Deep Purple released “Perfect Strangers” to worldwide acclaim and followed it with “The House of Blue Light” which did not receive quite the same acclaim (but which I absolutely adore). It surprised no one at the time that the simmering tension that had often abounded between Blackmore and lead vocalist Ian Gillan had continued into this reformation, and that after just two albums it had Gillan quitting once again. The recruitment of Joe Lynn Turner as his replacement then saw the excellent “Slave and Masters” album released, one that almost sounded like a Rainbow album, which given that three-fifths of this iteration of the band had been in Rainbow should not make that a surprise. As the band began preparations for the follow up, there was a huge push from their record company for the band’s 25th anniversary – but they (along with the rest of the band apart from Blackmore) wanted Gillan back in the lead vocals role as a part of this. Despite the tension that still existed, Blackmore insisted and received $250,000 from the record company for this to occur, and Gillan returned for “The Battle Rages On” - the album title not the actual battle... though as it turned out, it was also accurate in the band! The differences between the lead singer and lead guitarist plummeted further, until eventually mid-tour it was Blackmore who pulled the plug and quit, never to return.
Free to now move into a new sphere of his career, Blackmore’s intention was to go out and record a solo album, one where he would be free to create whatever style he desired. Unfortunately, as so many artists who have been in successful bands find out when they are looking to do a solo project, the record company was having none of it. His label BMG more or less insisted that what Blackmore should be doing is recording an album under the name of that other band that he used to be in... what was it... Rainbow? Yeah that was it! How about another Rainbow album! No matter that it had been 12 years since that particular bands last album. Let’s resurrect it and go with that! Despite no doubt being pushed into that decision, Blackmore at least made the decision not to reform that band lineup. Going back to Turner on vocals would have been an interesting step, considering he had just worked with him on a Purple album. Instead, he recruited a whole new band, more or less young gunslingers to team up with the grizzled veteran gun shooter. And as a final statement he made sure that the band took on the name that had originally been the moniker when the band began – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. With the new band on board, they went into uncharted territory to come up with the eighth – and final – album of the band’s career, “Stranger in Us All”.
The beautiful opening riff of Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar greets you as you put the album on, stating from the outset that this IS Ritchie Blackmore and his album. It moves into the song proper with his wonderful riff, before we are greeted with the amazing voice of Doogie White for the first time, and it is this combination here that drags you in. This is the first time for most that they would have heard Doogie White, and his entrance is spectacular. “Wolf to the Moon” is the name of the song, and Doogie sends you to the moon with his soaring vocals. But what also hits you is that here, for the first time for a few years at least, is the true Ritchie Blackmore. His guitar is the prominent instrument throughout, not sitting back and letting the organ or vocals or bass have its turn in the spotlight. Here, it is all guitar, all Ritchie. And h seems to be far more comfortable as the leader than just one of five with an equal say. “Wolf to the Moon” is a superb opening track, and is followed by a comforting similarity of days gone by with “Cold Hearted Woman”, which truly channels the last few Rainbow albums in its style and substance. Doogie also channels Joe Lynn Turner here, but this song holds its own here on the album despite any perceived Ghosts of Rainbow Past. “Hunting Human (Insatiable)” has a very different feel about it completely. Indeed, there is a doom feel about the track, that combined with the lyrical prose attached makes it almost creepy to listen to, a song that feels as though it should have a slower tempo with which the guitar is actually propelling, but is being carried by the 2/4 beat of the drums which sticks to a mid-fast tempo. It makes for an interesting track, one that will divide opinion as to its effectiveness.
“Stand and Fight” returns to the stye that Blackmore wrote for the Turner-era albums, picking up the energy and liveliness of the song, and even incorporating the harmonica into the mix. I’m not sure it was necessary or even adds to the track. (Can we mix that out?... No?... okay, just go for it I guess...). “Ariel” is co-written by Blackmore and his soon-to-be wife Candice Night, and the collaboration has similar themes as to where their partnership would take them in the future. It also channels the mystical atmosphere that the early Rainbow albums with Ronnie James Dio headed musically and lyrically. The music here is just fabulous, and Doogie again is amazing, the way he is able to bring in the emotion of the song through his voice is incredible. As the song fades out, you actually feel that there should be more. It’s an interesting glimpse of both the past and the future for Ritchie Blackmore’s music.
