Long Live Rock & Roll [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Rainbow, Blackmore's Rainbow | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 27, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B00000IMTH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,141 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese reissue of 1978 album, 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

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underated but essential Rainbow!, March 24, 2000

By 

C. Clark (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Long Live Rock & Roll (Audio CD)

Long Live Rock and Roll is an album every bit as good as its predecessors and in some ways better. While Rising contained two masterpieces in Stargazer and Light In The Black, some of the shorter songs had an "outtake" feel to them. The 1975 debut suffered from Elf playing workmanlike behind the two obvious stars, Blackmore and Dio. Long Live Rock and Roll, however, rocks from start to finish. The title track has been criticized by some, but never was there a better bluesy shuffle. Lady of The Lake crushes you with its powerful, Zeppelin-ish riff, mystical lyrics, and a slide guitar solo so smooth that one reviwer thought it was a synthesizer. On to LA Connection, another bluesy number telling the tale of why Tony Carey left the band. Then Gates of Babylon, with one of Blackmore's finest solos, full of texture changes and exotic scale-use. Kill The King is one off-with-their-heads stomper, right to its "Ah! Kill! Ah!" ending. The Shed (Subtle) is heaviness personfied, Dio's voice menacing yet enticing all at once. Sensitive To Light would have sounded great on Rising, its quick tempo causing one to bang one's head until...yes...the grand finale, the soft and romantic Rainbow Eyes. One of Dio's finest vocal performances, the tune is only enhanced by Blackmore's Hendrix-like backing. By the end of 1978, the original Rainbow was history--and legendary. Dio went on to Sabbath, and Blackmore started getting more commercial. But the most enduring image of the guitarist will always be the '70s one, pilgrim hat, dressed all in black save his white boots, sliding his pick hand down the neck of a Stratocaster sure to be smashed at show's end. Yeah, I guess he da man!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars End of an Era, April 6, 2000

By 

"ntlacrobat" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long Live Rock & Roll (Audio CD)

This album marks the last of the "classic" Rainbow sound which included medieval, rock and metal styles meshing into a signature Blackmore/Dio led form. This album is also much heavier than the two previous Rainbow studio LP's. Thanks to the re-mastering, the production sounds a little better on this version. Ritchie's guitar playing is stellar on this album, especially the solo to "Gates of Babylon". There are several highlights of the album. "Gates of Babylon" with it's hard driving middle eastern influences mixed with strings for great effect. "The Shed (subtle)", a bruising, stomp-in-your-face metal tune. "Lady of the Lake" is a traditional Dio metal tune and of course, the title track. Also, "Rainbow Eyes" is a beautiful medieval-sounding ballad that showcases Ritchie's diverse songwriting skills as well as Ronnie James Dio's voice. All in all, this is a great album and would be the last truly great Rainbow album due to Dio's departure after the tour to support this album. Anyone who likes melodic hard rock/metal should buy this cd.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dio's swansong, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll indeed, July 18, 2007

By 

Hellion Zephreid (Pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long Live Rock & Roll (Audio CD)

When anyone looks back at the time Ronnie James Dio sang with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, the album Rising is the one mentioned as the masterpiece. I have to admit that the 6 track album or CD is definitely on my top 100 list, but the group's follow-up effort, Long Live Rock `n' Roll is a very good to great album in its own way. The opening title track announces what is in store and the following songs with Blackmore's riffing, Cozy Powell's imaginative drum beats and of course Dio's vocals just drive home the 8 songs contained within this release home. The Gates of Babylon happens to be my favorite track with the moody and atmospheric keyboard opening to the memorable guitar riffs throughout. Hell, even Yngwie Malmsteen covered this song a few years back. Kill the King was the opening song for oh so many Rainbow shows, even though the opening guitar riff sounds very much like an early Rush riff. Great song though and always announced the band with power and might. The album closer, Rainbow Eyes is just a Dio vocal with orchestral backup, kind of the direction of Blackmore's Night has gone 3 decades later. The song does take some getting used and I have to admit that I usually skip it after the onslaught of the other guitar/drum heavy tracks. Check out a few snippets of the songs online and I am sure that you will want to here each one in their entirety! I recommend this album highly and this will add to the ever increasing back catalogue of Ronnie James Dio's career.