Time to profess my love for Rainbow! Before joining Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio was the vocalist and lyricist for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. He was with Rainbow for three studio albums and one live album before Blackmore fired him for refusing to write lyrics that would get them radio hits in the US (rjd’s lyrics were very wizard metal). He then joined Black Sabbath, who had just fired Ozzy.
Songs to check out would be Man on the Silver Mountain, Tarot Woman, Stargazer, and Gates of Babylon.
Stargazer will change your life. Listen to it as loud as you can stand it.
1975 pressing of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
1976 pressing of Rainbow Rising
1977 pressing of Rainbow On Stage
1978 pressing of Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
*I was lucky enough to find a white label promo copy of Rainbow Rising in a local record shop. I will NEVER get over it.
God damn the solos on this thing 😭 holy shit guys I’m so glad I got over my weird thing about power metal because this album absolutely fucks. The vocals, now that I can appreciate them, are so rad and perfectly performed. He’s just singing his ass off about all of these absolutely epic fantasy situations. The whole thing feels like an 80’s fantasy adventure but with absolutely insane heavy metal composition just dialed up to 1000. Cannot recommend enough!
I’ve tried to listen to this record so many times and I’ve never been able to make my way through the whole thing because I really do not like power metal most of the time. I have no idea why but last night I was really craving power metal and I knew that this was my chance to give this record, which I’ve only heard good things about, a real serious chance. And fuck man they were right! As soon as I got over my weird issue with the vocals and power metal in general I got an incredibly fun record filled to the brim with amazing vocals, absolutely absurd guitar solos and performances, terrific composition, and song writing. This is a super fun listen and I mean come on of course it is. You see that Wizard on the album cover and you know you’re in for a treat.