The Ronnie James DIO album-by-album thread

I think it's a killer album. No disappointment here.

 

LLRNR is the album I play the least of the Dio era. Lot of slide guitar on this one.

 

I agree with your assessment... It always amazes me how short it is compared to the amount of stuff happening all over it, especially in the middle section which is in my top 5 of Blackmore's greatest achievements...

I also agree with Curbach above when he expressed his puzzlement as to why virtually nothing from this album made it into the live shows... I'd love to hear a live Lady Of The Lake or The Shed... let alone an extended Gates Of Babylon *sigh*

Rising gets lots of praise (mine too), but still for some people LLR'n'R is the definitive Rainbow album...

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the break during the making of LLRNR, made Blackmore realize that, actually, this kind of music was now done. Sure, it was a great ride and we enjoyed some immense tunes and imagery, but....time moves on. This was all to the background of Punk and New Wave (in the UK, Rainbow were Dinosaurs along with Zep/Floyd etc).

I imagine, going back to finish the recording of the album they had started a year earlier, actually revealed to the band how dated and out of fashion, some of this stuff was becoming. Remember, Coverdale and Blackmore both suggested that RBRainbow's tunes were familiar to Machine Head. It was kind of old when Rainbow started.

The thing I found interesting and I don't know if it was covered above, but Blackmore had already asked Roger Glover to come and help write with him, way back in 1976 on the Rising Tour. Later interviews also suggest that Blackmore thought Glover had a special knack of nailing titles/lyrics and adding what he called "the fairydust". This knack would result in a whole new Rainbow and what Ritchie considered a commerial edge or "fairydust", for some fans (and vocalists) meant selling out.

Past experience shows that when Blackmore makes up his mind, it's a done deal.

 

Some good points here! The record sounded really conservative for 1978 yet now it kinda sound timeless. The best one with Dio IMHO, prefer it to both debut and Rising. Gates of Babylone is of course the greatest Rainbow track of all time and Rainbow Eyes is stunningly beautiful. This is where Rainbow actually reached the heights of Zeppelin's 1971-1975 best work. And I always wondered why some folks think this was a poor production. Love the guitar and drum sound here!

 

It's easy to make a snap judgement that the production stinks by listening to the opening title track. It sounds thin and the mix is practically mono. After that, the album sounds a lot better, but still I wouldn't say great. And the cd masterings of this album have done it no favors. It's best heard on vinyl for sure.

 

Long Live Rock and Roll is not as good as Rising but is still very worthwhile. The only song that doesn't do much for me is Sensitive to Light and it's not that bad. Highlights are Kill the King, Lady of the Lake, Gates of Babylon and Rainbow Eyes. I'm not a big fan of the production though.

 

I feel the same way.

 

I like the sound of LLR'n'R, never had a problem with it... It's basically guitar/drums/voice for the most part, and it's kinda stark and raw except for the more elaborate moments... I like the guitar tone here better than on Rising, even...

Am I the only one who hates the cover?

 

No I'm with you, the cover doesn't represent the awesome music within.

I only dislike it slightly less than this horrid cover:



or this:

 

The cover is clearly a bit of a Rush job (geddit?).

However, I was looking at it last night and the (UK) texture is magnificent. It is almost like holding one of Da Vinci's plans or sketches. Inside, not great..outside and for the quality of the paper and illustration (Ritchie with a wonderful sneer), it's iconic.

I like it more now, than I did then. (I probably feel the same way about the music. At 14yrs old, I didn't want to hear Rainbow Eyes, but now as a 40+..I find it hypnotic and beautiful. Certainly, from another time and place altogether, and strangely authentic).

It was all guitar/vox/drums. Coming from Deep Purple albums to this, the obvious difference was that there were no keyboards/organ. It is in fact, minimalist gothic rock. Might as well have been Dio, Blackmore & Powell jamming in the studio.....very intensely!.(what could be wrong with that?)

Ritchie did however, pay credit to David Stone for his contribution to Gates of Babylon, as he came up with a lot of unusual (diminished/augmented) chords, which certainly added to that wonderful feel.

 

Gothic rock rules!

 

First I want to say thanks so much to Javimulder. Your detailed and informative posts walking us through this history is so compelling and fascinating. I'm riveted reading each post and eagerly anticipate each new post. I had to come out of my lurker mode to say thanks so much!

Also, to the comments on the album cover, I must say in my opinion it is overshadowed by the artwork of Rising just as the music of LLRAR is often overshadowed by the music of Rising. It is not a bad cover and the illustration on the unique aged parchment style paper is actually much more interesting and visually pleasing to me than many other ho-hum covers. I think it also fits well with the medieval style Dio era Rainbow was known for.

That said, if any of you have not read Jerry Bloom's Rock Landmark's book titled The "Long Live Rock and Roll Story" I highly recommend it. It goes into detailed account of the recording of the album at the Chateau d' Herouville including the specifics of the many practical jokes Richie and Cozy basically hazed Tony Carey with to the point of Tony picking up and quitting with out a word to go home to LA. This resulting in the song L.A. Connection which is literally about Tony. "Carry home my broken bones and lay me down to rest, Forty days of cries and moans I guess I failed to pass the test".

