Rainbow-Rising, 1976

Before hearing this album I had heard the band's debut, Difficult to cure and Down to earth and all were decent, but nothing spectacular. I first bought this on tape back in 88 or 89 and I was floored by it when I listened to it on my walkman while I was walking the dog one night. It's a bit brief with only six tracks and a running time under 35 minutes, but they pack quite a bit into the short time frame. From the swirling keyboards that open "Tarot Women" through to the frantic pace of the closer "Light in the black", the bands is in high gear. This is my favorite line-up of Rainbow for sure and it sounds like they have been playing together for years instead of it being their first time together. Tony Carey's keyboards took on a life of their own at times, but still managed to compliment the overall sound of the band. The rhythm section of bass player Jimmy Bain and drummer Cozy Powell keep the pace going as well. Ritchie Blackmore sounded more alive than he had about three or four years. Some of his solos on this album were just flying off his fingers. For Ronnie James Dio this is certainly one of the best performances of his long career. It still sounds as good to me as it did the first time I listened to it. The band sounded very alive and fresh and it truly makes me regret the more pop direction that Blackmore took the band just a few short years after this release. Still the band made two great releases with this album and the follow-up "Long live rock and roll". My favorite tracks are quite honestly all of them except for "Do you close your eyes" which is just decent. The Ken Kelly artwork on the cover is fantastic as well.