Eagle Rock Entertainment have re-issued Rainbow's classic LiveIn Germany 1976 double CD set, featuring the Rainbow Rising lineup of Ritchie Blackmore-guitar, Ronnie James Dio-vocals, Cozy Powell-drums, JimmyBain-bass guitar and Tony Carey-keyboards. This lineup has long been regarded as the quintessential Rainbow lineup and this 2 CD set finds the band in top form in Germany.
This 8 song concert shows Blackmore in full control of his new found solo career power as he flexes his guitar muscles all over this record with extended guitar intro's and solos that only he could pull off. Now in total control and stepping out from under the shadow of his former band, Deep Purple,Blackmore is reveling in the ability to take any song, at any time, whereever he wants to. Extended versions of the Purple classic, "Mistreated" and the Rainbow favorite, "Catch the Rainbow" showcase the brilliance that was the one and only, Ronnie James Dio. Dio sings his ass off on this entire double CD, like only he could. The power, the sensitivity and the utter majesty that Dio possessed up until he died in 2010, was in spades here in1976, with Dio not even quite hitting his peak yet.
The all time Rainbow classic, "Stargazer" is included on this set and is a Cozy Powell drum masterpiece, but unfortunately the iconic drum intro from the studio release of Rising was not played as the intro here on the live version and that is about the only downside to this entire set. I couldn't wait to get to "Stargazer" on the 2nd disc and was ready for some massive air drumming, but Cozy (R.I.P) didn'tplay it! Surprised I was! But other than my nitpicking, Live In Germany1976 is a massive statement for a band, who to this day is still underappreciated, especially here in the United States. THIS is what an awesome 70's Hard Rock band was supposed to sound like. Blackmore did nothing but cement his name in the folklore of what a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal guitar player was to sound like for millions of his followers to come.
It is hard to believe that these recordings are now 35 years old and that two of the band members who are also two of the most influential Metal singers and drummers in history, Mr. Ronnie James Dio and Mr. Cozy Powell are now both gone. Live In Germany1976 is just an amazing 2 CD set of a lineup that only produced one studio record, but oh my what a record is was!! Rainbow Rising is easily in theTop 5 Hard Rock/Metal records of all time and that lineup of Rainbow delivered the goods in Germany in '76, for sure. It is so important to the history of Hard Rock and Metal that these types of sets are continued to be released so that all of us that were either around at the time or maybe were a little too young, or weren'teven born yet, still have the availability to relive or discover these amazing pieces of music for ever.
Track Listing
Disc 1:
- Kill The King
- Mistreated
- Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
- Catch The Rainbow
Disc 2:
- Man On The Silver Mountain
- Stargazer
- Still I'm Sad
- Do You Close Your Eyes
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