OFF: Big news for Rainbow fans

[Stephen Swann]

Of course, it might also be old news, and I just missed it the first
time around.  :-)

Anyway, for any of you who are big Rainbow fans, and have been pining
for a remixed _Rainbow Rising_ CD like I have... well, it's not
happening.  But, there's something out now that just might salve the
pain of that for a while longer.

_The Very Best of Rainbow_ (c) 1997 Polygram records.

>From Blackmore's Rainbow:
 1. Man on the Silver Mountain
 2. Catch the Rainbow
>From Rainbow Rising:
 3. Starstruck
 4. Stargazer
>From Long Live Rock N Roll:
 5. Kill the King
 6. Long Live Rock N Roll
 7. Gates of Babylon
>From Down to Earth:
 8. Since You Been Gone
 9. All Night Long
>From Difficult to Cure:
 10. I Surrender
 11. Can't Happen Here
>From b-side of Can't Happen Here:
 12. Jealous Lover
>From Straight Between the Eyes:
 13. Stone Cold
 14. Power
>From Bent Out of Shape:
 15. Can't Let You Go
 16. Street of Dreams


A few comments:

Ok, no, it's not as great a compilation/retrospective as Judas
Priests' _Metal Works_.  But, hey, most bands get a non-remastered
"greatest radio hits" comp that the real fans don't give a shit about.
This *is* remastered, and actually has "Stargazer" on it... hey, that
makes it worth the purchase price right there!

I was kind of pleasantly surprised that a few songs I remember from my
adolescence still hold up pretty well.  "Street of Dreams" actually
sounds better to me now than it did when I was 16 (back then I thought
it didn't "rock" enough).  ;-) "Stone Cold" has aged much better than
I thought it might.  The remastered songs from the first few Dio
albums (the real reason I bought the CD) sound absolutely wonderful.

So anyway, if you're a big fan of Rainbow, especially of the old Dio
material which has never seen a decent sounding CD release, this
compilation is simply a must-have.  It's the only place (for now,
anyway) that you can get decent versions of those songs... what more
need be said?  :-)

Steve