Chart entered : 29 October 1983
Chart peak : 43
The sight of Rainbow's final single reminds me that we're now at the height of the season for gimmicks and giveaways . As the rise of the home computer started to hit singles sales, the record companies intensified a marketing war aimed at chart return shops which meant those lucky enough to live near one could build up quite a stock of collectible singles and free merchandise. Most notoriously doomy songstrel Annabel Lamb's cover of Riders On The Storm came was issued with a free VHS tape ; a Record Mirror review of her subsequent single acidly suggested that it came with a free penthouse suite.
Rainbow had pushed on since the debut hit despite an extremely volatile line up. After a series of temporary replacements for sacked bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboard player Tony Carey , Ritchie Blackmore settled on his former Deep Purple colleague Roger Glover on bass though this was at the suggestion of drummer Cozy Powell. Session man Don Airey who had played with Cozy in Hammer joined on keyboards. Around the same time Ritchie decided he wanted to take the band in a more AOR direction ditching the fantasy themes favoured by singer / lyricist Ronnie James Dio . Ronnie refused to accept this and quit the band. After being turned down by Ian Gillan, he settled for Graham Bonnet.
Graham had emerged in 1968 as lead singer in the duo The Marbles who were signed up by Robert Stigwood. The Bee Gees provided them with songs for their first two singles "Only One Woman" and "The Walls Fell Down". The former was a huge international hit reaching number 5 in the UK and number one in South Africa and New Zealand. Graham belts it out at top volume so it couldn't really be mistaken for the brothers but otherwise their imprint is all over it. The follow up is pretty turgid and does sound like a cast-off. It reached number 28 in the UK. By that time Graham had already managed to piss off the ever-chippy Barry Gibb by an injudicious remark about the song quality.
Graham quit the band later in 1969 after being offered some work singing ad jingles but a last single , a stiff cover of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" was put out in 1970 to promote an eponymous album that Polydor put together. Neither made the charts. Graham pursued a solo career , supported by his girlfriend, pretty actress Adrienne Posta. His first solo single in 1972 was a cover of ELO's "Whisper in the Night" as an MOR overwrought piano ballad. He also wrote Posta's 1974 single "Dog Song" which I haven't heard but suspect may be self-descriptive. He appeared briefly in her 1973 film Three for All and released a single as his character Billy Beethoven , "Dreams" which sounds like The Rubettes on an off day.
Otherwise Graham made little headway until 1977 when he hooked up with Sweet producer Pip Williams and released an eponymous album. Nine out of the ten tracks were covers. He scored a huge hit in Australia with a country rock version of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" which reached number 3 and propelled the album to gold status. The follow up singles were a fairly faithful cover of Elvis's "Danny" and an interesting soft rock version of Hall and Oates's "Goodnight and Good Morning" with echoes of 10cc and Wings.
Graham then turned back to The Bee Gees and covered "Warm Ride" , a leftover from the Saturday Night Fever sessions. Again it isn't one of their best songs, a rather tepid disco number but Graham took it all the way to number one in Oz. Strangely it wasn't included on his next album , the poorly-received "No Bad Habits" which again only hit in Australia. He took one single from it in Oz, the John Kongos cover "Only You Can Lift Me" an uncomfortable blend of over-sung rock vocals and listless white reggae.
None of these records did anything in the UK and with his short hair and sports jackets Graham didn't look the part for a heavy rock band but something persuaded Ritchie that he was the man as he pushed for mainstream success. Perhaps a rumour that Graham was wanted by Sweet as a replacement for Brian Connolly forced his hand. Whatever he was immediately vindicated as the new line up scored two Top 10 hits in quick succession although the parent album "Down To Earth" didn't significantly outsell its predecessors.
But as ever with Ritchie, the line up changed before the next album. After their appearance at the first Castle Donington festival in August 1980 Cozy and Graham quit the band. The former was unhappy with the new sound while Graham wanted another crack at solo success. Seeking to boost the band's profile in the US, Ritchie recruited two Americans to plug the gaps. Singer Joe Lynn Turner led the soft rock outfit Fandango who made four albums in the late seventies but couldn't progress beyond being a reliable support act for the likes of The Beach Boys and Billy Joel. Drummer Bobby Rondinelli had almost joined Kiss as a replacement for Peter Criss but lost out to Eric Carr. The new line up scored the group's biggest hit with "I Surrender " reaching number 3 early in 1981 .
The parent album "Difficult To Cure" also reached number 3. After the tour to promote it , Don became the next member to seek alternative employment and was replaced by another American David Rosenthal from the Berklee College of Music. The band had now acquired the reputation of being "the Abba of Heavy Metal" as Record Mirror's Sunie put it but they did not sustain that success. The next single, the AOR ballad "Stone Cold" turned tail at number 34 and the band alienated British fans by not playing any UK venues in the tour to promote the album "Straight Between The Eyes " . By the time of their next album "Bent Out of Shape", Bobby had been replaced by Chuck Burgi from the American band Balance ( although he hadn't played on their two US hits ).
