Rainbow-Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow (1975)

We've discussed before the reasons that led Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to leave the legendary band and found his own, where he did as he pleased, but also created monumental works like the enormous "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" and "Rising", not to mention the magnificent double live album "On Stage". However, his first serious work, "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow", still showed a certain creative disarray compared to the aforementioned albums. For this first release, the ill-tempered guitarist had assembled a band that included himself, Ronnie James Dio, with whom he had forged a close friendship since the early 1970s when the diminutive singer was in the band Elf; bassist Craig Gruber; drummer Gary Driscoll; and keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule. All of them, except Dio, would be dismissed shortly after the album's recording, demonstrating the guitarist's volatile temper and Solomon-like decision-making. Recorded during the first months of 1975 in Munich, it was co-produced by Martin Birch, Ritchie Blackmore, and Ronnie James Dio, and released by Polydor Records in the middle of that year. This debut album, with its clear medieval and epic fantasy themes, clearly demonstrated the direction Rainbow's sound was taking. It features three of the most emblematic tracks of the band's entire career: the colossal "Man On The Silver Mountain" with its mythical riff backed by Dio's splendid vocals, the nostalgic and epic ballad "Catch The Rainbow", and the classic "Sixteenth Century Greenslaves". While the remaining tracks, though not achieving widespread recognition or significant impact, are still worth mentioning, such as the epic "The Temple Of The King", the hard rock anthem "Snake Charmer", and the instrumental version of The Yardbirds' "Stills I'm Said". This debut has always been overshadowed by its subsequent, superb successors, and has therefore consistently been considered a transitional and minor album in Blackmore and his band's career. However, it possesses enough merit to be considered a fundamental work in 1970s hard rock.