Live long an’ rock ‘n’ roll!

Look for loads of great new takes (some of them hot) across a heft 308 pages. Here’s the hype on ‘er. Loads of memorabilia shots, plus the eight-page colour section is particularly nice.

Live long an’ rock ‘n’ roll! In Run with the Wolf: Rainbow on Record, Martin Popoff—also author of Sensitive to Light: The Rainbow Story, as well as multiple books on Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Dio—assembles a panel if interested interviewees in celebration of Ritchie Blackmore’s legendary band Rainbow, one album at a time, every song considered.

The sacred texts discussed are 1975’s Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, 1976’s Rising, 1978’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, 1979’s Down to Earth, 1981’s Difficult to Cure, 1982’s Straight Between the Eyes, 1983’s Bent Out of Shape and 1995’s Stranger in Us All.

Look for debates on the comparative value of the band’s four different singers (Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White), along with ponderings on production, lyrics, Ritchie’s solos, favourite keyboard flourishes, Cozy Powell’s sound and style and then finally, what is the deal with Stranger in Us All?!

Popoff uses the celebrated structure used on similar previous titles embracing the works of The Cure, Blue Öyster Cult, Robert Plant and Thin Lizzy, with Martin serving as pull-no-punches moderator and presenting the panel’s arguments in easy-to-read Q&A format. It is the author’s hope that by the end of this quite scholarly exercise, every last moat-metal Rainbow fan will find multiple new ways to approach and enjoy this classic catalogue.