Somehow, I went all of my life without Rainbow...I'd never heard them. Imagine the excellent days I had in 2016 hearing Rainbow...it was fresh to me, and I binged! I am mid-forties.
I'm saving Status Quo and UFO for a rainy weekend, somehow missed them all this time. Finally got into Slade this year too. So much great older music to explore, a bottomless well of tasty goodness!
I was at M.O.R. Donnington UK in 87, only 15 years old. Just before Dio came on stage, I asked "Who's Dio?". To this day I still feel ashamed. His set was 100% astonishing, knocked me off my feet. "LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!!!"
Andy Cheese Reminded me that I saw Elf with Dio when they supported Purple on the Burn tour. Thought he was good but because the music was kind of, bar room rock and roll, he didn’t shine like he did in Rainbow and beyond. Of course Ritchie saw his potential. Wish I’d seen the band Dio. During the 80’s I saw most metal as recycled Zep Purple Sabbath and it didn’t hold my attention. I loved David Sylvian’s solo work. It was interesting to me in the way Purple had been in 1969. His live album Damage with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp is an example of where “heavy” could have gone in the mid 70’s. One of the loudest concerts I ever attended. th-cam.com/video/qESP811_BsQ/w-d-xo.html
Bands I heard are great but have never explored to any extent Chicago, Slade ... have only heard the singles, Only heard Rush properly in the past year .... wow! (put off by hearing their not so good stuff decades ago) Jethro Tull (Only heard 2 albums) Porcupine tree (only a few albums) King Crimson ( One album)
I love Down To Earth, Cozy Powell absolutely kills it on that album. Sure they did make a shift towards pop rock but you can still feel the Dio influences on Eyes of the World.
It's their best album except MAYBE the first… maybe it's a shared top spot. Too bad Since you've been gone is the most popular song because it just plain sucks. All night long is kind of weak too. Rest is great, in particular Eyes of the World and Lost in Hollywood.
1. Rising 2. Long Live Rock and Roll 3. Down to Earth 4. Debut album 5. Stranger is Us All 6. Difficult to Cure 7. Straight between the Eyes 8. Bent Out Of Shape
I once heard the comment: "If the classic Rainbow line up would have lasted longer than a couple of years they could have been bigger than Led Zeppelin." Favourite band at highschool.
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is my favorite, and like you said, what a perfect day for it, I'm experiencing the same weather here, and it sets the mood for "catch the rainbow" which is a favorite song of mine......Tala reminds me of my little guy, he did the same thing , I miss him terribly.
joelombrdo He has never been recognised as being the equal of the greats Clapton, Beck, Page. In some respects he surpassed them all but they are all great in their own way. Ritchie never mentioned many contemporary guitarists but he loved Jan Ackerman of Focus. Of Jeff Beck he said ...“When he’s ON there’s no one better” . Rory Gallagher. Andy Powell and Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash (he recommended them which got them their first record deal) Eddie Van Halen. Martin Barre of Jethro Tull. Leslie West of Mountain.
Hey Pete, I love the fact that your dog is a part of some of your videos. As it should be. We just got a new poodle and I am acclimating him to all the wonderful music that I listen to.
Hey Pete, thanks for the book recommendation at the start here. I love my rock 'n' roll books and always appreciate recommendations on books like this Martin Popoff one!
Thank You for reviewing RAINBOW! I subscribed to you in the last month or so and asked you to review RAINBOW. Now I see that you posted this on January 14th. We were definitely in the same room, Madison Square Garden, for the Straight Between the Eyes Tour sometime back in the early '80's. Keep the videos coming and LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!
Haven't heard yours yet Pete..so I thought I would do mine before you influence my thought process. LOL 8 - Bent Out of Shape 7 - Straight Between the Eyes 6 - Down to Earth 5 - Difficult to Cure 4 - Stranger In Us All 3 - Long Live Rock n Roll 2 - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 1 - Rising. Now to hear your list Pete.
Love the shirt man... See the shirt I’m holding up in my thumbnail... that pic was taken in the parking lot after the 30th anniversary tour show in VA. Can’t remember the name of the town but it was just outside of DC. Yes...my arms are getting very tired :-).
Here's my Top favorites from RAINBOW #1 - Rainbow Rising. #2 - Long live Rocking Roll. #3 - Rainbow Debut album. #4 - Bent out of Shape. #5 - Straight between the Eyes. In my opinion the rest of their Albums are just ok to me. 🙂 Another good video Pete.\m/
I saw the tour in 1978 at the Palladium in NYC. The opening act was AC/DC, which I was not familiar with at the time. Well, AC?DC with Bon Scott nearly blew the roof off the room Then Rainbow came out. They played three songs, Kill The King, Mistreated and I can't remember the 3rd song. Then Richie left the theater, got in his limo and took off. The crowd went insane, yelling BULLSHIT over and over. Dio came out and said Richie's guitar wasn't working right and he didn't want to give us a sub par performance but they will make it up to us someday. After nearly wrecking the joint, we all left. I found out he was mad because the lighted rainbow that ran across the stage didn't light up. They exchanged out tickets and I saw Blue Oyster Cult and Thin Lizzy. Wasn't a bad deal but I would have liked seeing Dio, Cozy and Richie for more than 3 songs!
