Rainbow - Long Live Rock And Roll (1978)

One of the finest proponents of blues-based hard rock during the latter half of the 1970s, Long Live Rock marked the end of the Ronnie Dio era of the group which, including this one, spawned three powerful studio albums.

Despite internal turmoil within the group which would lead to Dio, Bob Daisley (bass) and Dave Stone (keyboards) departing from the group shortly afterwards, the album itself is a classic of its day that still sounds good when cranked up on the stereo!

Kicking off with Cozy Powell’s pounding intro to the title track (Cozy being the only member other than Mr Rainbow Himself, Richie Blackmore, to make it to another Rainbow album) the album thunders along with the trademark guitar/Hammond sound developed in Deep Purple giving a thick and heavy sound to the tracks with Dio’s powerful voice belting out the lyrics with his usual gusto.

Personal standout tracks are the title number and Kill The King which was an earlier Rainbow track that appears on the live ‘On Stage’ album a year prior to this release.

Whilst Rainbow progressively became more and more commercial following Dio’s departure – the three albums with Ronnie Dio were consistently prime examples of 1970s rock at its best and perhaps if Blackmore had been a little less irascible maybe this album wouldn’t have been the swansong of the group’s strongest lineup!

• Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
• Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar
• David Stone – Keyboards
• Bob Daisley – Bass
• Cozy Powell – Drums