{"id":592,"date":"2016-05-18T07:33:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T07:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loudsoundepicenter.com\/?p=592"},"modified":"2016-06-27T19:49:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T19:49:16","slug":"rainbows-groundbreaking-second-album-turns-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"RAINBOW’S GROUNDBREAKING SECOND ALBUM TURNS 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 17, 1976 Rainbow<\/strong> produced their critically\u00a0acclaimed second album, Rising<\/em>. After wowing fans with their imaginative\u00a0lyrical content, the bar had been raised for the former Deep Purple<\/strong> guitarist, however Ritchie Blackmore would certainly deliver. With his last band experiencing a break-up, this followup record would solidify his success as a musician.<\/p>\n

Blackmore kept Ronnie James Dio for songwriting and vocals while a\u00a0new rhythm section was arranged consisting of drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Jimmy Bain, who would later become household names.<\/p>\n

Once Blackmore and Dio became familiar with their songwriting subject of medieval fantasy, their visions grew bigger by the time they were gathering ideas for Rising<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although there are only 6 tracks on the full LP, it still clocks in at roughly 33 minutes. Most of that time goes to the lengthy epics, packed with musical structures years ahead of their time. The addition of longer songs\u00a0introduced\u00a0a more progressive sound and narrowed the band towards Blackmore’s playing style from Deep Purple<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Another factor that was incorporated into Rainbow<\/strong> was the use\u00a0of keyboards. The opening track, Tarot Woman<\/em> begins with a menacing organ solo that transitions into Blackmore’s lively guitar riff. From that point, the new lineup is seemingly more uptempo and has also traded their hard rock roots for something audibly heavier. If Rainbow<\/strong>‘s debut effort was compared to\u00a0Led Zeppelin<\/strong>, Rising<\/em> would be more correlated\u00a0with\u00a0Black Sabbath<\/strong>.\u00a0Starstruck<\/em> brings heavy metal to the forefront of the group’s tone from the guitar patterns\u00a0to the assertive lyrics.<\/p>\n

The major highlight of the album is the 8 and a half minute Stargazer<\/em>. It starts\u00a0with a drum solo that puts Powell in the much needed spotlight and quickly shoots into Blackmore’s echoing riff. Accompanied by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Dio doesn’t hold anything back as he soars through the lyrics with elegant imagery.<\/p>\n

Rising<\/em> was a landmark among the best records from the 1970s. Although the chemistry between Blackmore and Dio would soon be broken after the frontman’s departure, it was one of the most unique collaborations\u00a0in\u00a0classic rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 17, 1976 Rainbow produced their critically\u00a0acclaimed second album, Rising. After wowing fans with their imaginative\u00a0lyrical content, the bar had been raised for the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[7,8,265,266,263,267,176,264],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-this-date","category-soundwave","tag-70s-hard-rock","tag-70s-heavy-metal","tag-cozy-powell","tag-jimmy-bain","tag-rainbow-band","tag-rainbow-rising","tag-ritchie-blackmore","tag-ronnie-james-dio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Rainbow-Live-In-Germany-1976-Booklet-Cd-Cover-35828.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":596,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudsoundepicenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}