It would appear, on the basis of his new band's debut album, that Ritchie Blackmore has gone to a lot of unnecessary trouble just to let everyone know (as if we didn't already) that 1) he can play his instrument and 2) there's a "t" in his first name Rainbow is a completely (and most likely intentionally) anonymous group: drummer Gary Driscoll, bass player Craig Gruber and key-boardist Mickey Lee Soule are adequate and subservient throughout. The only non-Blackmore solo is some under-mixed piano tinkling on "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" and singer Ronnie James Dio has the standard hard rock lead vocal down pat, with little individual style but plenty of lung power.

As for Blackmore himself, there's an inordinate amount of subtlety in his soloing here (there's little to do but step out, and he chooses not to), and with the exception of a rather highly charged instrumental reworking of the Yardbirds' "Still I'm Sad," he seems listless and bored in relation to past performances, specifically Machine Head, which looks more and more like an achievement of accident rather than design. (RS 198)

BILLY ALTMAN