Ride The Rainbow – The Ultimate Tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
It’s not often that I, the writer, request an album to review and so it was much to the surprise of my cohort when I pinged him at the start of the day with a “So, where’s my copy of the Blackmore Rainbow tribute album?” message! Startled and somewhat surprised that he’d not heard of the impending release of ‘Ride The Rainbow’, he proceeded to go on a search mission, and low and behold, in my inbox not 6 hours later there’s a spanking new copy sitting there awaiting my attention! Cue The Wiseman getting his typing head on!
“So,” I hear you cry, already possibly a tad irked at the backstory taking up the whole of the first paragraph. “What is this that stands before you?”. Resisting the urge to say “No, that’s Black Sabbath, not Blackmore!”, I shall elucidate! The clue’s in the name in all fairness, but it needs expanding on somewhat in order to show quite the magnitude of what the heck’s about to hit the shelves, or wherever the publishers also decide to plop the album so as you the reader can be able to stream it!
There’s 14 tracks, albeit there’s only 13 songs, as “I Surrender” is rendered as an acoustic track at the end with Candice Night taking on the vocals as well as an electric offering further up the playlist (sporting Tim “Ripper” Owens as the singer here), and while a seasoned listener will be familiar with a good 90% of what’s here it’s nice to see there’s a smattering of not so well known songs too, or at least, they’re not as well known to me!
As noted, most will know the songs present here, so what’s really going to make this stand out is the amount of guest musicians who’ve thrown themselves into this project. Graham Bonnet, Sebastian Bach, Doug Aldrich, both Appice brothers, Rick Wakemen, Steve Morse, Ronnie Romero, Don Airey, Vivian Campbell and Joe Lynn Turner are just the tip of the iceberg, and it’s an impressive array indeed which have been gathered for this musical montage. Bonnet kicking off with “Long Live Rock and Roll” sets a tone, followed by Bach blasting out “Man on a Silver Mountain”, replete with guitarists Aldrich, Mick Box, and Jonathan Cain, although it’s impossible from the recording as to who’s taking on the Blackmore role.
It wouldn’t be a Rainbow tribute without “Stargazer”, and Ronnie Romero on vocals here is the obvious choice for anyone who’s seen him sing it before. His gig in KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton not so long ago included this and Purple’s “Child in Time”, covering my two all time favourite songs, and with Marty Friedman on guitar here (from Megadeth, but you knew that, right?) there’s nearly nine minutes of joy to be had from this track alone! Some might say it’s better than sex, and lasts twice as long, but of course your author here has no idea about such things! Bonnet revisiting “Since You’ve Been Gone” was a nice touch, and his voice is still holding up well for a song which is surprisingly taxing to sing. Rick Wakemen popping up on “Kill the King” elicited a smile, with vocals provided by Marc Lopes, sounding more Priest than Rainbow but nevertheless still effective!
“Temple of the King” sees Ronnie reprise the role of singer, and this is suitably mellow enough for me to be eyeing this as a possible karaoke choice in the not-too-distant future. It’s never really felt like the rest of Rainbow’s catalogue to me, but it’s still beloved by almost all and sits nicely in the album’s centre point. “Jealous Lover” follows and is one of the songs I’m not familiar with, however, taking on Blackmore’s role here is George Lynch, Dokken’s old guitarist and someone I’ve not encountered since leaving school! It’s short, the shortest track on the album in fact, but with Andrew Freeman on vocal duties it’s a decent, feels fresh, and you can tell it’s a Rainbow track just from its delivery. Personally, I’d’ve taken him on the vocal for “I Surrender” rather than the aforementioned singer from Iced Earth and Judas Priest (Tim), but with as many artists as there are here needing to
be accommodated, sometimes you have to get what you’re given, whereas I was more than a smidgeon pleased that Doogie White was given a run at “Catch the Rainbow”.
If there’s a song here that sounds closest to its original counterpart, it’s “Street of Dreams”, which always puts me in mind of the Deep Purple album “Slaves and Masters” for obvious reasons, but Paul Shortino emulates Joe Lynn Turner spectacularly well, and the Ritchie role taken by Joel Hoekstra suits them both. I’d genuinely struggle to pick out that this is a cover, and the only reason I feel confident that it’s not Joe on vocals is that he’s credited on the next track, “Stone Cold” along with Vivian Campbell! ‘Straight Between the Eyes’ was never an album I owned, and so while I’ve encountered it before, it’s another of those songs I’ve not enough knowledge about to offer much in the way of comparison to, but as an album track here goes, it sits nicely as what I’d consider the final track before the encore version of “I Surrender” where Candice gets to do her thing.
I’ve specifically missed out bits from this so as there to be something for you the reader to discover for yourself. If you liked the all-star tribute to Deep Purple’s Machine Head a few years ago, you’ll like as not love this. If you only like Rainbow, then there’s still easily enough here to wet your whistle with different artists slinging their own twist on songs you’ve listened to since long before Limewire convinced you Barbie Girl had been covered by Rammstein! Some sound very different, some feel like a homage, and all in all it’s put together in a way that flows nicely through the Rainbow journey.
Is it a pot of gold? That’s for you to decide, as in all these things, opinions are subjective. For me, I’ve enjoyed the nostalgia, some surprises, and the impressive selection of people who’ve contributed, as well of course as the musicianship here on display. But then, it IS a Blackmore’s Rainbow tribute. You’d expect nothing less in order to fulfil the duties expected… nay… required here for such a thing to not become a misnomer. I enjoyed it. And for me, that’s all that mattered
Track listing
1. Long Live Rock ’n’ Roll – Bob Daisley, Graham Bonnet, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Carmine Appice, Don Airey
2. Man on the Silver Mountain – Sebastian Bach, Doug Aldrich, Bob Daisley, Carmine Appice, Mick Box, Jonathan Cain
3. Stargazer – Derek Sherinian, Marty Friedman, Vinny Appice, Jürgen Engler, Joe Bouchard, Ronnie Romero
4. Lady of the Lake – Angel
5. Rainbow Eyes – Mike Tramp
6. Since You Been Gone – Marty Friedman, Vinny Appice, Graham Bonnet, Jürgen Engler
7. Kill the King – Rick Wakeman, Bob Daisley, Vinnie Moore, Marc Lopes, Chris Adler
8. The Temple of the King – Steve Morse, Phil Soussan, Ronnie Romero, Simon Wright, Jonathan Cain, Kevin James Morse
9. Jealous Lover – George Lynch, Vinny Appice, Andrew Freeman, David Ellefson, Jonathan Cain
10. I Surrender – Eric Gales, Tim “Ripper” Owens, Phil Soussan, Don Airey, Chris Adler
11. Catch the Rainbow – Doogie White, Derek Sherinian, Chris Poland, Vinny Appice, Bob Daisley
12. Street of Dreams – Paul Shortino, Joel Hoekstra, Joe Bouchard, Fred Aching, Jonathan Cain
13. Stone Cold – Vivian Campbell, Joe Lynn Turner
14. I Surrender – Marcus Nand, Candice Night
