419. Rainbow / Bent Out Of Shape. 1983 2.5/5

The Blackmore-Turner-Glover helmed formation of the band Rainbow reaches its third act with the release of the band’s 7th album “Bent Out of Shape”, with the band’s legacy waiting to be formally put in stone. There is little doubt of the movement the band had made musically since its days being led vocally by both Ronnie James Dio and then Graham Bonnet was in a more commercial direction, with Ritchie Blackmore having made quite clear at the time that Dio had left the band that he craved commercial success with the band, and in particular radio exposure and success. In that bent, vocalist Joe Lynn Turner had been the perfect recruit, and alongside his former Deep Purple associate in bass guitarist and producer Roger Glover they had sailed Rainbow into commercially successfully waters with both “Difficult to Cure” and “Straight Between the Eyes”. The song “Stone Cold” in particular had tickled the fancy of the medium that Ritchie was hoping to romance, and so it appears that the band was hoping to double down on that kind of success when it came to writing and recording this follow up, “Bent Out of Shape”. It was also obvious by this time that Blackmore wanted that success in the United States. His early days in Deep Purple had provided a taste of that and he desired more, so when it came to the songwriting there is obvious moves to dive into the sound of the bands that were gaining the success he needed at that time – Toto, Journey, Boston, the bands that had ‘cracked the code’ on gaining significant radio airplay with their style of rock music.

“Stranded” is the lead out track on the album, and truly and immediately sets out the style that this album is going for. The honey smooth vocals from Joe Lynn Turner and the keyboards of David Rosenthal more forward in the mix does suggest from the outset that this is to be a far more commercial venture than the band has produced before, even more so than “Straight Between the Eyes”. It is an enjoyable song, but the chanted vocals of the title to complete the song, and the muted guitar solo from Ritchie in the middle, suggests that radio airplay in where this album is setting its target. This is followed by the power ballad stylings of “Can’t Let You Go”, with extended keyboard intro into Joe’s best crooning vocals and even Ritchie’s staccato solo following the story thread. If you are blatantly going to throw this kind of track right at the listener from the outset then you know just exactly what audience they are hoping to attract. “Fool for the Night” hops back into a more AOR oriented sound, but don’t be fooled (no pun intended) there’s little doubt of the direction we are still headed in.
Songs like “Fire Dance” and "Anybody There” show why this era of Rainbow was so influential in the beginnings of power metal throughout Europe in particular. These songs have the running keyboard riff through the main part of the song which is much more forward in the mix than the guitar, and then the keyboard wailing solo that becomes so prominent in songs of that genre are right here to begin with. “Fire Dance” in particular could be the template for the stereotypical power metal song, just needing the addition of the fast double kick drums to make it perfect. And to be, double kick drums on this song would have made it better.
The second side of the album starts laying on thick again when it comes to the ‘please give me radio airplay’ tracks. “Desperate Heart” and “Streets of Dreams” could both have been from any of those late 70’s AOR bands like Journey, Boston or Toto. They are pure fluff, without the prevailing power in the guitar or drums to make them even distinctly like a great hit, and yet it is the greater audience that they are pandering to. The guitar seems so irrelevant to these songs that Ritchie could have been having a bake on the sidelines for all the influence he has on the songs attractiveness. Turner offers up what he knows the songs require, and as a result they are mildly tolerable. “Drinking With the Devil” tries to con you into believing this album is still a hard rocker, one where the lyrics are dangerous and the guitar is heavy, but it is followed by the instrumental track “Snowman” which blows that appearance out of the sky. “Make Your Move” tries again to give you a sense of belief in the hard rock side of Rainbow, but it is far too little and far too late to make any firm impression on the listener once they have reached this point of the album.

Due to the obsession of one of my friends in the final years of high school, I was well exposed to Rainbow at that time, and especially the Joe Lynn Turner years of the band. And this included one of my best mates and future brother-in-law who took on that love of this era of the band. So I had copies of all three of those albums before I did of the first four albums. An interesting way to get into the band.
This album was always a punish, certainly in comparison to the other two Turner albums. Those albums has a good mix of songs, and felt as though they still had the basis at least of what the band had begun with back in 1975. But “Bent Out of Shape” to me is a much different album, and I think it suffers as a result. It’s the ‘easy listening’ variant of the band, the one album that you could put on with a bunch of old people and not have them complaining about that godawful noise as soon as the first song starts. It is uneventful, it is harmless. And while Turner’s vocals are as good as ever, and the rest of the band is good, is Blackmore even on this album? He has almost pushed himself to the side, and allowed the keyboards to dominate and set the standard for the album, while he occasionally appears just to confirm that he is indeed still a part of the music. In 1975 this band was RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S Rainbow. By 1983, it was Mainstream Radio Rainbow, with a little bit of Ritchie in the corner of the album peering out to see if he has fooled you yet.
The album has been played by me around the other albums I am reviewing at the moment for the past couple of weeks, and about the only time I actually noticed it was playing until it got my full attention for this review was when the chorus of “Street of Dreams” came on, and my reaction was simply... “this song again?!”
Rainbow from 1975-77 and from 1981-83 are the same band in name only. Only Blackmore remains as a member of both eras, and the music style is completely at opposite ends of the spectrum. That is what Ritchie wanted, so you can only judge it on that. Like I’ve said, “Difficult to Cure” and “Straight Between the Eyes” are good solid albums. This one slides to a different level – a level that I rush to point out that many people loved. For me though it is a bridge too far, and it still never fails to disappoint whenever I put it on.
Perhaps the best statement on this album is that Rainbow was disbanded after the tour that followed, as both Ritchie and Roger departed for the reformed and no doubt more lucrative return of Deep Purple Mark II, where their return effort “Perfect Strangers’ took the world by storm. If any better comparison could be made on “Bent Out of Shape” and what was to come next, this would have to be it.