With just days to wait now before Ride The Rainbow – The Ultimate Tribute To Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow touches down on June 19th, Cleopatra Records has unleashed the final single from the set. Sebastian Bach, the former Skid Row hero who now leads Twisted Sister, fronts a devastating performance of Man On The Silver Mountain — originally a cut from Rainbow‘s epochal debut album, back in 1975, but a concert favorite for years thereafter.
Rainbow‘s own Bob Daisley, Uriah Heep‘s Mick Box, Journey‘s Jonathan Cain and Whitesnake‘s Doug Aldrich complete the lineup, alongside the super-legendary Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck Bogert & Appice, Rod Stewart), who reveals that he was almost in Rainbow himself.
“I was supposed to be in Rainbow back in the day,” Appice said. “Ritchie asked me to be in it, but I couldn’t do it, so I was very pleased to play on this track. I love all the musicians, too — they are all fantastic players and all good friends. So this track kicks ass!”
Jonathan Cain, too, has only the happiest memories of Rainbow.
“When Cleopatra asked me to play on a Rainbow tribute project, I was excited to add my keyboards to it,” Cain said. “Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio were one of the truly melodic and memorable metal bands. I got to party with him towards the end of his touring days after a Sweden Rock Festival. His soaring voice and melodies will be remembered for decades to come.”
Listen the cover of Man On The Silver Mountain, below. For additional details about this special release, such as the track listing, and to listen to the tribute’s cover of Long Live Rock N’ Roll, please go here.
8 Responses
Meh, something is off with this version.
Bach’s vocals are OK, but the song seems slowed down, and the keyboards are awful.
Dana won’t like this, but when did Baz start looking like James Woods?
LOL!!!!!!!!!! Nothing wrong with James Woods, he’s Mensa, man.
It’s great other musicians want to celebrate/pay tribute to others, but I think some music/vocals can’t EVER be “tributed”/honored to the right level…RJD and Rob Halford. I really don’t like these tribute versions of RJD era Rainbow songs. The RJD era of Rainbow is my favorite music of RJD and, IMO, NOBODY can do it justice….not even this group of skilled musicians.
Rattle,
I feel the same way, some bands, and musicians, should just be left alone. The Beatles are one of those bands, for me.
Rattlehead, it’s funny you mention Rob Halford.
The best cover of this song I’ve ever heard was with Rob on vocals – and Ronnie appears right at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJpdRWd9A0&list=RD0SJpdRWd9A0&start_radio=1
I also agree with you that the Ronnie era of Rainbow WAS Rainbow (No disrespect to those that came after him of course).
DJH, thx for sharing….that cover version of the song “Man on the Silver Mountain” was a heavy metal version of it. I guess I’d expect nothing less from the “Metal God” himself.
Yeah, I love the RJD era of Rainbow. Still a good band after RJD was fired by Blackmore, but they went in a more commercial direction than I would have preferred. Blackmore’s band, though, so it is what it is….. And while the Rainbow song “Stargazer” originally sung by RJD is a hard rock masterpiece, I do prefer the live version sung by Graham Bonnet on the “Monsters of Rock: Live at Donington 1980” a little more. To me, the song on the live version just hits a lot harder…. I feel like I’m being a little blasphemous admitting it, though…..
I love all of the musicians playing here; however this sounds very busy and confusing.
Baz is an amazing singer but his vocals go high when RJD went low.
Cain’s keyboards do not fit at all. It sounds like they gave him the key of the song but did not tell him what song he was playing and/or the tempo.
I like it! Sure it’s not as good as Rainbow but it a tribute and it’s just great to hear! Those boys did a great job putting the love into it! Have always been a Mick Box/ Uriah Heep fan too. They nailed it at Kudos to them for keeping it alive.