Ritchie blackmore is notorious for being a massive asshole. It's a shame because he is one of the best. Jeff Beck was like that in the Yardbirds days as well. At least you got a cool story.
Whoa Contra thanks for sharing that story. I turned 41 two days ago---1979-2020 and I live to hear about what I had no chance to be a part of. I'll say this, I feel bad for Dio because he had to cover for someone cutting out on the job early, Oh and I saw Dio once in concert. Oct, 1996-Angry Machines Tour! Motorhead was the opening act.RJD and IFK I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!
I was at that Palladium show too. Dio came out and said we're going to come back and play a bigger, better show for you. A week later found out they were NOT coming back. LOL
Hi pete:). im your fan all the way from Finland and i like your videos specially the videos of obscure band and albums from 70s. I am huge AOR genre fan likes Toto , Survivor, and etc...!. my wish is that could you make a video about Obscure Aor bands and melodic hard rock albums from 1980s!!. greetz Tony
Great list. It never ceases to amaze me how people have a different take on albums. Personally I never liked "straight between the eyes" that much certainly not as high up my list. Possibly predictably for me I agree with your 1 and 2 then I'd have the debut album, down to earth, difficult to cure, and the remaining albums don't really do it for me. But as you would say "hey! That's just me." Great content though Pete, keep em coming👍
RR is my favorite studio release, but On Stage was the first album I ever had from Rainbow, and remains my favorite and one of my top 5 live albums of all time
Great review. Love hearing Tony Carey on the keyboards. He had some great stuff as well and recently released on Spotify several recordings for the first time. Not rainbow of course, but still cool
Saw most of the rainbow tours and even did a days work on the rising tour as local crew. Rising, listen to those drums how hard they sound and when they go into Light in the Black it's terrific. Long live and straight between the eyes would be next. Drove me crazy that there was never a steady line up. Yet Ritchie always found another great bass/kybd/drum player. Great sounding album. Those double tracked vocals are ridiculous and the guitar solos sublime. Listened to do you close your eyes and it could have fitted on 1987 by whitesnake.....11 years later.
1 Rising 2 Long Live Rock n’ Roll 3 Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow 4 Down to Earth 5 Straight Between the Eyes 6 Difficult to Cure 7 Bent Out Of Shape 8 Stranger In Us All.
My top three would be Rising, Rock and Roll and Down to Earth, I got to see Rainbow with Dio, Bonnett and Turner back then as I tracked through my teens into my 20's.
I was first introduced to Rainbow in 2006 as a 30 year old. At that point I was really into Dio, especially the 3 Sabbath albums he'd done by that time, but Rainbow had somehow eluded me. I was travelling through Africa and I met an English guy who had similar tastes in music to me and we got talking. He was stunned at my ignorance to Rainbow, so he got his CD walkman out, put in a disc, gave me the head phones and said listen to this. The first thing I hear is this amazing drum intro before the song explodes in my ears and blows my mind. Yes, it was Stargazer, one of my now all time top 10 tracks, and from that moment on I was a Rainbow fan.
Love 🌈 RAINBOW have all the studio albums / like them all. RAINBOW RISING is my favorite album cover ever and my favorite rock shirt ever ( just my opinion) YET and ever so slightly by a small margin / I’ll take as my number 1/ the 1978 Long Live R and R over the 1976 RISING. The SHED one of my favorite songs ever. Then again / I love “ Jealous Lover “. Never had fortune of seeing RAINBOW like PETE / but was honored when JLT lived 7 blocks from me / saw him like 5x in our “ neighborhood bar/ music venue. Another great show PETE!
I'm a late discoverer of Long Live Rock n Roll, and that album is just incredible. LA Connection, the Shed and Lady of the Lake have such a groove. Gates of Babylon, the solo on that is through the roof.
None of them are poor albums, there are great songs on them all. Stranger In Us All has some great songs : Ariel, Black Masquerade, Hall Of the Mountain King, really good stuff.
Absolutely one of my favorite bands. I don't listen much to hard rock these days, but this was teenage years favorite band and I still love them in all line-ups.
Don't feel bad. I've also worn some favorite concert t-shirts until they disintegrated. Don Dokken's Up From The Ashes, for example. Sad to see it go. Added the Popoff book to my list. Thanks!
Terrific band with many great players. I dig the album Difficult to Cure. For me Rainbow is like a "twin sister" (or brother...) of Deep Purple. Iconic prog-heavy rock bands. Long Live Rock'n'Roll!!!
I wouldn’t change a thing on that list. Saw Rainbow open for Alice Cooper in 1978. AC/DC was supposed to be on that bill but they canceled and Rainbow played a full set. I remember Man on a Silver Mountain and Mistreated, and Ritchie was amazing. Never got to see them again but I still listen from time to time. Lots a great musicians have done a stint in Rainbow who, sadly are no longer with us. Great band!
Just before Van Halen got signed - this Cali club was packed for Van Halen. Everyone knew they were well on their way to a new higher level - and soon. They came out - and opened with “ Man on the Silver Mountain “
Rising would easily be my #1 as it's one of my favorite albums ever by any artist. However, the Live In Munich show is even better, in my opinion! I also like their whole catalog.
