Very Best of Rainbow [Original recording remastered]

Rainbow, Blackmore's Rainbow | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 15, 1997)
• Original Release Date: July 15, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B000001EZ4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,945 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Founded by Deep Purple's founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, and originally called Blackmore's Rainbow, Rainbow was a revolving-door supergroup, in which artists like Ronnie James Dio, Cozy Powell, Joe Lynn Turner, and Tony Carey entered just long enough to establish themselves and bolster their resumes. Considering the band's instability, Rainbow created a number of surprisingly strong tunes over its 10-year career. The first half of The Best of Rainbow features Dio's inimitable vocals on such Deep Purple-styled stormers as "Man on the Silver Mountain," "Stargazer," and "Kill the King." The second part of the disc is from the later and more commercially oriented part of the band's career, and contains the Turner classic "Since You've Been Gone" as well as "Stone Cold" and "Power." If nothing else, The Best of Rainbow is loaded with the kind of mind-bending solos that earned Blackmore and Rainbow their stripes. --Jon Wiederhorn

Product Description

16 Remastered Tracks on One CD. Tracklisting Includes: Man on the Silver, Catch the Rainbow, Since You Been Gone, Street of Dreams.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Post Purple Blackmore Anthology, May 21, 2001

By 

J. E FELL "boogaloojef" (Carterville, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Best of Rainbow (Audio CD)

This remastered set contains an anthology of Ritchie Blackmore's work with his group Rainbow. He formed the group after tiring of the ego clashes in Deep Purple. The group had no stable line-up yet produced some great music during the seventies and eighties. The groups became progressively more commercial as more albums were released. The band had three different vocalists Ronnie James Dio (later of Black Sabbath and Dio), Graham Bonnett (later of MSG), and Joe Lynn Turner (later in Deep Purple). Other members of note have included the now deceased drummer Cozy Powell, Deep Purple mate Roger Glover on bass, and keyboardist Tony Carey among many others. The group's most well known songs (all here) are a cover of Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone", "Stone Cold", and "Street Of Dreams". There are no rarities on this set but other cuts such as "Jealous Lover", "Can't Happen Here", "Man On The Silver Mountain", and "Kill The King" are just as memorable as their hits. I wish the set were two discs and included such tracks as the single "LA Connection", "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" and the concert favorites like "Spotlight Kid" and "Difficult To Cure". Blackmore's guitar playing shines throughout and I lament the fact that the band broke up. Listening to this set reminds me of my junior high and high school days. If you are a fan of Deep Purple, great guitar playing or more melodic hard rock then this set is a must. If you are still curious you might want to pick up a copy of the remastered 2 cd "Finyl Vinyl" which contains live versions of some of the tracks on this set and others plus some great studio non-lp b-sides like "Bad Girl" and Weiss Heim".

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have, July 5, 2003

By 

Captain Jax "captain_jax" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Rainbow (Audio CD)

This cd is a must have for Deep Purple fans; if you love hard rock/heavy metal, then check it out as well, too. Rainbow is often criticized as a Deep Purple-lite band. Not true. Ritchie Blackmore pursued a different sound with this band, and while his guitar is unmistakable, the songs explore themes from medieval/magic to love and romance. Gillan (of Deep Purple) often sang of different themes.
I don't have a complaint with any of the songs; they're all appealing, and the early songs are quite different from the 80's era music. All three vocalists delivered. I am of the (perhaps unpopular) opinion that Joe Lynn Turner's vocals are better than Ronnie James Dio's. If you're not a big fan of the gothic sound, certainly don't let that deter you from this album. The introduction of Graham Bonnet (on song 8, here) brought an end to that era. Similarly, if the gothic sound is what you crave, there are seven wonderful songs to satisfy that urge. I've heard people argue that Turner brought too much of a mainstream appeal to the band. This may be true, but the songs are no less appealing. "Stone Cold" conveys musically all of the emotion it delivers lyrically. So to, "Street of Dreams" is a dramatic anthem of break-up songs.
This album is well worth a listen-to. There is something to please all on it, and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar work is not to be missed.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collecting the classics of an oft-overlooked powerhouse., December 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Very Best of Rainbow (Audio CD)

Started as a side project, then the reason to leave Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow went through several incarnations from 1975 to 1983 (and was resurrected briefly again a couple of years ago with all new players and Blackmore). The first four albums introduced the world to an unknown little singer named Ronnie Dio, who would go on to replace Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and eventually do well fronting his own metal band. After Dio left Rainbow, he was replaced by Graham Bonnet for one album, who was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner for several. Rainbow is best known for its bookends -- Man on the Silver Mountain (1975) and Street of Dreams (1983)are the two best-known songs here, but the 14 songs in-between are all excellent rock music. Here was the mainstream introduction of classicism and medieval (musical and lyrical) themes in rock and roll. Here was Hendrix encountering Beethoven on a misty mountainside. From the crunch of the early stuff to the power balladry towards the end, always underpinned by top-notch session players, Blackmore guided Rainbow through an evolution that is very well-represented here. A must for Purple fans, guitar fans, Dio fans, and fans of good old rock and roll with a slightly improved IQ. Fans will be wistful for several missing selections -- but fans will have the albums and casual listeners will be well-served by the singles collected here, including the classic 80s b-side and AOR staple "Jealous Lover."