Slide down the mountain
Elizabeth the opera singer is getting her Dio fix by listening to Man on the Silver Mountain, and rather surprisingly, it is the album version.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse3.jpg)
Elizabeth the opera singer is getting her Dio fix by listening to Man on the Silver Mountain, and rather surprisingly, it is the album version.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
The studio version was the start of my journey into the Dio-Rainbow era. It has a lopping groove to it, courtesy of Gary Driscoll and Graig Gruber. I probably enjoy it more nowadays that the live versions.The latter day Dio band slowed down the tempo on stage.
March 4th, 2025 at 21:00The cute nose (and adorable eyebrows) really loves Dio!
Well, I’m happy to say that I’m thankful that the world is big enough for us to have different opinions and tastes 😄
March 5th, 2025 at 06:52dio the best rock singer ever …if dio blackmore and powell had stayed together they could have eventually conquered the world
March 5th, 2025 at 09:21Man on the silver mountain meets woman making nose wrinkle over the rainbow!
https://media.tenor.com/yO4XKnkwqSYAAAAM/nose-wrinkle-judy-garland.gif
I actually prefer MOTSM in its original studio version to any live take I’ve heard from Rainbow. Why, because ELF, especially the rhythm section of Driscoll and Gruber, from years of playing together just grooved more than Powell/Bain, Powell/Daisley, Powell/Glover, Rondinelli/Glover or Burgi/Glover, there is more small detail and musicality. I know that it wasn’t heavy enough for Ritchie, but it was more musical to me with the Elf guys and their American groove. When I first heard Rising I was aghast at how crude the rhythm section sounded in comparison.
It’s a song that is also rarely covered well, this here is the best non-Rainbow version I know:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dU-Mk-mJQw
Towards the end it sounds a bit like Jon Lord guested on Bonfire’s MOTSM, with a Hammond soloing over the repeated riff. In real life we all know that Mickey Lee Soule wasn’t allowed to take any solos on the Rainbow debut except for some piano tinkling on If You Don’t Like Rock’n’Roll.
Rainbow versions of MOTSM were also live too fast, robbing the song of its natural grandeur, and/or ruined by silly medleys (which I hate with any band). When Bonnet or Turner sang it, the song also suffered from them not being able to project the (mind you, nonsensical) lyrics. Rolling wheels that can feel, moving suns that can run and all will be made holy again, yeah, sure, whatever, Ronnie, whatever you are smoking I’ll have a whiff of too. 😏
In my book, the MOTSM riff is also in the same class as SOTW, Burn, Sail Away & KAYBD, my five favorite Ritchie riffs. (Add Woman From Tokyo and Might Just Take Your Life if you want to make it six or seven.)
And finally, chord construction-wise in the verses, it’s one of the most complex Rainbow songs (the verse doesn’t even start on the root note of the key of the song) with very little repetition.
March 5th, 2025 at 13:35First song I heard Dio. I can’t forget it. Man on the silver mountain the album version is the best. A perfect song with a great guitar solo. Also an excellent album. Catch the rainbow, still I’m sad, temple of the king…..
March 5th, 2025 at 19:03“dio the best rock singer ever …if dio blackmore and powell had stayed together they could have eventually conquered the world …”
Huh? 🤨 Meanwhile, in another part of town called reality, each Dio era Rainbow album sold less than its predecessor in the US – all the way up to the last one, LLRnR. They sure took their time conquering the world, pretty much the success rate of the not quite flyworthy wizard and his tower to soar away from, oops …
Dio-Rainbow’s last chance to crack the US was a good one – opening for REO Speedwagon on their lengthy 1978 tour before sold-out arenas, it probably cost them quite a bit to get on that tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TAozwgIOa8
Blackmore boasted ahead of the tour how they would “kill REO every night”. Like hell they did – unlike Judas Priest or the Scorpions who on extended tours opening for KISS cracked the US market for themselves -, at the end of their tour LLRnR stalled at an embarrassing #89 in the Billboard 200 while REO was going double platinum with ‘You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish’ during the same period.
Frustrated, Blackmore dissolved the complete band after the REO tour – except for Cozy (who stayed for one more album) and revamped the sound with Glover, Airey and Bonnet.
Trust the words of a German from experience, Dave: Conquering the world is often easier said than done. 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmowqd15MeY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9iFpcb2EXk
March 5th, 2025 at 21:52The (for that particular line-up) fateful 1978 US tour of Rainbow, nearly thirty gigs with REO, a few with Foghat (at that point still a massive draw in the US) and one with Alice Cooper. The gigs with AC/DC still saw the schoolboy-uniformed Aussies opening for Rainbow – that would soon change …
http://www.dio.net/tour/long_live_rock_n_roll.html
Whoever had the idea of pairing The Cars up with Rainbow? 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdA8EB5Oz6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnr4zItpdH8
I mean I love the Bostonians, but with a Dio era-Rainbow audience they were bound to have a hard time.
Well, one hopes that Rainbow at least picked up some fashion inspiration from The Cars, e.g. that flared trousers and platforms were on the way out. 😏
Let’s see, next Rainbow line-up the flares and platforms were gone with Ritchie and the singer finally had a decent haircut and not moon & stars embroidery on his jeans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjTaJo2n6hY
March 6th, 2025 at 02:40