Guitar virtuoso Ritchie Blackmore is just few years removed from his days with Deep Purple, having formed his new band Rainbow in 1975. Having released only two albums, Blackmore put out a “live” album of the band in 1977 that was a bit flat. This cd/dvd of the same period is leaps ahead in terms of virtuosity and energy. Along with Blackmore, Cozy Powell/dr, Bob Daisley/b, Dave Stone/key and Ronnie James Dio/voc mix material from the DP days, British blues and of course their latest two releases. Of the former, Dio and Blackmore tear into “Mistreated” with the guitarist doing some wizardry on “Catch The Rainbow”. The old Yardbirds tune “Still I’m Sad” is stretched out for almost a half hour, while the anthematic “Man On The Silver Mountain” has Dio’s vocal chords working overtime. Who plays with this much energy these days?
There are also a handful of promo videos of tunes like the fist pumping “Long Live Rock “n Roll” as well as some insightful interviews with Daisley and Colin Hart. A time capsule of when technic and passion held hand.