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"Man on the Silver Mountain" gets the album off to a great start. Funky keys from Mickey Lee Soule provide the backbone of a great toe-stomper of a song. Dio speaks of a god-like figure during the track, someone filling people with hope and promises. A great song, and a pick for best song on the album for many. "Self Portrait" is a more bluesy track. Dio sings out the despair of his soul, a pretty dark and depressing song. I can see why Dio and Blackmore would switch out most of the band for the next album, bassist Craig Gruber and Drummer Gary Driscoll seem a little behind Blackmore at times, slightly out of sync with the guitar wizard that is Blackmore. A decent song, but nothing terribly exciting.
"Black Sheep of the Family" is the most boring song on the album. Written by Steve Hammond, the song is very out of character for the band. A pretty typical 1970's rocker, the song concerns being ostracized and excluded. Musically, the song is reminiscent of Humble Pie and other early 1970's Brit rockers, nothing terribly exciting going on here. "Catch the Rainbow" is the highlight of the album for me. A slow burner, the song lifts Hendrix-like guitar swathes. A very gentle and delicate tune, it is a perfect chill-out tune. Dio's vocals sound top-notch as usual, and this song is one of his most gorgeous vocals. Check out the live version on "On Stage" to hear what I believe to be the definitive version of the track. The string keyboards sound great, adding a cheesy, but somehow majestic warmth to the song. A classic.
"Snake Charmer" is very 1970s. Like disco with a dose of wizardry and evil, the song is quite odd. Not far off from the sound forged by Blackmore during his last years in Deep Purple, think Deep Purple's "Stormbringer" album meets Heaven and Hell. Dio sounds positively evil on the track, unleashing some deep and dark groans, very gravelly. Blackmore's solos are great, and he is no doubt one of the best guitarists of all time, dare I say underrated? A great track. "Temple of the King" shows Blackmore's and Dio's love of sorcery and fantasy. Clavinets and lute-like sounds make for a very medieval-sounding tune. Very pastoral and gentle, I like the vibe of the song. Fans of Dio and Blackmore will love the combination of his fantastical lyrics coupled with the very classical influenced guitars of Blackmore, a perfect match.
"If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" moves away from the fantastical elements of the album. Close to Dio's previous band Elf (most of the members of the first version of Rainbow were members of Elf), the song is a basic and short tribute to rock music. A nice groove, but the song screams filler. "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" takes us back to a land with dragons and magic. Close to the musical direction that Dio would take during his solo career, the song is wonderful. Killer solos/leads, amazing vocals from the dearly departed Dio, and some nice rubbery bass fills from Craig Gruber, an underrated songwriter and bassist. The drums fail to impress, but are decent enough.
The album closes with "Still I'm Sad". Written by Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty. After an extended guitar intro, Dio and the band kick in with a fairly heavy chugging riff and thundering drums. Rainbow's wonderfully loud keys round of the song. Medieval scales are played at high volume while Dio runs his vocals all over the track. An exercise in musical virtuosity, it really shows off the amazing talent of the band while it lasted.
"Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" is a good album. Although Rising is certainly better, I actually prefer this album to "Long Live Rock "n" Roll". There are a couple of filler tracks, but most of the album is very high-grade hard rock. Fans of Dio will certainly love the album, as will Purple/Blackmore fans.
Rating-8/10
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