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There in middle of the circle it lies
Rainbow The Temple of The King 1975 – 1976 box set is about to be released on March 6, 2026, and Youtube channel Classic Album Review offers an unboxing video. You won’t learn much new from it that we have not covered before, but if you’d like a peek inside the box, here it is.
Thanks to Uwe for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Why in the name of Hell couldn’t they release the three Dio era Rainbow albums, plus some live material in the one box set just like Black Sabbath did all those years ago. Maybe that is easier said than done, anyway we await this release and then some for the LLR&R release. If they think they are going to release Down to Earth with that then there will be HELL to pay. Apologies for mentioning Hell so much, but you know what these chaps are like, dwelling in THAT place and also the after life and all that comes with it. The same destination that many here may end up after all is said and done, he he he. No names mentioned as yet. Cheers.
https://www.black-sabbath.com/2008/07/the_rules_of_hell_box_set_review/
March 3rd, 2026 at 02:11I’ll be happy if the Elf & Ritchie debut finally gets a a proper makeover and for the first time in 51 years does not sound like someone pulled a blanket over it. It’s likely the Rainbow album with the number-for-number greatest consistency in songwriting quality, likely because everything was still so fresh and Ritchie had been saving good ideas for a while.
March 3rd, 2026 at 03:38Hi there are 3 different release dates on various on – line record shops (TOWNSEND, HMV, RESIDENT, BURNING SHED & AMAZON), however 3 list 27/03/26 (others 06/03 & 02/04). Watched the unboxing and familar will all the pics in the booklet. As folk say lets hope a nice bright remastering of Ritchie’s 1st effort?
March 3rd, 2026 at 09:29Hello.
This is quite frustrating I must say. Maybe even annoying.
(The host of the unboxing should have had a little easier pace while presenting, too.)
So many, if not all, of us die-hard-fans (something like that?) already have Deutschland Tournee 1976 box (2006), the Deluxe editions of Rising, LLR&R and DTE (2011) and A Light In The Black box (2014). So we already have the material on our dear shelves. Not speaking of the original cassette, LP and CD -versions of all of them of course!
But (still I´m sad)…what we DO need is the standalone deluxe and remastered version of the first album. I just can´t believe and understand that the original master tapes would not exist somewhere in the vaults. Who´s in charge here? I mean they did find all the master tapes of the classic era DP albums, for example! We are talking about the year 1975, not 1955 (strong language censored) here !
Mac @1, I hope there´s something like the Japan Live tapes with LLR&R on the planning table of the “mad scientist” for a future release while we´re speculating here… That would somehow correct the things, maybe? That´s a HINT or a TIP for all the business people out there reading this!
I need (love) coffee now.
Kippis.
March 3rd, 2026 at 09:52For those of you unhappy with this box set, let me remind you that this is recording business for you. Business is supposed to make money. Like, take your money and put it in their own pocket or bank account. They sell records exactly to make money off you. In the ’70s, these folks from the recording companies would hastily throw together a lousy sounding live album to make another buck. In the ’80-90s they would release an unnecessary compilation that you would feel obliged to buy because of one rare track. Now that the fan base largely consists of 50+ bald guys with a bit of fat to trim both literally and figuratively (cash), they issue these box sets, which exactly miss one bit or the other because they already envisage yet another box set a couple years down the line and want you to buy that, one, too. Simple.
Just relax and take it for what it is.
March 3rd, 2026 at 12:35Next in line, Long Live Rock “And” Roll, and Down To Earth, and so on and so on.
March 3rd, 2026 at 13:05@..5 True, but then they could’ve just charged more money for the first three albums. ¯\(°_o)/¯
March 3rd, 2026 at 13:08Of course, a sensible curator’s approach would have been to pull all Dio era material together, especially as it was only three and a half years all in all or so.
This they didn’t do, however, going instead for a strict (well, not quite …) time line sequence approach and releasing only music that was recorded – as it says in the title – from 1975-1976. Except that … On Stage was recorded in 1976 too, but only released in 1977 at the time (but the other Deutschland gigs from 1976 now included were released only decades later!) so by rights On Stage should be on there too.
As it now looks, the next release will be 1977-1978 and feature On Stage (though that obviously had Bain and Carey playing) and LLRnR (= Daisley and Stone, to the extent that Blackmore didn’t play perfunctory bass himself). Question is whether they can get their hands on the Japanese concerts that were fed into On Stage (together with German ones). The 1977 Ritchie-out-of-jail Munich gig – although featuring Daisley and Stone and a live version of the song LLRnR plus coming from a tour ostensibly set to promote On Stage – will however likely not be included because the rights for that are with Rockpalast/WDR.
