Correva l'anno 1974 e Ritchie Blackmore, lo storico chitarrista dei DEEP PURPLE decide di mollare la band per dar sfogo alle sue aspirazioni medievali-rinascimentali. Ingaggia gli Elf di Ronnie James Dio e incide un primo lp. Ritchie non soddisfatto del risultato (ma il cd in realtà è molto bello), decide di licenziare in blocco l'ex formazione e assolda il bravissimo Cozy Powell dietro le pelli e due buoni professionisti come il tastierista Tony Carey e il bassista Jimmy Bain. Nel 1976 viene alla luce RISING, un capolavoro condensato in 34 minuti di grande musica. Gli arrangiamenti orchestrali, la voce di Ronnie Dio, la chitarra di Blackmore ci fanno volare in mondi fantastici e in cieli leggendari. Da allora, niente sarà più come prima.
Pronti via, si parte con l'opener "TAROT WOMAN"; un'assolo di tastiera introduce questa bellissima canzone, dove la voce del bravissimo Ronnie James Dio si eleva fino alle stelle, supportato da una ritimca granitica di Cozy e dal buon lavoro di Carey. Ritchie dimostra subito di essere ispirato: riff travolgente e un bellissimo assolo. Si prosegue con "RUN WITH THE WOLF" blues dal piglio molto deciso e heavy. "STARSTRUCK" si snoda su un ritmo in terzine del sempre bravo Powell. Molto accattivante e veloce, rimane impressa nella mente dell'ascoltatore dal primo ascolto. "DO YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES" è il punto più basso dell'album (non che sia brutta). Una canzone molto semplice e diretta basata sulla performance vocale di Dio, veramente di grande livello.
Si arriva così al capolavoro dell'album e, forse, dell'intera carriera Rainbow. Eh sì, "STARGAZER" non ha bisogno di molti commenti... Introdotta da un mini-assolo di Powell la canzone si snoda su un riff maestoso e molto barocco. Qui la voce di Dio vola veramente alto (che performance ragazzi!), aiutato dalle tastiere veramente magiche di Carey. E poteva mancare un assolo del Man In Black? Assolutamente no. Ritchie infatti tira fuori un assolo veramente indescrivibile, molto epico e travolgente, che ci fa volare con la mente veramente verso l'Arcobaleno...
Un discorso a parte merita sicuramente il testo della canzone. Scritto da Dio e da Blackmore, parla della storia di un mago che promette al suo popolo di portarli in un'altro mondo, una stella. Per compiere questo dev'essere costruita una torre di pietra per far volare il mago. Il popolo esegue, costruendo la torre. Arrivati al momento fatidico, quando il mago si arrampica e arriva in cima alla costruzione lo stregone spicca il volo ma cade sul terreno e muore. La gente, vedendo persa l'unica cosa a cui credevano si lascia abbandonare allo scoramento più totale: "Now Where Do We Go?", recitano gli ultimi versi del testo. Il disco chiude alla grande con "A LIGHT IN THE BLACK" terremotante cavalcata finale. Powell qui srotola un tappeto ritimico irresistibile, incentrato tutto sulla sua doppia cassa, dove Ritchie e Carey si scambiano continui assoli di chitarra e tastiera, conducendo dei veri e propri duelli.
Il primo capitolo della saga dell'Arcobaleno è concluso. Non ne rimarrete delusi.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Tarot Woman (06:04)
I don't wanna go
Something tells me no, no, no, no
But traces in the sand
The lines inside my hand say go go go
Beware of a place
A smile on a bright shiny face
I'll never return, how do you know
Tarot woman, I don't know, I don't know
She can take you there
The entrance to the fair, my, my, my
Ride the carousel
Cast a magic spell, you can fly, fly
Something in the air
Tells me to beware, no, no, no
Her love is like a knife
She'll carve away your life, so go, so go
02 Run With the Wolf (03:43)
In the light of the day
You can hear the old ones say
Was the sound last night the wind?
Can you feel the change begin?
By the fall of the snow
A single soul will go
The footsteps on the white
There's an unholy light
There's a hole in the sky
Something evil's passing by
What's to come - when the siren calls you go
To run with the wolf
When the world makes a turn
The eyes of one will learn
That a sound just like the wind
Only makes the change begin
By the end of the rain
The feelings passed again
From things that snap and bite
An unholy light
There's a hole in the sky
Something evil's passing by
What's to come - when the siren calls you go
To run with the wolf
There's a break in the ground
Like the swirling water's angry as they pull you down
When the siren calls you go, yeah
To run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
There's a hole in the sky
Something evil is passing by
What's to come - when the siren calls you go, yeah
To run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
Like a beast in a field
He knows his fate is sealed
He runs with the wolf, oh oooh
Run with the wolf
See the break, you know it's the same(?)