"Can't Let You Go" was the second single from that album. The first "Street of Dreams" had peaked at 52 so the guitar shaped disc was probably a necessity. In fact make that definitely necessary because the single is deadly dull. Once you've got past David's mock-classical intro it's a pedestrian plod through the MTV metal trademarks with an unmemorable tune, cliched lyrics and a tired-sounding Ritchie guitar solo, a very poor end to a run of hits that had its high points.
Rainbow were disbanded six months later because Ritchie and Roger accepted the invitation to join a resurrected Deep Purple featuring all the classic line up. Ritchie remained with the band until November 1993 when he left mid-tour citing "creative differences". He started writing new songs for a solo album with Scottish singer Doogie White but bowed to record company pressure and released it under the name "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" . "Stranger in Us All" was released in August 1995. It updates the sound with modern production techniques but aside from an adaptation of Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" it's short of memorable songs.
The album was a big success in Scandinavia and, belatedly, Japan , a moderate hit in Germany and did nothing at all in the US or UK. Ritchie had already started work on his next project by the time of the album's release. Early in the nineties he acquired a new girlfriend Candice Night who fuelled his interest in Renaissance music. She co-wrote three of the songs and provided backing vocals on "Stranger in Us All" but the pair were also working on an entirely separate project "Shadow of the Moon", comprising some new songs in a folk rock vein and re-arrangements of traditional tunes from the late medieval era.
This was released in 1997 under the rather un-pc name Blackmore's Night and did well enough in Japan and Germany to justify Ritchie turning his back on rock and pursuing this new direction for ten albums and counting. I detect that there's still some disbelief amongst rock fans that one of the guitar gods could abandon them for a very different audience. Blackmore's Night are OK in small doses though I think Mike Oldfield ( an influence Ritchie readily acknowledges ) does their sort of thing rather better. They haven't made much impact in the UK but remain popular in Europe and Japan.
Ritchie and Candice were married in 2008 and have two small children. After turning 70 last year, Ritchie announced he will play four rock concerts in 2016 performing Deep Purple and Rainbow material with strong hints that it will be for the last time as he's now suffering from arthritis.
Roger remains in Deep Purple so we'll pick up his story when we say goodbye to them.
Joe released a solo album "Rescue You" in 1985 . Joe had co-written most of Rainbow's material with Ritchie since he joined so it's no great departure from the latter-day Rainbow sound, perhaps a little lighter. His new writing partner was former Foreigner keyboard player Alan Greenwood. Despite his pedigree the album tanked and he turned to session work util 1987 when he joined Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. Though the Swedish metal guitarist has never been a big noise in the UK that's not the case elsewhere and Joe's presence on his 1988 album "Odyssey" made it his highest charting album everywhere except Japan. By the time of the follow up Joe had jumped ship to Deep Purple to replace Ian Gillan. Again we'll come back to him.
Chuck played on "Rescue You" then became a well-respected session drummer. He has worked with Billy Joel and was the drummer in the on stage band for his jukebox musical Movin Out throughout its three year Broadway run.
David also went into session work and appeared on singles by disco divas Stacy Lattisaw and Donna Allen as well as the 1988 monster hit "Baby I Love Your Way" by Will To Power. In 1993 he formed a band Red Dawn to play anachronistic hard rock with proggy keyboards releasing the album "Never Surrender". That same year he hooked up with Billy Joel and has been his musical director ever since.
Jimmy formed his own band Wild Horses with ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson. At one point it looked like Jimmy McCulloch and Kenney Jones were going to join them after the final demise of the Small Faces. Jimmy sang and played keyboards as well as playing bass. They got a deal with EMI and released their first single "Criminal Tendencies" which sounds a bit like Supertramp with Jimmy's electric piano. Jimmy was very friendly with Phil Lynott and collaborated on both his solo albums. Lynott repaid the favour by co-writing their third single "Fly Away". Although their debut album reached number 38 they had no hit singles and never really escaped Lizzy's shadow; second single "Face Down" makes them sound like a tribute band. Their second album " Stand Your Ground" was a heavier affair but didn't chart. After a final single, a rough cover of "Everlasting Love" they broke up in 1981.
Jimmy then joined Ronnie in Dio ( which we'll cover shortly ) and was in the band until 1989 . In 1985 he set up Hear'n Aid as metal's contribution to the famine relief efforts. He co-wrote the song " Stars " with Ronnie and guitarist Viv Campbell and gathered together various rockers to record it. Contractual hassles meant it didn't come out until 1986 which somewhat blunted its impact. It's not a bad piece of pop metal and it's amusing to hear the guitarists trying to outdo each other. It reached 26 in the charts and raised something like $1 million.
