On Stage [Remaster]

Performer: Rainbow
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Rainbow: Ronnie James Dio (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Tony Carey (keyboards); Jimmy Bain (bass); Cozy Powell (drums). All tracks have been digitally remastered. Rainbow: Ronnie James Dio (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Tony Carey (keyboards); Jimmy Bain (bass); Cozy Powell (drums). Breaking with '70s heavy metal tradition by releasing a live album after only two studio efforts (you're supposed to have three before the live one), Rainbow served up this double platter in 1977. On Stage is full of great songs and playing, but somehow it lacks some of the excitement that existed at those early Ritchie Blackmore concerts. The production is just kind of flat. That doesn't change the fact that there is some great stuff to be found here and nowhere else, such as the side-long version of "Mistreated," from Deep Purple's Burn. The also epic version of "Catch the Rainbow" contains some awesome guitar work but is too long for its own good. In another break with metal tradition, the album kicks off with "Kill the King," a blazing rocker from their next platter, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll. The idea of opening your show with a song no one knows is very foreign to both heavy metal and double live albums. On the band's classic song, "Man on the Silver Mountain," Ronnie Dio cries out in his over-the-top vocal finale, "I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man....we're all the maaaaaaaaaannnn." That is unconsciously funny enough to make the disc worthwhile all by itself. ~ Geoff Ginsberg

Ritchie Blackmore's combustible guitar riffs in the seminal band Deep Purple were the sparks that fed the conflagration of a whole new genre: heavy metal. Blackmore's musical ambition led him away from the band in 1975, after which he poached members of the band Elf--including vocalist Ronnie James Dio--to record the solo project that would evolve into the band Rainbow. Dio's lyrics were a castles-and-kings affair and Blackmore's classical-derived music suited them well. The pair--with an ever-rotating line-up behind them--recorded several popular albums, until Dio was lured away by Black Sabbath in '79. Blackmore reunited with Deep Purple in 1984, revisiting Rainbow briefly in the mid-'90s before finally pulling the plug on both bands and moving on to the medieval folk act Blackmore's Night.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25