Blackmore's best songwriting

I was first introduced to Ritchie Blackmore through this CD, and it remains one of my favorites. This shows Ritchie and Joe Lynn Turner's songwriting skills at their height - a height, unfortunately, that Blackmore has sadly not surpassed since.



This is a dark album - almost all the songs here are written in minor keys, so there's a menacing atmosphere throughout the release. It starts off with the ominous, charging riff of "Stranded," in which Joe Lynn Turner's vocals are damn near operatic, a performance he repeats masterfully on the powerful "Can't Let You Go." This is a GREAT song - from the classical, horror-film organ intro to the sweeping chorus.



"Fool For the Night" is the closest the group treads to the pop-metal prevalent of this era (Loverboy, Def Leppard), but it's still enjoyable, if not a bit dated.



"Fire Dance" is a vicious guitar and organ duel that's not quite speed metal, but it is ferociously fast. Not sure what the hell the lyrics are about, but one doesn't buy Rainbow albums for the poetry. That's what U2's for.



"Anybody There" is a dark, dark instrumental that eventually gets lighter toard the end. Blackmore does some excellent soloing on the tune, and keeps it short, which is nice, 'cause it's one of the more depressing tracks on the CD.



"Desperate Heart" is good, melodic 80s pop metal, featuring a frantic, over-the-top guitar solo that ranks as one of Blackmore's best. Dave Rosenthal's keyboard flourishes are interesting, too - the closest the band ever comes to sounding like Prince (!)



"Street of Dreams" is a masterpiece, a moody song full of melody, great vocals from Turner and a killer chorus. One of the band's classics. If Rainbow could've stayed together and written more tunes like this, it would've ultimately been preferable to the damp squib the Purple reunion ended up being.



"Drinking With the Devil" has a nasty riff that sounds like it bubbled out of a New Orleans swamp, and Turner does the album's best screaming on this track. Blackmore's solo is nice and aggressive, and the guitar break at the very end of the song is downright evil. In a nice way, of course.



"Snowman" is a beautifully eerie instrumental written by Howard Blake for an animated children's cartoon, of all things. With the Rainbow treatment, one is more apt to think of haunted Transylvanian castles than snowmen. Rosenthal's keyboards are truly haunting, and Blackmore's tortured solo is one of the album's best. This might be Blackmore's best instrumental ever.



"Make Your Move" gets panned by many fans, but it's really the only uptempo song on the album, and one of the fastest. It's the closest the band comes to sounding like AC/DC, and the cassette version, for whatever reason, contains an extended ending that features some searing guitar runs.



This CD is the closest Rainbow sounds to being contemporary, whereas Blackmore and his Purple pals would release CDs in the 80s and 90s sounding hopelessly dated. History will hold "Bent Out of Shape" as an example of what could have been had Blackmore not succumbed to the lure of easy $$$ an ultimately futile Purple reunion would bring him.

Highly recommended!

I've just bought this cd, and I like it very much. My favorite songs on this album are: 'Fire Dance' and 'Drinking with the Devil'. The rest of the songs are very good also. The songs 'Anybody there' and 'Snowman' are instrumental. I dont like that. 'Anybody there' is okay, but 'Snowman' is just boring. But the rest of the songs are very good. 'Street of dreams' became a great hit. I have to say that I like 'Straight between the eyes' better than this album. But that doesn't mean that I dont recommend this album to you! If you are a Rainbow fan, you must have this album. Highly recommended!

I think that these music included CD are real hard rock.

This CD would remain forever Rainbow as a legend of hard rock band. Especially, I love the power ballad "Can't Let You Go ". Listen it !

pretty good

Good album, but I hoped for 10 good songs. But there actually are 8 songs on this album. You might think: That's not true! But when you have listened the album twice, you will always skipp track 5 and track 9(Anybody there and snowman). Those two songs are instrumental, listenable, but a bit boring. So that's why you actually have 8 songs on this disc. Those songs are good. There are some good rockers on this album and some beautiful ballads. But, I would like to make a adaptation by 'Fire Dance'. 'Fire Dance' is a great song, but you almost can't hear that there is a guitar playing, except for the guitar solo. In the couplets you hear more keyboards then guitar, you can hear the guitar very soft, I would like the song more if the guitar-play was louder. As you can here by 'Drinking with tha devil', that's a song were you can here the guitar loud. For the rest the album is good. The guitar solo's are good and Joe Lynn Turner sings very good. It's a pitty that rainbow didn't went on with Joe Lynn Turner. The singer on the next studio-album ('stranger in us all') is Doogie White, he can sing good, but not as good as Joe Lynn Turner. I think that 'Stranger in us All' would have been even better if Joe Lynn Turner would sing on that album(cause it is a good album). But about this album again: Pretty good and highly recommended, but I'll remind you again, there are only 8 real songs on this album. But it is surely well worth the money!

Taste of Things To Come

More melodious and less speed-driven than previous Rainbow albums, this one offers a preview of reconstituted Deep Purple. It sounds a lot like "Perfect Strangers". Lots of DP fans turn their noses up at untempered Blackmore, but there's a lot to be said for melody-driven hard rock. Maybe not a very inspiring album, but very solid work nevertheless.