Straight Between The Eyes

“Straight Between the Eyes” is the sixth LP released by “Rainbow”, released in 1982. A remastered CD reissue, with packaging duplicating the original vinyl release, was released in May 1999.

The band line-up was the same as had recorded the previous year’s “Difficult To Cure” album, with the exception of David Rosenthal, who replaced Don Airey on keyboards.

The title allegedly came from a phrase from Jeff Beck, describing Jimi Hendrix to Blackmore.

In an April 1982 interview with British Rock magazine Kerrang!, Blackmore stated of “Miss Mistreated”, “Well, it’s to avoid confusion that the ‘Miss’ is written three times bigger than the ‘mistreated’ but I expect we’ll have someone who shall remain nameless coming up to us saying, ‘I wrote that song’!” (That someone being David Coverdale, with whom Blackmore had co-written “Mistreated” for the 1974 “Deep Purple” album “Burn”).

The tour would feature a giant pair of moving mechanical eyes as part of the stageset, with spotlights shining from the pupils. This is captured on the video, laserdisc and now DVD release “Live Between the Eyes”.

The tour, although extensive, did not include the UK, which rankled with British fans.

The original vinyl issue had the lyrics printed on the inner sleeve.

The song “Stone Cold” was featured in the video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories” on the radio station “Emotion 98.3”.