Sebastian Bach just delivered a knockout, and it’s the last piece of one of the year’s biggest tributes. The former Skid Row frontman, who now leads Twisted Sister, fronts a devastating cover of “Man On The Silver Mountain,” the final single from ‘Ride The Rainbow,’ the all-star tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow that lands June 19 via Cleopatra Records.
The track itself goes back to Rainbow’s epochal 1975 debut and stayed a concert favorite for years after. Bach’s version stacks the deck, pulling in Rainbow’s own Bob Daisley, Uriah Heep’s Mick Box, Journey’s Jonathan Cain, Whitesnake’s Doug Aldrich, and the super-legendary Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge and Beck Bogert & Appice.
Appice has a story to go with it. “I was supposed to be in Rainbow back in the day. Ritchie asked me to be in it, but I couldn’t do it, so I was very pleased to play on this track,” he says. “I love all the musicians, too, they are all fantastic players and all good friends. So this track kicks ass!”
Cain came to it with warm memories of the band’s golden era. “Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio were one of the truly melodic and memorable metal bands,” he says, recalling a chance to party with Dio late in his touring days after a Sweden Rock Festival. “His soaring voice and melodies will be remembered for decades to come.”
The full album is a star-studded trip through every era of the Blackmore-led legend, featuring no fewer than six Rainbow alumni. Daisley is joined by Ronnie Romero, Graham Bonnet, Don Airey, Joe Lynn Turner, and Doogie White, plus Steve Morse, Blackmore’s successor in Deep Purple, and Ritchie’s Blackmore’s Night partner Candice Night. The 14-song set earns its billing as the ultimate tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.