| Christopher Rainbow (real name Christopher Harley) is a Scottish
singer/songwriter much influenced by the Beach Boys, who (almost) flourished
in the mid-1970s. He first came to my notice with a single called
Solid State Brain, that was a radio hit, but didn't make the charts.
Other radio hits followed, including Give Me What I Cry For, and Mister Man.
There were three albums: Home of the Brave, Looking Over My Shoulder and
White Trails. All were excellent, in my opinion. He specialised in
multi-tracked vocals, rich harmonies (especially very long, circular fade-outs
a la Beach Boys 'Till I Die), and self played keyboard-produced backgrounds,
although a number of good jazz musicians played on his albums. After these
three albums, his EMI contact languished. The recordings he made with the
Alan Parsons Project, particularly the layered vocals on the instrumental
tracks, are very much in his own style, and suggest to me that he had quite
a bit of involvement in their production. But he also recorded with Jon
Anderson (ex Yes) and with Culture Club.
There was a final weak single called Body Music, drawn from the
accompaniment for a rather tacky glamour video of the same name, which
deservedly sank without trace.
All the albums have been long-deleted, I'm afraid. I'm not even sure
they made it onto CD at all. The late Kenny Everett was a great fan, and
used to play his music on his Capital Radio and Radio I shows on Saturday
and Sunday lunchtimes. Everett was also responsible for getting Rainbow
to sing some of the best jingles Capital ever produced - notably "Cash on
Delivery", and "It's a Beautiful Summer", a modified version of which
appeared on one of his albums.
- John Abbott |
| Hi my name is Paul Taylor and i was a drummer with a polydor recording band called MISTY IN THE MID 1970'S.WE WERE A CLOSE HARMONY BAND RECORDING ORIGINAL MA TERIAL AND CHRIS WAS CALLED IN TO PRODUCE OUR FIRST SINGLE.Things did'nt go as planned, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for the man... I wonder if he remembers the drummer who got arrested outside the holiday inn Swiss Cottage in 1976...?
- Paul Taylor |
| Try looking at Townsend Records. They appear to offer a double CD Chris Rainbow Anthology. I don't know if its any good ?
- Mick |
| there is a recoding under the name of Micky Moonshine "name it you've got it" it is said that this is Chris Rainbow ? this record has been a big northern soul tune for the last 30 years or so. what can you tell us about it. where was it recorded etc, or in fact is in fact Chris Rainbow ?
- Jon Buck |
| I remember buying a warped copy of the single "All Night" from the bargain bin at my local record store... dunno if I still have it... it had been a playlisted song on Radio 1, at least, during the long hot summer of 76 IIRC. One of the songs that takes me back to being covered in ladybirds... And I saw Chris when he toured with Camel at the Liverpool Empire in the early 1980s!
- Roscoe Bifton |
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| I used to work with Dave Lewis when Chris was working on one of this albums and I often wondered what happened to Chris, I think the last I saw of him was at The Festival Hall when Dave was on stage with Demis Roussos, Chris and I were trying to get a good mix on the board...... I was looking at Chris's credits' and Dave Lewis is not among them... although Lennie Macdonald is.... what ever Happened to Lennie?
- Graham |
| Has anyone got a copy of the single 'Solid State Brain' by Chris Rainbow that I could possibly download from them or exchange over MSN messenger since my Dad has been after this track for some time now and it would make his B'day if he could listen to it. I and he would be most grateful. If you can help, please can you mail me on darren.kempster@tiscali.co.uk Thank you, :)
- Darren Eric Kempster |
| The Anthology is the closest you will come to a CD of any of Chris's work. I think that he put this together himself with the predictable lack of help from EMI who own the three wonderful albums he made. It includes the famous Capital jingles, some demos of his hits and most but not all of the tracks from the EMI albums. Then last time I was in touch with Chris he was talking of releasing a new album but I have heard nothing more about this. The Anthology is well worth having. I can't understand how he slipped through the net, he is a fine singer and writer. I disagree with the reviewer that Body Music was weak, it actually stands up as well as anything on the CD.
- charlie seaward |
| Driving home tonight I heard ''Give me what i cried for'' on a night time radio show. It was one of my fav vinyl 45's 30 years ago and the 'b' side was even better. I think it was called 'Gotta Song' or 'Gotta tune' Thought I'd check him on web which is how I found this site. Wonder what he's doing now.
- paul |
| i saw chris live many times thought he was great, yes put all his work on to cd please thank you matthewlaming@hotmail.com
- matthew laming |
| I cannot find any older stuff on CD I have the album Looking Over my Shoulder on Vinyl, and a good quality record deck - so I will transfer it to CD with my CD recorder. However - if anyone finds any on CD I would still be interested to know. The Vinyle to CD copy should be pretty good though
- Geoff Chandler |
| I discovered Chris' music while looking for videos about Brian Wilson at YouTube (someone made a photo compilation using "Dear Brian" as back track). I just can't stop hearing this great music!. So sad I found very litte info about this artist. New albums coming? And a final question: Was he a surfer? (because the beach boys' influence, covers, and for what i understand from some of his lyrics...)
- Seba (From Argentina) |
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Courtesy of the Chris Rainbow Website
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Album Credits