Rainbow-Difficult To Cure (1981)

Two years after Rainbow's fourth album, Ritchie Blackmore made further changes to the lineup, this time hiring a singer more suited to his hard rock style. The chosen singer was Joe Lynn Turner, replacing Graham Bonnet, and drummer Cozy Powell was replaced by Bob Rondinelli. The rest of the lineup remained the same: Blackmore (guitars), Roger Glover (bass), and Don Airey (keyboards). For many, this is the best Rainbow lineup after the classic one with Ronnie James Dio, Cozy Powell, Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Carey, and Jimmy Bain, who released the seminal albums "Rising" and "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" (although David Stone and Bob Daisley also participated as official members on the latter). On "Difficult to Cure", Blackmore once again turned to another Russ Ballard cover, as he had done on the previous album, "Down to Earth", with "All Night Long" and "Since You Been Gone". This time it was "I Surrender", a catchy AOR/hard rock song with addictive choruses and Blackmore's powerful riffs. Those same powerful guitar riffs also drive "Spotlight Kid", a fast-paced hard rock track. This contrasts sharply with the hypnotic "No Release", a dark and heavy hard rock song with a dynamic rhythm and excellent work from both Blackmore and Joe Lynn Turner, showcasing his prodigious vocal range. After the irresistible AOR track "Magic", comes the superb instrumental "Vielleicht Das Nächste Mal (Maybe Next Time)", a clear statement of intent in an emotionally charged, semi-progressive vein. The hard rock tracks "Can't Happen Here" (an allusion to nuclear war) and "Freedom Fighter" (dedicated to political prisoners) are two pieces that could have fit perfectly on Deep Purple's 1980s album. To close this brilliant record are the gritty blues rock track "Midtown Tunnel Vision" and the instrumental "Difficult to Cure (Beethoven's Ninth)", a dizzying and complex hard rock tribute from Blackmore to Ludwig van Beethoven.