Pickin LeBrains…Rainbow/Straight Between The Eyes

Welcome to Pickin LeBrains  Week here at Arena Rock….

Mikey himself is reading this  going ” wawazat Deke?”

I came across Mikes Word Press Blog when i was surfin one Sunday afternoon (about 3 years ago)and came across his site as I had googled Helix and BOOM a interview Mikey had conducted with Brian Vollmer appeared. I than commented on his blog and told him a Helix/Triumph story and also where i was from….

Mikey response was classic …he told me he went out with a PYSCHO Girl from Tbay and all his cassette tapes were  in Tbays landfill after the breakup!

Hahahaha….a musical blog friendship was born! Along with Mikey I got to know a bunch of great bloggers thru WordPress…Aaron,Rich,Sarca,HMO, James,mr 1537, and many others as well it’s a huge community and check out these guys/gals sites off to the right of my page under the title Fellow Friends.

Also you just maybe never know you might be next in line for a 3 album Personal Fav Salute!

So I thought for fun this week I would review 3 albums under the category of Pickin Lebrains! 3 bands that Mikey loves and knows every stitch,every nook and cranny of there music and for your reading pleasure for everyone else 3 albums by 3 artists I have not reviewed yet! Believe it or not but these 3 reviews this week I don’t think Tbone ever bought. I could be wrong and Tbone if your reading this, it may be the first week I don’t cheap shot you with a Nightranger,Y&T or Bad English Jab in print! Enjoy the week off my friend! Hip Hip Hooray!

First up…..Rainbow…..sorry Dorothy not that Rainbow but Richie Blackmores Rainbow featuring AOR Pop Tart Joe Lynn Turner on vocals,Bobby Rondelli on the drums,David Rosenthal on keys and Richies sidekick from his Deep Purple days Roger Glover on bass….

Rainbow I got into back in early 82 and that was due to John Young. He’s the fella I have discussed in various posts here at Arena Rock and you can read about him here under Nicknames.(on the right side of the page under Categories)

Straight Between The Eyes was my first ever Rainbow purchase that year of 1982 and why not its a great slice of Hard Rock done good…..

DEATH ALLEY DRIVER-this is a Kickin opener and as soon as I heard this track at John Youngs house I had to get my own copy! Death Alley Driver is just that, big sound (this album was recorded in Quebec at Le Studio) so the sonics are here! Richie goes nutty on his strat while  Rondelli pounds the gas pedal on his kit and Richie weaves up,and down his fretboard along with Rosenthals keys! Turner is a good hard rock AOR singer and here he proves it. This song is played fast and sets the tone and makes me as a young snot nosed kid take notice!

STONE COLD-for me this is the Rainbow I got know and sure I knew Ronnie James Dio was in Rainbow a while before in the 70s so I guess perhaps Turners voice was too tailor made for American audiences and well can Ya blame Richie? That’s were the dough is made and I’m sure they made dough off of this tune! This tune could have fit nicely on another big album at the time Foriegners 4 album. Watch the video posted to see what I’m yapping about!  Stone Cold is here though and it’s a good track and kudos to Rainbow for tacking on a slower tune 2nd track in! Who the hell does that ever?

BRING ON THE NITE(DREAM CHASER)-Bobby plays a quick snap happy drum beat on this tune and it’s too me sounding like another single kids with a real super catchy chorus and Richie cranks his guitar up during the solo and that’s to keep the metal heads like me happy basically tossing me a McHappy Blackmore Meal Deal during solo time. This is a real good song and it’s evident to me that Richie I’m  sure  woulda punched me in the mouth with the comment that Foreigner 4 was a huge influence  in this song and Stone Cold.

TITE SQUEEZE-This one sounds like a jam turned into a song! Love the Purplish sounds courtesy of the keys! Take a bow Mr Rosenthal! Love how the song shifts kooky gears after the chorus with Richie conducting the troops thru this tune.

TEARIN OUT MY HEART- Yeah you can tell by the title that this one is gonna be the slowey doughey balladeer song of the record and why not in Turner, Richie has the voice to do it and he does. Now this is a good song at the time I skipped it every time but here 33 years later and well it’s not too bad. Yeah call me Mush! For my money though Stone Cold is the better of the two! Having said that though I do dig when the song goes into the chorus it ramps into big power chords and Richie torches his fretboard with tons of blazing licks but stays in the frame of the song! Ahhh crap maybe I do like this song better than Stone Cold!??

POWER-Straight ahead rocker! The keys are cranked and Roger Glover is working the bass hard and Rondelli is playing a straight ahead groove on the drums while the dude in black keeps everyone in check and this is no nonsense Rainbow! Turner is giving his all vocally and Yep Rainbows a Rockin!

MISS MISSTREATED-great title! Richie leads the pack and another straight ahead rocker with once again the keys are  filling out the sound huge! Miss Misstreated is a romping good time rocker! Dig the chorus where the song courtesy of the keyboards sounds like it’s gonna come unhinged but thankfully that does not happen!

ROCK FEVER-Joe throws down some cliche lines like ” never seen you rock,never seen you roll…Rock Fever!”  The band does not deviate to far from the rock road and were good here if your looking for a no brainer 4 on the floor stomper! This is your track than and for 93.7 % of the time this  is my deal!

EYES OF FIRE-Wowzers now we’re talking! Eyes Of Fire is a big bombastic slab of progressive Rock served with a side order of Deep Purple! This song smashes and crashes with epic greatness and for me it’s one off those end of album Gems! All these players take this song to the next level! I friggin dig it! You can too crank the video!

IN CONCLUSION- Rainbow 1982 is my intro to there music and by early 1984 Rainbow is defunct as Blackmore and Glover revamp Deep Purple and release a masterpiece called Perfect Strangers! Rainbow though for me put out a real good hard rock album chocked full of Big Arena Rock and even though all these years later I hear some Foreigner in this record I tell Ya one thing I would rather have Rainbow nicking a bit off of 4 than Journeys Escape( as that one was the other big seller at the time! ) Gosh that would have been aweful!

Check back Wednesday for another instalment of PICKIN LeBRAINS!