Introduction: For those of you that have stumbled across this website and are interested in reading about my trek through the universe of the Tidal streaming service, let me tell you a bit about what I did. Back in 2016 I thought it would be kind of cool to listen to an artist’s catalog from start to finish and rank them from best to worst. After all, who doesn’t like a good list? I thought I might do a few of them and see what happened, hoping it would introduce me to records that were foreign to me in the arsenal of an artist I was familiar with. I also thought that it would be pretty cool to get out of the “one off” mode of listening to a new record, years after the previous one, in order to get a true sense of how the artist matured over time. Fast forward to June of 2019 and 250 catalogs later, I ended the trek. I posted these all on Facebook over the years as they were completed but I’m going to move them all over here, starting with #1, in order to expand them out a bit more. Facebook doesn’t exactly allow for too many details.

As with all my catalogs, to be considered in the ranking, an album has to meet certain criteria:

• The artist must actually perform on 80% of the tracks (soundtrack and rap provision)
• No compilations of previous released material will be included.
• However, compilations of previously recorded material will be included if they are remixes, bonus tracks, outtakes… mostly music that hasn’t been part of a main release before.
• The album must have been released officially and within the realm of the label that the artist would have been on at the time or official releases posthumously (normally applies to a slew of live records)
• Any EPs must contain new new music and be relevant to the catalog, not be more like a single with a b-side or two.

• Entrance Point: I’m trying to remember back a few years ago why I even bothered with this catalog and I think it’s because Ronnie James Dio is the best metal vocalist of all time, so I wanted to see what he was like in Rainbow. I don’t believe I had heard anything from Rainbow with him on it (he left after three albums) and only knew the 80s material from my vast collection of 80s music.

Editor’s Note: I’m not remixing and remastering this catalog since it’s small and I have very little to say about it other than how glorious Rainbow Rising is. Posting for archival purposes only.

All albums ranked on a 10 scale:

• Rainbow Rising (10)
• Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow (8.5)
• Down to Earth (7)
• Long Live Rock N Roll (6.5)
• Difficult to Cure (6)
• Final Vinyl (5.5)
• Straight Between the Eyes (5)
• Bent Out of Shape (4.5)
• On Stage (4)
• Stranger In Us All (4)

Summary: 10 albums, average 6.1