Rainbow
Finyl Vinyl

Listening notes

Rainbow's Finyl Vinyl, released in 1986 on Polydor Records under catalog number PDS 2 9504, is a double-album vinyl compilation spanning the band's career in hard rock. Spread across four sides, the set collects fourteen tracks from Rainbow's catalog, running a considerable total runtime that reflects an attempt to offer substantial coverage within the format's physical constraints.

The sequencing moves across the four sides with some variety in track length and, by extension, pacing. Side A opens with "Spotlight Kid" at five minutes and closes with the shorter "Miss Mistreated" at three minutes and twenty-one seconds, with "I Surrender" occupying the middle position at five minutes and forty-five seconds. Side B carries five tracks, the longest of which is "Tearin' Out My Heart" at eight minutes and four seconds, closing out a side that also includes "Since You Been Gone," "Bad Girl," "Jealous Lover," and "Can't Happen Here."

Side C is notably anchored by "Difficult To Cure," an eleven-minute-and-fifteen-second piece that dominates the side before giving way to "Stone Cold" and "Power." Side D closes the compilation with three tracks: "Man On The Silver Mountain" at eight minutes and twenty seconds, "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" at seven minutes and twelve seconds, and "Weiss Heim" at five minutes and ten seconds, making Side D the heaviest in terms of per-track runtime.

The title's spelling, Finyl Vinyl, signals the release's function as a formal retrospective, arriving as the band's active period was concluding. As a double-LP issued by Polydor, the release sits within the hard rock and rock genres and represents a documented endpoint in Rainbow's vinyl-era discography. Collectors and researchers treating this as a primary source should verify all additional context independently.