307 Hello Rainbow - Live (EP)

First  charted : 17  September  1977

Chart  peak : 44

Number  of  hits  : 10

These  guys  are  certainly  the  first  to  announce  themselves  with  an  EP  and  a  live  one  to  boot.

Here's  our  chance  to  update  the  Deep  Purple  saga. In  1973  the  classic  line  up  was  broken  up  by  Ian  Gillan  quitting  after  a  long  feud  with  Ritchie  Blackmore.  Ritchie  took  the  opportunity  to  push  Roger  Glover  out  as  well. However  their  replacements  David  Coverdale  and  Glen  Hughes  brought  in  new  influences  ( blues, R &  B )  that  Ritchie  found  unpalatable; according  to  Jon  Lord  he  referred  to  their  new  sound  as  ( ahem ) "shoeshine  music". He  by  contrast  was  having  cello  lessons  to  explore  new  chord  progressions  and  medieval  scales. When  the  other  members  declined  his  suggestion  to  cover  "Black  Sheep  of  the  Family"  a 1970  song  by  prog  rockers  Quatermass  he  turned  to  Ronnie  James  Dio , singer  with  a  band  called  Elf  who  had  recently  been  working  with  Roger  Glover  on  his  solo  album.

Ronnie  was  originally  Ronnie  Padovana    from  New  Hampshire born  in  1942  who  formed  his  first  band  when  he  was  15 .By  1958  they  were  Ronnie  and  the  Red  Caps  and  recorded  a  single  "Conquest" a  surprisingly  heavy  Link  Wray-type  instrumental  on  which  Ronnie  played  both  bass  guitar  and  trumpet. By  the  time  of  their  second  single  in  1961,  "An  Angel  Is  Missing"  he  was  a  Bobby  Vee  impersonator  on  lead  vocals. By  1963  they  were  Ronnie  Dio  and  the  Prophets  and  a  busy  touring  band  in  New  York  State  who  occasionally  got  into  a  recording  studio  although  some  of  their  output  was  credited  to  Ronnie  alone.

In  July  1963  they  credibly  covered  Dion's  "Gonna  Make  It  Alone" on  Lawn. At  the  end  of  the  year  "Mr  Misery"  was  released  on  Swan  as  a  Ronnie  solo  single.  Ronnie  wrote  the  song  and  it's  a  well  crafted  piece  of  echo-laden  teen  pop  that  could  easily  pass  for  a  Joe  Meek  production. The  last  single  credited  to  the  Prophets  was  a  version  of  "Love  Potion  Number  9" on  Valex  in  1964  which  as  you'd  expect  is  a  Merseybeat  facsimile  with  Ronnie  puffing  on  a   harmonica  and  no  better  than  routine. A  year  later  they  were  on  Swan  with  a  version  of  Mann  and  Weil's  "Where  You  Gonna  Run  To  Girl ?" which  is  ruined  by  a  hamfisted  production  by  Laurence  Weiss  with  the  drums  far  too  loud  n  the  mix. "Dear  Darlin" , recorded  for  the  Christmas  market  in  1965  is  a  maudlin  country ballad  sung  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  slain  soldier  where  he  proves  what  a  versatile  singer  he  was  with  a  credible  Hank  Williams  impersonation.

In  1967  the  group  had  another  make  over  and  became  The  Electric  Elves.  They  released  just  one  single  under  that  name  "Hey  Look  Me  Over"  which  sounds  like  The  Monkees  trying  to  rewrite  The  Who's  Substitute.  In  Februrary  1968  the  band  were  involved  in  a  serious  car   crash; Ronnie  himself  was  injured  but  long time  musical  partner  Nick  Pantas  the  only  other  survivor  from  the  Red  Cap  era  was  killed. They re-emerged  as  The  Elves  on  Decca   in  January  1969  with  "Walking  In  Different Circles"  a  decent  sunshine  pop  effort  and  "Amber  Velvet "  which  is  a  good  attempt  at  sounding  like  The  Turtles.

