Rainbow’s formative years are set to be documented in unprecedented detail with the announcement of Rainbow The Temple Of The King 1975-1976, a lavish 9CD boxset arriving on March 6th 2026 via Edsel Records. Covering the opening chapter of the band’s history, the collection stands as the most comprehensive archival release yet devoted to the early vision of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore following his departure from Deep Purple.
Spanning the band’s first two years, the set brings together Rainbow’s debut album Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the landmark follow-up Rising, three complete live concerts from Germany in 1976, and a deep dive into rarities, rehearsals, rough mixes and alternate edits. Newly mastered by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham, the boxset is presented in deluxe 7-inch packaging with a 24-page booklet featuring memorabilia, photographs and detailed sleeve notes by music writer Rich Davenport.
Rainbow was conceived in early 1975 as Blackmore reassessed his creative direction after tensions within Deep Purple. While touring the US the previous year, Deep Purple had been supported by American band Elf, whose singer Ronnie James Dio made a lasting impression on Blackmore. What began as a plan to record a single version of Black Sheep Of The Family quickly evolved into a full album project, with Blackmore personally funding the sessions. That independence laid the foundation for a new musical world built on fantasy imagery, classical influence and hard rock power.
Recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich between February and March 1975, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow introduced a sound that stood apart from the blues-based hard rock of the era. Blackmore’s interest in classical phrasing, partly informed by his studies on cello, combined with Dio’s evocative, medieval-inspired lyrics to create songs that felt cinematic and dramatic. Tracks such as Man On The Silver Mountain, Catch The Rainbow and The Temple Of The King established the band’s identity and helped drive the album into the UK Top 15 and US Top 30.
The positive response convinced Blackmore to leave Deep Purple permanently in mid-1975 and commit fully to Rainbow. A new touring line-up was assembled with bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboardist Tony Carey and drummer Cozy Powell, whose powerful style brought added weight to the music on stage. By 1976, the band shortened its name to Rainbow and returned to Musicland Studios to record Rising, an album that would become a cornerstone of hard rock history.
Released with an iconic cover depicting a giant fist clutching a rainbow, Rising featured just six tracks, yet each was meticulously crafted. Stargazer, with its sweeping arrangement and epic scale, is widely regarded as one of Rainbow’s defining works and a landmark recording that pointed towards what would later be described as neo-classical metal. The combination of Blackmore’s precise guitar work and Dio’s commanding vocals reached a new level of intensity and ambition.
Rainbow’s 1976 tour saw the band stretching songs into extended performances, incorporating improvisation and reworking material from Blackmore’s Deep Purple years, including Mistreated. Concerts recorded in Germany and Japan formed the basis of the 1977 live album On Stage, long considered one of the era’s essential live documents. For the first time outside Japan, The Temple Of The King 1975-1976 presents the complete German shows from Cologne, Düsseldorf and Nürnberg across multiple discs, capturing Rainbow at a creative peak.
The final discs of the boxset explore the margins of the Rainbow archive, featuring studio rehearsals, rough mixes and rare mono and stereo edits, many appearing on CD for the first time. These recordings offer insight into the band’s working process during a period when Rainbow was rapidly establishing itself as a major force in British rock.
By the end of 1976, Rainbow had secured its place among the leading bands of the decade, setting the stage for further evolution and commercial success in the years that followed. Rainbow The Temple Of The King 1975-1976 not only documents the birth of that journey, it provides a definitive account of how Ritchie Blackmore reshaped his musical future and, in doing so, helped redefine hard rock.
Rainbow The Temple Of The King 1975-1976 will be released as a 9CD boxset on March 6th 2026 via Edsel Records.
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