When I got a hold of this album in 1977. It happened in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, we knew we were listening to something out of this world. But truth is, better than Stargazer and even Tarot Woman, was Light In The Black.
1977, somehow in our school in Kamchatka this LP gets around and everyone looks at the cover mesmerized. We knew already what Rainbow (of course, Blackmore's) was. But that fist knocked us out completely.
And it was this piece, which started with what could be defined as the greatest intro on Moog in new genre for a new era. Tony Carey, Ronni (God Bless Your Soul) Dio, immortal Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain and Ritchie Blackmore. It was a Blitzkrieg, Deep Operations, armored divisions with air fleets deploying over the space of our imagination. The Voice and Instruments and THE Guitar. That is how real heavy sounded and should sound. This was a music by men and for real men (Ronni died as a fighter laughing at his cancer).
Yes, we didn't do Fridays recently. But Rainbow also had an incredibly romantic side to them. Always try to catch the rainbow....
Damn, we were lucky to live in a time of titans......
You see, Ritchie called this masterpiece a "pop-music" type thing.
I also remember us (me and my wife) sitting at the wedding of my classmate with him and his drop dead gorgeous bride (entering properly set restaurant across Nizami movie-theater in Baku) entering the proceedings under this music....
He is 72 today! One of the greatest composers and guitar players of several generations...
But it was then, in 1970, when the world took the notice of this Deep Purple Mk. 2.0 and its immortal masterpiece (no, not Smoke On The Water) and this insane guitar player:
