Rainbow Album: “Down to Earth”

DOWN TO EARTH is another great Rainbow Album. Ronnie Dio is gone, but Graham Bonnet is a wonderful replacement. Most of the songs are great, and some of the mystical lyrics have been replaced by more down-to-earth ones. The sound has also been streamlined considerably. The other songs are all great, even though the hit single, "Since You Been Gone", is a Russ Ballard cover. This album got a lot of rough reviews when it came out, quite possibly due to indignation over Ritchie Blackmore's firing of Dio, but it's really a great album that can stand on its own, no matter who's singing lead, and it beats the follow-up, DIFFICULT TO CURE, by miles.

I have all the Rainbow cds, and I'm a big Dio fan, but this is my favorite Rainbow cd. All the songs are good, with great music, great production, and awesome singing. I love the way Graham Bonnett put so much emotion into his singing on this cd.

Since the 'Long Live' album, Rainbow is practically a different band now. Some members have been replaced (most noticably Dio, who went on to Black Sabbath) and the music and lyrics have changed rather radically. This album is much more mainstream and written to appeal to a much broader audience than the previous dungeons/dragons type themes.

Now, I loved the Dio-era Rainbow, but this one is great as well. Just in a different way. Basically, I'll keep this short. This album is much more of a pop album and was written for hits/mainstream acceptance. Nonetheless, it was done well. The songs are catchy, the new vocalist (Graham Bonnet) is good and Ritchie Blackmore sounds great. An excellent album as far as guitar playing goes and an excellent album is most other aspects as well. Enjoy.

Much as I would like to, I just can't give 5 stars to any of Rainbow's albums. Blackmore never quite managed to release a complete masterpiece under the Rainbow moniker, although I would say "Rising", "Long Live Rock'n'Roll" and this one are close.

The bulk of the material is written by Blackmore and the newly arrived Roger Glover, and its mostly first-rate. "All Night Long", "Eyes Of The World", and "Lost In Hollywood" are absolute classics. The cover of Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone" is also great. Only "No Time To Lose" and "Danger Zone" seem a bit rote, but even they have the customary guitar pyrotechnics.

Graham Bonnet has a great voice, stylistically somewhere between Dio and Turner, just as the material on the entire album sits stylistically between the gothic medievalism of the Dio era and the pop-metal of the Turner era (although the scales are definitely tilted towards pop). Unfortunately, this Blackmore/Bonnet teaming was a one-off, followed up by the lackluster "Difficult To Cure" with new lead singer Joe Lynn Turner.

(By the way, if you like this record you should really hear Bonnet's work with Alcatrazz, too.)

Down to Earth captures the spirit of the previous three Rainbow albums and the commercial approach of the soon-to-be pop band version.

I don't CARE if the lead singer for Rainbow's fourth album isn't as good as Ronnie James Dio, I *love* Down to Earth!

Graham Bonnet doesn't have the pleasant sound or the amazing vocal range of Dio, but everything else that made the first three Rainbow albums so enjoyable is STILL here- quality songwriting, amazing guitar playing, lengthy and epic songs, etc.

You have a couple pop songs (that were both the biggest hits from the album- which was probably a bad idea because they give people the impression the band sold out or something).

I really like the lengthy, epic guitar-dominated tracks ("Eyes of the World" and "Danger Zone"). They remind me of previous frantic and intense guitar workouts such as "Stargazer", "Light in the Black", and "Gates of Babylon").

Then you also have just really good guitar playing on the shorter songs, such as "No Time to Lose", "Makin Love" and "Love's No Friend". These songs also contain memorable vocal melodies. My personal favorite song is the speedy closer, "Lost in Hollywood" with its soaring chorus and fast-paced guitar playing.

Overall, wow, this is certainly an underrated album. It's closer to the first three Rainbow albums and therefore rules a LOT.