice, Jon Lord & David Coverdale at one point or another, being asked to join Rainbow! But what would I know, or anyone else outside that circle”! As I said, I don’t recall, but that doesn’t mean it may have never have happened of course, that is news to me after all these decades though. Plus, we have to be open to what the press may say at times & all comments, stories etc, many things are edited or taken a certain way. Interesting but perhaps, not surprising. Paice drumming for The Who, now I definitely have never read anything about that over the decades, from either side from those musicians. Interesting indeed!
November 29th, 2016 at 00:01I have never thought of Paice drumming in that band, food for thought though!
In regards to reading Rick Wakeman interviews ‘teaching’ something, well no interview ‘teaches’ me, it may enlighten me or provide me with some information, but not to ‘teach me’. If you only you knew how big a Yes & Wakeman fan I am. Those ‘live’ interviews with Wakeman & Lord, Iommi, Ian Anderson etc are wonderful, fascinating in many ways! In regards to Blackmore not being aware of Lord’s sound. Are you seriously suggesting Blackmore didn’t notice Lord plugging in back in the day, to get his Hammond heard? Didn’t know anything about what was going on? Lord was a unique player indeed, as is Wakeman & Emerson & many others! Anyone playing with other musicians following on from playing with those guys, will miss their ability, their intuition, on so many levels. In regards to the production from Martin Birch, I am looking at studio albums, not possibly ‘touching up’ a live recording. Any how, I am typing this with one hand, as I injured my other hand yesterday at work. Have to sign off for now, Cheers.
Hello Rainbow fans,
did you see on the Ronnie Romero Facebook ? “Thx for all bday wishes, support and love, see u this December with Lords Of Black around Europe!! and of course see u all over the Rainbow again next year!!”
Woaw !
Greetings
November 29th, 2016 at 17:30Blackwood Richmore @31- no need to ‘concede’, that would imply uwe & myself were engaged in a battle or contest of some sort. Merely voicing our opinions, some fact, some possible rumours perhaps & what we hear or more to the point, don’t hear! Now for round 2! Ha! I always heard a Rainbow influence, Blackmore & Glover Rainbow, in the 1984 to 1993 Purple! Things had changed of course in the 80’s with MTV & technology etc. However I could hear it on many tunes, all good though, most of it I still enjoy immensely. Apologies to the moderators for taking this to the next level. Cheers.
November 30th, 2016 at 03:53@33 Sounds promising…kinda thought Rainbow would be back next year. I am hoping they play a few of the festivals and bring in a wider audience to their music…and finally lets get together earlier and please please rehearse more ha 🙂 Oh and drop all the Purple songs and begin with Kill The King…maybe play Gates Of Babylon , Temple Of The King…geez can I be their manager? 🙂
November 30th, 2016 at 08:10@ 34 MacGregor, even though it’s a DP album, I’ve always thought of THOBL as a Rainbow album that ended up with IG lyrics & vocals…. can’t think why!. Also, you’ll find that RB is very likely to play ‘The Gates Of Babylon’ during the next round of Rainbow concerts, probably ‘Kill The King’ as well. If only we could persuade him to play ‘Midtown Tunnel Vision’ too!.
@24 uwe, you’ve put an image in my mind that has led to some imaginings that are a little bit crude, but funny… (a bluray of Ritchie’s collected farts)…. So I imagined RB on stage with the band, his trusty strat in hand & oddly enough, a vocoder with the tube & mouthpiece running down the back of his trousers…. & him having sometime earlier consumed a couple of helpings of baked beans….. Can you imagine the soundboard recordings!. Lol. Big goofy laughs & smiles to ya!.
December 1st, 2016 at 04:58Have your hand get well soon MacGregor and I’m happy that someone is still a “rainbowed in the wool”-fan of Ritchie’s extra-marital affairs. His true and best wife will always be Deep Purple to me though. Ronnie Montrose once said something nice along the lines of “my one musical dream would be the guys of Deep Purple backing me up so they could do for me what they do so well for Ritchie”. That just sums it up IMHO.
