Final Vinyl

This one is a compilation. 2LP. And I purchased it because I adored (and I still do) Rainbow.

Disc: 1
1. Spotlight Kid
2. I Surrender
3. Miss Mistreated
4. Street of Dreams
5. Jealous Lover
6. Can't Happen Here
7. Tearin' Out My Heart
8. Since You Been Gone
9. Bad Girl

Disc: 2
1. Difficult to Cure
2. Power
3. Man on the Silver Mountain
4. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
5. Weiss Heim

Bad girl is the only significative b-side version which I didn't have and, performed by Graham Bonnet at vocals and jealous lover performed by Joe Lynn Turner. Some others are live.
absolutely no indispensable.

Strangely enough there is no song from Rising!.

8/10 just nice to have

Difficult to Cure

The cover is impressive and the record is awesome. As well, the third consecutive one with another different singer and another style, but behind the guitars Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover teamed brilliantly to produce great songs.
I surrender (from russ ballard), spotlight kid, can't happen here, the instrumental maybe next time, freedom fighter and the magnus instrumental difficult to cure (based in beethoven's 9th). Credit as well to the magnific voice from Joe Lynn Turner. and in following records we'll see he composes too.

Jokers and women they hang round your door
Theyre all part of the scene
Just like a junkie you've got to have more
Its a pleasure machine
And you fly every night
But the dressing room mirror dont lie
They love you but you're in love with the spotlight
You're the spotlight kid

10/10 classic status

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

For me it is the weakest from Rainbow, however i cant give it less than 9 in a 10 scale.

The temple of the king, man on the silver mountain, catch the rainbow, greensleeves...

But lifes not a wheel
With chains made of steel
So bless me come the dawn
Come the dawn

Well, maybe it is a mellower record, and it was basically Elf band without their original guitar player plus Ritchie. The band got 'professional' with their next opus Rising.


9/10 nice to have

Straight between the eyes

Awesome cover. Great music as well. I do not love it as much as Bent out of shape, but it is very good. The song in this record for me is the ballad: Tearing out my heart.

First time I saw your face
By your side was the only place
That I would wanna be
Sometimes and I don't know why
Love can come or it can pass you by
Now you take all the love you gave to me
(you take it from me)
You're tearin' out my heart

Greatest rocker is Bring on the night -dreamchaser-. There are other great songs too: Death alley driver, power, miss mistreated and the other slow ballad, Stone cold, memorable as well.

9/10 great to have

Long Live RNR

This is a mythical record, as well as Rising.
from Dio era, there are 2 songs which can define it. One was Stargazer and the other one is in this record: Gates of Babylon. this song absolutely blows you away with its oriental styled melody ...

Move closer to me
I can make you anyone
I think youre ready to see
The gates to babylon

This record is rythmical but very melodic, and you can appreciate Dio's lyrics at maximum.
The intense Kill the king, long live rnr, la connection and the beautiful ballad (yes!, dio performing a ballad) Rainbow eyes.

It is well known Ritchie wanted to become a little bit commercial, or maybe he got tired from epic- fantasy theme... question is Dio went out to join Black Sabbath and the epic Rainbow period finished beginning the more commercial approach with Down to earth

For me, i love all classic Rainbow periods, that is 76-84

10/10 classic status

Rainbow rising

If you'd select the most significant record from Rainbow, probably you'd take rising. The cover is terrific, brilliant and powerful. And the music follows it.
The song above them all, Stargazer. One of the best epic songs ever done. All the song shines uniquely with Dio's voice and Blackmore's guitar out of this world.
Tarot woman, do you close your eyes, a light in black, run with the wolf and starstruck.
Only 6 songs in the records making history and influencing a whole generation... in 1977!

A very nice rendition of stargazer (Astronomo) is done by Barilari (Rata Blanca) -with lyrics changed to sing in spanish-

10/10 classic status

Bent out of shape.

Strange name, strange cover. Last studio record from Rainbow. Criminally underrated, this is true gem.

Though it is clear it does not follow the pattern from the first one, this one talks about love and it is a 'soft' record -does not talk about magic, dragons or is epic either-, if you want to say it this way. But for the music, it is A1 quality. I always loved the Turner-Blackmore team. Compositions were really fantastic.

Visions of artemis
Goddess of the moonlight
The spell remains unbroken
The lost and wrong now will begin the rite
of the fire dance

Cant let you go, street of dreams, the heavier firedance,
stranded, fool for the night...


I remember buying this lp soo long ago. That time you could not find it in cd.

10/10 classic status

Fires at Midnight

Third one from Mr. Blackmore and Mrs. Night. And it seems the formula works.
Written in the stars and Fires at midnight are the best tunes from this again 16 medieval oriented tracks.
I do not undestand much the Bob Dylan cover, but, it is the privilege from the artists to choose which tunes do they want to play ...
I will continue buying these records as long as they keep on with the good music ...
They can not do a bad record, they'll just make another record.

8/10 nice to have

Under a violet moon

After shadow of the moon another folk with renaissance features.
It is not as good as shadow of the moon, but certainly does the trick. Under a violet moon and spanish nights are the best ones, but all of them nice tunes.

Silent she rose
From the cold desert sands
Painted in shadows
A dark caravan...

It is not Deep Purple. It is not Rainbow. However it is as good as these 'sacred cows' :-D
16 fantastic medieval-oriented tunes with spanish guitar.
And, of course, as Shadow of the moon, credit to this great voice from candice night, which I find one of the best female voices I've heard, credit also that she composes as well!

8/10 nice to have

Ghost of a Rose

I love japanese records and more when they are a real bargain...

I love Ritchie as a guitar player, I have all Rainbow LPs and other several records, and with his new band teaming with nicest Candice voice you cant help but finding 3 or 4 songs really awesome in each record.

Way to Mandalay and record title are here the best ones, and also quite interesting is Joan Baez's Diamond and Rust.

9/10 nice to have

Heaven and Earth

A friend of mine told me he liked the cover art. What about the music?
this is a project from Stuart Smith. What is a project? It is, usually, the concept of a guitar player and some singers contribute in several songs.
Most notable singer is Joe Lynn Turner, who does specially well in Shadow of Tyburn tree, and the title record, heaven & earth...
Richie Sambora makes a great intervention in another great song, with feelin', Deep Purple cover, When a blind man cries, also singing. Richie has a really nice voice who always has lived at Jon's shadow ... at least he knows to play greatly guitar.
The rest are just average songs, but there are quite a lot of well known rock musicians, so I would say this is worth your money ...

8/10 great to have

grandes canciones

i can't remember exactly why i bought this record, ... i hadn't heard mujer amante yet but i knew it sounded like rainbow, and i had heard astronomo, being barilari's spanish version of stargazer, so i had to try out.
it is not a record i use to listen to but it is a great compilation, that is for sure.
a great double cd, lyrics in, and nice booklet.
and the music also, it sound like rainbow. it has excellent songs, amongst them: the famous mujer amante, noche sin sueño -nice instrumental-, el sueño de la gitana, por que es tan dificil amar, the story of la leyenda del hada y el mago, really really great, capricho arabe ...
also, as a bonus it has 4 videos in the second cd. well, this is really nice. a nice surprise.

i love buying cds, but without knowing that they will be soo good. highly recommended for all rainbow fans. though i prefer the music in english, rata blanca are able to sing really well

10/10 brilliant compilation.

Let the wild run free

This one as the other one.
Best ones: let the wild run free, Jimi Hendrix's the wind cries mary and In a perfect world.
Of course, a f**king booklet with nothing in it, no lyrics, no photos, just the credits.
None of the songs composed by Graham Bonnet (why?), and 4 or 5 songs i can not stand for, but somehow, the ones mentioned save the record.

I guess it is also rare and hard to find ....

7/10 nice to have

To Oz and back

This one was of course because of Graham.
anyway it had many great players, drummer Cozy Powel, Ray Fenwick and Jan Akkerman at guitars ...
Compositions are mainly from Ray, it is not a bad record, but not what I would consider typical hard rock.
Anyway a couple of songs i really love: Always and Desire. These are truly superb. In Desire, Graham voice's shines at maximum.