Anyway I digress, the point being in the book Jerry also recounts that the album cover art was originally going to reflect the original working name of the album which was "Kill the King"
The cover concept was to be a skeleton in a suit of armor standing on a hill with grass growing up though the skeleton and a sword sticking in it as if a king had been killed in an old medieval war. The shield of the deceased could be seen nearby laying on the ground with the cover of the Rising album cover painted on the front of the shield. The photographer recounts that he even found a nearby snake and decided to wrap it around the sword in an ad-hoc moment of creative license. When the cover was then submitted to Polydor, they said "Forget it! No snakes!" Since the decision had shortly after been decided to change the album name to Long Live Rock And Roll, they decided not to argue with the label and came up with the pencil sketch cover very quickly at the last minute.

Also of note concerning the album art, the inside photo was taken at a Rush concert. Polydor took it upon themselves to airbrush out the Rush logos from the banner the kids were holding and their T-shirts to make it look like the kids were Rainbow fans at a Rainbow concert. The photographer claimed he got a phone call from a furious Geddy Lee whom he had to explain that he had nothing to do with it.

I don't remember where but I remember seeing a site that had both the unretouched photo and the one from the album side by side.

 

This is the one:

 

I find most of the solos on "On Stage" to be tiresome (certainly too long to sustain interest). But it's got the best version of "Catch the Rainbow" and "Still I'm Sad." Surprising they didn't have RJD sing Still I'm Sad on the debut.

 

As LLR&R was my introduction to the brilliance of Rainbow, I really can't fault it - it's as powerful to me now as it ever was. My intro to Blackmore, my intro to Dio, my intro to any rock'n'roll harder than Alice Cooper really. I bought it, not having heard a note of it or of anyone on it, because I read an article about it in Circus magazine and was intrigued. It fundamentally changed my entire musical perspective. I can't tell you if any of those first three Rainbow albums is better than the other, I really can't. They are truly separate but equal achievements in my eyes.

The production sucks? Well, maybe. For my part, I'll admit that the remaster CD sucks, but both my LP's (original US and Japan) are awesome. Yeah, they're not perfect, but I forget about that when needle hits groove.

 

Not to make light of the situation or anything, but the thought of a furious Geddy Lee is cracking me up big time!

 

That's awesome, I never knew that!

Thank you!

 

From what I remember of the Jerry Bloom book, that was one of few interesting parts and hitherto untold stories, about the Title/cover. (the rest of seemed to be just lists of tour dates).

There was another incident which is maybe worthy of note at the time of this release and that was a vitriolic exchange during an interview which Ritchie did with Sheila Prophet of The Record Mirror in August 1978.

She wound him up about everything from politics in the UK (he was a tax exile) to the lack of progression with the new Lp and then suggested that she had been told that the new Lp "stiffed" in most locations, which sent Blackmore into a rage, demanding who told her that, was it Polydor???(who's execs were present during the interview). Threats of suings(over a mention of VD), Ritchie stealing the cassette back from her, screaming at her as they chased her down the hotel lobby etc. Suffice to say, this could have been one of those little everday events which made him finally decide the time was right for a change in direction. Maybe he didn't want to hear it from a woman and she claims another female journalist even had a guitar thrown at, and hit her, directly in the back, whilst he was in Purple.

The interview was titled "Bitchy Ritchie, The Fury of Ritchie Blackmore".

In the final analysis, it seems that Rainbow actually lost all the impetus they enjoyed following Rising and should not have waited 2 years for the follow up...as the world had moved on.

 

I still remember buying this when it came out. Great album, with the classic song "Gates of Babylon".

 

Ironically Rainbow Eyes sounds a lot moodier and medieval than the whole Blackmore's Night thing...

 

Now we know where Yngwie got it from!

 

My 86th concert: June 1978 ($8.00)

Nantucket
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
R.E.O. Speedwagon (5th time)

It was billed as a double headline show with Rainbow and R.E.O. Speedwagon (prior to their Top 40 hits). Both acts played for the same amount of time and apparently there were no restrictions with the soundboard because at this remove the only thing I remember about the concert was that Rainbow was extremely loud, apparently “trying to blow away R.E.O.” That, and the crowd was comparatively small, far from a sell-out.

Any ideas about their setlists in mid-1978?

 

Bootlegs from that tour suggest it was as follows...

Over The Rainbow
Kill The King
Mistreated
Long Live Rock N Roll
Man On The Silver Mountain (including Blues/Night People)
Still I'm Sad (inc.Beethoven's 9th, David Stone Solo, Cozy Powell solo.1812,)
Still I'm Sad Reprise (guitar trash).

 

I've got a concert from July 2, 1978 (Chicago) and the setlist is as follows

Over the Rainbow
Kill the King
Mistreated
Long live Rock'n'Roll
Man on the silver Mountain~Blues~Greensleeves
Still I'm sad (incl. Keyboard & Drum solo)
Over the Rainbow

As for the double headline the sets were significantly shorter (60+ minutes) than for the Japanese Tour of the same year (90-120 minutes)