VIA PRESS RELEASE | When you’re gathering guests for a Rainbow tribute album, who better to invite than some of the people who made Rainbow such a great band in the first place?
That’s what Cleopatra Records have done. Ride The Rainbow is an absolutely star-studded journey through the many faces of the Ritchie Blackmore-led legend, with stunning performances from no fewer than six Rainbow alumni: Bob Daisley, Graham Bonnet, Don Airey, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White, and Ronnie Romero! Plus Blackmore’s Night vocalist Candice Night, and Ritchie’s successor in Deep Purple, Steve Morse. As the subtitle says, it truly is “The Ultimate Tribute To Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.”
And to get the ball rolling, here’s the fantasy league line up of Bonnet, Airey, and Daisley reuniting for the first time since the dawn of the eighties, to perform a song that Daisley first recorded on Rainbow’s third album, also titled Long Live Rock’n’Roll, in 1978. The late Ronnie James Dio was the frontman on that record, but of course Bonnet and Airey know it well… they joined the band for its next album, Down To Earth, but “Long Live Rock’n’Roll” remained a concert favorite throughout their own time with the band.
The rhythm section here, too, is legendary. Bob Daisley is here, of course. But there’s more. Back when Ritchie was first starting out with Deep Purple, Vanilla Fudge were one of the nascent band’s biggest influences. Keyboard player Jon Lord caught the American group’s first London performance in 1967, and was convinced, “we were going to be an English Vanilla Fudge.” Drummer Carmine Appice, here taking a break from his current duties with Cactus, was a founder member of the Fudge.
“I always liked Long Live Rock’n’Roll,” says Carmine. “It had a Cactus boogie, easy for me to play…it kicked ass then and now!” Ace guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, on the other hand, was but a youth when Rainbow launched in 1975. But, he recalls, “I heard the Rainbow Rising album as a kid and became a life-long Rainbow fan! It’s a great honor to play on this song and to pay tribute to this historic band!”
Releasing on June 19, the full album effectively covers the complete Rainbow story, from debut album favorites “Catch The Rainbow” and “Temple Of The King,” through to “Street Of Dreams” from the original band’s 1983 farewell Bent Out Of Shape. Yes, the Rainbow is still rising!