I would have put the debut perhaps one notch higher, but overall I agree with the ranking. Rainbow is one of the bands that got me into hard rock and metal, not a bad album in the bunch.
Rainbow was big for me immediately, having been a huge Purple fan.Loved the debut, loved Rising more,loved Long Live RNR and saw them live in '78.Liked Down to Earth, although there are a few killer songs.Then it fizzled out for me.That more commercial AOR sound was not for me.
Great list. Here is my own ranking: 8. Bent Out of Shape 7. Straight Between the Eyes 6. Long Live Rock N Roll 5. Difficult to Cure 4. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 3. Stranger in Us All 2. Down to Earth 1. Rising Honorable Mention: Slaves and Masters
My Top 8 Rainbow Albums. 8. Bent Out of Shape 7. Stranger in Us All 6. Down To Earth 5. Straight Between the Eyes 4. Richie Blackmore's Rainbow 3. Difficult to Cure 2. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll 1. Rising Of course Rising is my Number 1, My Top 2 is really my Favorite Rainbow Albums, it took me some time to get into that Debut Album.
01 Rising 02 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll 03 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 04 Down To Earth 05 Difficult to Cure 06 Straight Between The Eyes 07 Bent Out Of Shape 08 Stranger In Us All 09 Slaves And Masters Difficult to Cure's cover was originally presented to Black Sabbath for Never Say Die.
8. Stranger in Us All 7. Straight Between the Eyes 6. Difficult to Cure 5. Down to Earth 4. Long Live RnR 3. Bent Out of Shape 2. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 1. Rising
I was reading a while back that Black sabbath was going to use the difficult to cure album cover for the Never say die album. But rejected it at the last moment. That's when Rainbow decided to use it
1. Rainbow Rising 2. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow 3. Long Live Rock ‘N Roll 4. Down To Earth 5. Bent Out Of Shape 6. Difficult To Cure 7. Straight Between The Eyes 8. Stranger In Us All
most of my top songs are from dio era (stargazer, gates of babylon, kill the king) but i’d say my #1 album is down to earth. i’m not sure how popular that is for rainbow fans but it’s the most solid album imo. not a single skip, it’s easily the album i listen through the most from rainbow. but great list! rising at #1 is no surprise but very much deserved, it’s a great album.
Ritchie, Ronnie & Cozy were the best. But frankly, it's all wonderful! I've been listening to Rainbow all my life. LLRNR is my current favourite album and Weiss Heim my favourite track.
My order is 1. Rainbow Rising 2. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 3. Long Live Rock and Roll 4. Down to Earth 5. Stranger in us all 6. Straight between the Eyes 7. Difficult to Cure 8. Bent out of Shape
David Stone actually did a short stint playing with Max Webster. Check out their live concert from Barrie Ontario here on YT. You’ll see him playing with them.
Best to Worst ...or my Top Ten: 1. Rainbow Rising 2. On Stage 3. Live In Munich 1977 4. Live In Germany 1976 5. Blackmore's Rainbow 6. Long Live Rock & Roll 7. Difficult To Cure 8. Bent Out Of Shape 9. Straight Between The Eyes 10. Down to Earth
Honestly my favorite is Stranger In Us All, everything about this album just gels for me. And that’s coming from someone who has idolized Dio since the beginning of my life. My ranking: 1. Stranger In Us All 2. Long Live Rock And Roll 3. Rising 4. Straight Through The Eyes 5. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow 6. Bent Out Of Shape 7. Down To Earth 8. Difficult To Cure
8. Stranger in Us All 7. Bent out of Shape 6. Difficult to Cure 5. Straight Between the Eyes 4. Down to Earth 3. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 2. Long Live Rock n Roll 1. Rainbow Rising!
How about Rainbow vs. Whitesnake album wars, both bands share much history and released albums yearly during their heydays almost simultaneously, thus basically year releases against each other.
I'm a huge fan of dio but Graham bonnet knocked it out of the park with down to earth. A classic. But none are bad. Down to earth Long live rock and roll Rising Straight between the eyes Difficult to cure Stranger in us all Bent out of shape Richie Blackmore rainbow
Hi Pete. If you haven't already, you should check some Russ Ballard albums. He wrote Since You Been Gone and I Surrender as well as lots of other hit songs for other bands and artists.
I remember the day Ronnie died I blew out my speakers playing Stargazer as loud as it would go. On the whole I prefer LLRR to Rising but Stargazer is the best of the best.
Foggy days are cool. Martin Popoff does good books. Recommend his AC/DC album by album book is a fun read. Dio’s records are the only ones I listen to. Cozy is phenomenal. Glad you mentioned Live in Germany which is Epic.
My brother and I went to the first ever 🌈 show. Back on November 10 1975 at the Montreal Forum. The show started a hour late due to complications with the big rainbow. They finally decided to start the show without it and low and behold halfway through the first song the Rainbow lights up. Lol. The first album is still the best in my opinion with Rising coming in second.
8 Difficult to Cure 7 Straight Between the Eyes 6 Bent Out of Shape 5 Down to Earth 4 Stranger In Us All 3 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 2 Rising 1 Long Live Rock and Roll
Thanks Pete very enjoyable. I dont disagree with the rankings I surprised about Straight between the eyes as despite having seen Rainbow many times ( including headlining the first Monsters of Rock festival) I havent listed to anything after difficult to cure. I also agree live in germany is the best live album.