After leaving Dio Jimmy joined up with vocalist Mandy Lion ( a bloke ) in World War III. Their one eponymous album of horror movie heavy metal is enjoyable enough in small doses. The single "Love You To Death" had a rather risque video. The band fell apart after that and Jimmy next appeared back in Dio in 2000. He left again in 2003.
Jimmy then formed the band 3 Legged Dogg with drummer Vinny Appice. They produced one album of grunge-influenced metal "Frozen Summer" in 2006 . To Jimmy's disappointment Vinny then chose to join Heaven and Hell ( basically Black Sabbath when they want to perform Dio-era material ) rather than continue the band. That is to date Jimmy's last recording. He was in the metal collective Hollywood Allstarz and since 2013 has been playing in Last In Line , the surviving members of Dio with a new singer.
After leaving Rainbow Tony based himself in Germany where he initially battled a drug addiction delaying the release of his first single "Jamie " a sappy pop ballad with distinct echoes of Elton's Daniel and terrible lyrics - there's a hole in my life where there used to be a girl ". That was in 1981. A solo album "In the Absence of the Cat" followed in 1982. I've only heard a couple of tracks and not been impressed ; it's awkward -sounding underdeveloped synth pop.
A second LP "I Won't Be Home Tonight" quickly followed , for which Tony got a deal in America. The Eurodisco- flavoured title track was the lead single and reached 79 in the US charts .The second single , a shallow but effective summer pop track "West Coast Summer Nights" got to number 64 helped by a video populated with bikini-clad lovelies. Tony then suffered the setback of having his record company taken over by the FBI.
Tony then signed up with two labels MCA for his mainstream material and Geffen for his more sci-fi influenced electronic music as Planet P Project. He had further US hits in both guises. His next album as Tony Carey , "Some Tough City" incorporated more AOR muscle into his music and the Tom Petty-ish "A Fine Fine Day" reached number 22 . The follow-up "The First Day of Summer " reached 33. More surprisingly Planet P Project's first single "Why Me" , a rather dated ( for 1984 ) synth-pop number about an astronaut having doubts reached number 64.
After that Tony's commercial profile outside Germany dropped away but he's continued making music in both guises ever since with 30+ albums which I don't have time to explore right now. In 2009 he joined Over The Rainbow with Joe, Bobby and Ritchie's son Jurgen to perform Rainbow material but had to quit before the first gig due to being diagnosed with bladder cancer. Despite things looking very dicey at one point he survived.
Ronnie went more or less straight from Rainbow to filling the convenient vacancy in Black Sabbath. Ozzy Osborne's boots were big ones to fill and some Sabbath diehards weren't happy but most accepted the change as Ronnie was indisputably the better singer. The proof was in the sales as their first album with Ronnie , 1980's "Heaven and Hell" achieved their highest placings in both the UK and US ( where their decline had been most marked ) since 1975. It is a strong set which produced two hit singles in 1980 , "Neon Knights" ( number 22 ) and the particularly good "Die Young" ( 41 ) , another of the year's slew of apocalypse-themed singles. While they were touring it, drummer Bill Ward quit and was replaced by another American Vinny Appice. Ronnie made a second album with Black Sabbath, 1981's "Mob Rules" an uncompromising album of bruising metal which again spawned two hits , the title track ( 46 ) and "Turn Up The Night" (37 ). The band went out on tour again and recorded some of the gigs for a live album "Live Evil" but fell out over the mixing.
Ronnie felt confident enough that he now had the fanbase to launch his own band and persuaded Appice to join him in Dio in November 1982. As we know Jimmy signed up too.
Dio provided fans with four albums of straight down the line metal in the eighties which spawned a string of moderate hit singles ( not quite enough to qualify here ). The biggest hit was "Rock 'n' Roll Children" ( number 26 in August 1985 ) but none of them really crossed over. With their fifth album "Lock Up The Wolves" in 1990 , recorded with a completely different line-up - Ronnie excepted - from the first, they experienced a sharp contraction in sales and the single "Hey Angel" didn't chart.
It therefore seemed a good move to accept an invitation to rejoin Black Sabbath. This time round he lasted for just one album "Dehumanizer" which spawned the number 33 hit "TV Crimes " , yet another attack on televangelism. It was both his and Sabbath's last encounter with the singles chart. Appice had also rejoined Black Sabbath and got back on board as Ronnie re-launched Dio. Post-grunge, Dio never regained their former popularity and their subsequent five albums only achieved decent chart placings in Germany and Scandinavia.
