Difficult to Cure

Difficult to Cure is the fifth studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, and it was released in 1981. It was the first album to feature drummer Bobby Rondinelli and vocalist Joe Lynn Turner after the departures of Cozy Powell and Graham Bonnet respectively, following the tour in support of Down to Earth. The album marked the continuing commercialization of the band's sound, with Ritchie Blackmore once describing at the time his appreciation of the band Foreigner.^[6] It became the band's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at number three.

Difficult to Cure
Cover design by Hipgnosis
Studio album by Rainbow
Released	9 February 1981[1]
Studio	Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark Kingdom Sound Studios, Long Island, New York
Genre	Hard rock
Length	42:53
Label	Polydor
Producer	Roger Glover
Rainbow chronology
Down to Earth (1979) Difficult to Cure (1981) Jealous Lover (1981)
Singles from Difficult to Cure
"I Surrender" Released: 23 January 1981 (1981-01-23)[2] "Can't Happen Here" Released: 12 June 1981[3] "Magic" Released: 1981 (Japan)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	6/10[5]

Recording

Writing of the album's material was begun with singer Graham Bonnet still in the band, progressing as far as recording an early version of "I Surrender", before Bonnet left the band due to his dissatisfaction over the material, and numerous fallouts with Blackmore. American singer Joe Lynn Turner, formerly of Fandango was recruited and sang over already completed musical tracks. Turner stated that, because of this, he was singing in higher keys than he would do normally (and would do subsequently).^[7]

Release

Allegedly, the album's cover (designed by Hipgnosis) had originally been proposed for use on Black Sabbath's 1978 release Never Say Die!.^[8] "I Surrender" would be the band's highest charting single in the UK, reaching No. 3.^[9]

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 mistranslation from the German, which was corrected on later releases. However, the "corrected" version still is not perfectly grammatical, as the correct German for "Maybe Next Time" is "Vielleicht beim nächsten Mal".

The laughter at the end of the last track is a sample of Oliver Hardy. On the original LP, the laughter is an endless loop as it plays in the run-out groove, while on CD it loops a few times before fading out.

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

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Surrender"	Russ Ballard	4:01
2.	"Spotlight Kid"	Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover	4:54
3.	"No Release"	Blackmore, Glover, Don Airey	5:33
4.	"Magic"	Brian Moran	4:07
5.	"Vielleicht Das Nächste Mal (Maybe Next Time)" (instrumental)	Blackmore, Airey	3:17

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Can't Happen Here"	Blackmore, Glover	4:57
7.	"Freedom Fighter"	Blackmore, Glover, Joe Lynn Turner	4:21
8.	"Midtown Tunnel Vision"	Blackmore, Glover, Turner	4:31
9.	"Difficult to Cure (Beethoven's Ninth)" (instrumental)	Ludwig van Beethoven, arr. by Blackmore, Glover, Airey	5:57

Personnel

Rainbow

• Ritchie Blackmore – guitars
• Roger Glover – bass, producer
• Don Airey – keyboards
• Bobby Rondinelli – drums
• Joe Lynn Turner – vocals

Production

• Flemming Rasmussen – engineer
• Thomas Brekling, Clay Hutchinson – assistant engineers
• Greg Calbi – mastering

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[10]	77
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[11]	14
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[12]	1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13]	13
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[14]	12
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[15]	17
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16]	9
UK Albums (OCC)[17]	3
US Billboard 200[18]	50

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[19]	Gold	25,000[19]
Japan (RIAJ)[20]	Gold	100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21]	Gold	100,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.