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Run With The Wolf: Rainbow On Record
In Run with the Rainbow on Record, Martin Popoff―also author of Sensitive to The Rainbow Story, as well as multiple books on Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Dio―assembles a panel of interested interviewees in celebration of Ritchie Blackmore’s legendary band Rainbow, one album at a time, every song considered. The sacred texts discussed are 1975’s Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, 1976’s Rising, 1978’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, 1979’s Down to Earth, 1981’s Difficult to Cure, 1982’s Straight Between the Eyes, 1983’s Bent Out of Shape and 1995’s Stranger in Us All. Look for debates on the comparative value of the band’s four different singers (Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White), along with ponderings on production, lyrics, Ritchie’s solos, favourite keyboard flourishes, Cozy Powell’s sound and style and then finally, what is the deal with Stranger in Us All?! Popoff uses the celebrated structure used on similar previous titles embracing the works of The Cure, Blue Öyster Cult, Robert Plant and Thin Lizzy, with Martin serving as pull-no-punches moderator and presenting the panel’s arguments in easy-to-read Q&A format. It is the author’s hope that by the end of this quite scholarly exercise, every last moat-metal Rainbow fan will find multiple new ways to approach and enjoy this classic catalogue.
365 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2024
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3 people want to read
About the author
Martin Popoff
224 books247 followersAt approximately 7900 (with over 7000 appearing in his books), Martin has unofficially written more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. He was Editor-In-Chief of the now retired Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Canada’s foremost metal publication for 14 years, and has also contributed to Revolver, Guitar World, Goldmine, Record Collector, bravewords.com, lollipop.com and hardradio.com, with many record label band bios and liner notes to his credit as well. Additionally, Martin has been a regular contractor to Banger Films, having worked for two years as researcher on the award-winning documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, on the writing and research team for the 11-episode Metal Evolution and on the ten-episode Rock Icons, both for VH1 Classic. Additionally, Martin is the writer of the original metal genre chart used in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and throughout the Metal Evolution episodes. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through martinp@inforamp.net or www.martinpopoff.com.
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October 4, 2024
Martin Popoff is a prolific author of rock-related books, with over 130 individual tomes to his name. He has written Rainbow, Dio and Deep Purple biographies, most notably ‘Sensitive to Light’ which deals with the broader Rainbow biography. This volume focuses on the recorded output of the band – both studio and live – taking a deep dive into the song writing, the production, the personnel and the impressions that each of the panel had upon these album’s releases.
The format of the book takes the form of a ‘hangout’ between Martin Popoff and his friends, most notably from his Youtube Channel, ‘The Contrarians’. They number fourteen luminaries and fans, including Phil Aston (of ‘Now Spinning Magazine’) together with Peter Jones and Louis Nasser (both top musicians in their own right). As such, I would have loved to occupy a seat at this table as I have been a Rainbow fan since the late seventies, and could have corrected them on one or two points! I’d have also liked to hear their take on what could have happened after ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’ if Blackmore hadn’t changed the line-up. When you see what the bassist, Bob Daisley, went on to achieve songwriting-wise with Ozzy Osbourne, one can only imagine that another ‘Rising’ could have been in the making.
Having read no end of books and interviews about Blackmore, Dio et al, I was looking for something extra in RWTW, and I was especially enticed with the premise of focusing on the music, lyrics and production – my bread and butter, so to speak. There were times when I said ‘Yes!’ in my mind to an opinion put forward as it tallied with my own feelings about a particular track. There were other moments when I found myself saying, ‘How wrong could you be!’ But this is the nature of the free-discussion format, and really just adds to the value of it. It wouldn’t do if we were all the same, would it? To be fair, the panellists disagree with each other from time to time while remaining respectful throughout.
My own preferences in Rainbow’s catalogue are the Dio years, despite being introduced to their music via the Bonnet-era ‘Down to Earth’. However, it was insightful to get a take on the AoR Lyn-Turner era and prompted me to revisit these albums with new ears.
I appreciated the insights of the musicians and arrangers on the panel, who dissected the keys and modes of the pieces, including Blackmore’s ‘snake-charmer’ solo approach and use of ‘circle of fifths’ and ‘harmonic minor’ keys. Additional input about the differinteresting valuable.
I had a major divergence from the panel when it came to the last studio album, ‘Stranger in Us All’. To me, this is more than just an afterthought and saw a return to form in the guise of Doogie White and his more Dio-Coverdale vibe. As such, I would have liked to see a bit more space given to the analysis of the record.
The only other minor grumble is the cover design which is a little lacklustre featuring less than high-quality images. Perhaps the author or publisher were hamstrung regarding copyright issues?
Overall, RWTW isn’t good enough to make 5 stars, but neither is it as ‘bad’ as four stars – I’d put it at 4.3 if Amazon had a more sophisticated rating system. It isn’t the best introductory book to Rainbow, as you’re well into nerd territory with the subject matter, but for a fan like me, it’s a great addition to my music-related library.
The format of the book takes the form of a ‘hangout’ between Martin Popoff and his friends, most notably from his Youtube Channel, ‘The Contrarians’. They number fourteen luminaries and fans, including Phil Aston (of ‘Now Spinning Magazine’) together with Peter Jones and Louis Nasser (both top musicians in their own right). As such, I would have loved to occupy a seat at this table as I have been a Rainbow fan since the late seventies, and could have corrected them on one or two points! I’d have also liked to hear their take on what could have happened after ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’ if Blackmore hadn’t changed the line-up. When you see what the bassist, Bob Daisley, went on to achieve songwriting-wise with Ozzy Osbourne, one can only imagine that another ‘Rising’ could have been in the making.
Having read no end of books and interviews about Blackmore, Dio et al, I was looking for something extra in RWTW, and I was especially enticed with the premise of focusing on the music, lyrics and production – my bread and butter, so to speak. There were times when I said ‘Yes!’ in my mind to an opinion put forward as it tallied with my own feelings about a particular track. There were other moments when I found myself saying, ‘How wrong could you be!’ But this is the nature of the free-discussion format, and really just adds to the value of it. It wouldn’t do if we were all the same, would it? To be fair, the panellists disagree with each other from time to time while remaining respectful throughout.
My own preferences in Rainbow’s catalogue are the Dio years, despite being introduced to their music via the Bonnet-era ‘Down to Earth’. However, it was insightful to get a take on the AoR Lyn-Turner era and prompted me to revisit these albums with new ears.
I appreciated the insights of the musicians and arrangers on the panel, who dissected the keys and modes of the pieces, including Blackmore’s ‘snake-charmer’ solo approach and use of ‘circle of fifths’ and ‘harmonic minor’ keys. Additional input about the differinteresting valuable.
I had a major divergence from the panel when it came to the last studio album, ‘Stranger in Us All’. To me, this is more than just an afterthought and saw a return to form in the guise of Doogie White and his more Dio-Coverdale vibe. As such, I would have liked to see a bit more space given to the analysis of the record.
The only other minor grumble is the cover design which is a little lacklustre featuring less than high-quality images. Perhaps the author or publisher were hamstrung regarding copyright issues?
Overall, RWTW isn’t good enough to make 5 stars, but neither is it as ‘bad’ as four stars – I’d put it at 4.3 if Amazon had a more sophisticated rating system. It isn’t the best introductory book to Rainbow, as you’re well into nerd territory with the subject matter, but for a fan like me, it’s a great addition to my music-related library.
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