Oh Yeah. When
Rainbow's
On Stage album was released in 1977, it felt like a flat representation of what the band were capable of live. With a few personnel changes, the group went out on tour in 1977 t to support a live album -- the membership changes prevented them form working on a third studio album at the time. This live document is a complete live concert without any real production. It's simply the band playing their asses off in October 1977. Here are
Ritchie Blackmore,
Ronnie James Dio,
Cozy Powell,
Bob Daisley, and David Stone, roaring through a set unencumbered. While the tracks closely resemble those on the live
Rainbow album, they run in a different order (and alas, "Stargazer" is still not present; it wasn't played on this night). The "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" played here (clocking in at eight-and-21-seconds) shreds the
On Stage version, as does the thrashing opener "Kill the King." Both of these cuts were played faster and louder than anything
the Sex Pistols did that year. "Catch the Rainbow" catches fire about seven-and-a-half minutes in, and
Blackmore just takes off prodded on by
Powell, and the cut doesn't end until ten minutes after that. The second disc is where the real treasure lies in perhaps the best rendition of "Man on the Silver Mountain," which clocks in at a whopping fourteen-and-a-half minutes, followed by a 25-minute "Still I'm Sad," only to be closed out with a smoking "Do You Close Your Eyes."
Blackmore'e playing, hell, the whole band's, is just full-on stun. It's tight, incredibly fast, and unfettered raw
Rainbow. This is the deliverance on the promise of '70s hard rock. Get this one. No matter what; just get it. ~ Thom Jurek