Sometimes you wonder just how much trouble Blackmore had in coming up with ideas for this album, and three songs in particular come to mind when you listen to the album. There are of course the final two songs on the album, but there is also “Too Late for Tears”. Now, again, this is a perfectly good song and an enjoyable song. But when you listen to it, you are immediately reminded of another song that comes from the Rainbow catalogue, a song by the name of “Can’t Happen Here”. Why? You may ask. Well, firstly it is the same chords, and the same chord structure as that song. And secondly, even though they are different lyrics, Doogie singing on this song sounds incredibly like Joe Lynn Turner, utilising the same vocal techniques and delivery on this song that Turner did on that original song all those years ago. Coincidence? Perhaps. But surely when they listened back to the finished product, SOMEONE must have noticed the similarities. No matter, it still works. In a creepy, incestuous way.
“Black Masquerade” is a great song, and every time I listen to it, I understand more fully just how influential it, and Blackmore’s music as a whole, is so influential on the power metal genre that was enveloping Europe at the time. Indeed, this song could be seen and heard to be the template for so many of those bands and artists that began to come into the music scene at the time this album was released. And Doogie’s vocals here are a massive part of that. Just a super song and one of the best reasons to come by and check out this album. “Silence” is a completely different kettle of fish, very Blackmore oriented and he gives us his best performance on the album here with some old style Blackmore soloing and riffing. Keys that mirror horns add a contemporary mix to the sound, and Doogie just wails over the top. This is almost just a jam session, it does sound as though they went into the studio and just played to see what would come out. Like I said, the Blackmore of old appears here and it is worth every cent.
The final two tracks are great, but perhaps show just where this project was before it had even been released. “Hall of the Mountain King” is a reworking of the classical piece by Edvard Grieg, one that everyone knows as soon as you hear the most famous piece in the song. Blackmore composed the arrangement for the band, while his soon-to-be wife Candice Night wrote the lyrics for the track. And it works, and it sounds great.
In the long run, it perhaps best sums up this album that by far the best track here is the final one, which is a cover song, and one that should have been better utilised when the band FIRST recorded it. Because the final song is the same one that closed out the band’s debut album 20 years earlier, the cover of The Yardbird's “Still I’m Sad”. On the debut album it had been played as an instrumental despite the band having one of the greatest singers of all time available to be on the track. Here at least the same mistake has not been made, as Doogie White absolutely bosses the vocals here, injecting it with the emotional and power that befits what a brilliant song this is. This version is a ripsnorter, from the quiet guitar doodling from Ritchie to begin the song, right through to its conclusion where he plays it out with another of his wonderful solos. Whether or not at the time they recorded this album they knew it would be the final sign off for the band, it is perhaps the best way for the 20 years of Rainbow to come to its conclusion.
This album passed me by at the time of its release, more from the fact that 1995 was a difficult year in my existence than not wanting to listen to another Rainbow album. In fact, I was quite looking forward to it, but did not actually get around to it until five years after its initial release. By that time of course Blackmore had moved on to his newest love, Renaissance and medieval music, by forming the band Blackmore’s Night with his partner Candice Night, something that held no desire of mine to become involved in. I came across “Stranger in Us All” and gave it a listen, mainly to satisfy myself that I had probably missed nothing in the intervening years since its release. What I discovered was something far more intriguing than I would have thought. There was a bit of everything on the album – I mean, harmonica was present, there was even some horns thrown in at one stage. Another interpretation of Edvard Grieg’s “Hall of the Moutain King”. And another interpretation of The Yardbirds “Still I’m Sad”. The music SOUNDED like it was based in the sound of the 1970’s, but in a more contemporary fashion. And Doogie White – my goodness, the vocals from Doogie on this album are superb. They are simply the starring role on “Stranger in Us All”. Sure, Ritchie will always be Rainbow, but Doogie here makes the album. He is the driving force of the songs.
I must say I was looking forward to dragging this album out again this week. It is like so many other bands, if I am choosing to like to an artist, there are 4-5 albums that I will favour when I don’t really want to think about what I want to listen to, and when it comes to Rainbow that does centre on the first five albums. But my memory always remembers this as a good album, one that I don’t believe I have ever been disappointed by. And I found the same thing this week. It is a very enjoyable album to listen to. I mean, like Black Sabbath’s “Seventh Star”, it isn’t a true Rainbow album. It is a Blackmore solo album, where he has brought in these young guys and they find a connection and they write and perform some very good songs. OK, so the reverting to familiar track for the end of the album might mean they ran out of ideas, or maybe Ritchie just wanted to do another version of those songs for his own method.
Whatever it might have been, this album is a worthy one. Though the legacy of the band still holds true to its eventual demise in 1983, if this is to be truly considered the final album of the band, it is a good one to go out on. Even if it is only for this scintillating version of this song that shows Doogie White at his powering best.
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