Great list Pete, I would only differ slightly in that I would put ‘Down to Earth’ fourth after all the Dio albums, then the rest of my list would follow yours.
@@gvidovaldmanis6377 To each his own. If you are trying to say that 'to you' they are better that's fine, but you cannot make that determination for anyone else. I think the JLT albums are great, I just like Dio and Graham Bonnet a bit better. As I say, to each his own.
@@kenklein4783 why do you think JLT is not quite as good? He’s my favorite singer of all time, I’m curious. I love his voice, he has the best songs that rainbow ever made. Bent out of shape is one my favorite albums of all time. My two favorite rainbow songs are “can’t let yo go” and “street of dreams”.
@@gvidovaldmanis6377 Please underrated, I’m not making an objective qualitative judgement here. I believe such comparisons are pretty much useless when it comes to music, because music is so personal. I have an affinity for Dio, because I discovered his music at a time when my life was very dark. His lyrics, and powerful voice spoke to me. I love JLT and those two songs you mentioned are among my favorites too. But for me, Dio is special because his music lifted me out of a dark place. Oftentimes music that we love, is because it came to us at a certain time in our lives.
@@kenklein4783 alright, alright. How I would personally rank the rainbow singers: 5. Doogie white 4. Dio 3. Ronnie Romero 2. Graham bonnet 1. Joe Lynn turner
I saw Rainbow in London in 1983. The support was from Lita Ford. At one point in the show her drummer tried to do that thing where you throw the sticks high in the air and then catch them. Unfortunately he misjudged it and they came down too far in front of him. In stretching to reach them he knocked the bass drum off the riser in the middle of a song. Cue much hilarity in the crowd. Poor sod...
I discovered them to my middle aged friend a few years ago and he absolutely loves them. My ranking: 1) R. Blackmore"s Rainbow. 2)Down To Earth. 3)Bent out of shape. 4)Rising. 5)Difficult to cure. 6)Long Live Rocknroll. 7)Straight Between The Eyes. 8)Stranger In Us All.
Beer. Headphones. Stargazer. Ringing ears. Happy.
Dont fuck your audition, dont be fool.
Somehow, I went all of my life without Rainbow...I'd never heard them. Imagine the excellent days I had in 2016 hearing Rainbow...it was fresh to me, and I binged! I am mid-forties.
I'm saving Status Quo and UFO for a rainy weekend, somehow missed them all this time. Finally got into Slade this year too. So much great older music to explore, a bottomless well of tasty goodness!
Nice one. I’d love to hear Rising again for the first time. It blew my teenage mind! 👍
I was at M.O.R. Donnington UK in 87, only 15 years old. Just before Dio came on stage, I asked "Who's Dio?". To this day I still feel ashamed. His set was 100% astonishing, knocked me off my feet. "LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!!!"
Andy Cheese Reminded me that I saw Elf with Dio when they supported Purple on the Burn tour. Thought he was good but because the music was kind of, bar room rock and roll, he didn’t shine like he did in Rainbow and beyond. Of course Ritchie saw his potential.
Wish I’d seen the band Dio. During the 80’s I saw most metal as recycled Zep Purple Sabbath and it didn’t hold my attention. I loved David Sylvian’s solo work. It was interesting to me in the way Purple had been in 1969. His live album Damage with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp is an example of where “heavy” could have gone in the mid 70’s.
One of the loudest concerts I ever attended.
th-cam.com/video/qESP811_BsQ/w-d-xo.html
Bands I heard are great but have never explored to any extent
Chicago, Slade ... have only heard the singles, Only heard Rush properly in the past year .... wow! (put off by hearing their not so good stuff decades ago)
Jethro Tull (Only heard 2 albums)
Porcupine tree (only a few albums)
King Crimson ( One album)
I Love all the Rainbow Albums. But Anything With Dio I'm all in.
to true
Rising one of my top 10 albums. Top 3 Dio vocal albums together with Heaven and Hell and Holy Diver. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow is also excellent.
Down to Earth is such a gem. Just love the lineup of Blackmore, Powell, Airey, Glover and Bonnett. To me a great part of the hard rock/metal of 1979.
I love Down To Earth, Cozy Powell absolutely kills it on that album. Sure they did make a shift towards pop rock but you can still feel the Dio influences on Eyes of the World.
It's their best album except MAYBE the first… maybe it's a shared top spot. Too bad Since you've been gone is the most popular song because it just plain sucks. All night long is kind of weak too. Rest is great, in particular Eyes of the World and Lost in Hollywood.
An awesome.e line up,just watch donnington 1980
Another great presentation of one of my favorite bands....thumbs up again!
I very much liked "Stranger in us all". Just tells us how excellent this band was/is!
One of the most underated albums ... Black Masqarade is my fave!!
1. Rising
2. Long Live Rock and Roll
3. Down to Earth
4. Debut album
5. Stranger is Us All
6. Difficult to Cure
7. Straight between the Eyes
8. Bent Out Of Shape
@@abdulbasheer6551 bent out of shape is my number 1.
Rising is in my top 3 Hard Rock Albums of all time.
That one is also a great example of early heavy metal, similar to Priest's first three albums as well.
