• AllMyVinyl #26
• Band: Rainbow
• Album Title: Bent Out of Shape
• Release Date: 24 Aug 1983
• Date purchased: Unknown
• Location purchased: Unknown
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

This is the final studio album of the “classic era” of Rainbow.  It was when this album was current that I got into Rainbow – I discovered them at the wrong time, as I never saw them live.  Never saw Ritchie live in ANY band, a regret I still have to this day (and his Ren Faire band has never played near me).  Anyway, I have no memory of buying this album on vinyl whatsoever, but I obviously have it.  The phsyical copy I have shows signs of being 40 years old as the exterior cardboard has the telltale circle of the vinyl disc inside.  It has a $3.99 sticker on it, so I probably bought it at a used record store somewhere back then (as even in 83, albums weren’t $3.99 new). But I have no memory.  I do however have my original cassette tape still from 1983 around in 2024 (along with all the other Rainbow albums too). I’ve included a picture of that below.  But I’m playing the vinyl here.  :)

Starts off strong with two tracks I really like – “Stranded” & “Can’t Let You Go”.  Stranded reminds me of them trying to mirror what they did on the prior album with “Death Alley Driver”.  Album starts off with a 4 and a half minute long fast track – which is right up my alley.  It’s followed by Can’t Let You Go – a track that I ADORE Ritchie’s solo on.  It’s smooth and serves the song well.  A combination that is usually mutually exclusive.  However despite loving the song, I also adore the video.  Back then I didn’t know much of what these guys looked like, so this video was a big deal to me, I think serves the stereotype reputation that Ritchie had.  In this video he plays a character that would fit well in something produced by Vincent Price and his nickname of “The Man in Black” works here too.

Fool For the Night was “ok”.  Not bad, but nothing special.

Fire Dance has some nice keyboard work, and a fast song which I usually like, but not a top tier song for me – guitar solo’s kind of sounds like another Ritchie solo that I can’t place.  Anyone reading this have any idea what I’m talking about?

Anybody There? – An instrumental credited solely to Ritchie – it’s mostly an exercise for a two and a half minute long solo.  It’s not bad at all, but this thing has been done better on other albums that Ritchie has been on.

Desperate Heart starts off with a riff that sounds like something that would come later in Blackmore’s Night – but it doesn’t stay there.  It’s got moments where it wants to be a harder rock song, but mostly it’s a fairly unimaginative song.

Street of Dreams – Well, we get to this one.  It’s the song that most people know from this album (possibly the entire JLT era of Rainbow).   It was big hit here.  The big knock on this era of Rainbow was that they sought after commercial songs, that Ritchie wanted more Rainbow on the radio – that kind of thing.  This song is a great example of that – but I really love the track.  Sure, it’s not the Dio era and Stargazer, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t good too.  I really do like this song.  Video has Ritchie in another creepy role, one of a psychologist.   Love the guitar solo.  It doesn’t fit the song as much as the one I mentioned from Can’t Let You Go does, but I like the vibe when it appears.

Drinking with the Devil – Sounds like something Cozy Powell would have played on, but he was long gone from Rainbow at this point.  Has a harder edge than most of the stuff on this album.  Actually sounds like something that would fit on the Down to Earth album.  When I listened on vinyl today, I had forgotten about this track.  Enjoyed it a lot – which was a pleasant surprise.  Good, fast song (fast for Rainbow anyway).

Snowman is another instrumental which has something to do with the movie called “The Snowman” which came out in 1982.  I’m a little unclear of the connection, to be honest – whether it was FOR the movie, or Ritchie just liked it and rearranged it (as the credits say (arranged by R Blackmore).

Make Your Move – The album finishes up with this track, which another one that’s usually up my alley – the 3 or 4 min fast song.  However, this one doesn’t hook me.   Can’t put my finger on it, but wasn’t terribly memorable, which was a disappointment.  But Ritchie’s solo was good – that I liked.  Rest of it not so much.

To sum up – I enjoyed the album for the most part, but it’s uneven for sure.  There’s huge highlights here for me (Street of Dreams, Can’t Let You Go, Drinking with the Devil), but a lot of the album is just there – not exactly bad, but doesn’t light the world on fire.  This was the final Rainbow album for 12 years (in between Blackmore being back back in Deep Purple for awhile).   While I was pleased to rediscover “Drinking with the Devil”, my opinion on this album didn’t change a lot.

P.S.  I’ve embedded a youtube video of the episode produced by the Deep Purple Podcast guys on this where they talk for awhile about this album.