''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

, released on 14 April 1978 and the last to feature original lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio.

Background

Recording of the album commenced in April 1977, at a studio in Château d'Hérouville, France, featuring

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

, Ronnie James Dio and

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, B ...

. Keyboards were initially played on a session basis by former Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey, while bass guitar was initially played by Mark Clarke. Clarke was soon dismissed, however, and the bass guitar was recorded by Blackmore himself. By July 1977 seven tracks that ended on the album were in demo form. Recording was suspended, while the band recruited bassist

Bob Daisley Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is an Australian musician and songwriter. A bassist, he is perhaps best known for his intermittent relationship with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, co-production and songwriti ...

and keyboardist David Stone and thereafter commenced extensive touring of Europe in the summer and autumn of 1977. A return to the Château d'Hérouville studio in December saw the band finish the album and also yielded a final track, "Gates of Babylon". Although Daisley and Stone are listed on the album credits for their contributions, they joined the band partway through the recording sessions and only appear on three and four songs, respectively. Stone wrote parts of "Gates of Babylon", the middle 8 section during the guitar solo. He was paid for the work, but not credited on the album.

Artwork

The original vinyl release was in a gatefold-sleeve cover illustrated by Debbie Hall, with a lyric-sheet insert. The crowd picture is actually from a Rush concert, with the wording on the banner the fans were holding replaced by the Rainbow album title and the visible Rush T-shirts airbrushed to black. Original copies of the single "L.A. Connection" were issued on red vinyl and featured aspects of the previous studio album's cover picture on the B-side's label.

Release and reception

Geoff Ginsberg of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that ''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' "would turn out to be the last great album Rainbow would ever make, although they did enjoy a great deal of chart success in the post-Dio era." The album, among other Rainbow releases, is often cited as a strong influence on formation of the

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

genre, especially on its fantasy-themed lyrics and aesthetics.

Reissues

*''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' was remastered on CD for the US market in April 1999, with the European version following later. The US version had a matte booklet/insert, which matched the original vinyl sleeve for all markets, whereas the European issue was the standard glossy type. *''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll Story'', an album and a book about the making of the LP was released in June 2009 in the "Rock Landmarks" series. The inlay story was written by Jerry Bloom, author of ''Black Knight'', a Ritchie Blackmore's biography. *On 12 April 2012 a picture disc album version of ''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' was released in the US as part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2012. *A deluxe edition version was released on 13 November in Europe, featuring rough mixes of the album tracks from July 1977 except "Gates of Babylon", which was written later.

Track listing

All songs written by

and Ronnie James Dio except where noted. All lyrics by Dio.Ritchie Blackmore Book Review
/ref> * Track 3 - Many vinyl copies label the song's length as 3:35.

2012 Deluxe Edition

Disc one contains the original album with no bonus tracks. * Track 7 - "Rainbow Eyes" is an early version. Tracks 10–14 are prerecorded with live vocal by Dio.

Personnel

Credits taken from album liner notes. ;Rainbow *

– guitars, bass on tracks 1–3, 6 (also bass on rough mix tracks 1–6, 2012 Deluxe Edition) * Ronnie James Dio – vocals *

– drums *

– bass on tracks 4–5 and 7 * David Stone – keyboards on tracks 4–6, piano outro on track 3 * Tony Carey – keyboards on tracks 1–2 and 8 ;Additional musicians *Rainer Pietsch – scoring and conducting on "Gates of Babylon" and "Rainbow Eyes" *Bavarian String Ensemble – strings on "Gates of Babylon" *Rudi Risavy –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

on "Rainbow Eyes" *Max Hecker – recorder on "Rainbow Eyes" "'Rainbow Eyes' String Quartet": *Ferenc Kiss – first

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

, concert master *Nico Nicolic – second violin *Ottmar Machan –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

*Karl Heinz Feit –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

;Production * Martin Birch – producer and engineer *Max Hecker – classical instruments recording engineer *Bruce Payne – direction *Recorded at The Strawberry Studio at Château d'Hérouville, France, May–July and December 1977

Singles

* 1978 – "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll / Sensitive to Light" * 1978 – "L.A. Connection / Lady of the Lake" These two singles were also re-released in the UK in July 1981. "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" was also used for many years as a jingle by the British radio DJ

Alan Freeman Alan Leslie Freeman MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting '' Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 20 ...

Charts

Certifications

Accolades

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Live Rock 'n' Roll 1978 albums Rainbow (rock band) albums Albums produced by Martin Birch Polydor Records albums