Randy Fielding
what are the other two,Sir?
@@williambaxter4628 if i were Randy, I'd probably put Deep Purple In Rock and Van Halen 1 as the other two..... Lol
My other two would be Physical Graffiti and Heaven and Hell. Blackmore, Page and Iommi are the holy trinity as far as I'm concerned
@@williambaxter4628 wow just saw this 2) Sabbath Heaven and Hell and 3)Frank Marino Juggernaut
I've been following your channel since December and ........... I've now subscribed to it.
Greetings from Bavaria (near Munich) Germany.
Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll is by far my favorite, by a mile! Excellent list.
You said it !
The big 4 of Long Live RocknRoll -
Gates of Babylon
Lady of the Lake
the Shed and
Sensitive to Light
. . . Wow !
Frosted Yes, every song is killer!
I agree. I saw the tour for Long Live Rock n Roll in 1978. Rainbow opened for REO Speedwagon! Not quite sure who thought that was a good match....
I once heard the comment: "If the classic Rainbow line up would have lasted longer than a couple of years they could have been bigger than Led Zeppelin." Favourite band at highschool.
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is my favorite, and like you said, what a perfect day for it, I'm experiencing the same weather here, and it sets the mood for "catch the rainbow" which is a favorite song of mine......Tala reminds me of my little guy, he did the same thing , I miss him terribly.
Thank you for your Top Ten Rainbow songs. Richie Blackmore is a great guitar player! Love your Rush Shirt! 🎤🎸🎵🥁
Love "Straight Between the Eyes." Love all these songs. Turner's best vocals!
Richie Blackmore is a great guitar player!🎸🎵
The greatest lead guitarist.
joelombrdo He has never been recognised as being the equal of the greats Clapton, Beck, Page. In some respects he surpassed them all but they are all great in their own way. Ritchie never mentioned many contemporary guitarists but he loved Jan Ackerman of Focus. Of Jeff Beck he said ...“When he’s ON there’s no one better” . Rory Gallagher. Andy Powell and Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash (he recommended them which got them their first record deal)
Eddie Van Halen. Martin Barre of Jethro Tull. Leslie West of Mountain.
@@seabud6408 Ritchie was a big fan of Rory Gallagher so much so that when he & his wife Candice Night had their 2nd child he called him Rory.
Hey Pete, I love the fact that your dog is a part of some of your videos. As it should be. We just got a new poodle and I am acclimating him to all the wonderful music that I listen to.
Hey Pete, thanks for the book recommendation at the start here. I love my rock 'n' roll books and always appreciate recommendations on books like this Martin Popoff one!
Thank You for reviewing RAINBOW! I subscribed to you in the last month or so and asked you to review RAINBOW. Now I see that you posted this on January 14th. We were definitely in the same room, Madison Square Garden, for the Straight Between the Eyes Tour sometime back in the early '80's. Keep the videos coming and LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!
Haven't heard yours yet Pete..so I thought I would do mine before you influence my thought process. LOL
8 - Bent Out of Shape
7 - Straight Between the Eyes
6 - Down to Earth
5 - Difficult to Cure
4 - Stranger In Us All
3 - Long Live Rock n Roll
2 - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
1 - Rising.
Now to hear your list Pete.
Love the shirt man... See the shirt I’m holding up in my thumbnail... that pic was taken in the parking lot after the 30th anniversary tour show in VA. Can’t remember the name of the town but it was just outside of DC. Yes...my arms are getting very tired :-).
Here's my Top favorites from RAINBOW
#1 - Rainbow Rising.
#2 - Long live Rocking Roll.
#3 - Rainbow Debut album.
#4 - Bent out of Shape.
#5 - Straight between the Eyes.
In my opinion the rest of their
Albums are just ok to me. 🙂 Another good video Pete.\m/
I saw the tour in 1978 at the Palladium in NYC. The opening act was AC/DC, which I was not familiar with at the time. Well, AC?DC with Bon Scott nearly blew the roof off the room Then Rainbow came out. They played three songs, Kill The King, Mistreated and I can't remember the 3rd song. Then Richie left the theater, got in his limo and took off. The crowd went insane, yelling BULLSHIT over and over. Dio came out and said Richie's guitar wasn't working right and he didn't want to give us a sub par performance but they will make it up to us someday. After nearly wrecking the joint, we all left. I found out he was mad because the lighted rainbow that ran across the stage didn't light up. They exchanged out tickets and I saw Blue Oyster Cult and Thin Lizzy. Wasn't a bad deal but I would have liked seeing Dio, Cozy and Richie for more than 3 songs!
Ritchie blackmore is notorious for being a massive asshole. It's a shame because he is one of the best. Jeff Beck was like that in the Yardbirds days as well. At least you got a cool story.
Whoa Contra thanks for sharing that story. I turned 41 two days ago---1979-2020 and I live to hear about what I had no chance to be a part of. I'll say this, I feel bad for Dio because he had to cover for someone cutting out on the job early, Oh and I saw Dio once in concert. Oct, 1996-Angry Machines Tour! Motorhead was the opening act.RJD and IFK I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!
