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Sly hirings and swift firings
The ever prolific Martin Popoff has published another Rainbow book — Sensitive to Light: The Rainbow Story. He promises this to be a “major overhaul” of his out-of-print 2005 title English Castle Magic:
- 50% longer, at 120,000 words and 318 pages in 6″ x 9″ format
- two colour sections of photos (no pictures in the old one)
- new interviews [we presume as in “not included in the previous book” — ed.] with Ritchie Blackmore, Ronnie James Dio, Roger Glover, Jimmy Bain, Tony Carey, Graham Bonnet, Craig Gruber, Cozy Powell and more
- major overhaul in writing and analysis
- reissues and live output covered in more detail
- up to date with the Ronnie Romero lineup live shows and new songs
Promo blurb to follow:
The Man in Black!
His name is Ritchie Blackmore and his reputation is legion. But is it warranted? Find out now, as we look at the man’s career as reigning lord over the constantly evolving consortium of monster talents known as Rainbow.
Ronnie James Dio, Craig Gruber, Jimmy Bain, Tony Carey, Joe Lynn Turner, Graham Bonnet, Roger Glover, Bobby Rondinelli, Bob Daisley, Jimmy Bain, Doogie White and of course Ritchie himself. they all get their say through pages and pages of previously unpublished interview footage, on what makes the Man in Black tick, his pranks, his sly hirings and swift firings.
And of course, there’s the music. From the raw and fiery Dio years, through the criminally under-rated Down to Earth album, the smooth crooning Joe Lynn Turner era and into one final somewhat forgotten record fronted by Doogie White, it’s all examined here, track by track, fascinating tale by trick.
And let’s not forget, Rainbow is the band that wrote “Man on the Silver Mountain,” “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves,” “Stargazer,” “A Light in the Black,” “Tarot Woman,” “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Gates Of Babylon,” “All Night Long,” “Eyes of the World,” “Spotlight Kid,” “Can’t Happen Here,” “Stone Cold,” “Street of Dreams,” “Can’t Let You Go” and “Hunting Humans,” and this is the book you should read to find out why!
Price including shipping:
US orders: $37.00 US funds
Int’l orders (all books go air): $40.00 US funds
Canadian orders: $39.00 Cdn. funds
Ask me if you’d like a PayPal invoice (please indicate what country you are in), or just do yer usual and direct funds to martinp@inforamp.net.
Sweet postage savings to be had for multiple orders (or two of pretty much anything-long story, ask me!), especially for US orders. Or mail payment (personal check in US funds, cash, or INTERNATIONAL money order), to: Martin Popoff, P.O. Box 65208, 358 Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4K 2Z2.
Email me at martinp@inforamp.net with any further questions, and see www.martinpopoff.com for descriptions, cover art and ordering info for my other available 45 or so books.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
If everyone who got fired from Rainbow is interviewed they will need a second volume!
October 9th, 2019 at 14:41Whenever I read or hear that something is “criminally underrated”, it causes me to believe that the one uttering those words is full of shit.
That being said, the book certainly looks like a polished production.
October 10th, 2019 at 03:40A worthy expansion of the Rainbow saga .I read English Castle Magic in 2011,so there were obviously portions that seemed familiar.Every major player who hopped on-and were booted off- Blackmore’s ” musician -go- round is heard from or mentioned.The story is told album by album,and as usual,the author doesn’t shy from giving his opinion on the songs that shined,and those that sucked.Lots of studio stories and tales from the tour trails. The book is pretty well up to date with even the handful of Memories in Rock shows and Ronnie Romero sung singles tossed into the mix.
December 7th, 2019 at 20:37A welcomed addition to my Purple/Ritchie/Rainbow library.