By  1972  they  were  abbreviated  to  Elf  and  pursuing  a  heavier  direction  with  Roger  Glover  and  Ian  Paice  on  board  as  producers  for  their  eponymous  album.  The  singles  "Sit  Down  Honey" ,  and   "Hoochie  Coochie  Lady"  are  hard-rocking  boogie  tunes  somewhere  between  Free  and  The  Faces. Roger  stayed  on  board  for  their  second  album  "Carolina  County  Ball"  in  1974  as  producer  and  string  arranger. The  single  "LA 59"  sounds  more  like  seventies  Stones. They  were  working  on  a  third  album  when  Ritchie  came  calling.

Ritchie  and  Ronnie  hit  it  off  so  well  that  the  single  project  became  an  album  project  and  the  other  members  of  Elf  were  drawn  in  to  record  the  album  "Ritchie  Blackmore's  Rainbow". The  album  was  completed  in  March  1975  and  Ritchie  played  his  last  Purple  show  in  April. His  departure  was  publicly  announced  in  June  and  the  album  was  released  in  August. Apart  from  the  Quatermass  track  and  an  instrumental  cover  of  the  Yardbirds'  Still  I'm  Sad   it  was  all  written  by  Ritchie  and  Ronnie  working  collaboratively  with  the  latter  writing  all   the  unfashionably  romantic  and  mystical  though  not  pretentious  lyrics  and  also  bringing  his  melodic  sense  to  the  music. The  result  is  a  strong  album  of  accessible  old  school  metal  which  sold  well  although  the  sole  single  "Man  On  The  Silver  Mountain"  wasn't  a  hit, possibly  because  Ritchie  was  too  busy  sacking  the  band  to  promote  it  effectively.

The  members  of  Elf  may  have  thought  that  they  were  now  part  of  Ritchie's  new  band  but  he  only  wanted  Ronnie  and  lost  no  time  in  sacking  them  and  bringing  in  new  musicians  of  his  own  choosing.

The  most  high  profile  of  these  was  drummer  Cozy  Powell. Born  Colin  Flooks  in  Cirencester  in  1947  he  learned  the  drums  at  school.  He  picked  up  "Cozy"  from  the  jazz  drummer  Cozy  Cole. He  started  playing  in  bands  from  15  and  played  in  Germany  with  The  Sorcerers  in  the  mid-sixties. In  1968  they  changed  their  name  to  Young  Blood  and  got  a  deal  with  Pye. They  made  three  singles  while  Cozy  was  with  them; I've  only  heard  the  first  of  them  "Green  Light"  which  sounds  anachronistic  for  1968  with  its  frenetic  R  &  B  sound  suggesting  the  mod  rather  than  pyschedelic  era.  Cozy  was  then  lured  away  by  troubled  ex-Move  man  Ace  Kefford  but  the  five  tracks  recorded  with  him  didn't  see  the  light  of  day  until  2003.

After  playing  with  Tony  Joe  White  at  the  Isle  of  Wight  festival  in  1970  Cozy  was  invited  to  take  his  distinctive  double  bass  drum  kit  into  the  resurrected  Jeff  Beck  Group   and  he  played  on  their  latter  two  albums  "Rough  and  Ready"  and  "Jeff  Beck  Group". The  former  produced  a  single  "Got  The  Feeling"  showcasing  an  uneasy  blend  of  heavy  drumming, Bobby  Tench's  routine  R &  B  vocals  and  Jeff  switching  between  wah-wah  funk  and  metal  theatrics  in  the  same  song. The  critics  didn't  like  this  incarnation  and  despite  extensive  touring  in  the  UK  and  US  sales  were  sluggish. The  band  dissolved  at  the  end  of  1972.

Cozy  immediately  reunited  with  the Ball  brothers  from  The  Sorcerers  and  singer  Frank  Aiello  to  form  Bedlam  who  released  one  eponymous  album  in  1973.  It's  competent   hard  rock  with  a  fashionably  funky  edge  but  doesn't  have  a  stand  out  track   to  break  them  out  of  support  slots. The  single  "I  Believe  In  You"  is  energetic  but  routine.  In  the  meantime  Cozy  was  quietly  amassing  a  tidy  sum  doing  session  work  for  Mickie  Most.

