If there’s a band in need of a proper box set treatment, it’s RAINBOW, and now there’s going to be one – but not in the form the group’s fans have been waiting for. Titled “Light In The Black 1975-1984” and scheduled for January release, the 5CD and a DVD package contains too many previously released tracks – regular album ones and those included as bonuses on recent reissues – to not make the aficionados think they’re being milked for money, and too much material for a casual supporter of Ritchie Blackmore’s cause.
There’s a lot of rarities to not be interested in it, yet the visual content is a well-bootlegged BBC edit of the group’s festival performance, weirdly sequenced and severely shortened, and not the straight and complete run-through of it, although it’s good to have “Stargazer,” available only on the “Monsters Of Rock” compilation before. Then, the 1982 Texas cuts come from the audio side of the “Live Between The Eyes” video, while “L.A. Connection” wasn’t played in Munich in 1977 but appeared as a studio video, presumably from Don Kirshner TV programme, as a bonus on the German gig DVD. As for adding applause to “Catch The Rainbow,” the enhancement validity of this move is highly debatable. Still, missing out on the package is really difficult… to cure.
Light In The Black
1975-1984
Disc 1:
1. Black Sheep Of The Family
2. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
3. Snake Charmer
4. The Temple Of The King
5. Tarot Woman (rough mix)
6. Stargazer (rough mix)
7. Run With The Wolf (rough mix)
Live in Osaka, 1976:
8. Mistreated
9. Medley:
* Purple Haze
* White Christmas
* Lazy
* Man On The Silver Mountain
* Blues
* Starstruck
Disc 2:
1. Sensitive To Light (rough mix)
2. The Shed
3. Rainbow Eyes (rough mix)
4. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bob Daisley rehearsal tape)
5. Long Live Rock N Roll (L.A. Rehearsal, 1977)
6. Do You Close Your Eyes (Bob Daisley rehearsal tape)
7. Still I’m Sad (with organ Intro / Bob Daisley rehearsal tape)
8. Gates Of Babylon
9. Catch The Rainbow (live, 1976, with applause)
Live in Munich, Germany, 1977:
10. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
11. L.A. Connection
Disc 3:
1. Eyes Of The World (instrumental outtake)
2. Ain’t A Lot Of Love In The Heart Of Me
3. Lost In Hollywood
4. Danger Zone
5. Since You Been Gone (album version)
6. Bad Girl
King Biscuit Flower Hour, live at Calderone, New York, 1979:
7. Over The Rainbow / Eyes Of The World
8. Love’s No Friend
9. Ode To Joy
10. All Night Long (single remix)
11. Weiss Heim
12. Stargazer (live at Donnington, 1980)
Disc 4:
1. Midtown Tunnel Vision
2. I Surrender (album version)
3. Magic
4. Vielleicht Das Nachster Mal
5. Jealous Lover
Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, 1981:
6. Spotlight Kid
7. Rule Britannia / Fire
8. Death Alley Driver
9. Bring On The Night (Dream Chaser)
10. Stone Cold (album version)
Live in San Antonio, TX, 1982:
11. Power
12. Miss Mistreated
13. Tearin’ Out My Heart
Disc 5:
1. Can’t Let You Go (album version)
2. Desperate Heart (album version)
3. Anybody There (outtake / Polar mix)
4. Drinking With The Devil (outtake / different guitar solo)
5. Make Your Move
6. Snowman
7. Street Of Dreams (album version)
Live at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, 1983:
8. Stranded
9. Power
10. Fire Dance
Live at The Budokan, Tokyo, 1984:
11. Fool For The Night
12. Difficult To Cure
13. Smoke On The Water
DVD – Live at Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, UK, 1980:
1. All Night Long
2. Catch The Rainbow
3. Eyes Of The World
4. Lost In Hollywood (guitar solo)
5. Will You Love Me Tomorrow
6. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (pt. 1)
7. Kill The King
8. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (pt. 2)
