From The Archives: 70s Vol 8 – Rainbow – Rising

The Album Breakdown

Rising is often seen as the defining Rainbow album. With Blackmore leading the charge and Dio on vocals the band crafted something that felt bigger than other hard rock albums at the time.

It leans far more into fantasy themes yet still delivers to a high level the powerful riffs you would expect! While Blackmore’s guitar is front and centre the entire band really deserves credit. From Powell’s drumming and Carey’s keyboards that give the atmosphere a real kick.

It’s only 6 songs long but it wastes no time at all, with every song feeling purposeful and jam packed with energy.

Highlight Tracks

This is the masterpiece on the album and in my opinion the best Rainbow song they ever released. It opens with iconic drums before building into this arrangement full of drama. Dio is phenomenal both telling a powerful story and creating a picture.

Rainbow – Stargazer (All Rights Are Retained By Rainbow)

Kicking the album off in style with a synthesizer for good measure! It immediately grabs the listeners attention. When Blackmore’s guitar comes in at truly sets the tone for the remainder of the album.

Rainbow – Tarot Woman (All Rights Are Retained By Rainbow)

We just talked about the opening track but the closing track deserves some love too! Moving through sections of varying styles and it shows the musicianship of the entire band. Particularly Carey in this case.

Rainbow – A Light In The Black (All Rights Are Retained By Rainbow)

Other Notable Albums From The Band

Rainbow
Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
Bent Out Of Shape

All rights to the songs used in this post are retained by the band/artist. This site claims no rights over them.

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14 responses to “From The Archives: 70s Vol 8 – Rainbow – Rising”

  1. Peter Mallett Racing avatar
    Peter Mallett Racing

    Good choice. It wasalmost as if Gillan was looking back to his Purple days on this one. Thanks for reminding me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      It’s a great album glad you like it

      Liked by 1 person

  2. S.Bechtold avatar

    Uh oh I remember when this one came out. My friend bought it but they weren’t really well known yet. It was being played on a local FM station in Los Angeles. Getting old is interesting, I would still suggest it despite some of its negative reviews. Do You Close Your Eyes was the one I remember the most off this album though.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      I think that sense of getting old is what is best about music, you can share what you used to like with the next generation and it keeps it alive 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Stephen J Frankenberry avatar

    Rainbow was definitely our band, me and some buddies in HS, which led me to discover Elf with Dio, more of a rhythm and blues rock n roll thing than metal and so well done, so polished. Yeah Rising was the definitive Rainbow album though I have always been more of a fan “Long Live Rock n Roll” which just f’in’ rocks.

    But great choice here gang and vintage Dio.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Dio was simply amazing, every project he touched was like gold dust!

      Like

  4. richardbist avatar

    Rainbow Rising was their best album, in my opinion. Raw, powerful, and Dio was at the top of his game vocally.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Yeah when Dio is on it , everyone else better run for cover!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Darth Jim avatar

    Now we are talking. I remember when Record Rack began flushing their 8 tracks for a song. I bought a dozen. One of them was Rainbow’s “Long Live Rock-n Roll.” A perfect history lesson for me since I was an avid Dio fan already. And then another history lesson occurred, which I am thankful for overall. Rainbow adjusted to Dio’s (long) departure and put out “Stone Cold.” I would not know about Bonnet’s tenure until much later. We didn’t have Chat back then 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Stone cold is criminally underrated IMO

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Danny*Fantod avatar

    I like Rainbow but they’ve flown below my radar so far. I need to do a deep dive in their catalog. They went through phases so it should be an interesting study.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      They went through several stages a unique band too, worth looking into 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Danny*Fantod avatar

        I was talking with a friend about Rainbow’s first album and I mentioned hearing the Yardbird’s version of “Still I’m Sad” and how I was surprised it had lyrics. He said ‘Rainbow’s version had lyrics’. We had a moment of confusion and pulled out our music players to compare. His was the live version of the album and sure enough, Ronnie James was belting it out.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

          I love when this sort of thing happens 😀

          Like

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