Most  then  offered  him  the  chance  to  record  as  a  solo  artist.  The  three  singles  he  recorded  for  RAK  were  all  hits. "Dance  With  The  Devil"  was  based  on  Hendrix's  Third  Stone  From  The  Sun  although  Most  and  Phil  Dennys  somehow  claimed  the  writing  credit. Cozy  became  the  first  artist  since  Sandy  Nelson  in  the  early  sixties  to  chart  with  a  drum-led  instrumental  and  it  eventually  peaked  at  number  3  early  in  1974.  The  rather  similar  " The  Man  In  Black"  got  to  number  18  in  May. Cozy  put  together  a  band, Cozy  Powell's  Hammer  with  Aiello  on  vocals   who  recorded  his  third  single  - though  it  was  credited  to  Cozy  alone - "Na  Na  Na",  a  drummer's  manifesto  with   brutally  uncompromising  breaks  and  an  intro  that  was  shall  we  say  an  influence  on  the Pistols'  Holiday  In  The  Sun.  It   reached  number  10,   then  answering  Ritchie's  call  put  his  solo  career  on  hold.

Bassist  Jimmy  Bain  was  a  Scot  born  in  1947. He  had  experience  playing  in  the  bands  Street  Noise  and  Harlot  but  they  went  unrecorded. Keyboards   player  Tony  Carey  was  a  much  younger  Californian  who  did  get  a  deal  for  his  band  Blessings  in  1972  but  owing  to  various  distractions  their  first  album  was  never  released. He  was  still  working  on  it  when  Ritchie  came  across  him  in  a  Hollywood  studio  and  invited  him  to  audition.

With  the  line  up  now  complete  Rainbow  went  out  on  tour  in  October  1975  and  recorded  the  album  Rising  in  February  1976. It's  harder  and  noisier  than  their  debut  with  Side  Two  containing  just   two  long  tracks  and  Tony  introducing  prog-y  synth  textures  to  the  sound. It's  more  difficult  for  a  non-metal  fan  to  get  into  although  when  the  Munich  Philharmonic  Orchestra  come  in  on  the  epic  "Stargazer"  the  scale  of  their  ambition  becomes  impressive. No  singles  were  released  from  it  but  the  LP  still  got  to  number  eleven.

The  bad  went  back  out  on  tour  in  the  summer  of  1976  and  their  concerts  in  Germany  and  Japan  were  recorded  for  a  live  album "On  Stage"  to  come  out  in  the  summer  of  1977. By  that  time  first  Jimmy  and  then  Tony  had  both  been  fired  despite  their  appearance  on  the  single  sleeve. The  album  featured  some  new  songs  that  hadn't  yet  been  recorded  in  the  studio. Chief  among  these  was  "Kill  The  King"  for  which  Cozy's  contribution  earned  him  a  writing  credit. Ronnie's  violent  lyric  was  actually  inspired  by  chess. Apart  from  the  organ  washes  it  sounds  like  the  soon-to-emerge  Iron  Maiden , with  the  band  playing  at  100 mph  and  Ronnie  bellowing  out  the  lyric  without  anything  like  a  melody  to  constrain  him. It  was  the  lead  track  on  the  EP; Guinness  just  lists  this  as  an  ordinary  single  under  that  title. "Man  On  the  Silver  Mountain"  is  an  extract  from  the  LP  where  it  was  combined  in  a  medley  with  two  other  tracks.  It  remains  a  much  better  song,  played  at  a  faster  tempo  than  the  original  version. "Mistreated"  is  another  extract  , this  time  from  a 13 minute version  of  a  Deep  Purple song  co-written  with  Coverdale  that  took  up  the  whole  of  Side  Three  of  the  LP.  The  bluesy  elements  are  still  there  and  the  band  do  it  justice. It  was  a  good  value  package  for  fans  but  with  its  lead  track  not  radio-friendly  they  can't  have  been  too  disappointed  with  its  placing.