Make of that what you will. Who knows how they want to fill a boxed set of the Bonnet era unless plundering the early Turner era for it too.
At the time, I thought On Stage a confusing release, it reeked of contractual obligation. A live album only two studio records into a new band’s career that almost completely shuns material from the most recent studio effort, replicating instead mostly songs from the debut with a different line up + one Purple chestnut plus the not yet studio-released KTK? Promoted then by yet another canged line-up of Rainbow? Daisley/Stone playing Bain/Carey playing Gruber/Soule? Weird. I know Ritchie likely wanted some of the debut re-recorded with a more hefty approach, but I thought the On Stage versions of the debut’s songs left a lot of nuances to be desired. Neither Bain/Powell nor Daisley/Powell were ever as shit-tight & groovy, yet playful as Gruber/Driscoll who had been playing together in Elf for a long time.
Never really warmed to On Stage either, I don’t like the way MOTSM was chopped up in a medley and the speedy approach had it lose grandeur. Lady Starstruck was lovelessly thrown in as if Ritchie deemed it a too dumb song to ever play in full right from the start. Dio’s operatic take on Mistreated and Bain’s un-funky bass playing to it had me yearn for DC and GH. On Stage’s redeeming feature was really only the nice version of Catch The Rainbow (though even there Bain’s bass playing doesn’t reach Gruber’s subtle and supple groove). Overall, I do prefer Munich 1977 (just listened to it again yesterday), but since I was there, I’m likely biased. Since On Stage was culled from several sources and had some doctoring done, Munich also feels more like a gig document to me. Plus Ritchie – released from jail and what must have been a real scare for him – had great balls of fire and adrenaline on and in him that night.
March 3rd, 2026 at 15:01Hiza, I have never heard of anybody having access to the original masters of either the Rainbow debut or Rising (though the masters must have reached the US for the NY and LA mixes of the latter at least). Maybe they were lost in the great Universal Studios fire in 2008 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Universal_Studios_fire
“In June 2019, The New York Times Magazine published an investigative article by freelance journalist Jody Rosen that alleged that the damage was far more serious than originally reported, as Meyer’s statement only referred to material owned by Universal Studios.
The fire destroyed Building 6197, a warehouse adjoining the King Kong attraction. In addition to more videos, it housed a huge archive containing multiple copies of audio and video recordings, documents ranging from legal papers to liner notes, and packaging materials and artwork belonging to Universal Music Group (UMG).[2][11] The collection included the catalogues of UMG’s West Coast labels including Chess, Decca, MCA, Geffen, Interscope, A&M, Impulse!, and their subsidiary labels.[2]
Rosen estimated the individual items lost range from 118,000 to 175,000 album and 45-rpm single master tapes, phonograph master discs, lacquers (also known as acetates), and all the documentation contained in the tape boxes.[2] The article alleged some tapes contained unreleased recordings such as outtakes, alternative versions of released material, and instrumental “submaster” multitracks created for dubbing and mixdown. However, UMG found only one unreleased album potentially affected in the fire, and they located multiple copies of that recording and could still release that album in the future if the artist wishes to.[11] Randy Aronson, manager of the vault at the time, estimates that the masters of as many as 500,000 individual tracks were lost.[2]”
That said, Universal Music already did not find the original masters in their first round of Rainbow remasters in 1999/2000. It’s infuriating. But Rainbow’s back catalogue has been kept in even worse shape than DP’s and that is saying something.
March 3rd, 2026 at 15:43@1, I understand there is alredy another release of the LLR&R era in teh pipeline or planning stage.
March 3rd, 2026 at 15:51@ 5 -they have got frig all out of me over the years Georgivs. I am not a sucker for that punch. I watch and I wait……………..It doesn’t necessarily worry me if I don’t receive. Cheers,
March 3rd, 2026 at 20:39to be honest my Dio era Rainbow ‘collecting ‘ over the decades on cd is rather appalling. So these latest re releases will help me to balance the scales and bring Ritchie back into the equation a little more. Too much Ian Gillan of late creeping into my cd collection and not enough of Ian’s nemesis and this WILL NOT DO. After initially owning all the Rainbow albums on vinyl from day one of their release, I now only own the original cd of LLR&R, and the best of Rainbow double cd. All my favourite Rainbow tracks excepting Tarot Woman are on those discs and I have never really been that interested in purchasing the original albums on cd, same as the Gillan albums (until recently). In this latest pursuit of purchasing a few golden oldies box sets and the like, I most probably will take the plunge with these Rainbow box sets. I HAVE TO, with the IGB box set about to land, poor ole Ritchie is being left out in the cold and I am starting feel really guilty. Cheers.
