Final Vinyl

Rainbow, Blackmore's Rainbow | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001FGN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,027 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Spotlight Kid

2. I Surrender

3. Miss Mistreated

4. Jealous Lover

5. Can't Happen Here

6. Since You Been Gone

7. Bad Girl

8. Difficult To Cure

9. Stone Cold

10. Power

11. Man On The Silver Mountain

12. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll

13. Weiss Heim

Editorial Reviews

Japanese reissue of 1986 compilation, packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rainbow's Farewell, January 20, 2002

By 

Mike Warden (Tarkio, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Vinyl (Audio CD)

This is a relatively strong live effort from Ritchie Blackmore and company. The 80's saw Rainbow attempting to cross over a little and garner a more wider array of fans. They may have succeeded. Blackmore found that singer Joe lynn Turner had not only the vocal appeal for the 80's pop rock scene, but also the required poofed hair as well. Consequently, many individuals who had never heard of Rainbow before, swore they were listening to a Foreigner album when introduced to Rainbow's 80's efforts.
Having said that, there still is a lot of good old fashioned Rainbow traits here. But the instrumental on track eight "Difficult To Cure" is perhaps the best song on this disc. "Difficult" is nothing more than Rainbow showing their true talent with the ability to merge melodic metal with a symphony orchestra (Japanese, probably Tokyo). Johann Sebastian Bach's "Song of Joy" is delicately fused and blended well here. Blackmore starts off with a typical solo, then the orchestra kicks in....what a sound! A truly magnificent performance!
There is a quick version of "Since You Been Gone", with Graham Bonnet on vocals,(Castle Donnington Rock Festival-England, one of the few times Rainbow played outdoors and actually headlined to boot) and a few recordings of Ronnie James Dio singing also. Dio attempts to rouse a rather anemic Atlanta audience on a couple of cuts.
The CD opens with the typical 80's flair. "Spotlight Kid", "I Surrender", and "Can't Happen Here are okay, but Turner almost ruins "Power", though he somewhat redeems himself with a strong performance on "Stone Cold." The CD ends with another instrumental "Weiss Heim". No vocals on this one, with Ritchie and Keyboardist Don Airey shining brightly on this particular cut.
This is a pretty darn good recording of Rainbow performing live over the years, with shows recorded literally from around the world. Once again Ritchie Blackmore's love of classical music is portrayed in some of his songs. But Rainbow's trademark has always been their ability to shamelessly introduce classical music to metal, and this is no exception.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Final Cut, November 24, 2007

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Final Vinyl (Audio CD)

Give Ritchie Blackmore credit on one point; throughout the years and lineup changes, he was not one to look back on Rainbow's accomplishments, unlike other bands who get bogged down in time warps within the studio and on stage.

This retrospective - released in 1986 when Blackmore disbanded his group (the band reformed and disbanded again in the 1990s) - emphasizes Blackmore's vision on the present, as it is heavy on the late 1970s-1980s post-Ronnie James Dio years. There are two selections when Dio was lead vocalist, a period when the band was perhaps at its most creative lyrically and musically.

What shines throughout is the technical proficiency Blackmore brought to the electric guitar and his fascination with merging classical music elements into a rock framework.

This is not a place to start for fans checking out Rainbow for the first time. It is a nice collection of live performances, though from the latter lineups that may have been strong in delivering the generic 1980s AOR sound, but quite weak in forging a new frontier musically/lyrically.

4.0 out of 5 stars Some gems here for those who are ready to dig a little deeper, May 15, 2011

By 

Mr. H (kansas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Vinyl (Audio CD)

This isn't for newcomers to RAINBOW but it's a good piece to add to a collection. The 3 studio recordings are reason enough to get this one. I don't see why the record company doesn't just include them as bonus tracks on the "Down to Earth" & "Difficult to Cure" cds where they belong. How much better would D.T.C. be with "Jealous Lover" & "Weiss Heim" on it? I think "Bad Girl" is worthy of inclusion on D.T.E. but as of this writing (may, 2011) they are not. In conclusion, the live material is good too but the real gem is Weiss Heim.