Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow/CA,USA 1997 Complete

The fateful year 1997 marked the end of Ritchie Blackmore’s career as an HR guitarist. The best full live album has been newly discovered. Two of the best live albums from the Doogie White era will be released at the same time, and this work is the second. This is a superb audience recording of “March 18, 1997 Hollywood Performance”. This show was known for its FM broadcast and was also famous as “the last soundboard of RAINBOW in the 90s.” However, this work is a complete version that is much longer than the FM sound board, and it is a transcendent work that has greatly surpassed the sound quality (despite being a guest record). Before such quality, first of all is the position of the show. How this show was the final edition of “HR Guitarist: Richie”. Let’s look back at the schedule from that time. 1995《August release of “Solitary Stranger”》 September 30th – November 4th: Europe #1 (25 performances) November 11th – 23rd: Japan (9 performances) 1996 June 27th Sunday – July 7th: South America (8 performances) ・July 21st – August 11th: Europe #2 (13 performances) [Chuck Berghi leaves → John Miceli joins] February 20th – 3rd, 1997 May 19th: North America (18 performances) ←★Here★・May 31st: Denmark (final performance) [RAINBOW disbanded → BLACKMORE’S NIGHT started] This is RAINBOW in the 90s. It traveled to Europe, Japan, and South America, but “STRANGER IN US ALL” was finally released in North America at the end of 1996, when HR/HM was in extinction. The accompanying U.S. tour ended in just one month. This work is the 17th performance of the “North American” leg. It was the third and final concert since RAINBOW’s collapse. This work recorded at such a show is a super famous recording that goes beyond the sound board. It’s not that the conventional FM sound board is bad, and even at our store it has become a standard as the press CD “HOLLYWOOD 1997 (Black Box 019)”. This work, despite the audience recording, has transcended such a masterpiece sound board. Of course, the strong core with no sense of distance and fine details are also tremendous, but if that’s all it is, it won’t be “beyond” even if it is “on par with a sound board”. What is truly wonderful is the natural sound, well-balanced ensemble, and unwavering stability. For example, although the conventional FM sound board is close-contact with a completely zero distance, the essential guitar is retracted and only the drums and vocals are strangely emphasized. It came out too much, and the peaks of the singing voice and hitting sounds were also distorted. Up until now, it has been thought that the on-site sound was the cause, but as long as you listen to this work, the on-site mix is ​​beautiful (as usual). Perhaps the staff at the broadcasting station did not have an understanding of RAINBOW. And, even more than that sound is the real pleasure of the full show that finally saw the light of day. Let’s organize the set by comparing it with the FM sound board to see which songs are appearing for the first time. Part Purple era that could be heard on the old FM version: Mistreated (★) / Lazy (★) / Perfect Strangers / Woman From Tokyo (★) / Burn / Smoke On The Water ・Ronnie era: Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll / Man On The Silver Mountain/Graham era: Since You Been Gone Part-time Ronnie era that first appeared this time: Temple Of The King/Joe era: Spotlight Kid/Difficult To Cure/Maybe Next Time (★)/Street Of Dreams (★)・Solitary Stranger: Wolf To The Moon/Still I’m Sad/Black Masquerade/Ariel ・Others: Greensleeves/Blues/Hey Joe (★) *Note: “★” marks could not be heard on the official version “BLACK MASQUERADE” song. …and it looks like this. The soundboard version was biased toward the DEEP PURPLE and Ronnie & Graham era (I don’t understand it after all), but this work is full of numbers and new songs from the Joe era. Although similar to the set of the final Danish performance, it is a wider and more colorful show. And the performance that spelled out such a set was the last brilliance of the HR era. In fact, the somewhat relaxed performance brings out a fierce passion! I don’t feel that way, but that doesn’t mean I lack motivation either. As mentioned above, the mood of playing songs from all eras was very lively, and loud choruses often occurred. Richie also seems to be having fun watching the venue with a groove rather than a sharp phrase. It may be a typical American show. After this show, RAINBOW collapsed after two performances. Although it was revived 19 years later, Richie who was there was not an “HR guitarist”. Of course, his sense of spinning enchanting phrases on the acoustic guitar is still intact, but Ritchie, who was passionate about electric guitar, passed away in 1997. A new masterpiece where you can enjoy the final full show with the best sound that exceeds the sound board. Live at Billboard Live, Hollywood, CA, USA 18th March 1997 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (60:15) 1. Over The Rainbow 2. Spotlight Kid 3. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll 4. Misrtreated 5. Wolf To The Moon 6. Difficult To Cure 7. Keyboards Solo 8. Still I’m Sad 9. Bass Solo 10. Drums Solo 11. Man On The Silver Mountain Disc 2 (72:46) 1. Trad Song / Greensleeves 2. Temple Of The King 3. Black Masquerade 4. Blues 5. Ariel 6. Lazy 7. Since You Been Gone 8. Perfect Strangers 9. Maybe Next Time 10. Woman From Tokyo 11. Hey O.J (Hey Joe) 12. Burn 13. Smoke On The Water 14. Street Of Dreams Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar Doogie White – Vocals Greg Smith – Bass, Backing Vocals Paul Morris – Keyboards John Miceli – Drums Candice Night – Backing Vocals