In 2007 Ronnie ( and Appice ) hooked up with the Sabs once more But agreed to go under the name Heaven And Hell to prevent confusion arising with their lucrative reunions with Ozzy. They released an album "The Devil You Know" in 2009 which achieved decent placings particularly in the US. They toured to promote it but the European leg had to be cancelled in November 2009 when Ronnie was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Six months later he was dead.
Cozy joined the Michael Schenker Group and played on one studio album with them, "MSG" in 1981. He also released a second "solo" album "Tilt" on which Don and numerous others played, that year. Cozy's only got a writing credit on one song and it's hard to understand how "Sunset", basically an elongated Gary Moore guitar solo qualifies as a Cozy Powell track. The album's a bit of a hotch-potch with four instrumental fusion tracks and you suspect from the credits that it's made up of pieces recorded at various points in Cozy's career. He then joined Whitesnake and we'll pick up his story when we say goodbye to them.
Graham went straight into recording his next solo album "Line Up" aided by Cozy, Jon Lord, Francis Rossi and others. The first single "Night Games" , a terrific piece of pop metal about swingers written by Ed Hamilton reached number 6 in April 1981; even my mum bought it. The follow up "Liar", a cover of Three Dog Night's US hit of 1970, relied on synth textures rather than hooks and killed his momentum by stalling at number 51. The third single, the moody stomper "That's The Way That It Is" failed to chart and the album disappointingly peaked at number 62.
Graham then followed Cozy into the Michael Schenker Group though the latter left almost immediately afterwards. Graham sang on one album " Assault Attack" which included the minor hit "Dancer" ( 52 in September 1982 ). It's a good album of accessible metal with "Desert Song" a standout. Unfortunately, at Sheffield on the first night of the tour to promote it he had a bit too much to drink and ended up giving little Graham some air. He was fired, more or less on the spot.
He then formed Alcatrazz with Yngwie Malmsteen ( later to be replaced with Steve Vai ). Despite the guitar maestros in their midst Alcatrazz never found more than moderate success. They were popular in Japan and made minor ripples in the States but did nothing in the UK. The 1983 single "Island In The Sun" could have been a hit but suffers from a murky production, The second album "Disturbing The Peace" contained the sarcastic "God Blessed Video" seemingly the only single released in the UK . It's a dire song not disguised by Vai's frenetic noodling. After three studio albums they threw in the towel in 1987.
Graham then joined the LA metal band Impellitteri as a replacement lead singer and their album together "Stand In Line" reached number 91 in the US. They toured Japan then the original singer returned and Graham went on to do some session work for a group called Forcefield before releasing another solo album "Here Comes The Night". This saw Graham eschewing metal in favour of middle of the road pop , to which his voice is not really suited; he's a rocker or he's nothing. I don't know which are worse, the terrible covers ( "A Change Is Gonna Come" , "I Go To Sleep" ) or the generic pap his wife has contributed but the album is utterly worthless.
His next project was a collaboration with guitarist Bob Kulick ,Blackthorne which produced a single album of more modern, grunge-influenced metal , "Afterlife" in 1993. It's not bad actually. Graham stayed with this sound for his subsequent solo albums "Underground " in 1997 and "The Day I Went Mad" in 1999 which did OK in Japan. Since then workaholic Graham has been a hired gun for numerous clients- Japanese metal band Anthem. brief reunions with Alcatrazz and Impellitteri, Taz Taylor Band, Moonstone Project , Elektrik Zoo Savage Paradise and the Stardust Reverie Project. He lives in LA and last toured the UK two years ago as part of a Rainbow tribute act , Catch the Rainbow.
Don had already worked with Ozzy Osbourne before quitting Rainbow . He then joined his band full time for three years and played on the Bark at The Moon LP. He played on albums by Gary Moore and Whitesnake and did a tour with Jethro Tull in 1987 before releasing a solo album "K2" in 1988. It's an unrepentant prog-lite concept album about a mountaineering disaster on the world's second highest mountain two years earlier and features famous pals like Moore, Cozy and Colin Blunstone. The story of the disaster is fascinating, the album unfortunately less so. Blunstone does his best to bring some class to the ballad "Julie ( If You Leave Me )" but is scuppered by the terrible lyrics. Elsewhere it's just boring; there's nothing that demands a second listen.
Don then went into session work with credits on albums by Judas Priest, Gary Moore again, Bruce Dickinson, UFO and Brian May amongst others. He also played on Katrina and the Waves' Love Shine A Light then was asked to orchestrate and conduct the live version which won the Contest in 1997, the last British triumph.
Four years later he joined Deep Purple as a replacement for Jon Lord and remains with them while still helping out on other projects. He's also released three more prog rock solo LPs in the last few years.
Bobby went into session work and has played with numerous outfits over the past 25 years with Quiet Riot, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath ( 1994's Cross Purposes ) the most recognisable names.
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