Now he goes
To run, run, run
Run, run, run, run
Run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
Run, run, run
Now we go run, run, run, run
Run with the wolf
All right
Run with the wolf
Run with the wolf
03 Starstruck (04:08)
If I'm high on the hill
She'd still been looking down at me
What does she see that brings her closer every day to my heart
If I'm away from home
And think I'm all alone
She's there, somewhere
I look around and see
And looking back at me
She's there, beware!
Creeping like a hungry cat
I've seen her before
I know it can mean that
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
The lady starstruck, running after me
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck, yeah
I could fly to the moon
But she soon find me and wait me there
I never knew for a while as smile made me really care
She wants a souvenir
To everyone it's clear
She's hooked, one look
She want a photograph
But everybody laughs but not me 'cause I see
She's creeping like a hungry cat
I've seen her before
I know I can mean that
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
The lady starstruck, running after me
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck, oh oh o-o-oh
Oh my
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
The lady starstruck, running after me, yeah
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck, yeah
It used to be a game
Now I can't repeat my name at all
She seems to believe that
I never can refuse a call
She wants a souvenir
To everyone it's clear
She's hooked; one look
She want a photograph
And everybody laughs, hah!
But not me 'cause I see
She's creeping like a hungry cat
I've seen her before
I know it can mean that
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
The lady starstruck, running after me
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck, bad luck
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
The lady starstruck running after me
The lady starstruck, she's nothing but bad luck
Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck
And back in the tree looking back at me
Climbing up my stair
I've just got to beware
Lady starstruck, yes, she's bad luck, bad luck
05 Stargazer (08:32)
High noon, oh I'd sell my soul for water
Nine years worth of breakin' my back
There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard
See how he glides, why he's lighter than air?
Oh I see his face!
Where is your star?
Is it far, is it far, is it far?
When do we leave?
I believe, yes, I believe
In the heat and the rain
With the whips and chains
To see him fly
So many die
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
Just to see him fly
But don't know why
Now where do we go?
Hot wind, moving fast across the desert
We feel that our time has arrived
The world spins, while we put his dream together
A tower of stone to take him straight to the sky
Oh I see his face!
Where is your star?
Is it far, is it far, is it far?
When do we leave?
Hey, I believe, I believe
In the heat and the rain
With the whips and chains
Just to see him fly
Too many die
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
To see him fly
But we don't know why
Ooh, now where do we go
All eyes see the figure of the wizard
As he climbs to the top of the world
No sound, as he falls instead of rising
Time standing still, then there's blood on the sand
Oh I see his face!
Where was your star?
Was it far, was it far
When did we leave?
We believed, we believed, we believed
In heat and rain
With the whips and chains
To see him fly
So many died
We built a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
To see him fly
But why
In all the rain
With all the chains
Did so many die
Just to see him fly
Look at my flesh and bone
Now, look, look, look, look, Look at the tower of stone
I see your rainbow rising
Look there, on the horizon oh no, who's rising
And I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Time is standing still
You, give back my will
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Going home I'm going home
My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is lead ahead
But it's not home
But it's not home
Ooh
Take me back
You, give me back my will
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Going home
I'm going home
My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is lead ahead
But it's not home
But it's not home
Take me back, take me back
Back to my home ooh, ooh, ooh
06 A Light in the Black (08:10)
Cant forget his face, what a lonely place
Has he really let us flow
All the time thats lost, what's the final cost
Will I really get away
All my life it seems, just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Cant believe it all, did he really fall, what to do now i dont know
Somethings calling me back,
Its a light in the black,
Am i ready to go?
I'm coming home
Breathed the air before, heard the thunder roar
Never knew it was for me
Allway's looking down, lost but never found
Eyes but look but not to see
All my life it seems, just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Like an open door, that you've passed before
But you never had the key
Somethings calling me back,
There's a light in the black,
Am i ready to go?
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Yeah
I'm going back to my home
(Instrumental)
I'm going home home home
Going home home home
I'm coming back
Wont forget his face, what a lonely place
Did he really let us go?
All the time thats lost, whats the final cost
Will I really get away?
All my life it seems, just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star
Cant believe it all, did he really fall?
What to do now i don't know
Somethings calling me back, like a light in the black
Yes i'm ready to go
I'm coming home
Home yeah!
I'm on my way back home
Look to the sky, there in the sky
I see a star
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di tuisampa
"Stargazer è un vulcano in eruzione, un mix di frenesia, energia, magia."
"Dopo l'ascolto di questo album, ero quasi triste al pensiero che i Rainbow non hanno più raggiunto questi livelli di sublimità."
Di hellraiser
"33,28 minuti di puro hard rock, dove il chitarrista spadroneggia con i suoi riff e assoli epici."
"Stargazer è ad unanimità il pezzo forte dell'intera opera: epica, magica... una delle più apprezzate dai fans."
