Bent Out of Shape

Bent Out of Shape

Cover design by Storm Thorgerson
Studio album by Rainbow
Released 24 August 1983
Recorded Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark, May - June 1983
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 40:25
Label Polydor
Mercury (North America)
Producer Roger Glover
Rainbow chronology
Straight Between the Eyes
(1982)		 Bent Out of Shape
(1983)		 Stranger in Us All
(1995)
Singles from Bent Out of Shape
  1. "Street of Dreams" / "Anybody There"
    Released: August 1983
  2. "Can't Let You Go" / "All Night Long (live)"
    Released: October 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Martin Popoff[2]

Bent Out of Shape is the seventh studio album released by the British hard rock band Rainbow. It was originally released in August 1983 as an LP and cassette. The cassette featured several longer edits compared to the vinyl version. It was recorded at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen in about 7 weeks.

A remastered CD reissue was released in May 1999, which restored the artwork of the original release. This has two tracks of a longer duration than on the first US CD issue.

This album is generally referred to by critics and fans as a commercial effort,[3][4] with the band attempting to repeat the success of the song "Stone Cold" and the album Straight Between the Eyes. As a result, some of the songs, like the first single released from this album, "Street of Dreams", are usually considered to be more in the adult-oriented rock style, instead of the hard rock sound of earlier Rainbow albums.[3] The album was particularly aimed at the US market: the title is an American idiom rather than a British one, although it received positive reviews in the U.K. Howard Johnson of "Kerrang!" magazine (No.51 – Sept 22-Oct 5, 1983) praised the album as "possibly Rainbow's most complete work to date" and called "Desperate Heart" and "Street of Dreams" "two of this year's finest tunes".

The music video for "Can't Let You Go", directed by Dominic Orlando, was filmed in New York City (1984) and inspired by the 1920 silent b/w film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Along with "Street of Dreams", directed by Storm Thorgerson, it became a part of Rainbow's home video collection The Final Cut (1985). The music video for "Street of Dreams" was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic clip.[5]

The song "Street of Dreams" has been re-recorded in two versions by Blackmore's Night in 2006 for their fifth studio album, The Village Lanterne. The version featured on a regular album was sung by Candice Night. The other version, a bonus track on a special edition of the album, was performed in a duet by Night and former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner.

In 1984 "Anybody There" was nominated to Grammy Award as the Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Ritchie Blackmore and Joe Lynn Turner, except where indicated. 

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Stranded"    4:25
2. "Can't Let You Go"  Blackmore, Turner, Intro - David Rosenthal 4:19
3. "Fool for the Night"    4:03
4. "Fire Dance"  Blackmore, Turner, Roger Glover, Rosenthal 4:27
5. "Anybody There" (instrumental)Blackmore 2:37
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
6. "Desperate Heart"    4:00
7. "Street of Dreams"    4:24
8. "Drinking with the Devil"    3:41
9. "Snowman" (instrumental)Howard Blake, arr. by Blackmore 4:30
10. "Make Your Move"    3:55

The LP has "Desperate Heart" at 4:00, whilst cassette and remastered CD have this track at 4:36, repeating the verse after the guitar solo. Similarly, "Make Your Move" is 3:56 on the LP, yet 5:25 on cassette and remastered CD, on account of a reprise of a bridge section and a much longer playout. The first US CD edition (Polydor - 815 305-2) uses the LP version.

Personnel

Rainbow
Production

Singles

Charts

Album
Year Chart Position
1983 Swedish Albums Chart[6] 6
Norwegian Albums Charts[7] 6
UK Albums Chart[8] 11
German Albums Chart[9] 25
Billboard 200 (USA)[10] 34
GfK Dutch Charts[11] 44

Singles
Year Title Chart Position
1983 "Street of Dreams" UK Singles Chart[8] 52
Billboard Hot 100 (USA)[12] 60
Mainstream Rock (USA)[12] 2
"Can't Let You Go" UK Singles Chart[8] 43

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Rainbow Bent Out of Shape review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
  2. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  3. 1 2 "Rainbow - Bent Out of Shape". RevelationZ.net. 8 November 2004. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
  4. ↑ "Bent Out of Shape by Rainbow : Reviews and Ratings". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  5. ↑ "Blackmore's Night - Ritchie Blackmore Bio". Ritchieblackmore.com. 8 May 1998. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "Rainbow – Bent Out of Shape (album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  7. ↑ "Rainbow – Bent Out of Shape (album)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  8. 1 2 3 "Rainbow Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  9. ↑ "Album – Rainbow, Bent Out of Shape". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  10. ↑ "Bent Out of Shape Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  11. ↑ "Rainbow – Bent Out of Shape (album)". GfK Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  12. 1 2 "Bent Out of Shape Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
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