Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think all of the people who are tearing this collection apart are missing the point, if you really think it is missing that much and it doesn't have all of your favorite songs, wtf are you reviewing this for? Quit your bitching and go buy the 'Catch The Rainbow' two-disc set. This is a low price collection, a good one, for people who just want a sample of Rainbow.

20th Century Masters has released a whole slew of CDs just like this for many differant groups, true, some are better then others but they all TRY to represent the best material for the artist as much as they can for a single low-price CD (these things can be found for under 8 bucks in most department stores). Rainbow has a couple of 'Best Of' albums out now, this being the cheapest (in price of course), it's only got 11 tracks but they are all exellent choices. They were kind enough to include the live version of "Mistreated" and one of the most underrated Rainbow songs ever, "Rainbow Eyes". You get all the standard hits that Rainbow is known for, "Man On The Silver Mountain", "Stargazer", "Kill The King", "Since You Been Gone" and the MTV favorite "Stone Cold". It is simply a collection of their hit singles and nothing else, if you are looking for an in-depth retrospective or some devinative collection of the bands material, look elsewhere. I do agree that there are a couple songs they could of put here, where is "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll", "Spotlight Kid" or "All Night Long"?, but it still is a good collection despite that. I wish they could of gave the Graham Bonnett-era a little more attention (two songs instead of one) seeing as Dio gets 6 songs and Joe Lynn Turner gets 4, they could of squeezed "Eyes Of The World" or "Lost In Hollywood" on this thing if they wanted, considering that CDs can hold up to 80 minutes of non compressed data on them, but what are you going to do?

It is a good buy if you are just discovering Rainbow's music and don't want to shell out cash for all of their studio albums or 'Catch The Rainbow'(which is like 30 bucks). This thing is a steal considering the qaulity of music your getting, i saw it for $7.50 in a Wal-Mart cut-out bin in the music department, it was either this thing or 'Three Dog Night'.

This is another best of covering all the periods of one of the greatest bands ever. But in contrast to the previous (two) similar records; this one covers mostly the first period of the band the one when vocalist of the band was R. J. Dio. 6 of the tracks are from that period, including a Deep Purple song, mistreated, as was played in the record "On Stage". The rest 5 songs are the latest period of the band with R. Glover and L. Turner as vocalists. I really felt that the first period of the band was its greatest one; but you can't stop wondering that some songs such as "Spotlight kid", "Eyes of the world" are missing. Overall this record is for the band fans and collectors, such as myself, and to anyone who hasn't the faintest idea about Rainbow. I suggest you buy the following albums:i)Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, ii)Rainbow Rising iii)Long Live Rock'n'Roll iv)Down to Earth v)Difficult to Cure

Given the choice of this or "The Very Best of Rainbow", you should definitely go with the latter. It is a better collection, with more cuts. I would also recommend "Final Vinyl".

OK, may be some regular albums by Rainbow are better than this selection, but it's still a pretty decent one. It's definitely a good piece of music that may be recommended for getting familiarized with the band. For those who know Rainbow's music well, it may be of less value and interest. However, it's no doubt that Rainbow is a great band whose musical efforts are still to be appreciated by true rock music fans.

Rainbow's 20th Century Masters installment is an awesome collection. Spanning their 1975 debut 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow' to 1983's 'Bent Out of Shape,' this disc features great musicianship from the entire group.

Although many prefer 'The Very Best of Rainbow,' for those on a budget and looking to save a couple of bucks, 20th Century Masters is a great bet. It's got all of the classics. 'Man On The Silver Mountain,' 'Kill The King,' 'Mistreated,' and 'Since You Been Gone' are all here for your enjoyment.

Another reason to buy this is for the awesome sound. 24.bit remastering is among the best remastering you can get (if not, the best).

This record, unlike many in the series, isn't skimpy, clocking in at just over 66 minutes.

If you enjoyed this great Rainbow CD, check out these classics:

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
On Stage (Live)
Rising
Long Live Rock N' Roll
Straight Between The Eyes

Overall, an EXCELLENT purchase. Highly recommended!

Although some - and possibly be all - of Rainbow's regular albums (e.g. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Rainbow Rising, Long Live Rock'n'Roll, etc.) may be better than this selection, it is still a pretty decent one and could be recommended for those who want to get familiarized with Rainbow's music. This selection is of less interest and value for those who know the band's music well, probably. However, it gives a pretty good idea of Rainbow's musical efforts, which are still to be discovered and appreciated by many true rock music fans. And when I say "rock music", I mean "hard rock" first of all. So if someone is into boys' bands (which is nothing wrong but definitely not my area of interest), that's not your stuff.

San Francisco dude, you've probably confused this band with some Castro district rockers. This one is R-a-i-n-b-o-w.. you know, by a guitar player named Ritchie Blackmore, with Dio on vocals... Are you sure they don't have enough hits? Hmmm, let's see... Their first album: at least 4 hits: "Man on the silver mountain", "Catch the rainbow", "Still I'm sad", "Temple of the king". Only the first two of the mentioned songs are presented here. The second album... at least two hits: "Stargazer" included here and "Starstruck". Finally, "Long live rock'n'roll", probably their most famous disc. With two songs "Kill the king" and "Rainbow eyes" presented here, I'd definitely include the title track and the middle-eastern "Gates of Babylon". I am not even talking about the Graham Bonnett and Joe Lynn Turner period, a much more commercial era of the band.

One thing about this collection doesn't include some of their most famous hits... I believe reason being is that they wanted to promote some of the "not-so-well-known" songs. A beautiful slow melody "Rainbow eyes" for example was rarely considered as anything close to a commercial hit. Well, I guess for a variety of musical tastes out there, any best songs compilation will have its flaws.

The 20th Century Masters collections are notorious for picking terrible selection of songs on them. For example, look at Motley Crue's. But this review is not about Motley Crue. it;s about the selection on the Rainbow album. While most of my personal favorites are included, where is 'Long Live Rock n Roll'? And someone PLEASE tell me what 'Rainbow Eyes', the worst song Rainbow ever recorded is doing on here? While 'Stargazer' and 'Man on The Silver Mountain' are included, where is 'All Night Long'? I gave this album 4 stars because the music is just too good to give anything lower, but with the omission of 'Rainbow eyes' and the inclusion of the two songs mentioned earlier, this album could easily become a 5 star album, at least.