233. Rainbow / Difficult To Cure. 1981. 3.5/5

Many fans thought that once Ronnie James Dio had parted ways with Rainbow in 1978, after three groundbreaking albums that had lifted his profile to greater heights, and revived the profile of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, that the band Rainbow would be in peril, that it would be unable to retain the interest and popularity it had garnered over the previous four years. Then had come along not only Ritchie’s former Deep Purple bandmate in bass guitarist Roger Glover, but new vocalist Graham Bonnet, and these two both contributed heavily to the success of the band’s fourth album “Down to Earth”, with Bonnet’s great vocals in particular driving the new songs. But it was the success of the single “Since You Been Gone” which was composed by Russ Ballard, that began the major fork in the road that took the band on a new direction. Blackmore had been looking for a way to move into the commercial success in the United States, and that single brought with it the positives and negatives that would come with it.
As always seemed to be the case in bands where Ritchie Blackmore was a member, tensions between band members seemed to increase during this period. It began once the tour to promote “Down to Earth” had concluded, with drummer Cozy Powell quitting over concerns about the direction the music was heading in. Work had begun on tracks for the follow up album, with Bonnet having done preliminary vocals having begun on songs such as “I Surrender”, before Bonnet decided to leave the band over a combination of the direction the new album was heading as well the constant arguing and disagreements with Blackmore. In their places, Blackmore brought in two Americans, perhaps subconsciously believing this may help him with his ultimate goal. Drummer Bobby Rondinelli came in to replace Powell, while Joe Lynn Turner was appointed as the band’s new lead singer. By the time Turner came into the project, the majority of the music and backing vocals had already been recorded with Bonnet’s vocals in mind in regard to the pitch, which resulted in Turner having to sing in a higher key than his normal register for the album. Welcome to the party, Joe!
It was to be a big moment for the band. They had headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington in May 1980 on the back of the success of those first four albums. Now, with a turn in the style of material that the key songwriters in Blackmore and Glover were producing, with the main goal of commercial success in the US as the key, could this new album with its new singer help that to come to pass, as well as retaining the fan base that came to the band for its more medieval hard rock style of the past? All of these questions would find answers with the release of their fifth album, titled “Difficult to Cure”.

Although I am sure it was obvious to me at the time that I first discovered this album, it is not something that sticks in my memory – but there is a fairly obvious divide in the style and quality of songs on this album, and they can be put into two categories. There are the songs that are the best known on the album, the ones that got traction with the fan base and even those who are just on the periphery of the fandom, and then there are the album tracks that anyone who isn’t a big fan of the band would barely know even existed.
The songs that I will dub the ‘unknown’ tracks number five of the nine album songs. Now I should say from the outset that this categorisation does not necessarily suggest these are only average songs. I do like all of them, but it is true they aren’t game changers. “No Release” is the third track from side A of the album, built on the early blues play from Ritchie’s guitar, which then brings in the moody addition of the keys and bass guitar underneath, and the comforting honey glaze of Turner’s vocals. It’s a early template for the style that this era of the band would look to drive. It retains its drive through the constant thump of Rondinelli’s drums and Turner’s own vocals backing up his lead through the middle. A lesser ability-ied singer would lose this song, but Joe manages to keep hold of the reigns and bring it to its conclusion. This is followed by “Magic”, the second cover song of the album composed by Brian Moran. This has a very FM radio structure about it, with verse-chorus-verse-chorus-Ritchie solo-verse-chorus, along with Joe wailing in that slightly annoying tone through the middle. It is noticeably not a Rainbow song anything like what they have produced in the past. The synth and keys might be in the background but they are the commercialised ones that look to draw in a certain audience. It is almost disco in places which is a surprising turn of events. Side A closes out with "Vielleicht Das Nächste Zeit (Maybe Next Time)", an instrumental piece composed by Blackmore and keyboardist Don Airey. And yes, it sounds great, and the band plays very nicely throughout. But what is the motivation, what is the drive here? When I listen to the album I enjoy this for what it is, but it isn’t an inspiring piece or a Malmsteen piece, though you can hear what inspired his music in the guitaring on this track. Again, its fine, but nothing more than that.
The second track on Side B is “Freedom Fighter”, the best song of this collection of songs. Turner’s vocals are forthright and excellent, doubled over as necessary and he pretty much makes this track. Musically it is quite simple for a Blackmore composed effort, there isn’t a lot that jumps out of your speakers at you about it, even his solo slot is nothing noteworthy for Blackmore. This is followed by “Midtown Tunnel Vision” moves along similar lines. Both of these songs had the trio of Blackmore, Glover and Turner as composers, and it shows. This is a slower tempo with a more direct blues sound to it, stretching time itself as it struggles to get out of first gear. All of these five songs have some reasonable qualities, but for different reasons cannot rise above the average in output. As I have said on other episodes, the songs that aren’t the heavy hitters still have to carry their weight for it to be a great album, an album that sets itself apart from everything else. These songs just aren’t doing that. They’re okay, they fine. But nothing else.
The four songs that ARE the main course may also have their naysayers, and to be fair they do leave themselves open to that interpretation. While they do light up this album when they come in, if you are to compare them individually to many of the tracks that appeared on the opening four albums they would most likely have their pants pulled down.
The album opens with “I Surrender”, yet another Russ Ballard composed song that he has lent out to other bands to create a money making machine for him. Seriously, look up how many bands he has songs covered by, and imagine the writing royalties he must rake in. This was the first of three covers on the album (including the final track from classical composer Beethoven) which does create a feeling of perhaps Blackmore had run out of ideas. However, after the success of Ballard’s “Since You Been Gone” from the previous album, I guess you can always assume it will work again. And for the most part, in this case, that is true. It is a high energy track and puts you in a great mood from the start. This is followed by easily the best song on the album, the rollicking “Spotlight Kid”, that could easily have opened the album, and did open gigs on the tour that followed. Telling the story of young musician and the pits and perils of being in a band, and the desire and pitfalls of being in the spotlight, it works terrifically well. Turner makes the role his own, while it is Glover’s terrific bassline through the song that makes the track so terrific, bringing back memories of its role in the best Deep Purple songs. These two opening songs set the album off on the right foot.
The opening track on side B is “Can’t Happen Here”, one that has a feeling of having had input from previous lead singer Graham Bonnet. It acts as a sister track to “I Surrender”, both songs opening their side of the album with a mood and attitude that emit the best energy of the album. And the final track is the title track, “Difficult to Cure”, and is a rearrangement and reimagining of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, another trick that Yngwie Malmsteen picked up off his hero. This is very well done, a great arrangement from Blackmore, Glover and Airey, creating a hard rock version of this famous musical interlude, and it does create an entertaining finish to the album. It predates the movie “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, where the same idea is introduced for the Beethoven character brought to modern day San Dimas, and then creates a similar composition in the music store in the mall. If nothing else, this end to the album showcases the talent that the band has in creating such a piece.

