Rainbow
Finyl Vinyl

Listening notes

Released in 1986 on Polydor, Finyl Vinyl is a double album from Rainbow issued under catalog numbers 827 988-1 and 827 989-1. Spanning four sides of vinyl and fourteen tracks, it draws from the hard rock and rock genres that defined the band's output across their active years.

The track listing covers considerable ground in terms of running time. Side C opens with "Difficult To Cure" at eleven minutes and fifteen seconds, making it the longest individual track on the set. "Man On The Silver Mountain" follows on Side D at eight minutes and twenty seconds, with "Tearin' Out My Heart" on Side B running eight minutes and four seconds. Together these three tracks account for a substantial portion of the album's total runtime. At the shorter end, "Miss Mistreated" clocks in at three minutes and twenty-one seconds and "Jealous Lover" at three minutes and ten seconds.

The four sides divide the fourteen tracks as follows: Side A carries three titles, "Spotlight Kid," "I Surrender," and "Miss Mistreated"; Side B holds five, running from "Jealous Lover" through "Bad Girl"; Side C presents three tracks anchored by the lengthy opening piece; and Side D closes the album with "Man On The Silver Mountain," "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll," and "Weiss Heim."

As a double vinyl release from a major label in 1986, Finyl Vinyl represents a physical document of Rainbow's catalog available in the format its title directly references. The pun embedded in that title signals an awareness of the vinyl medium itself, though what conclusions to draw from that beyond the surface observation the available facts do not support.