March 3rd, 2026 at 22:03@8
March 4th, 2026 at 11:55Universal definitely had the 1976 Japanese tour tapes as they were meant to release a full show, including A Light in the Black on the 2021 On Stage Deluxe.
Munich 1976 is in the Abbey Road archives according to Jerry Bloom
Rubber is on to something, here Father Phil explains to his congregation @27:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8sNtaSMVI8
how the masters of Osaka and Tokyo do exist (and have been discovered for quite some time) so it is a safe bet that they will turn up with the coming release of On Stage coupled with LLRnR (though sensibly, all the Bain/Carey era live stuff should have really been on the current/imminent Temple of the King set).
March 6th, 2026 at 19:08Rubber @13:
Osaka 1976-12-09 is definitely available, it was released in 2012 as the second CD of On Stage deluxe edition on Polydor/Universal
March 6th, 2026 at 21:57It’s complicated …
Catch the Rainbow on the original On Stage is actually sourced from Osaka (the only song taken from that particular gig). You can tell it’s of Japanese origin because the clapping when the song starts for real is so polite, disciplined and respectful 😂. You might then think (as Reverend Phil erroneously does in the link @14) that it is featured on the 2012 bonus disc as well which after all claims to be all from Osaka, but it isn’t. There was a cock-up and the credit to Osaka on the bonus disc is wrong, Wikipedia elucidates:
“The deluxe edition was released on 13 November 2012 in Europe. The second disc was originally planned to contain tracks from the concert hall at the “Orix Theater” (formerly Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan) in Osaka, Japan (9 December 1976). Instead the second disc contains tracks from the final Rainbow gig in Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan Hall on 16 December 1976.[9]“
Comparing the two versions of Catch The Rainbow on the 2012 On Stage edition, (i) Theresia no doubt that they are two different performances, (ii) the Tokyo evening show one actually clocks in at almost three minutes longer and is for my money even moren
inspired.
PS: When Cozy promoted On Stage via interviews to the English music press (because Blackmore couldn’t be bothered), he was characteristically frank and undiplomatic in admitting that he didn’t like his own contribution on it, the reason being that he felt too knackered by the Japanese leg of the Rising Tour (Japan concluded the tour, after that first Bain and then Carey were unceremoniously fired) and that it showed in his playing … too many blisters …
March 7th, 2026 at 02:53@16
The Wikipedia entry is incorrect, it was meant to be the afternoon show from Tokyo and they put the evening one on. The afternoon show has A Light in the Black instead of Stargazer and no encore – which is no loss as Do You Close Your Eyes with a guitar smash section is not exactly audio delight.
The bootleg of the afternoon show – “Aurora” – indicates it was a good gig, only the first part of MotSM made it to On Stage.
March 7th, 2026 at 17:02Can anybody explain to me why 80 to 90% of Rainbow’s live set remained unchanged in the Dio era? From the fall of 1975 to the late summer/early fall of 1978 when they disbanded after the tour with REO had not broken them in the US, their set remained basically the same. Three years and three studio albums + one live album into their career, their concerts still mostly consisted of songs from the debut + an Mk III oldie, with only a few songs from Rising and LLRnR albums ever attempted and never for long before they were discarded again. For a new band, which Rainbow at the time was, that is a surprisingly stagnant set list during a very crucial part of their career, especially given the fact that Rising was already seen as their magnum opus back then, yet songs from exactly that album were only inserted into the set halfheartedly and only for a short while except for the worst one, DYCYE, which served as a musical backdrop for guitar destruction.
Ritchie’s argument that most of Rainbow‘s material did not translate all that well to the stage never convinced me – they weren’t confronted with performing Sgt Pepper and this was 1976, not 1966, when live technology had advanced to a point where bands like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Kansas or Gentle Giant presented their much more complex music live in concert no sweat.
Rainbow got stuck in the hell hole of repetition real fast. Strange for a band whose founder claimed to wish to escape the treadmill of Deep Purple. No Purple set list in the 70s remained as stagnant for as long a time as the Rainbow one in the Dio era. Strange.
March 8th, 2026 at 19:31Uwe, come to think of it, next year will mark the 50th anniversary of me wondering about just that.
