Bent Out Of Shape was a turning point for the fortunes of Rainbow, with a major change in the style of music the band was playing.
There is little doubt that most of the material here is a lot softer than anything they had released before. The hard edge that had been prevalent with Dio and Bonnet was now being washed away into what became known in the 1980’s as ‘soft rock’. “Street of Dreams” is the perfect example of this. Not a bad song in itself, but with no real power or energy pushing it along. Even Ritchie’s guitaring on this song is average, without inspiration. Other songs, such as “Drinking With The Devil” and “Make Your Move” are a bit closer to the best style than this line-up had, pacier and rockier types of numbers, with Joe Lynn Turner and Ritchie Blackmore combining at their best.
What is obvious is a change in the song style and lyrics. No longer does the Dio mysticism exist, it is now fully into the JLT female-oriented lyrical content. That in itself signals a deep change in the outlook of the band.
This is probably my least favourite of Rainbow’s releases, and the fact its content has significantly changed direction is pretty much the major factor in that. The fact that it was the final album for this line-up before Blackmore and Glover went to reform Deep Purple shows that they probably thought it had run its course as well.
Rating: Following up some much better albums, this one can only reach average. 2.5/5
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