Just as Miles Davis is well suited as jazz’s Dark Prince, Ritchie Blackmore fits well into his role as rock’s Prince of Darkness, or Black Knight. Serving as a guitar hero in Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore has spent the past years producing gorgeous acoustic Renaissance-styled sounds. Here, due to popular demand (like Davis), he plugs in and returns with a revamped Rainbow that boasts David Keith/dr, Bob Nouveau/b, Jens Johansson/key, Candice Night-Lady Lynn/voc and, best of all, the vocals of Chilean Ronnie Romero, who impressively carries on the tradition of macho shouters like Coverdale, Gillan, Hughes and Evans.
The collection of songs from this UK tour mixes and matches material from both the days of Deep Purple and Rainbow. The rhythm team swings and rocks hard, as Romero is confident and fist pumping on pieces like “Man on the Silver Mountain/Woman From Tokyo” and “Stargazer.” Blackmore, for his part, sounds inspired, and his time with acoustic music has made him much more lyrical. His solos on pieces such as “Spotlight Kid” and “Soldier of Fortune” are fluid and rockingly melodic. Even better, he gooses up songs like “Lazy” and the iconic air-guitar special “Smoke On The Water” so that it satisfies both those who crave the original essence and others who want a little extra flavor on their blue plate.
There’s also a dvd that includes interviews with everyone on the band, offering rich insight to the reason of the tour and the legacy of the band.
Just like the Dark Prince Davis, the Black Knight improves with age, defining a style of music while always adding to its richness. This set oozes with freshness!