Little Ian’s The Who session is a curio, true. It came up in a German drummer magazine interview around 1983/84 – prior to the reunion being quite official (but rumoured already), and he had already left Gary Moore (for the same reason as Whitesnake: too much touring, he said then). He was philosophical about the missed opportunity with The Who, but also self-confident enough to insinuate that he would have considered himself the right/better guy for the job. I think his drumming would have been a perfect match for them – without Keith Moon, The Who sounded best when Simon Phillips drummed for them and I always thought that Simon was sort of “Little Ian with a drummers’ university degree”! ; – ) Roger Glover pretty much discovered Simon Phillips and let him drum as an 18-year-old in the studio (Coverdale’s Whitesnake solo debut and Judas Priest’s Sin after Sin), I guess he heard something familiar he liked in his drumming. I love the drumming on both these albums to this day, Priest made him an offer to join, he turned it down so we never got to see Simon hellbent, hellbent for Leatherrr! (I love Priest, I’m allowed to make jokes about them.)
Jon Lord sounded a little more bitter when he told an interviewer that prior to him joining Whitesnake, 3/4 of Bad Company wanted him as the 5th member only for Paul Rodgers pulling the plug on that idea in the last minute, him not being keen on Jon’s prominent Hammond sound taking Bad Co into the 80ies. But he was probably disenchanted with Bad Co by that point anyway, ever since Running with the Pack it had been diminishing returns for them.
And Gates of Babylon live would be a great experience! I consider it a better composition than even Stargazer (that could have used a little extra work to make it even more awe-inspiring), but then I prefer the whole LLRnR album to Rainbow Rising any day.
December 1st, 2016 at 22:16And I know its weird and the band don’t have happy memories from it, but I prefer the experimental THOBL to the rather safe Perfect Strangers album! But then I like WDWTWA and Stormbringer too, I must obviously take some perverse delight in albums made under unhappy circumstances. The one big exception is TBRO, to me that album sounded exactly like the unhealthy combustion that was soon to follow. It actually pains me a little listening to it, not because the music is bad, but because both Blackmore and Gillan sound unhappy having to do this.
And before I am perceived as the eternal Rainbow hater here: I thought Slaves & Masters a very good, organic album and Joelene – never mind her stage raps at the Hammersmith gig I saw – did well on it. Better than on any Rainbow album where he sounded more sterile/anodyne.
December 1st, 2016 at 22:29@36 BR: Don’t foget to put the 5.1 system in “sensurround scent”-mode then! Having a gas with Ritchie, jawohl!
December 2nd, 2016 at 14:31@ 39 uwe…. E By Gum!!!. Smelevision!. Lol.
December 3rd, 2016 at 00:50uwe @ cheers, yes I do prefer Blackers with Purple, but I really enjoy Rainbow & they have stayed with me until this day. The Whitesnake & Gillan albums from the early 80’s were good at the time, but I lost interest in those within a decade. Rainbow had so much more for me, better songs & lyrics, Blackmore mercurial of course & Cozy, Dio, Airey etc! The Who & Ian Paice story is interesting & yes, he would have been a preferred drummer to Kenny Jones for me also! I don’t think Daltrey was keen on Jones either, from what I have read. Simon Phillips is one hell of a drummer, one of the greats in my book, wasted in Toto in my opinion! Finally he has left that band. The Who have found Starkey junior & he is a Moon type of drummer, who is perfect for their music.