As I am sure to have mentioned in other places of this podcast, my first exposure to Rainbow was indeed this era of the band, with Joe Lynn Turner as the lead vocalist. It came from two school friends in the final year of high school, both with the first name Peter, the first of whom was a fanatical Ritchie Blackmore fan, and the second who became a fan through him. The first Pete had also brought me Deep Purple, and it was the second Peter who bought this album on vinyl, and whom I borrowed it from to record to my own C90 cassette, along with “Straight Between the Eyes”, the next album, on the other side.
Before I had this album, I had already gotten the live album "Finyl Vinyl” so I was aware of Joe Lynn Turner as well as a couple of these songs that had been performed on that album. And looking back that probably helped me to enjoy this album from the outset, because I had heard these tracks in their best live environment. And without a doubt it also helped that I wasn’t as aware of the Ronnie Jame Dio era of the band when I first heard the Joe Lynn Turner era – and not from the point of the view of the vocals, because they are both outstanding vocalists, but in terms of the style of the songs presented. They are truly chalk and cheese. So I had no preconceptions of the music except that I knew a few of these songs, I knew a few of the Dio-era songs, and I could just judge it on the album itself without comparisons coming in to cloud any judgement.
And I loved this album when I first heard it. It was at a time when I hadn’t heard a lot of thrash metal and glam metal that I began to listen to a lot of in the latter part of the decade, and that I was still discovering a lot of the bands that would become so much a part of my life going forwards. Rainbow was one of those, and the best of the songs here grabbed me and dragged me in. And I played this album often, with the switch over to the other side of the cassette to hear the next album equally enjoyable.
Flash forward all these years to the present day, and my CD copy has been played often over the past week as I have indulged in a little nostalgia. Putting the album on again after quite some time has been enlightening and fun. I have done a lot of singing both at home and at work listening to this album again, amusing both family and work colleagues. But it’s hard not to get involved with these tracks that I love; “Spotlight Kid”, “I Surrender”, “Can’t Happen Here”. Yes, I’ll admit that these days they are a bit cheesy, a bit classical soft rock. But I grew up with them and this album, and so I can still forgive them for being a bit that. And the rest of the album – you know, if I heard the songs individually on a playlist somewhere, there is a chance that I might skip them. But listening to them here as a part of this album... well, they are a PART of the album, the album as a whole, and as a whole I still love it, even if some of the parts individually might be a little lame. That’s the great thing about albums; they are their own entity. And they can be great even if some of the songs may have lost a little of their sheen over the years. For me, that best describes my feelings about “Difficult to Cure” in 2026 – an album I loved, and an album I still love, as much for the nostalgia it provides as the music. And isn’t that what you want from your music? I know I do.