March 9th, 2026 at 07:05Back when I had purchased On Stage in 1977 I scratched my head why the did not include anything from Rising- an album we all thought was brillant. Jusr a silly snippet of Starstruck and there you go. Later I learned they had done Stargazer and DYCYE (the weakest one as you said). But why not include them? How about Tarot Woman? ALITB? No, they stuck to an overblown version of Still I’m sad…including a ridicolously stomping finale, a DP tune that belonged to DC…a mystery to me. Same with LLRR…just the rather dull title track with the boring sing along part. Sheer laziness?
#18 Maybe that’s why Ritchie changed singers, to freshen up the set.
LA Connection got aired toward the end of 1978.
I would guess laziness. You would think if any of the songs had actually been considered there would be rehearsal tapes circulating.
Dio proved some of the rarer songs worked live: Tarot Woman, Gates of Babylon in 2005
March 9th, 2026 at 11:31Not a single song Diobow recorded was live unplayable, even Rainbow Eyes could have been performed with just a solitary Strat and Ronnie‘s voice as the orchestra-less outtake of the song proves. You just need the guts to do it. Likewise GOB, the song is a bit more complex than your usual Rainbow fare, but nowhere does it approach Jethro Tull or Gentle Giant territory – or IGB for that matter, a band who had zero issues replicating their intricate studio arrangements live.
Why Tarot Woman was never an opener is beyond me. With that synth intro and Ritchie‘s funk-inspired, choppy rhythm guitar plus the rousing chorus it would have been ideal.
I have a distinct memory of A Light In The Black being played at the 1976 gig I saw. It had some nice call & response synth & banjo exchanges going on and went down well.
March 9th, 2026 at 15:16Rubber Haddock – you had the prove, it’s lazyness. Not one evidence of even trying one of the other song.
A Light in the Black was played live several times as we know – there’s even footage of it! – but sadly never got released. They dropped it cause Cozy couldn’t do it every night as far as I remember. So though it’s a pity it’s understandable … I have seen Cozy at work and it was a true workout all night …but there’s no excuse for not giving Tarot Woman and then some a go, true Uwe.
March 9th, 2026 at 19:22I will admit to not being a big fan of On Stage at all. A lack lustre affair if ever there was one. I was always disappointed about Mistreated being mistreated, and that isn’t Ronnie’s fault at all. It should have been dropped from the setlist once Rising had been released. Too much impatience and a ‘gung ho’ attitude from Blackmore no doubt. I do not agree about Rainbow Eyes being performed live, how to kill a concert would be one way to look at that. A lovely song it is though and a highlight of Blackmore and Dio’s songwriting. I agree with Gates of Babylon, a missed moment there from the Man in Black. Too much emphasis on commercial crap by that time. Progressive music rules, we know that. Tarot Woman should have also been performed live. That Man in Black and his attitude at times. Agree with A Light In The Black being sometimes included in a set, probably not every night though, use it as a highlight occasionally. Ritchie should have liaised with his fans more often, so that we could have had the ‘perfect’ t setlist when we went to gig. Cheers.
March 9th, 2026 at 20:19@23 The version of Mistreated from On Stage, although missing the yodelling is a piece of brilliance and Ritchie’s solo is a bit of magic. And as for leaving it out of the set, Ronnie’s version is a different animal compared to the Deep Purple version. Less bluesy, darker and on another level of emotion. On Stage is part of the soundtrack of my teens and I first saw Rainbow in 77 and was certainly not disappointed by either. I have over 50 bootlegs from the 75-78 era, lots to rejoice.
March 10th, 2026 at 15:39Not once when hearing Mistreated back then did in my mind appear the picture of Dio crying his heart out about a chick who had left him and thereby hurt his male vanity. Let’s face it, Ronnie couldn’t even use the word “baby” with any sexual swagger and innuendo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dm55fmcJTk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6bRjcyQN8
It’s not that he couldn’t sing Mistreated in a technical sense, his vocal take was even imposing, operatic and all, great voice control too:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6odgkAEzVI0
But he couldn’t convey the song’s central message to that pained riff – compare Coverdale’s version which oozes male hormones and adrenaline (though I grant you that his voice sounds rawer and less tutored than Ronnie’s, but maybe that is the point here):
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rchiL9U94B8
Not everyone can sing other people’s material credibly, Rodgers couldn’t do Mercury, Dio couldn’t do Coverdale and Halford – though a great fan of the little man and clearly reverential in his intentions, you can even faintly hear Ronnie singing at the very end in the fade-out – couldn’t do MOTSM either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJpdRWd9A0
March 11th, 2026 at 01:23I always prefered Dio’s Mistreated over Coverdale’s version. Maybe thats because in general I find Ronnie’s voice a little more appealing and the song itself really doesn’t have much to offer for me. I think of Mistreated as one of Purple’s most overrated tunes (there I said it; so maybe that will be my last post in this forum). If there’s anything interesting about that song, it’s Ritchie’s soloing during live versions. Coverdale’s “wounded lion’s roars” never impressed me, the lyrics are paint-by-numbers blues-clichees and whenever that “baby-baaaaby”-part starts I’m begining to look forward to the next song on the album.
