Rising

Rainbow’s second album consolidated the creative bond between Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore, pushing them to condense and polish their hard rock. “Tarot Woman” is a bed of riffs and sudden dynamic shifts—some tiny, some huge—while “Stargazer” stretches that approach, creating an epic, preening grandeur. “Starstruck” chugs and swings and “Run with the Wolf” prowls and menaces while the merciless pell-mell pounding of “A Light in the Black” takes the band into a startlingly intense finale.