TRACK \ CD LISTING
CD One
01. Man On The Silver Mountain (7″ Edit)
02. Snake Charmer
CD Two
01. Still I’m Sad
02. Temple Of The King
CD Three
01. Man On The Silver Mountain
02. Snake Charmer
03. If You Don’t Like Rock ‘N’ Roll
04. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
CD Four
01. Starstruck
02. Run With The Wolf
CD Five
01. Kill The King (Live / Edit – “On Stage”)
02. Man On The Silver Mountain (Live – “On Stage”)
03. Mistreated (Live / 7″ Edit – “On Stage”)
CD Six
01. Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll
02. Sensitive To Light
CD Seven
01. LA Connection (7″ Edit)
02. Lady of the Lake
CD Eight
01. Since You Been Gone
02. Bad Girl
CD Nine
01. Since You Been Gone
02. No Time To Lose
CD Ten
01. All Night Long
02. Weiss Heim
CD Eleven
01. I Surrender
02. Vielleicht Das Nächster Zeit (Maybe Next Time)
CD Twelve
01. Difficult To Cure
02. Can’t Happen Here (7″ Edit)
03. Jealous Lover
CD Thirteen
01. Magic
02. Freedom Fighter
CD Fourteen
01. Can’t Happen Here (7″ Edit)
02. Jealous Lover
CD Fifteen
01. Stone Cold
02. Rock Fever
CD Sixteen
01. Death Alley Driver
02. Tite Squeeze
CD Seventeen
01. Street Of Dreams
02. Anybody There
03. Power (Live at the Convention Center, San Antonio)
CD Eighteen
01. Can’t Let You Go (7″ Edit)
02. All Night Long (Live at David’s Hall, Cardiff)
03. Stranded (Live at David’s Hall, Cardiff)
CD Nineteen
01. Bad Girl
02. Spotlight Kid (Live at Budokan, Tokyo)
03. Man On The Silver Mountain (Live)
Rainbow the British / American rock band founded by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1986 (and again from 1994 to 1997) underwent in their short life span significant line-up changes that are very noticeable as you play through the 19 CDs on offer here. Having started life as just Blackmore with members of American band Elf, Blackmore fired all but Ronnie James Dio who performed on some of their classic, legacy ensuring, albums such as ‘Rainow Rising’. As Dio left for pastures new in 1979, three British musicians joined, singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Don Airey and former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. Here, the new line up represents the biggest change in style for the band as they deliver commercial classics ‘Since You Been Gone’ and ‘All Night Long’. As the years passed, Blackmore became the only permanent fixture to a revolving door of musicians with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up. Joe Lynn Turner would then get a stint behind the mike and Doogie White would also join when Blackmore reformed Rainbow in the late 1990s.
The classical \ mystical elements that Dio would become famous for as a solo artist are apparent on the early singles and the Bonnet and Lynn Tuner releases clearly play to the American AOR market. The White era is not represented here as the period saw only the ‘Stranger in Us All’ album released rather than any singles.
If you grew up listening to Rainbow, you’ll have a favourite era be that Dio, Bonnet or Lynn Turner and thus go straight to those singles to listen to them first.
There’s no denying that the physical copy of this collection is a work of art. 19 CDs beautifully replicated picture sleeves from an era where the sleeve art often comprised of white paper with a circular hole in the middle so that you could see the artist and the tracks listed. The discs are housed in a presentation box with a lift off lid, there’s a 32 page booklet with some detailed comments on each release, the tracks have been remastered and it is of course a limited edition. Naturally, it also comes at a price and the going rate seems to be around £60 ($90) for (in several cases) 2-3 copies of the same song either on a second release single with a different B-side or as a live B-side when no new studio material was available to go with an A-side.
As such, packaging aside, the listener only gets 36 (not 45) unique tracks and in this day and age where the buyer may often opt for the digital only copy of a release (as I have) the track repetition does wear after a while. Admittedly the digital copy is only a third of the price of the box set but it does beg the question as to who the buyer is. Long term Rainbow fans probably have it all in their collection already but will relish the chance to get hold of pristine replicas of the original singles. New listeners or digital buyers would be better placed picking up one of the many ‘Best Of’ collections or visit the original albums that spawned the singles e.g. classic albums like ‘Rainbow Rising’ , ‘Long Live Rock ‘n Roll’ or ‘Down to Earth’.
A beautiful package but one for collectors or completists only.
Written by Adrian
Physical Copy – 9/10
Digital Copy – 6/10
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