''Bent Out of Shape'' is the seventh studio album released by the British

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

. It was originally released in August 1983 as an LP and

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

. The cassette featured several longer edits compared to the vinyl version. It was recorded at

Sweet Silence Studios Sweet Silence Studios was the leading Denmark, Danish recording studio for rock music during most of its existence. It was originally built in Amager by Danish engineers Freddy Hansson, Flemming Rasmussen and Stig Kreutzfeldt beginning in February ...

in Copenhagen in about 7 weeks.

History

''Bent Out of Shape'' would be Rainbow's final studio album before their twelve-year hiatus from the studio. It also proved to be the band's final studio album with vocalist

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Deep Purple. During his career, Turner fronted and played guitar with pop ro ...

, bassist

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Ro ...

and keyboardist David Rosenthal, and their only one to feature drummer Chuck Burgi, who replaced

Bobby Rondinelli Robert Rondinelli (born July 27, 1955) is a rock drummer best known for his work with the hard rock/ heavy metal bands Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath, The Lizards, The Handful, and Rondinelli. In July 2013, Rondinelli wa ...

just prior to the album's recording sessions. The instrumental "Snowman" is based upon "

Walking in the Air "Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film ''The Snowman'' based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of ''The Snowman'', which has become a seasonal fav ...

", a song written by

Howard Blake Howard David Blake (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film ' ...

for the 1982 animated film ''

The Snowman ''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book ''The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It wa ...

'' based on

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

' 1978 children's book of the same name.

Release and legacy

The album's cover was designed by

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10cc, Ba ...

, and alongside

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

's ''

Coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

'', the artwork was amongst the last to be created by the studio before disbanding in 1983. This album is generally referred to by critics and fans as a commercial effort, with the band attempting to repeat the success of the song "Stone Cold" and the album ''

Straight Between the Eyes ''Straight Between the Eyes'' is the sixth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, released in 1982. A remastered CD reissue, with packaging duplicating the original vinyl release, was released in May 1999. History The band line-up ...

''. As a result, some of the songs, like the first single released from this album, " Street of Dreams", are usually considered to be more in the album-oriented rock style, instead of the

sound of earlier Rainbow albums. The album was particularly aimed at the US market: the title is an American

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

rather than a British one. However, the album received positive reviews in the U.K. Howard Johnson of Kerrang! magazine (No.51 – Sept 22-Oct 5, 1983) praised the album as "possibly Rainbow's most complete work to date" and called "Desperate Heart" and "Street of Dreams" "two of this year's finest tunes". In 1984, "Anybody There" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. A remastered CD reissue was released in May 1999, which restored the artwork of the original release. This has two tracks of a longer duration than on the first US CD issue. The song "Street of Dreams" has been re-recorded in two versions by

Blackmore's Night Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpe, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyri ...

in 2006 for their fifth studio album, ''

The Village Lanterne ''The Village Lanterne'' is the fifth studio album by the group Blackmore's Night, released on Steamhammer US on 4 April 2006. It featured the single "Just Call My Name (I'll Be There)". The song "Olde Mill Inn" was included as soundtrack in ...

''. The version featured on a regular album was sung by

Candice Night Candice Night (born May 8, 1971) is an American singer and musician. She has been the vocalist/lyricist and multi-instrumentalist for the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night since its origins in 1997 with her husband, guitarist Ritch ...

. The other version, a bonus track on a special edition of the album, was performed in a duet by Night and Turner.

Promotion

The music video for "Can't Let You Go", directed by Dominic Orlando, was filmed in New York City (1984) and inspired by the 1920 silent b/w film '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. Along with "Street of Dreams", directed by

Storm Thorgerson Storm Elvin Thorgerson (28 February 1944 – 18 April 2013) was an English graphic designer and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other a ...

, it became a part of Rainbow's home video collection ''The Final Cut'' (1985). The music video for "Street of Dreams" was banned by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

for its supposedly controversial hypnotic clip.

Track listing

The LP has "Desperate Heart" at 4:00, whilst cassette and remastered CD have this track at 4:36, repeating the verse after the guitar solo. Similarly, "Make Your Move" is 3:56 on the LP, yet 5:25 on cassette and remastered CD, due to a reprise of a bridge section and a much longer playout. The first US CD edition (Polydor - 815 305-2) uses the LP version.

Personnel

;Rainbow *

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

- bass,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, producer *

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* David Rosenthal -

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Chuck Burgi -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Production *

Flemming Rasmussen Flemming Rasmussen (born 1 January 1958) is a Danish sound engineer, record producer, and owner and founder of Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. Rasmussen is currently main engineer/producer at Sweet Silence North in Helsingør. Biog ...

- engineer *Thomas Breckling - assistant engineer *Nick Blagona - mixing at BearTracks Studios, New York *Greg Calbi - mastering at Sterling Sound, New York

Singles

* 1983 - "Street of Dreams"/"Anybody There" * 1983 - "Street of Dreams"/"Anybody There"/"Power" (live) - 12" release * 1983 - "Can't Let You Go"/"All Night Long" (live) * 1983 - "Can't Let You Go"/"All Night Long" (live)/"Stranded" (live) - 12" release * 1983 - "Can't Let You Go"/"Drinking with the Devil" - Spain

Charts

;Album ;Singles

References

{{Authority control Rainbow (rock band) albums 1983 albums Albums produced by Roger Glover Polydor Records albums Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis