Rainbow On Stage (1977)

Breaking with '70s heavy metal tradition by releasing a live album after only two studio efforts (you're supposed to have three before the live one), Rainbow served up this double platter in 1977. On Stage is full of great songs and playing, but somehow it lacks some of the excitement that existed at those early Ritchie Blackmore concerts…

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) are a British rock band led by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Estabilished in 1975…

The Best of Rainbow compiles 16 of the best tracks from Rainbow's first seven studio albums, wisely avoiding 1977's live On Stage release. The first two tracks from their debut album, 1975's Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, showcases the instant bond that was formed between Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, especially on "Man on the Silver Mountain." Blackmore changed the band for the following year's Rainbow Rising, with Jimmy Bain replacing bass player Craig Gruber, and Cozy Powell taking percussion duties away from Gary Driscoll. Adding keyboard player Tony Carey helped tracks like "Starstruck" and the lengthy "Stargazer" to sound a little more dimensional and fluent than the group's first effort.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll may be singer Ronnie James Dio's last album with Rainbow, but at least he went out on a high note. While the material is not quite as strong as on the previous studio effort, Rising, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll maintains the momentum the band had built up…

This album is the actual recordings at Shepperton Studios, England where the band was rehearsing for the forthcoming tour to support the release of 'Level Headed'. The master tapes for this release have been supplied by Andy Scott from his archives. One may speculate it was in the USA in March 1976, when Ritchie Blackmore came on-stage with SWEET to pay a tribute to Paul Kossoff, who died a few days earlier, that RAINBOW guitarist told his compatriots about recording haunts Clearwell Castle and Château d’Hérouville, and it was there that the Ballroom Blitz brigade worked on their arguably heaviest album, the last to feature singer Brian Connolly. A solid record, “Level Headed” saw the light of day in January 1978, but the band started preparation to take it on the road much earlier, this collection documenting their stay at Shepperton Studios.

Though it met with little commercial success, Happy the Man's 1977 debut quickly became a cult sensation with fans of prog rock. It's easy to see why: their sound combines a number of diverse influences in a distinctive manner, and their music is as complex and meticulously arranged as any prog album one cares to mention. Unlike some popular prog acts, Happy the Man does not allow one instrument to take center stage or allow relentless soloing to dominate the songs. Instead, the focus is on complex interplay between the group's players: compositions like "Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo" and "Stumpy Meets the Firecracker in Stencil Forest" are built on the kind of mathematically complex yet playful instrumental interplay that is normally associated with Frank Zappa's most complex work…