Nowadays,
Rainbow is often primarily thought of as a group that helped created the "prog metal" genre, as well as introducing the world to the vocal talents of
Ronnie James Dio. But what's forgotten is that by the early '80s,
Rainbow had transformed into a streamlined, mainstream rock outfit, which enjoyed a fair amount of radio and MTV success. However, the singer on these recordings was not Señor
Dio, but rather,
Joe Lynn Turner. And it turns out that
Rainbow (and just about anything
Ritchie Blackmore-related, for that matter) still has a sizeable following in Europe, as evidenced by the arrival of the 2008
Turner release,
Live in Germany. All of the notable
Turner-era
Rainbow songs are featured here, including such melodic tunes as "I Surrender," "Street of Dreams," and "Stone Cold," as well as the more rocking "Can't Happen Here," "Spotlight Kid," and a cover of
Deep Purple's "Burn."
Live in Germany certainly proves that
Turner can still hit those high notes on the concert stage. ~ Greg Prato