Ritchie Blackmore uses new faces to piece together old rock band

Friday, March 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Looking for a little Friday evening brain-melt, you've turned to this page of SUN entertainment listings, started reading this story about how Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is playing at 8 tonight at the Huntridge, and now you're turning to your fellow trendoid and announcing excitedly, "Ritchie who's what?"

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. If you don't know the man, you know his sound. If you don't know his band, you know his other band. Blackmore was the guitar slinger behind the heavy crunch of Deep Purple classics like "Smoke on the Water" and "My Woman From Tokyo."

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was what he did when personnel problems temporarily Deep-sixed Purple. If you've been within earshot of a classic-rock station, you've undoubtedly heard such Rainbow tunes as "Since You've Been Gone" and "Stone Cold." Six-, seven-hundred times, probably.

Rainbow hiatused 13 years ago, as Blackmore rejoined a re-formed Deep Purple, and everyone pretty much forgot about it (except classic-rock radio programmers). But since you've been gone, Rainbow has come back, and this time it has a singer named Doogie. From Scotland, no less. Indeed, with the exception of Blackmore -- who, since his name is in the band's title, has a little more job security -- it's a whole new Rainbow. Nothing new about that; Blackmore has a history of playing musical musicians.

"I'm kind of like a vampire," he says. "I need that new blood. When you get new guys, there's that enthusiasm, that freshness, and everyone's pulling like in the old days."

The new guys and the old-daze vibe came together on Rainbow's 13th album, "Stranger in Us All." "My new album," Blackmore says, hogging the credit, "is a step in the right direction. It's very melodic, which is the way I wanted to go."

Don't cringe, you concert-going trendy; "very melodic" doesn't necessarily mean "power ballad." By all accounts -- well, OK, according to his record company's press release -- Blackmore still plays like the dickens on such cuts as "Black Masquerade," "Stand and Fight" and an updating of "Hall of the Mountain King."

Tickets are $26 for all the cool guitar poses you can handle -- plus Doogie! Call 477-7703 for details.