March 11th, 2026 at 09:31If I could take 5 DP songs to a desert island, without going there myself, Mistreated defenitely would be one of them.
Uwe, machst Du auch was mit Erbrecht?
March 11th, 2026 at 14:51#25
Elizabeth knows a thing or two and she gets it: https://youtu.be/xQRjyikjfHI?si=DG92MPYUZpfq7JkI
Latter day Whitesnake never delivered a version of Mistreated the mastery of Deep Purple or with the fire and power of Ronnie with Rainbow; even though the tone and power of it was more akin to Rainbow than Purple.
And that first video you shared – David’s voice is awful. And the second one, irrelevant
Halford doing MotSM is a tribute from a bunch of musicians and is what it is. A celebration. Respect it, not judge it.
Our conversation was going ok but your inner Morbius is never too far away, ready to bombard.
March 11th, 2026 at 17:42Max, nicht wirklich, aber ich kenne jemanden der es sehr gut kann.
Tilly, I’m no great Mistreated fan myself, it lumbers and plods – and there is not much going on harmonically, a bit on the clumsy side. I generally prefer music with more lively and frequent chord changes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wMwor2RBCQ (and that is THEIR song, written by them, Harry Nilsson’s version was a cover as was Mariah Carey’s not at all bad rendition much later)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM-0Kni9dEA (no Autotune here and the backing harmony vocals aren’t perfect, but man they’re live and they’re great)
Yeah, I know, the eternal Beatles fan in me. I’m a sucker for good harmonies and quick chord changes. When I hear Mistreated, I always tap my foot waiting for the next chord change, it seems to take ages.
March 11th, 2026 at 18:38“Inner Morbius” – now that was a nice compliment from you for once! 😂
Actually, as MARVEL franchise goes, the film wasn’t nearly as bad as social media made it, I enjoyed it as sort of an ambitious B-movie. There are dozens of MARVEL spin-offs much worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ6iiRrz1SY
I’ll never deny Ronnie’s strength as a singer, but Mistreated is a song I would have seen better placed with someone like Joe Cocker. Phil Collen’s (yes, he of the Hearing-Impaired Jaguars, a Ritchie-acolyte himself) singer, Ms Debbi Blackwell-Cook, didn’t do a bad job either, she brought the song home from where it came from so to speak. Back to the cotton fields.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVjRCvlMi4Q
March 12th, 2026 at 00:06…. I love the blues …if you don’t feel it you can never understand …
March 12th, 2026 at 06:16To make this perfectly clear: Mistreated – the MiE version – is one of the best recordings DP ever released. Second to none. The song itself is a masterclass in reduction (and ability on the other hand) and can keep up with the ones of say John Lee Hooker and other great blues men. It might be the most timeless and classy song in the oeuvre of RB and DC. You can easily imagine it covered by almost anyone with a great voice. Well anyone but Dio that is. His take of the song reminds me of that Sigfried style tenor Peter Hofmann tackling The House of the Rising Sun. Sung very very well but totally missing the point and not one bit of feeling for the blues …
And that performance on MiE! Bllckmore’s solo is just brilllant, Glenn’s bass a gas and Coverdale is clearly on top of his game. The interpolated Rock me Baby part sends shivers down my spine any time since the day I first heard it. It does not get any better than this.
Now go you haters and have a listen to all those fab four (or more) piece bands with 12 ccpm (chord changes per minute) and entertain your intellectual needs while I seek comfort in other feeing souls caressing my little hurt heart. It’s all about soul … as some other intellectual piano man once stated. Don’t know where he took that from but it’s true.
March 12th, 2026 at 08:50Ah come on…you should be done with your twoandahalfminutes Beatles songs with dozens of chord changes by now!