Hard to find. Very rare.

7/10 nice to have

down to earth

i love rainbow classic era. no matter who was singing. ritchie's performances are brilliant and any singer which has been in there has a brilliant voice too. i also own all rainbow LPs, even the final cut, and have some vhs too... so i think i know a bit their works :-)
after dropping dio, ritchie picked up graham bonnet. his style was absolutely different from the voice of metal, but graham got a strong and powerful voice too. the compositions, mainly from roger and ritchie are also brilliant, so the result speaks for itself.
i also believe rainbow belongs to that classic rock/metal elite bands which had become a referent for future bands. i can't stand why my kerrang's guide puts skid row into the 50 all-time bands and rainbow is not there. sacrilege!!
i can name only one song here since all of them are awesome, but of course, the most well-known are all night long, since you been gone and lost in hollywood.
cozy powell made the line up so it was really a supergroup, with a new born singer legend

10/10 indispensable. classic status

holy dio

actually this is the best way of giving the fans what they want. a real tribute record, double one. paying tribute to 'the voice' metal talkin', in elf, rainbow, black sabbath and dio 'the band'
performers are people who love his legacy, and it is the way it should be...
blind guardian, doro, catch the rainbow, gamma ray, hammerfall, stratovarius, axel rudi pell, enola gay, primal fear and yngwie malmsteen are amongst the performers, so quality of the songs is amazing.
booklet is nice with words from all the bands are cds are nice too.
amongst the favourites, heaven and hell, kil the king, egypt, rainbow eyes and don't talk to strangers.
few more words are really needed...

9/10 for attitude and quality obtained. nice to have.

Catch the Rainbow

A tribute band, for a tribute record for one of the most influencial bands from all-time.
Ritchie Blackmore teaming up with Ronnie James Dio, for the first part, Graham Bonnet, for the second part, and Joe Lynn Turner for the third part of the history of the band made a unique trademark. Rainbow was perhaps the ultimate band. They evolved from Dio's mystical magical songs to Joe Lynn's love romantic songs.
Guys from Gamma Ray, Helloween and Primal Fear mainly, somehow commanded by Uli Kusch pay a real nice tribute.

Kill the king, 16th century, stargazer, lost in hollywood, catch the rainbow, I surrender, spotlight kid, man of the silver mountain, rainbow eyes, eyes of the world, still I am sad ... all great versions from the original songs, great perfomed...

I have all Rainbow records in LP except for down to earth which I will speak for in short.

10/10 brilliant

Stand in Line

I was somehow obsessed by this voice -Graham Bonnet's-, and i had to complete his collection. Stand in line however is a fine record. Short, but good anyhow. I could not understand the philosophy from Chris, in which the solos need to go faster and faster ... :-S ... the music has to be good, faster or slower, i do not care!
Stand in line, secret lover, goodnight & goodbye are instant favourites. Fast songs, but what is important, great songs.
Tonight i fly is slower, and it is good, but it is not a ballad as you may expect, just slower.
Somewhere over the rainbow is instrumental and a cover from Rainbow since you've been gone, I would say i prefer the original :-/
white and perfect & leviathan are ok. The other instrumental playing with fire, is not for me ...

8/10 great to have

Shadow of the Moon

I think it was around 97 that i heard that Ritchie Blackmore was going to do an acoustic record ... well i love Rainbow but i do not like Deep Purple -i can't help not liking Ian's voice :-S-, so when i saw a woman was singing, i said, ok, let's hear ... and the first song play minstrel play convinced me i had to get it...
Shadow of the moon, no second chances, wish you were here, proved me enough i was right! :-)
Yeah! it is not hard rock, not heavy metal ... it is folk medieval style, or something like this, but the real thing is that the songs are great
Candice night has a fantastic voice (please listen to Helloween's light the universe, where she plays a duet with Andi Deris) and composing with Ritchie, it could not went wrong.
An acoustic record, or better said, a non metal album, nor rocker, a mellower and melodic one.

It worths the listening unless you are an only die-hard metal fan, tant pis pour vous...

9/10 brilliant