I was at that Palladium show too. Dio came out and said we're going to come back and play a bigger, better show for you. A week later found out they were NOT coming back. LOL
Hi pete:). im your fan all the way from Finland and i like your videos specially the videos of obscure band and albums from 70s. I am huge AOR genre fan likes Toto , Survivor, and etc...!. my wish is that could you make a video about Obscure Aor bands and melodic hard rock albums from 1980s!!. greetz Tony
I think rainbow..is one of the best rock bands ever!
Yes you're right.Best songs are Stargazer,Catch the rainbow....and so on
@@metalholiker1525 yeaaa..you right.you cheack out my rocking site?
@@GUR-ARYEA the joe Lynn turner era is the best.
@@gvidovaldmanis6377 joe lyne terner is good.
@@GUR-ARYEA better than dio.
Rising - Cozy Powell is amazing on this album and right up there with the best of the best rock drummers Bonham, Paice, Palmer, Bruford etc
Best all album review chanel ever. Big thank you
Great list. It never ceases to amaze me how people have a different take on albums. Personally I never liked "straight between the eyes" that much certainly not as high up my list. Possibly predictably for me I agree with your 1 and 2 then I'd have the debut album, down to earth, difficult to cure, and the remaining albums don't really do it for me. But as you would say "hey! That's just me."
Great content though Pete, keep em coming👍
RR is my favorite studio release, but On Stage was the first album I ever had from Rainbow, and remains my favorite and one of my top 5 live albums of all time
Same here; I still have both on cassette! They're probably totally worn out!
Martin Popoff rock related books are great. I own the BOC, Rush and UFO books. Highly recommended
Great review. Love hearing Tony Carey on the keyboards. He had some great stuff as well and recently released on Spotify several recordings for the first time. Not rainbow of course, but still cool
Saw most of the rainbow tours and even did a days work on the rising tour as local crew. Rising, listen to those drums how hard they sound and when they go into Light in the Black it's terrific. Long live and straight between the eyes would be next. Drove me crazy that there was never a steady line up. Yet Ritchie always found another great bass/kybd/drum player. Great sounding album. Those double tracked vocals are ridiculous and the guitar solos sublime. Listened to do you close your eyes and it could have fitted on 1987 by whitesnake.....11 years later.
1 Rising
2 Long Live Rock n’ Roll
3 Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
4 Down to Earth
5 Straight Between the Eyes
6 Difficult to Cure
7 Bent Out Of Shape
8 Stranger In Us All.
All of the joe Lynn turner albums are better than the dio albums.
All time favorite band. You get one of the greatest vocalists and the guitarists paired together and it delivers every time.
My top three would be Rising, Rock and Roll and Down to Earth, I got to see Rainbow with Dio, Bonnett and Turner back then as I tracked through my teens into my 20's.
I was first introduced to Rainbow in 2006 as a 30 year old. At that point I was really into Dio, especially the 3 Sabbath albums he'd done by that time, but Rainbow had somehow eluded me. I was travelling through Africa and I met an English guy who had similar tastes in music to me and we got talking. He was stunned at my ignorance to Rainbow, so he got his CD walkman out, put in a disc, gave me the head phones and said listen to this. The first thing I hear is this amazing drum intro before the song explodes in my ears and blows my mind. Yes, it was Stargazer, one of my now all time top 10 tracks, and from that moment on I was a Rainbow fan.
Love 🌈 RAINBOW have all the studio albums / like them all. RAINBOW RISING is my favorite album cover ever and my favorite rock shirt ever ( just my opinion) YET and ever so slightly by a small margin / I’ll take as my number 1/ the 1978 Long Live R and R over the 1976 RISING. The SHED one of my favorite songs ever. Then again / I love “ Jealous Lover “. Never had fortune of seeing RAINBOW like PETE / but was honored when JLT lived 7 blocks from me / saw him like 5x in our “ neighborhood bar/ music venue. Another great show PETE!
"Straight Between The Eyes" loaned to me by a college roommate got me the Rainbow ride! Epic album.
I'm a late discoverer of Long Live Rock n Roll, and that album is just incredible. LA Connection, the Shed and Lady of the Lake have such a groove. Gates of Babylon, the solo on that is through the roof.
The "Difficult To Cure" album cover was originally intended for Black Sabbaths - " Never Say Die" release. Sabbath rejected it & the rest is history.
Great Ranking !! 100% ! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
"Worst to First", in my opinion, would have been a better title, but you're the boss ✌
That's not a bad idea in general (for someone doing something similar to this!)
Favorite to least would be the most accurate term when you like everything.
Rainbow are an essential part of life!
None of them are poor albums, there are great songs on them all. Stranger In Us All has some great songs : Ariel, Black Masquerade, Hall Of the Mountain King, really good stuff.
Absolutely one of my favorite bands. I don't listen much to hard rock these days, but this was teenage years favorite band and I still love them in all line-ups.
My list is a bit different, of course, but I love what you do. Thanks, man.
Don't feel bad. I've also worn some favorite concert t-shirts until they disintegrated. Don Dokken's Up From The Ashes, for example. Sad to see it go. Added the Popoff book to my list. Thanks!
Only have these...
RBR.
Rising.
Long Live RR.
On Stage.
So...Rising is the best.
Those 3 Ronnie albums are gold!
But the joe Lynn turner albums are better.
