Difficult to Cure

Difficult to Cure
Studio album by Rainbow
Released	February 3, 1981
Recorded	Sweet Silence Studios, Cophenhagen, Denmark
Genre	Hard rock, Album-oriented rock
Length	42:53
Label	Polydor
Producer	Roger Glover
Rainbow chronology
Down to Earth (1979) Difficult to Cure (1981) Jealous Lover EP (1981)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Sputnikmusic	[2]

Difficult to Cure is the fifth studio album by the British rock band, Rainbow, and was released in 1981. The album marked the further commercialization of the band's sound with Blackmore openly stating at the time liking for the rock band, Foreigner.^[3]

The album material was started with Graham Bonnet still in the band, getting as far as recording an early version of "I Surrender", before Bonnet left the band due to his dissatisfaction over the material. American singer Joe Lynn Turner, formerly of Fandango was recruited and sang over backings already completed. In a 1982 interview with British Rock magazine Kerrang! Turner stated that, because of this, he was singing in higher keys than he would do normally (and would do subsequently).

The cover design is by Hipgnosis though it was not specifically for this album. It had previously been put forward as a cover for Black Sabbath's 1978 album, Never Say Die!

A remastered CD reissue was released in May 1999, with packaging duplicating the original vinyl release.

Jealous Lover, the first track written by Turner and Blackmore, was the non-album B-side to Can't Happen Here.

Track listing

• All Songs Published By Panache Music, Ltd., except where noted.

1. "I Surrender" (Russ Ballard) – 4:10 (Island Music Ltd.)
2. "Spotlight Kid" (Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover) – 5:04
3. "No Release" (Blackmore, Glover, Don Airey) – 5:42
4. "Magic" (Brian Moran) – 4:15 (Becket Music)
5. "Vielleicht Das Nächste Mal (Maybe the Next Time)" (Blackmore, Airey) – 3:23
6. "Can't Happen Here" (Blackmore, Glover) – 5:09
7. "Freedom Fighter" (Joe Lynn Turner, Blackmore, Glover) – 4:28
8. "Midtown Tunnel Vision" (Turner, Blackmore, Glover) – 4:44
9. "Difficult To Cure (Beethoven's Ninth)" (Beethoven, arr. by Blackmore, Glover, Airey) – 5:58

This track listing is as it appears on the 1999 CD release. The original 1981 LP and cassette releases had the title of the fifth track as "Vielleicht Das Nachster Zeit (Maybe Next Time)". This was a mis-translation from the German, which was corrected on later releases. However, the "corrected" version still contains multiple spelling errors.

Additionally the final track, Difficult to Cure, was originally credited as arranged by Blackmore/Glover/Airey. The laughter at the end of this track is unmistakably that of Oliver Hardy. On the original LP, the laughter is an endless loop in the last groove, while on the CD it loops a few times before stopping.

I Surrender would be the band's highest charting single in the UK, reaching #3.

Spotlight Kid was covered by German band Angel Dust for the album Border of Reality (1998).

Personnel

• Joe Lynn Turner - vocals
• Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
• Don Airey - keyboard
• Roger Glover - bass, percussion
• Bobby Rondinelli - drums

Production

• Produced By Roger Glover
• Recorded & Engineered By Flemming Rasmussen
• Assistant Engineers: Thomas Brekling, Clay Hutchinson
• Mastered By Greg Calbi

Singles

• 1981 - "I Surrender/Vielleicht Das Nachste Mal (Maybe Next Time)"
• 1981 - "Can't Happen Here/Jealous Lover"
• 1981 - "Magic/Freedom Fighter" (Japan)

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Sputnikmusic review
3. ^ In an interview in Sounds (July 25th 1981), a UK music paper