December 3rd, 2016 at 07:12I couldn’t see Jon Lord in Bad Company, not that type of rock music anyway! That would be about the time he did his Before I Forget album & that track Holywood R&R with the 3 BC members, Ralphs, Burrell & Kirke. In regards to Gates of Babylon, yes indeed, one of the great Rainbow tracks, majestic & half of LLR&R album is superb for me! The other tracks are good but I could hear a sort of ‘commercial’ approach creeping into some of those songs, hence one of the reasons Dio wanted out apparently. There is a touch of a Down To Earth feel to a couple of those songs! Couldn’t agree more with your THOBL comment, my favourite post ’84 album by miles, much stronger songs, melodies & Blackmore solo’s superbly all over that album. Also have a strong liking of WDWTWA, an under rated album & the one I play the most, with Fireball, both still sound fresh in a way. Probably because In Rock & Machine Head are played more often by people over the decades, i don’t find them as invigorating these days in a way. Stormbringer also has some great songs on it, again under rated in my opinion. TBRO album is good in places, but yes, something had to give, Gillan coming back into that Blackmore environment, was destined for a disaster, a shame it ended like that. I remember thinking back then, ‘Turner comes in & then goes out again & Gillan is back, what is going on’! Sometimes I wonder if an ‘attitude’ problem exists in a band, it seems to bring out the best in some musicians. Maybe I am wrong, but there appears to be a fire or spark in those albums, that sort of doesn’t exist on those other records in a way! A different spark maybe, I don’t know. Cheers.
I have watched all three 2016 Rainbow shows several times on YT, and now I have ordered the official cd/DVD. I enjoyed all three shows very much with Birmingham being the strongest. For me personally this was the most enjoyable Rainbow since ’78.
Ritchie is obviously much slower than he was 20-30-40 years ago but his solos I thought were substantive, intelligent and emotional where necessary. The band was loose, and I really liked that in a Rainbow gig. Some have described these shows as a Rainbow jam session. I don’t disagree but I’m not bothered by it. I thought the band was really listening to each other and playing like an intelligent unit.
Sounds like they will be doing more shows next year and those should be even better. The only comment for improvement would be to play a little more Rainbow (Dio-era that is…) and a little less Purple. I’ll die perfectly happy if I never hear Black Night again.
December 5th, 2016 at 02:48Yup, Black Night is sort of DP’s Seven Nation Army. Could have been written by Jack White too.
December 5th, 2016 at 22:42@42 Arthur:
“The band was loose, and I really liked that in a Rainbow gig. Some have described these shows as a Rainbow jam session. I don’t disagree but I’m not bothered by it. I thought the band was really listening to each other and playing like an intelligent unit.”
You have a point there, Arthur, the whole thing had a bit of a Grateful Dead concert feel to it. Much of that had to do with Bob Noeveau’s playful and ornamented bass runs and jammy groove. He was certainly the loosest player on stage and I don’t mean that negatively. He was loose not in a sense of “ooops, what comes now?”, but in a sense of “I know what’s coming, this time I’m gonna try it like this!”. That made his bass playing pleasant to listen too by itself, but it lacked some of the insistence you normally identify with a Rainbow sound.
And yes, you guessed it, I am a bassist myself and therefore always latch onto the bass first in any music I hear. With Noveau I found myself following his bass lines more than Blackmore’s solos! Had Blackmore played as dominantly as he used to do in his heyday (even a player as assertive as Glenn Hughes could then only steal the limelight from him for a few moments), I think the case would have been different. But Ritchie coasted frequently and Bob – can’t blame him – used that space for his own playing. Ritchie obviously didn’t mind, unless the 2017 line-up of Rainbow features a new bass player! I’d sure love to see Bob Daisley again with Rainbow. As his work with Mothers Army attests, he is one hell of a bass player.
December 6th, 2016 at 15:43uwe @ 44- The Jack Bruce & Robin Trower Seven Moons concerts were performed around your neck of the woods, if i am correct. Back in 2009 from memory, they only played a handful & filmed the 3rd gig in Holland. That dvd concert certainly has a looseness about it, a bit rough in places but I enjoy it immensely, all rather good. You may have even witnessed one of these concerts, I am not sure. Cheers.
December 9th, 2016 at 21:40I missed those unfortunately. Jack Bruce was never the most sqeaky-clean player live (but made up for it with his improvisation), but John Entwistle and Chris Squire were both “ingeniously sloppy” too. Good sloppy playing is an art in itself, just ask Keith Richards!
December 12th, 2016 at 20:17