Terrific band with many great players. I dig the album Difficult to Cure. For me Rainbow is like a "twin sister" (or brother...) of Deep Purple. Iconic prog-heavy rock bands.
Long Live Rock'n'Roll!!!
What I like about Rainbow, is they never sold out. Always a band with integrity.
“ Cough cough” Blackmore wanted the band to be like Foreigner “cough cough”
I wouldn’t change a thing on that list. Saw Rainbow open for Alice Cooper in 1978. AC/DC was supposed to be on that bill but they canceled and Rainbow played a full set. I remember Man on a Silver Mountain and Mistreated, and Ritchie was amazing. Never got to see them again but I still listen from time to time. Lots a great musicians have done a stint in Rainbow who, sadly are no longer with us. Great band!
Just before Van Halen got signed - this Cali club was packed for Van Halen.
Everyone knew they were well on their way to a new higher level - and soon.
They came out - and opened with “ Man on the Silver Mountain “
Rising would easily be my #1 as it's one of my favorite albums ever by any artist. However, the Live In Munich show is even better, in my opinion! I also like their whole catalog.
You should check it out the LIve At Koln 1976.
Thanks Sir.❤️
I would have put the debut perhaps one notch higher, but overall I agree with the ranking. Rainbow is one of the bands that got me into hard rock and metal, not a bad album in the bunch.
just an idea; what about a top ten of albums produced by Martin Birch???
Love the Bow especially w Graham..
How did you get that book brother cause it doesn't get released till July here in the UK 📖🤔
Ritchie blackmore great guitarist. roger Glover great bassist. 90% of the time i agree your taste in music thanks.
Rainbow was big for me immediately, having been a huge Purple fan.Loved the debut, loved Rising more,loved Long Live RNR and saw them live in '78.Liked Down to Earth, although there are a few killer songs.Then it fizzled out for me.That more commercial AOR sound was not for me.
Rainbow's appeal faded for me the moment Ronnie James Dio was gone.
Rising and Stranger In Us All are both №1 for me! Doogie White is a brilliant singer! Also as the covers of the albums)))
Great list. Here is my own ranking:
8. Bent Out of Shape
7. Straight Between the Eyes
6. Long Live Rock N Roll
5. Difficult to Cure
4. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
3. Stranger in Us All
2. Down to Earth
1. Rising
Honorable Mention: Slaves and Masters
My Top 8 Rainbow Albums.
8. Bent Out of Shape
7. Stranger in Us All
6. Down To Earth
5. Straight Between the Eyes
4. Richie Blackmore's Rainbow
3. Difficult to Cure
2. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
1. Rising
Of course Rising is my Number 1, My Top 2 is really my Favorite Rainbow Albums, it took me some time to get into that Debut Album.
01 Rising
02 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
03 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
04 Down To Earth
05 Difficult to Cure
06 Straight Between The Eyes
07 Bent Out Of Shape
08 Stranger In Us All
09 Slaves And Masters
Difficult to Cure's cover was originally presented to Black Sabbath for Never Say Die.
The dog toy scared the shit out of me. Thought it was coming from outside my bedroom window!
Nailed it. I have the exact same order
8. Stranger in Us All
7. Straight Between the Eyes
6. Difficult to Cure
5. Down to Earth
4. Long Live RnR
3. Bent Out of Shape
2. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
1. Rising
I was reading a while back that Black sabbath was going to use the difficult to cure album cover for the Never say die album. But rejected it at the last moment. That's when Rainbow decided to use it
Don't always agree with the order of your lists but in this case you nailed it 👍
“Lots of pictures...well , not lots of pictures but you know, a bunch of photographs.” Funny. Great video!
1. Rainbow Rising
2. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
3. Long Live Rock ‘N Roll
4. Down To Earth
5. Bent Out Of Shape
6. Difficult To Cure
7. Straight Between The Eyes
8. Stranger In Us All
Interesting ranking ... your No. 1/No. 2 are the same as mine ... but my No. 3 is your ... no. 8 😂 I just love "Stranger in us all" ☺
most of my top songs are from dio era (stargazer, gates of babylon, kill the king) but i’d say my #1 album is down to earth. i’m not sure how popular that is for rainbow fans but it’s the most solid album imo. not a single skip, it’s easily the album i listen through the most from rainbow.
but great list! rising at #1 is no surprise but very much deserved, it’s a great album.
Ritchie, Ronnie & Cozy were the best. But frankly, it's all wonderful! I've been listening to Rainbow all my life. LLRNR is my current favourite album and Weiss Heim my favourite track.
Rising all the way. Not just the best Rainbow album but one of the best hardrock albums all together 👌👍🤘
My order is
1. Rainbow Rising
2. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
3. Long Live Rock and Roll
4. Down to Earth
5. Stranger in us all
6. Straight between the Eyes
7. Difficult to Cure
8. Bent out of Shape
The First Rainbow album is my favourite then RR 🤘
All of the joe Lynn turner are better.
David Stone actually did a short stint playing with Max Webster. Check out their live concert from Barrie Ontario here on YT. You’ll see him playing with them.
