Ritchie Blackmore : His 25 Greatest Guitar Moments - Chosen by Phil Aston Now Spinning Magazine

BEST.ROCK.GUITARIST.EVER.

Bent out of shape is so underrated. Love all eras of Rainbow 🌈

Great rundown of Mr Blackmore's finest moments. But surprised that Gates Of Babylon wasn't one of them. The solo, in my humble opinion, is simply sublime and the best Mr Blackmore has committed to vinyl, (or CD, cassette, etc). Blows me away every time I hear it.

I am surprised that the outro solo on Since You've Been Gone didn't make the cut - sublime, melody and technique that was so Blackmore

Lovely to see A200 included. Hardly anyone else recognises Blackmore’s brilliance here. It also has one of Paice’s finest drum breaks.

Hi Phil, my favorite review of favorite Guitarist. Yes, I was long time friends with Black Sabbath Personnel manager, Mark Forster from 1975 until his passing in 1992. Mark knew everyone in the business, highly respected and when he discovered my fancy for Ritchie and an upcoming tour in my part of the country in told me to drop the names Colin Hart and Raymond D'Addario (stage manager for Rainbow) That got me in back stage and a meeting with Ritchie. I was 23. Another tour and he said he "remembered my face'. that was good enough. The 1985 reunion tour Colin got me in and hand delivered a manuscript I wrote about my travels with Sabbath with Blackmore getting a chapter for himself. I emailed this to Carole Stevens, Candice's mother and current manage many years ago. But it is a first draft and won't be a book until future. Of Ritchie's brilliance is his live impromptu creativity, the true measure of his ability. How much have you looked on you tube for Live performances? There are many. Of note, a person called "Mr Peach" recorded many Rainbow shows in the late 70s, some of the Catch the Rainbow solos are out of this world. But of all the dramatic wild sounds I have heard from him, listen to the few couple of minutes of Still I'm Sad Atlanta 1978 live, and the opening of Mistreated Live in Louisville 1978. I was at the Atlanta show. So much to write, but I appreciate you being there as a sounding board and knowing that what I have witnessed over the decades really did happen! Malmsteen might be faster, Jan Akkerman may be more versatile, but overall, Ritchie is the Best.

Blackmore is amazing👍

Calling it a great show is an understatement. This video is MONUMENTAL. Thank you Phil!!!!

Amazing how many of my favourites you picked: Snowman, Spanish Archer, Pictures of Home, Fools, Flight of the Rat, a big chunk of Made in Japan, the usual suspects from Rising. You almost knocked it out of the park. And then you omitted Gates of Babylon. There was a moment I thought GoB was going to be number one. I will listen to it tomorrow when I'm alone. Crank it up to eleven.

Those +40 minutes just flew by! An excellent and enthusiastic showcasing of Blackmore's brilliance, versatility and sense of melody. Burn is the number one track and to me the pinnacle of his career. So glad A200 got its fair positioning, but honestly...you could have put every track from Burn in your list, or rather I would have! He is obviously up there as an all-time great guitarist but he is also the ultimate riff-master and killer riffs are the backbone of all great rock music. 'Nuff said!

BLACKMORE is as BLACKMORE does...so glad I saw him in his prime...LLRB!!!

Eyes of fire from “Straight between the eyes “, another jewel that never made it live, a song that it’s never mentioned, just by itself makes the album worth buying it. Another one “Why didn’t Rosemary” from Deep purple and Wasted sunsets from Perfect strangers.

The thing with Blackmore for me is that his solos are actually talking to me like no other rockguitarist been close to, except maybe David Gilmore and Steve Hacket. RBs uniqe ability to mix speed, energy and feel really does it for me. Regarding "You Fool No One" I'm very fond of the live version on "Made In Europe" mainly because of Glen Hughes bass playing behind Ritchie's solo. The bass tones "hanging" round Blackmore's slow solo is superb I think. Another great live moment is the long soloing om "Mandrake Root" on "Scandinavian Nights". Parts of that is just fantastic I believe.

Stargazer will always be no.1. Very enjoyable Phil, thank you.

He’s the reason why I started playing guitar and became professional musician. Long live RB!!

That I have to say was the best 42 minutes and 45 seconds I’ve spent on YouTube. Thank you Phil for reminding me that I was young once and I did have all this wonderful music literally dictating my rite of passage. I absolutely loved your Weiss Heim B side story. I too did exactly the same thing on our local Roma cafe’s sadly long gone jukebox. Such amazing days of innocence and sheer joy as we downed the ubiquitous milk shakes and chips.

That Ritchie run down was so much fun! What a super talented lead guitarist/songwriter he is, combining heavy riffs, soaring solo’s and now and again classical.. brilliant stuff. As to your top choices, Burn certainly has it all from a RB solo and composition pov, but for me Stargazer is the one, not just Ritchie B’s playing of course but a complete masterpiece…guitar, keyboard, vocal (!) and orchestration… to me the finest rock song ever written and performed, a true tour de force! Thank you Phil, I thoroughly enjoyed this video 👉😎

Interesting video!! I always felt that Ritchie Blackmore was skilled and that his skill on guitar sounded sophisticated. I was a teenager in the 70s and studied classical guitar with my father. It was around this time that I heard Ritchie Blackmore and I could tell by the way he sounded that he probably studied classical guitar ...which...he says he did in his youth. He also had a bluesy style at times. Sometimes he could sound jazzy. In Lazy he combines the two. I believe there could be certain solos that he played in a very unusual sounding way or a unique way and where he has perfect finesse not unlike a virtuoso type of player...but with spontaneous playing....and it's possible that if you called Ritchie Blackmore out on that specific solo he might say: "I don't know what you're talking about" "I just do what I do " Some of his most outstanding solos came right off the top of his head. He's a total natural.

Amazing list and very competent comments. In my opinion, Gates of Babylon and Carry on Jon also deserve high positions. But Ritchie is a mine of musical gems, we know that. You have perfectly captured the desire of many of us for an instrumental album by Ritchie. Bravo!

I really liked your choices and I completely agree with your description of Highway Star from Made In Japan. I have often said that the whole band are riding a musical bucking bronco, barely keeping control, always on the edge - fantastic!