It's not a proper review, more track-by-track comments jottled down last
night while listening to it, after hearing it a couple of times before to
familiarize with the material.
Wolf to the Moon:
Unusual, yet instantly recognizable, RB riff. Turneresque vocal lines -
perhaps it's the vocals themselves that reminds me of Turner more than the
melody? A bit Dioesque mayhaps? Semiclassical solo intro. Then - nothing.
OK/good song. Absolutely tolerable. Lyrics? "One for the Road / Slave to the
Highway". Que?!
Cold Hearted Woman:
Very familiar riff, can't place it. "...devil's daughter....she balled
and chained me..." The bridge is taken from "Sail Away" on "Burn". The song
reminds me somehow of a faster paced "Jealous Lover" - but it's much weaker.
The line "I'm just a shadow of the man I was before" is quite describing for
the whole album, really. Instantly forgettable song, gets very boring. Was
there a solo? If so, I forgot it!
Hunting Humans:
A bit in the "Solitaire" vein? The melody again falls flat. Slow song,
with some nice Blackmoreesque licks like we know 'em and love 'em. The
arrangement tries to yell "this song's moody" at you, but it ain't. Lyrics:
"Feel my pain - taste my shame - who's to blame" goes one line. Bad rhyme
price of the year? Some good Blackmore licks let down by everything else. By
now I've realized that the drummer is on autopilot.
Stand and Fight:
The intro riff is very similiar to "Difficult to Cure" intro live in
1993, with some harmonica thrown in on top. The melody is "Make Your Move"
revisited. Some subtle slide work from Ritchie. The song plain ain't
happening. Typical non-happening RB solo we've heard umpteen times before.
Rings the bell to many a forgotten Rainbow tune... Possibly the album's
weakest track? Dougie White repeats the title so many times near the end
that I almost find myself longing for Ronnie "doesn't know when to shut up"
Dio.
Ariel:
The intro is a riff from the solo in "Anya", answered by some Indian
inspired keyboard stuff. The song is not Gates of Babylon 2 as Simon put it
- it's a rerecording of "Tearing Out My Heart", with an Indian inspired riff
thrown in for good measure. The slow slide solo is tasty, reminds me of the
solo in "Lady of the Lake". "I'm so alone - Ariel" I was sure Ariel is a
boy's name, but hell these are tolerant times. The female vocals with
Ritchie's playing over near the end are nice.
Too Late for Tears:
= Can't Happen Here. And it won't, either. The bridge is from another
Rainbow/Turner song, can't pin it down. Are we sure it AIN'T JLT singing
here?!! Utterly uninspired track. Does anyone remember Foreigner? Thought
not.
Black Masquerade:
"Dead or Alive"-intro. Has a "naughty" laughter Ian Gillan would eat
for breakfast. Riff similar to "Anya" again. One of the better melodies on
this album. The album's title is from this song, btw. "Let the darkness
surround you"... yeah, sure. Nice accoustic start of solo - then a keyboard
solo with some horrible synth sounds, with some fast harpsicord playing over
it. Followed by another nondescript Blackmore solo. There's even some
modulations going on near the end - and Dougie White proves again that he
doesn't know when to shut up, either. All in all, OK.
Silence:
Good, heavy riff. (DREADFUL synth sound!) Then the verse from "You Fool
No One" follows, complete with Coverdale/Hughes-like voices. So far, good!
Then - down it goes... Dougie White is horrible when he reaches the heights.
Another non-solo from Ritchie - he must really be uninspired. Some good
guitar near the end, though. Started out good, ended up being one of the
worst on the album.
Hall of the Mountain King:
"This one will be cool", I thought. Then ... "urr.. WHAT?!!!"
"Mysteries of ages told, stories now will unfold.." WOTS THIS?!!! Horrible
synteziser galore - "wild child of innonce - you took that away!" MY GAWD!
Dougie White: Have you ever heard of Ibsen? Peer Gynt? I thought not. Ah,
finally some instrumental music. But DW shouts "I am the mountain king" on
top of it. Short, uninspired "Morning Mood", also by Grieg and also from the
Peer Gynt Suite - what's the point of placing it here? Another verse, and
finally the instrumental proper. Ruined by DW never shutting up, and the
lamest drummer this side of the CasioCord's rhythm box. The tempo
excallerates near the end like it's supposed to - but Norwegian Aunt Mary
did this number ten times better when they supported Deep Purple around
1970.
Still I'm Sad:
Very nice intro from RB - quiet, echo + phasing. Like the intro to
Smoke on the Water on the last DP tour with Ritchie. Decent cover of the
song, except DW adds multivoiced vocals and screws up the lyrucs. Actually,
DW's alternative phrasing/melody lines on the last verse are quite pleasing,
as is Ritchie's solo. The best track on the album, and surely the best
melody.
But then again - it's nothing compared to the 1975 instrumental. And
compared to the Yardbirds original? Forget it.
The only tracks I remember after hearing through it, are "Wolf to the Moon"
and "Still I'm Sad".
All in all: I'm afraid it's not very good. The production is not good either
- the guitar licks come out of nowhere, solos pop out of the blue - no
smoothness. As to Blackmore's comment in the press release by BMG about
"being glad to work with talented and enthusiastic musicians" - there's one
thing to do: Laugh at it. I don't think John O'Reilly exists - this MUST be
a drum computer?! The bass player never stood out to me, so he probably
doesn't play wrong, at least. The keyboardist isn't featured much, but he
shows he can play fast on "Black Masquerade", else he mostly adds synth
sounds that makes Jon's sound on the "Mad Dog" solo sound good. (!) Dougie
White is a good singer, but not very characteristic. Worst of all - whoever
wrote the melodies, is not very good at it.
Hope the tour is better than what this indicates. There's NO sign of the
wonderful guitar playing Ritchie laid down on the 1993 tour on this album -
not a shred!
At the time, many people said "Slaves and Masters" would have been a good
Rainbow album. Well, it's lightyears ahead of this album, for sure. In fact
this album is much weaker than all Rainbow albums too, including "Straight
Beteween the Eyes". There were at least a couple of nice tracks on that, and
some guitar.
Lastly - the album is out in September, Europe and October, Japan. No US
release.
And NO, I'm not allowed to copy this tape. As we all know, it doesn't even
exist, according to BMG. ;-)
Cheers,
Trond J. Strom Trond.Strom@keo.kvaerner.telemax.no
Dave Hodgkinson 13 August 1995.