When Evening Falls: Rainbow 1974-77

Publication date: 5th November 2025.

 

First published in 2002, Roy Davies’ Rainbow Rising was the first biography of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. It chronicled the beginnings, break-ups and numerous line-up changes of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow up to 1997. The biography was a starting point and was well-received.

 

Over the two decades since its publication, Roy has spent an enormous amount of time continuing his research of this much-loved band, which returned for a series of concerts between 2016-19.

 

Roy’s research has been nothing short of phenomenal which has resulted in a massive 230,000 words, which are now split over three volumes, of which this is the first part which documents the origins with Ronnie James Dio and the first recordings in 1974 while Blackmore was still in Deep Purple, through to the making of the first three studio albums, the live On Stage release and concluding with the UK tour in late ‘77, making this the most extensive and undisputed final word on Rainbow.