Although Elf was basically a bar-room boogie band, both Ritchie and Ronnie envisioned Rainbow to be more of a progressive metal outfit with lyrics concentrating on mystical, medieval, and occult themes. This is why Rainbow's first record has both of these styles represented on it.

It begins with what might be the greatest Rainbow song ever (certainly one of their greatest anyway, as well as one of THE best songs from 1975), a 4 1/2-minute song called "Man On The Silver Mountain." This is the original song that defined Rainbow's music: it starts with a good basic electric guitar riff, then the bass, drums and keyboards join in for support, and when Ronnie James Dio starts to sing, it quickly begins to take shape as the progressive heavy metal song it is. And it has one amazing guitar solo by Ritchie Blackmore!

"Self Portrait" is also a dynamic prog-metal tune, but "Black Sheep Of The Family" is a straight-ahead, slightly bluesy hard rock tune with some great slide guitar work by Blackmore, and is obviously one of the Elf-penned contributions to this record. It is also quite infectious; once you hear it, you can't get it out of your mind for hours.

"Catch The Rainbow," at six and a half minutes long, is the only long song on this album, and is also the most progressive-sounding. It's the one that really paved the way for their next album "Rising," as it sounds more similar to the songs on that record than anything on this one. It's a nice, introspective tune. "Snake Charmer" is almost the opposite; it is a short, loud, brash song that contains a lot of Dio-screaming on it. "The Temple Of The King" gets Rainbow back into fine progressive form, with lyrics conjuring up the medieval. The, they do a sudden roots-rock-about-face with the VERY Elf-sounding, piano-and-bass-driven, ultra-infectious "If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll," which some reviewers have dismissed on here, but I think it provides a neat departure for Rainbow on this album. Besides, it shows all of us where Ronnie James Dio really came from (no, not Hell): He came from rock's early days. That's right, he formed his very first band all the way back in 1958, called Ronnie and The Rumblers, so you can tell that he still had some of that influence left in him by the time this album was made. I think it's pretty cool. :)

The CD winds down with "Sixteenth-Century Greensleeves" and "Still I'm Sad." The former is probably the most medieval-sounding track on here, about a revolt against a tyrant, with some evil-sounding singing by Dio. The latter is simply one of the greatest heavy metal instumentals ever, with fast time-changes on bass and drums, and absolutely amazing guitar fretwork by The Man In Black.

If you know only a couple of their later hit songs, then give early Rainbow a try, especially if you already like Deep Purple. Some of these songs are very Deep Purple-ish. If you also like Ronnie James Dio's 80's stuff, then this CD is for you! And...If you don't like rock 'n' roll, THEN YOU'RE TOO LATE NOW! :)

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:


One of the great guitar albums of all time  Nov 18, 1999 By Jeff. D (jeffcone9@aol.com)
This is one of the most amazing guitar oriented albums of all time. Every guitar solo is an absolute masterpiece. Each solo is a song within itself, brilliantly done with incredible feeling and restraint. None of this pointless rambling up and down, and all over scales, that we hear so much of today. So melodic and so well done. Dio is amazing as well! I even like the bass playing by Craig Gruber. This album is one of those few albums that have a real "feel" that carries through every tune. I remember back in 1975 and how it never left my turntable for an entire summer. This is Blackmore's best effort in the heavy genre. Try "Rainbow Rising" as well. If your a real fan of his playing check out the acoustic "Shadow of the Moon". The album is quite unique and again projects a certian kind of "feel"consistent with those albums that will be remembered.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:


New throat for Blackmore  Sep 12, 1999
It was pretty obvious that Deep Purple was getting tired and a little over ripe by '75, so Ritchie Blackmore decided he needed a new vechcle to showcase his soloing and riffing talents. What better vocalist to compliment him than one dimunitive Ronnie James Dio. Though Ronnie was little-known at the time, in fact only known as lead honky-tonker of rollicking band Elf, Ritchie could hear the startling talent that was sure to blossom into something mighty fine. Anyway, this album pretty much sounds like Elf's previous "Trying to Burn the Sun" with Ritchie on leads and a little mysticism. The sound here is considerably more down to earth than the grand sound they would acheive (with a new band) on "Rising." I really like this album for the old world warmth is displays. The tempos are often slow to mid, and the solos usually more delicate and restrained. Songs like "Man on the SIlver Mountain," "Temple of the KIng" and "Sixteenth Century Greensleves" are as good as Rainbow ever put out. Though "Snake Charmer" and "Black Sheep..." are a couple of missteps. Dig those cowbells on "Still I'm Sad."

