The Very Best of Rainbow [Original recording remastered]

But it is the combination of Blackmore and Ronnie Dio, the famous 'elf' on vocals (then later Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn-Turner) with fantastic drummers such as Cozy Powell, and Roger Glover (also a former Deep Purple member) and Jimmy Bain on bass, which catapult Rainbow to their magic heights of rock. Blackmore's original vision of creating a medieval ambience within a hard rock framework, has formed the greatest records of rock.

Rainbow followed Blackmore's vision up to 1979. Then Dio left the band to go solo, and all presence of Rainbow's unique style of medieval hard rock vanished. Dio was replaced by Graham Bonnet, and throughout the 80s Rainbow were transformed into more of a pop/rock band. 1979 marked the end of 'Rock Rainbow' and the beginning of 'Pop Rainbow'.

Anyway, the album is one hell of a disc. Essentially 'The Very Best of Rainbow' is one half Rock Rainbow (tracks 1-7) and the other half Pop Rainbow. Every single classic written by Blackmore, Dio, Glover and Turner is here on this album.

1. Man On The Silver Mountain - An early classic for Rainbow, Blackmore shredding a great riff on the guitar with Dio screaming at the vocals. Superb. 10/10
2. Catch The Rainbow - A slow, tender melody. Brilliant performance all-round. 9.5/10
3. Starstruck - Perfect vocals by Dio and awesome work by Blackmore. A fantastic song. 10/10
4. Stargazer - RAINBOW'S BEST TRACK EVER! Dio is stunning, Blackmore is outstanding. The finest masterpiece of all time! 10/10
5. Kill The King - The excellence of Blackmore and Dio as a duo shines through here. Superb. 10/10
6. Long Live Rock 'N Roll - Hear, hear! Cozy Powell pounds the drums to death on this one. Awesome.
7. Gates of Babylon - An arabic feel to Rainbow. Great keyboard work by David Stone with brilliant lyrics. 9.5/10
8. Since You Been Gone - "I'm out of my head, can't take it" Well I certainly can! The best of the Pop Rainbow era. 10/10
9. All Night Long - An excellent track! Reminds us of the hard rock genre Rainbow belong to. And an excellent opening riff by Blackmore. 10/10
10. I Surrender - Joe Lynn Turner's first appearance on the album. Has classic written all over it! 10/10
11. Can't Happen Here - Brilliant, superb work by the whole band. 9.5/10
12. Jealous Lover - Absolutely superb. One of my favourites of all time. 10/10
13. Stone Cold - Fantastic, the sort of song you can listen to over and over again without getting bored. 10/10
14. Power - Sounds perfect for a movie! This track really rocks. 10/10
15. Can't Let You Go - Intro'd with an organ by David Rosenthal, then breaks into drums and a heavy guitar riff! Excellent! 9.5/10
16. Street Of Dreams - More like the Song Of Dreams. Brilliant. 10/10

In my opinion Rainbow were weakened once Dio had gone - with his superb talent as a hard rock singer, there was no better partner for Blackmore. However, Rainbow continue to live strong and play some of the best titles in the history of rock. This album is compiled from the best tracks Rainbow have recorded (the only one missing is Light In The Black and Rainbow's live version of Deep Purple's Mistreated). Get The Very Best of Rainbow and get the very best of rock!!

The first three studio albums are just brilliant. Musically very impressive and lyrically superb. It's easy to sneer at the fantasy/mythology elements of heavy rock of the Seventies, but there's still a massive market for this sort of thing, just look at the Lord of the Rings cycle. 'Stargazer' manages to get a whole fantasy novel into eight minutes (including a guitar solo) and it creates a universe, two compelling characters and makes real, allegorical statements about purpose, ambition and freedom. It stands up - lyrically - far better than the Led Zep stuff of the same era (or Rush).

I also love the fact Dio works 'Rainbow' into the lyrics 'Fly Like a Rainbow' ??? You know, like you do. The musical subtlety of these early tracks is also impressive like in 'Gates of Babylon'

Then Dio leaves and you get 'All Night Long' ('I need a girl who can keep her head - All Night Long - naturally changed when sung live) and 'Since You Been Gone' (Since You Been Gone, Since You Been Gone, I'm out of my head, can't take it.) Fine when you're a teenager.

Musically things go from bad to worse when Bonnet leaves and Joe Lynn Turner comes in, by which time Rainbow are an ok, American-type AOR band. Like Bon Jovi. Certainly not worth remembering.

So why five stars? Because of those early tracks. Buy this. Give it to someone (my ten year old daughter's getting mine) and then buy the first three albums and enjoy......