Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Rainbow
Label: Polydor Records
Release: 1977
Running time: 64:11
Rating: 4/5
In 1977, British hard rock champions Rainbow, who had set new heavy rock standards under the patronage of legendary guitar hero Ritchie Blackmore with the studio masterpiece »Rising« (1976), were at their artistic peak. The creative magic between Blackmore and the legendary American singer Ronnie James Dio was at its height, and for anyone who didn’t know about their personality quirks, it seemed like Rainbow would be ruling the hard rock throne for a long time to come. »On Stage«, recorded at German and Japanese venues during the »Rising« tour, was their first official live album. Production was handled by cult producer Martin Birch (best known for working with Deep Purple and later Iron Maiden), who, against expectations, didn’t do quite his best work this time around: the production of »On Stage« sounds a bit ‘flat’ in several spots and often fails to capture that incredible live energy the classic Rainbow lineup with Dio radiated. On top of that, some beloved favorites are missing from the setlist, led by »Stargazer«, »Temple of the King« and »Tarot Woman«. In other words, it’s mostly the songs from »Rising« you’ll miss, while Rainbow’s 1975 debut is pretty well represented on »On Stage«.
On the other hand, there are still enough goodies on this recording to at least roughly capture the live essence of this legendary band, which at the time featured, besides Blackmore and Dio, the legendary drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Tony Carey. The latter two had already fallen out of favor with Blackmore midway through the »Rising« tour and were no longer members of Rainbow by the time »On Stage« came out. The crew of the moody ‘man in black’ always opened their shows back then with the musical theme »Over the Rainbow« and Dorothy’s excited cry from the cult film The Wizard of Oz, before slyly slipping into the proto-metal energy catalyst »Kill the King«. That one took the crowd ‘over the rainbow’ right away, on the steel wings of Blackmore’s guitar phrases and Dio’s vocal thunder. What’s especially interesting is that they were playing this classic even before its official studio release on the album »Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll« (1978).
That’s followed by a crafty and fairly inventive medley featuring the classic »Man On the Silver Mountain«, a blues improvisation with the simple title »Blues«, and the »Rising« standard »Starstruck«. Dio’s vocal charisma, with his unbelievably potent pipes, still commands enormous respect among classic rock fans today, while the great guitar innovator Blackmore was always a story all his own, especially on concert stages, as he’d already proven in his days with Deep Purple. Carey delights with rustling layers of Hammond organ, while Powell was one of the hardest-hitting drummers of the time (the late seventies), if not the hardest, and a major factor in why so many heavy metal bands took Rainbow as a model. Even though Blackmore kicked bassist Bain out of the band back in January 1977, feeling his bass playing wasn’t quite good enough for further studio ventures, Bain does a thoroughly decent job on the recordings on »On Stage« and contributes a lot to the potent rhythmic nuances that season most of the performances. One of the highlights of »On Stage« is undoubtedly the more than 15-minute version of the romantic epic »Catch the Rainbow«, which comes close to the ambient magic of the unforgettable original and differs mainly in its larger helping of guitar improvisations.
The biggest surprise of the whole album, though, is the performance of the Deep Purple Mark III classic »Mistreated«, where Dio found himself facing a tough task: filling in for David Coverdale (Whitesnake, ex-Deep Purple), the original singer of this evergreen. Dio handled this demanding mission very solidly, even though »Mistreated« is a total Coverdale ‘baby’ and this interpretation lacks quite a bit of the original’s erotic charm. Dio, one of the best rock voices of all time, could sing just about anything, but he was always far more convincing singing about epic battles between good and evil, fantasy realms and the evils of runaway advanced technology than about the pains of a broken heart. That means »Mistreated« truly comes alive only in Coverdale’s hands, even though, next to a singer as great as Dio, the equally impressive vocalist Glenn Hughes (ex-Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze) also tried, in his own vocal way, to revive this unforgettable confession of a torn-up heart.
On the epic heavy rocker »Sixteenth Century Greensleeves«, where green meadows with medieval castles rise up in the lyrics, the classic Rainbow romance of the golden Blackmore and Dio partnership comes alive again, which makes it, in every respect, one of the highlights of the whole »On Stage«. The 11-minute version of the cult instrumental »Still I’m Sad« also gives a very good look at what a mighty heavy rock machine Rainbow were at the peak of their artistic powers: the man in black conjures up a whole bag of tasty guitar improvisations while Dio takes a well-earned break.
The first official live document from the unforgettable Rainbow doesn’t quite capture the legendary concert magic radiated by what was probably the most beloved incarnation of this legendary band, but it still offers a very good approximation of how the heavy rock masters sounded on stage during the ‘golden’ Dio era. Even though »On Stage« isn’t the most representative live document (»Live in Germany«, 1991, tops it in that regard, for example), it still offers plenty of listening pleasure for all admirers of these heavy rock pioneers, whom, after Dio’s untimely departure from the troubles of this world, the human eye will never again see on a concert stage.
Lineup
Ritchie Blackmore – guitar
Ronnie James Dio – vocals
Tony Carey – keyboards, orchestration
Jimmy Bain – bass guitar
Cozy Powell – drums
Production
Martin Birch
Track list
1. Kill the King
2. Medley: Man on the Silver Mountain/Blues/Starstruck
3. Catch the Rainbow
4. Mistreated
5. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
6. Still I’m Sad