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Step on the vocals much?  Dec 08, 2010 By Wise_Guy
I wish I had my old vinyl to run a comparison test. I seem to remember some really majestic singing on this album. This album has been "remastered" which more often than not appears to be a euphamism for made-substantially-worse-than-the-original. The instrumentals overpower the vocals on Man on the Silver Mountain and Black Sheep of the Family. If You Don't Like Rock-n-Roll may as well be an instrumental arrangement.

On the bright side, the sound is really brilliant so there is hope for the next remastering, perhaps someone with an appreciation for great rock can make this the 5 that it should be.

Here is a little hint for whoever runs these projects... If I wanted to listen to music that thumps, I would just open my window and listen to the sociopaths driving down the street.

Here is a question for Amazon... Why do the samples sound better than the CD? Whover produces the samples should be doing the entire album.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:


Classic debut  May 11, 2007 By Gene Kodadek "2handband"
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had his work cut out for him trying to put together a project that would do justice to the work he had done in Deep Purple. Miraculously he managed it with Rainbow, recruiting singer Ronnie James Dio from Elf, a band that had been opening for Purple for several years. With Dio as a songwriting partner and using the other members of Elf (except for the guitarist) as session musicians he recorded Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Released in 1975, this powerful debut is at least as good as anything Deep Purple ever recorded and a springboard for even greater things to come.

First the performances. Maestro Ritchie Blackmore whips out his patented guitar histrionics while displaying a level of subtlety and finesse only hinted at in his previous work. Ronnie James Dio proves immediately that he is one of the two or three finest rock vocalists ever, letting loose in a captivating and powerful way. Dio's former Elf bandmates deliver here as well. Drummer Gary Driscoll and bassist Craig Gruber make for a funky and grooving rhythm section, and pianist Micky Lee Soule comports himself well, although he seems a bit restricted by the guitar-oriented sound Blackmore was trying to acheive with Rainbow. The album is reasonably well recorded, but not spectacularly so. This is suprising considering that it's the legendary Martin Birch in the producer's chair. One assumes that deadlines and budgetary restrictions compromised his efforts somewhat.

The songwriting team of Blackmore and Dio is immediately a winner, producing some of the finest rock music in the history of the genre. Dio's melodic sense and sword-and-sorcery lyricism works very well with Blackmore's trademark classically-inspired heavy riffage. Some of the songs here are amongst either man's best, with highlights including "Man On The Silver Mountain" (a staple of Dio concerts to this day), "Catch The Rainbow" (a gorgeous ballad), "16th Century Greensleeves" (melodic yet brutal), and the introspective "Self-Portrait". Most of the other tunes are also very good, and there's a very cool instrumental cover of the Yarbirds classic "Still I'm Sad". It should be pointed out that Rainbow was still trying to feel out their direction, and there are are obvious leftover elements of both Elf and Deep Purple that make this Rainbow's most interesting and varied release.

So with all these good things to say, why only four stars? Two reasons. Firstly there's a couple of stinkers here. "If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll" can only be described as generic filler, and the cover of "Black Sheep Of The Family" isn't any better (it wasn't a great song to begin with). Secondly the band isn't very well suited to the material; the obvious jazz and blues influences of the previous members of Elf don't always work in this context. Fortunately these men would soon be replaced by the world-class lineup that appeared on the follow-up release "Rising".

Don't let these reservations throw you. I reserve five-star ratings for albums that are perfect or very close to it, and if I give something four stars that means I like it a lot.

The bottom line: Dio, Blackmore, and "Man On The Silver Mountain". This is an album no rock fan should be without.

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