''Straight Between the Eyes'' is the sixth studio album 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 ...

, released in 1982. A remastered CD reissue, with packaging duplicating the original vinyl release, was released in May 1999.

History

The band line-up was the same as had recorded the previous year's ''

Difficult to Cure ''Difficult to Cure'' is the fifth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, released in 1981. The album marked the further commercialization of the band's sound, with Ritchie Blackmore once describing at the time his appreciation of t ...

'' album, with the exception of David Rosenthal, who replaced

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore ...

on keyboards. The title allegedly came from a phrase from

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

, describing

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

to Blackmore. The sleeve-art is by British artist Jeff Cummins and

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 ...

. The original vinyl issue had the lyrics printed on the inner sleeve. In an April 1982 interview with British rock magazine ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'', Blackmore stated of "MISS Mistreated", "Well it's to avoid confusion that the 'Miss' is written three times bigger than the 'mistreated' but I expect we'll have someone who shall remain nameless coming up to us saying 'I wrote that song'!" That someone being

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...

, with whom Blackmore had co-written " Mistreated" for the 1974

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

album ''

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

''. Blackmore had this issue with Coverdale previously when a rendition of "Mistreated" was included on the Rainbow live album '' On Stage''. Videos were shot for the songs "Stone Cold" and "Death Alley Driver", which featured

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's video game ''

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

''. They were occasionally still aired on VH1's ''

Metal Mania ''Metal Mayhem'' (formerly ''Metal Mania'' or ''Headbangers'') is a block of classic heavy metal/ hard rock music videos that first aired on VH1 Classic. The series originally featured music videos from 1970s to early 1990s, but since VH1 Classi ...

'' program, but have not been aired since 2005. However, they can be found on YouTube or on the band's "Final Cut" 1985 home video.

Tour

The tour featured a giant pair of moving mechanical eyes as part of the stageset, with spotlights shining from the pupils. This is captured on the video release ''Live Between the Eyes'' recorded at the Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio, Texas on wednesday, August 18, 1982. The tour, although extensive, did not include the UK, which rankled with British fans.

Accolades

In 2022, ''Straight Between the Eyes'' was named #5 of 'The 25 greatest rock guitar albums of 1982' list in

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

Track listing

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 ...

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 ...

- bass, producer *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

* David Rosenthal -

keyboards 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 ...

, orchestral arrangements ;Additional musicians *François Dompierre - orchestra conductor *Raymond Dessaint - orchestra lead ;Production *Engineered by Nick Blagona (assisted by Robbie Whelan) *Recorded at

Le Studio Le Studio (later renamed Studio Morin Heights) was a residential recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains near the town of Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada built in 1972 by recording engineer and producer André Perry, Nick Blagona and Yaël ...

, Morin Heights, Canada *Digital mixing by Roger Glover and Nick Blagona *Digital mastering by Greg Calbi, Sterling Sound, New York

Charts

;Album ;Singles

Certifications

In other media

The song "Stone Cold" was featured in the video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' on the radio station Emotion 98.3.

References

{{Authority control 1982 albums Rainbow (rock band) albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Albums produced by Roger Glover Albums recorded at Le Studio Polydor Records albums Mercury Records albums