Customer Reviews

On Stage

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a GREAT live album. The sound quality is excellent, Martin Birch is a producing genius. The playing is equally brilliant, and Blackmore tears it to pieces on the guitar. Dio's voice is powerful as usual, and blows me away.

This album came out after the self-titled "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" and "Rising," and before "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll." That being said, it is quite strange that there is only one song from the very album they were touring for! It is "Starstruck" from the Rising album, and they don't even play the whole song: they do a little bit of it in the middle of "Man on the Silver Mountain." Instead of promoting their newest release, they included 4 songs from their debut, a cover of Deep Purple's "Mistreated," and a song that would later appear on the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album ("Kill the King").

Basically, for all the songs except for "Kill the King," they jam on the songs for like 10+ minutes each. Need I say that this is awesome? I love listening to Blackmore play the guitar.

However, the best part of the album is at the end of "Man on the Silver Mountain" when Dio goes "You're all the maaan!!!" It's cool. If you are a fan of Rainbow, Dio or Ritchie Blackmore, you will not be disappointed. If you are not, then start with something else (Rainbow Rising, Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, and Deep Purple's Machine Head, respectively).

As I consider this record is worthy of being on many: "Best Of" lists. Best: "Live" album, Best: "Live Album of the 1970's", Best: "Live Hard Rock" Album, Etc,Etc. This double record, had more room on the four sides of those records to fit more songs from the 1976 concert on it. I was lucky enough to see a show from the Summer 1976, "Rainbow Over America" tour at the Berkeley Community Theater. And, as I have always been big about this album, as one of the very greats. But, when it is compared to the concert I attended in Berkeley, here on this CD, you are only getting about HALF the show.

The epic version of: "Stargazer" {with drum solo by Cozy and the big explosion in that solo} is not here. That was by far one of the highlights of this amazing show. "Black Sheep Of The Family" was far better than it's studio counterpart {not included as well}. "Do You Close Your Eyes" {where is that?}. 31 years is indeed a long time, and as I don't remember everything from that night, I do know that the 1976 show was 2 Hours in length, and lot's more of that show could and should be presented here to tell the complete story.

Still, this is one of the very best live recordings ever released, but if there was a CD that needed a: "Deluxe/Expanded Edition", of 2 CD's to be released: "On Stage" should be at the top of that list.
Any fan of: Ritchie, Tony, Cozy, Ronnie James and Jimmy, should already own this monster, but there is more that needs to be heard!
Four Stars !!!

I have been a Rainbow fan ever since I can remember. I was 10 years old when this LP came out and listened to it over and over and over throughout the years. There is no question that the Dio era is the BEST Rainbow era by far. If you want to simply listen to a great live album and listen to Dio, Powell and Blackmore do their stuff, then this is a great listen. However, there are a couple of disappointments with this.

First! There is not 1 song from their BEST (or even one of the best albums ever for that matter), that being "Rising", on this live effort. Sure you get the short "blurb" of Starstruck during the Man on the Silver Mountain medley, but that only lasts about 20 seconds.

Secondly! Catch the Rainbow is a great ballad but it is WAY too long and took a complete side of an LP when originally released. It also had some long silent moments. I was willing to get by this but then Mistreated was also a complete "side-stealer". That being said, those 2 took too much time and should've left room for songs like "Tarot Woman, Stargazer, the complete Starstruck or even Light in the Black", songs that are certainly worthy of playing live.

The live versions of Kill The King and Still I'm Sad are the best tracks.

I'm still giving this 4 stars simply because it's the classic lineup and it sounds good.

"made in japan" and "strangers in the night"! i saw rainbow on the "long live rock n roll" tour, and they played almost this whole album! they we're larger than life, i mean this is as close as it gets to being there! i can close my eyes and it's 1978 again and they're painting tapestries with the words and music of songs like "sixteen century greensleeves" and "catch the rainbow". and this is a supergroup if i've ever heard one! cozy powell (r.i.p.) jimmy bain, ronnie dio, tony carey...ritchie blackmore didn't put up with any slouches, that's for sure! i recommend it highly!

This album is absolutly awsome. The live versions of every song on the album tower above the studio recordings, (I still love the studio recordings). Man on the silver mountain is played at least twice as fast as the original and really puts it to shame. Catch the rainbow features Not only dio performing flawlessly, but also cozy powell tearing up the drum set. Dio as he often does throws in extra verses and esspecially in this song the are unbelievable. 16th century greensleeves is another highlight, Blackmore really drives the riff at you hard. I can't say enough about this album, any dio fan or rainbow fan must have this album

I confess; I'm a die-hard Dio-era Rainbow fan. These guys were everything Black Sabbath would kill to be, but could never be (Iommi can't possibly do what Blackmore does on the guitar, due to his fingers having been chopped off in an accident years ago and Ozzy has always been too stoned to recognize his own mother, let alone remember what key he's supposed to sing in).

Here, we have the entire band in top form - and, thankfully, somebody did a good job with the electrics, so the hum from the Strat's single-coil pickups wasn't too frustrating for Ritchie (he often cancelled concerts simply because of this; yes, he's a dyed-in-the-wool perfectionist), Dio's vocals are as great as ever and Martin Birch's production is, predictably, top-notch.

While I don't care that much about the "Wizard of Oz" intro to "Kill The King", this album simply makes the listener wish s/he was there to experience the concert(s).

As for Dio's perforance on "Mistreated", it makes you wonder why Deep Purple bothered hiring Coverdale in the first place.

One note regarding the mixing, now, because it shows the stance taken regarding the soundstage created during playback (you need a decent stereo system to hear this, forget your PC's speakers and those cheapskate tin cans sold en masse by various Jap and Korean manufacturers as "hi-fi combos"). On the cover of the album, you see from left to right:

Tony Carey with his keyboards, Jimmy Bain with his bass, Cozy Powell's drums, right in front of him is Ronnie and Ritchie is to the right. Of course, the audience is in front of them.

You'd expect this to be what you hear, right?

Wrong. Birch decided to put the listener ON THE STAGE with the band. You basically stand next to Cozy's drums, Ritchie is on your left, Tony is on your right (the bass is everywhere, as those frequencies are non-directional) and, in the distance, you hear the audience. And it's a very detailed and analytical recording; with the right equipment, you can hear EVERYTHING that happens on stage.

Basically, think of this album as a time machine and an onstage pass!

I owned this on vinyl when it first came out.(As with the rest of the rainbow and elf albums.) Alas, vinyl doesn't last long. I was really excited to see this album remastered. I heard the first edition of this cd and thought it stunk. This is killer. You don't hear any of these so-called metal bands that can measure up to this one. If you haven't heard this album, when you do crank it up. KILL THE KING is one of the most thunderous live recordings I've ever heard. What an opener. Other songs to note are Mistreated, (I've always admired Coverdale but Ronnie blows him away.) 16th Century Greensleeves and Catch the rainbow. What a great band. Blackmore, Powell, Bain, Carey, and of course Dio. Nothing but power. I now own all Dio-Rainbow era remastered cd's. I love everyone of them.

On Stage is a decent, if not transcendant, live album: THEE definitive lineup of Blackmore-Dio-Powell-Bain-Carey caught at the end of a long tour and slightly tired. There are some magical moments, like Blackmore's extended blues solo (and tradeoffs with the keyboards), the way Dio starts singing "Starstruck" during the breakdown of "Man on the Silver Mountain" and the rest of the band picks up on it and jams, and of course "Catch the Rainbow." But the very fact that this is a single album is a disappointment; "Mistreated" pales compared to Mk. 3 (i.e. Coverdale-sung) versions (although Ronnie is a better all-around singer than David), and then there's the fact that the energy found on Live In Germany 1976 (recorded roughly three months earlier) is sadly lacking. Still, catch the original Rainbow on disc wherever you can. They had a musical alchemy matched only by Purple at their best, Sabbath at their best, early Priest, and maybe Uriah Heep.

being a guitar player for over 25 years makes the Blackmore/Dio Rainbow albums a must in my collection. I grew up listening to these on vinyl; I felt it was time to update my CD collection.
This live album showcases some of their best material, and how the band took a 4:00 song and jammed on it, extended it, with a great detail towards dynamics. Dio sings great as always, Cozy Powell (Rest his soul) will always be known as a helluva drummer. Blackmore? what else can be said...a great album, highly recommended

DIO was a singer, Powell was a drummer, Blackmore was a guitar hero of RAINBOW. RAINBOW was formed by Ritchie Blackmore in 1975 after he left the giant dinosaurus heavy rock DEEP PURPLE that same year.
This album is a typical Renaissance rock (mixture heavy rock guitar riffs meets beautifull raucous rock voice & classical elements). DIO sang superb on this album, his voice is also powerfull and good comparable to Ian Gillan or David coverdale on Deep purple.
If you re a Deep purple fan like me, you must love this too.
There are no bad songs in this album. My fave tunes are starstruck, man on the silver mountain, sixteenth century greensleeves and catch the rainbow