Rainbow

Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore formed Rainbow in 1975 with the remnants of Elf, a band that originally included percussionist Mark Nauseef and still included vocalist Ronnie James "Dio" Padovani (active since 1957). Elf had released three albums: Elf (Epic, 1972), Carolina County Ball (Purple, 1974), Trying To Burn The Sun (MGM, 1975). Their music was a rather derivative blend of boogie, blues-rock and hard-rock.

Rainbow (Polydor, 1975), Rainbow's debut album, was not worth much more, despite the epic Man On The Silver Mountain (the best Deep Purple imitation), Catch The Rainbow, Sixteenth Century Greensleeves and Still I'm Sad. Blackmore reorganized the line-up (debuting Cozy Powell on drums) for the band's second album, Rising (1976), that featured the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and contained three lengthy compositions (Tarot Woman, Stargazer, with one of his best solos, A Light In The Black) and a couple of majestic songs (Starstruck).

Long Live Rock'n'Roll (1978) featured the Bavarian String Ensemble in Gates Of Babylon and delivered two more of his emphatic power-ballads: Long Live Rock'n'Roll and Kill The King.

Rainbow lost Dio on Down To Earth (1979), but bassist Roger Glover co-wrote some of the best songs: All Night Long, Eyes of The World, Lost In Hollywood; but the first hit was a cover of Russ Ballard's Since You Been Gone (1979).

Powell too left, and Difficult To Cure (1981) marked a clear decadence. New vocalist Joe Lynn Turner co-wrote with Glover and Blackmore most of the tracks of Straight Between The Eyes (1982) and Bent Out Of Shape (1983). In 1984 Blackmore dissolved Rainbow and rejoined Deep Purple.

The Best Of Rainbow (BMG, 1980) is an anthology of their early albums and Finyl Vinyl (Polydor, 1986) is a live album.

If Blackmore had been a mad visionary, Ronnie James Dio became a mystical guru during his solo career. Holy Diver (Vertigo, 1983), The Last In Line (1984), Sacred Heart (1985), Dream Evil (1987), with Sunset Superman, and Lock Up The Wolves (Warner, 1990) are terrible albums of uninspired music. Diamonds (1992) is an anthology.

Ronnie James Dio died in may 2010.