March 13th, 2026 at 08:56Now look at our Max getting all agitated! 😂 We must placate him immediately, the man is an untamed volcano of seething emotions …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJD93UQ2F9E
One thing must however be said: Glenn was the only bassist who ever played that song who managed to provide a backing that wasn’t just plodding (all Rainbow bassists failed in that), his bass is a master class in understated funk. It’s actually fucking hard to play a song that slow and with as few chord changes and NOT plod, but Glenn did it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYobz1PPnQY
And domo arigato for this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghINDxGLcaY&list=RDghINDxGLcaY&start_radio=1
Hey, and in Australia they even have wimmin (introduced relatively late in the initially only male populated penal colony and therefore a bit of an invasive species, but what can you do 😎) who sing it like that …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0spRiEDsGec
I do get the minimalism argument though, Max, I really do, and that certainly speaks for the song. Alles gut! Don’t ever accidentally say cleaning woman …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w23oPQdnNH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1oFnWHDPg0
PS: One commercial song with an unusual amount of quick chord changes is actually this here, the verse is real busy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_xqb416S7o
Which is interesting as Lynott’s vocal line doesn’t really do all that much and the chords are even a bit on the jazzy side.
March 13th, 2026 at 18:18@ 34- ha ha ha, only the penal colonies again…….is that why this Australian lady bolted overseas as quickly as possible. Jane Kitto and I have to say I have never heard of her and not surprising as she has spent most of her career overseas. Not a fan of the male or female ‘gravelly’ voice but it was good to see Mistreated being performed and solo too. Cheers.
March 14th, 2026 at 18:21@8 I’ve always preferred Ronnie’s version of ‘Mistreated.’ Sure, David has that bluesy feel, but live he was a bit shouty at times, whereas Ronnie never was and I like the drama of his vocal delivery. VERY glad there’s a lack of Glenn’s shrieking too, always felt he was trying to show he was a superior singer to David, but he didn’t have such a pleasing tone in the lower registers.
March 14th, 2026 at 20:40Thanks for those highly entertaining takes of one grrreat song.
March 14th, 2026 at 21:23So now we know that George Lucas likes Deep Purple Mk III …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Magic_(film)
“The soundtrack includes cast performances of new versions of pop and classic rock songs which were chosen by George Lucas.[8] The soundtrack was released by Buena Vista Records on January 20, 2015, followed by a physical release on February 17, 2015.[11]”
You know what, we have Disney+, I’m gonna watch it demnächst! 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9iLfD6xus
Apparently, the classic rock-heavy soundtrack did not find much favor with critics (the animated film flopped badly) – what is the world coming to I cry?!
March 15th, 2026 at 05:50Notwithstanding my generally somewhat unenthusiastic view of Ronnie’s solo career, I have never heard Rainbow play MOTSM as well as this – with as much swagger, expression and heavy groove (Sarzo really shines here):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAVJO18j-do
(adding a snippet of Catch the Rainbow towards the end is a nice touch and it’s tastefully done)
Early Rainbow rushed the song to death (and I do not blame only Cozy’s drumming approach for that, Blackmore rushed like hell too), it lost groove and grandeur through that, even begins to sound a bit throwaway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQOwOVzyaw
Twenty years later, Ritchie still let his band play it too fast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUOU-P3V_yY
Fast (no pun intended) forward another twenty years, and Ritchie, now an old man, played it for the first time live at the tempo the song requires to flourish, but the Reunionbow version still can’t compete with Dio’s 2005 performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O87q6jFcmmc
March 15th, 2026 at 19:10@39 Doug Aldrich maybe is more of a bluesy player compared to the shredders Dio had before. In the 80s and 90s the band played MotSM often also very rushed. But I like what Dio did with the Rainbow songs over the decades, there was quite some variation in it. On the other hand Dio (the band) playing Black Sabbath songs seldom really worked out well. They just seem like weaker copys of the original tunes, except for maybe Heaven and Hell.
March 16th, 2026 at 09:33Uwe, that’s impressive dedication, but most of us only came here for a quick chat about the box set — not a twelve-paragraph director’s commentary
March 16th, 2026 at 12:52Being German means doing something in depth and for the sake of it or not at all , Rubber! 😂
I’ve been following the Purple Universe since 1975 now and of course it has rubbed off. Maybe I’m compensating today that throughout the second half of the 70s and much of the 80s media coverage of my favorite band and its offshoots was extremely poor, bear with me … 🤗
March 16th, 2026 at 21:48