Rising (Rainbow album)

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Professional reviews
Rising

Studio album by Rainbow
Released	March 1976
Recorded	February 1976
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	33:28
Label	Polydor
All Music Guide link
Rainbow chronology
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)	Rising (1976)	On Stage (1977)

Rising is a Hard Rock album by Rainbow, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music). With only Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore remaining from the previous album, Rising has become known as the best album of Rainbow's career. Rising is characterized for its heavy guitar riffs and the keyboard skills of Tony Carey coupled with the thunderous energised drumming of Cozy Powell. Recorded in Munich in less than a month, the album has surprisingly few overdubs and was overseen by famous rock producer Martin Birch

The 8 minute and 26 second piece "Stargazer" is renowned for the unmatched powerful vocals of Ronnie James Dio. Its use of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra to strengthen and enrich the riffs played by the guitar, bass and keyboards (essentially, the orchestra was doubling with the keyboards) was an idea that led to the album's establishment as one of Rainbow's best albums, if not the best. The song worked well with Ritchie Blackmore's renaissance-style guitar work. The album directly inspired the neo-classical heavy rock genre personified by Yngwie Malmsteen. Surprisingly little of the album made it into the live shows, 'Stargazer' and 'Do You Close Your Eyes' featured in the 1976 shows, while 'Light in the Black' was dropped early on in the supporting tour. 'Tarot Woman' was played by Dio in 2004.

Rising peaked at #48 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.