Is that book in print? Cant find it on Amazon
Best to Worst ...or my Top Ten:
1. Rainbow Rising
2. On Stage
3. Live In Munich 1977
4. Live In Germany 1976
5. Blackmore's Rainbow
6. Long Live Rock & Roll
7. Difficult To Cure
8. Bent Out Of Shape
9. Straight Between The Eyes
10. Down to Earth
Honestly my favorite is Stranger In Us All, everything about this album just gels for me. And that’s coming from someone who has idolized Dio since the beginning of my life.
My ranking:
1. Stranger In Us All
2. Long Live Rock And Roll
3. Rising
4. Straight Through The Eyes
5. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
6. Bent Out Of Shape
7. Down To Earth
8. Difficult To Cure
8. Stranger in Us All
7. Bent out of Shape
6. Difficult to Cure
5. Straight Between the Eyes
4. Down to Earth
3. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
2. Long Live Rock n Roll
1. Rainbow Rising!
I love all the rainbow albums to
How about Rainbow vs. Whitesnake album wars, both bands share much history and released albums yearly during their heydays almost simultaneously, thus basically year releases against each other.
I would include the Gillan albums from the same era as well.
I'm a huge fan of dio but Graham bonnet knocked it out of the park with down to earth. A classic. But none are bad.
Down to earth
Long live rock and roll
Rising
Straight between the eyes
Difficult to cure
Stranger in us all
Bent out of shape
Richie Blackmore rainbow
Hi Pete. If you haven't already, you should check some Russ Ballard albums. He wrote Since You Been Gone and I Surrender as well as lots of other hit songs for other bands and artists.
I remember the day Ronnie died I blew out my speakers playing Stargazer as loud as it would go. On the whole I prefer LLRR to Rising but Stargazer is the best of the best.
Foggy days are cool. Martin Popoff does good books. Recommend his AC/DC album by album book is a fun read. Dio’s records are the only ones I listen to. Cozy is phenomenal. Glad you mentioned Live in Germany which is Epic.
straight between the eyes over the debut?
Remember, it's all a matter of preference. SBTE made a huge impression on me when it came out. Doesn't mean I don't love the debut.
Always loved Straight between the eyes cover !!!
Met Chuck Burgi and David Rosenthal a year and a half ago. Great guys.
My brother and I went to the first ever 🌈 show. Back on November 10 1975 at the Montreal Forum. The show started a hour late due to complications with the big rainbow. They finally decided to start the show without it and low and behold halfway through the first song the Rainbow lights up. Lol. The first album is still the best in my opinion with Rising coming in second.
8 Difficult to Cure
7 Straight Between the Eyes
6 Bent Out of Shape
5 Down to Earth
4 Stranger In Us All
3 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
2 Rising
1 Long Live Rock and Roll
I'm totally with you on this. I agree on the placement of every single album.
I guess great minds think alike!
Thanks Pete very enjoyable. I dont disagree with the rankings I surprised about Straight between the eyes as despite having seen Rainbow many times ( including headlining the first Monsters of Rock festival) I havent listed to anything after difficult to cure. I also agree live in germany is the best live album.
Down to Earth my favourite
Great list Pete, I would only differ slightly in that I would put ‘Down to Earth’ fourth after all the Dio albums, then the rest of my list would follow yours.
All of the joe Lynn turner albums are better than the dio albums.
@@gvidovaldmanis6377 To each his own. If you are trying to say that 'to you' they are better that's fine, but you cannot make that determination for anyone else. I think the JLT albums are great, I just like Dio and Graham Bonnet a bit better. As I say, to each his own.
@@kenklein4783 why do you think JLT is not quite as good? He’s my favorite singer of all time, I’m curious. I love his voice, he has the best songs that rainbow ever made. Bent out of shape is one my favorite albums of all time. My two favorite rainbow songs are “can’t let yo go” and “street of dreams”.
@@gvidovaldmanis6377 Please underrated, I’m not making an objective qualitative judgement here. I believe such comparisons are pretty much useless when it comes to music, because music is so personal. I have an affinity for Dio, because I discovered his music at a time when my life was very dark. His lyrics, and powerful voice spoke to me. I love JLT and those two songs you mentioned are among my favorites too. But for me, Dio is special because his music lifted me out of a dark place. Oftentimes music that we love, is because it came to us at a certain time in our lives.
@@kenklein4783 alright, alright.
How I would personally rank the rainbow singers:
5. Doogie white
4. Dio
3. Ronnie Romero
2. Graham bonnet
1. Joe Lynn turner
One of the most underrated bands ever .
I saw Rainbow in London in 1983. The support was from Lita Ford. At one point in the show her drummer tried to do that thing where you throw the sticks high in the air and then catch them. Unfortunately he misjudged it and they came down too far in front of him. In stretching to reach them he knocked the bass drum off the riser in the middle of a song. Cue much hilarity in the crowd. Poor sod...
I saw rainbow with April Wine, back in the 80's, at Harpo's in Detroit,
Wow that must have been a great show, and pretty sure April Wine rocked the crowd with their opening set
Had the same rush t shirt I purchased at a younge st. head shop in the 90's! Whoa!
I discovered them to my middle aged friend a few years ago and he absolutely loves them. My ranking: 1) R. Blackmore"s Rainbow. 2)Down To Earth. 3)Bent out of shape. 4)Rising. 5)Difficult to cure. 6)Long Live Rocknroll. 7)Straight Between The Eyes. 8)Stranger In Us All.