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tracklist
1. All Night Long
2. Eyes Of The World
3. No Time To Lose
4. Makin' Love
5. Since You Been Gone
6. Love's No Friend
7. Danger Zone
8. Lost In Hollywood
review
Down To Earth (1979.) Rainbow's fourth album.
Following the release of their Long Live Rock And Roll album (one of the greatest albums of all time), Rainbow lost one of its most important members - vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who left the band to fill Ozzy Osbourne's vacancy in Black Sabbath. Fortunately, Ritchie Blackmore wasn't ready to call it a day. He recruited new vocalist Graham Bonnet (who would only be with the band for a single album.) And with the new vocalist on board, Blackmore and company recorded the fourth studio Rainbow album - Down To Earth. Read on for my review of the 1979 album.
If you listen to this album immediately following Long Live Rock And Roll, you're going to notice a major change in sounds. While the previous album featured a fantasy-oriented heavy metal sound, Down To Earth shows the beginning of Blackmore's transition in sounds for Rainbow. Instead of the previous sound, Blackmore began going for a more commercial, bluesy hard rock sound (not unlike the David Coverdale era of Deep Purple, which Blackmore participated in.) The album is kicked off by the awesome opening rocker, All Night Long. The stylings in this track are strongly reminiscent of seventies KISS. Bonnet even sounds like he's mimicking Paul Stanley in places. The second track, Eyes Of The World, is one that rightfully gets a lot of praise. A keyboard/organ solo kicks off the track, and backs the rest of the hard-rocking song. The song is similar to Gates Of Babylon from the band's album that came immediately before this one. Number three is No Time To Lose. Of all the tracks on this album, this is probably the one that sounds the most like David Coverdale-era Deep Purple. It's good to see that, even with all Blackmore's musical transitions in this era, he never lost sight of the sounds of his classic Deep Purple days. It's another great rocker, needless to say. The fourth song the album serves up is the classic Makin' Love. On this song, the band slows down the pace of the music dramatically, but still rocks hard. The end result is very solid. Track five is the big hit on the album, Since You've Been Gone. This is arguably the biggest hit of Rainbow's entire career. Interestingly, this isn't a Rainbow original, but rather a cover of a Russ Ballard song (many rockers covered Ballard's songs and had big hits with them, but the former Argent vocalist himself didn't score any major hits with them on his own, oddly enough.) Next up comes Love's No Friend. This is more straight-up classic hard rock, this one featuring an awesome backing organ pattern paired up with Blackmore's guitar mastery. Yet another great song! We get more straight-up hard rock in the next track, the UFO-esque Danger Zone. Back when Blackmore rocked hard, he rocked with the best of them, and perhaps no track epitomizes that the way this one does. And closing things out is track eight, Lost In Hollywood. The fast-paced guitar riffs and fast vocals from Bonnet make this an excellent rocker. In the middle of the track, we even get some keyboard usage not unlike that of Electric Light Orchestra! The closing track on an album should be one that will leave a lasting impression on the listener, and this one does just that. Ultimately, Down To Earth is a GREAT album - it's just a shame it never got the credit it deserved!
The Rainbow catalogue got remastered and reissued in recent years, but the remasters are disappointing in that they only remastered the sound and did nothing else - no expanded liner notes, no bonus tracks, no twofer albums, no extras whatsoever. This is NOT the way to do remasters. Hopefully better ones will get released someday.
Down To Earth ROCKS. Despite being one of the biggest Dio fans you will ever meet, I think this album is better than EVERY Dio-era Rainbow album with the lone exception of Long Live Rock And Roll. That should give you an idea of just how much I like this album. If you're a fan of Rainbow, DO NOT BE WITHOUT THIS ALBUM! They have a lot of great albums, no question, but this one is defintely somewhere near the top in terms of overall musical quality. Back when Blackmore rocked, he rocked with the best of them - and this album demonstrates it beautifully. No classic hard rock collection is complete without this underrated gem
1. All Night Long
2. Eyes Of The World
3. No Time To Lose
4. Makin' Love
5. Since You Been Gone
6. Love's No Friend
7. Danger Zone
8. Lost In Hollywood
review
Down To Earth (1979.) Rainbow's fourth album.
Following the release of their Long Live Rock And Roll album (one of the greatest albums of all time), Rainbow lost one of its most important members - vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who left the band to fill Ozzy Osbourne's vacancy in Black Sabbath. Fortunately, Ritchie Blackmore wasn't ready to call it a day. He recruited new vocalist Graham Bonnet (who would only be with the band for a single album.) And with the new vocalist on board, Blackmore and company recorded the fourth studio Rainbow album - Down To Earth. Read on for my review of the 1979 album.
If you listen to this album immediately following Long Live Rock And Roll, you're going to notice a major change in sounds. While the previous album featured a fantasy-oriented heavy metal sound, Down To Earth shows the beginning of Blackmore's transition in sounds for Rainbow. Instead of the previous sound, Blackmore began going for a more commercial, bluesy hard rock sound (not unlike the David Coverdale era of Deep Purple, which Blackmore participated in.) The album is kicked off by the awesome opening rocker, All Night Long. The stylings in this track are strongly reminiscent of seventies KISS. Bonnet even sounds like he's mimicking Paul Stanley in places. The second track, Eyes Of The World, is one that rightfully gets a lot of praise. A keyboard/organ solo kicks off the track, and backs the rest of the hard-rocking song. The song is similar to Gates Of Babylon from the band's album that came immediately before this one. Number three is No Time To Lose. Of all the tracks on this album, this is probably the one that sounds the most like David Coverdale-era Deep Purple. It's good to see that, even with all Blackmore's musical transitions in this era, he never lost sight of the sounds of his classic Deep Purple days. It's another great rocker, needless to say. The fourth song the album serves up is the classic Makin' Love. On this song, the band slows down the pace of the music dramatically, but still rocks hard. The end result is very solid. Track five is the big hit on the album, Since You've Been Gone. This is arguably the biggest hit of Rainbow's entire career. Interestingly, this isn't a Rainbow original, but rather a cover of a Russ Ballard song (many rockers covered Ballard's songs and had big hits with them, but the former Argent vocalist himself didn't score any major hits with them on his own, oddly enough.) Next up comes Love's No Friend. This is more straight-up classic hard rock, this one featuring an awesome backing organ pattern paired up with Blackmore's guitar mastery. Yet another great song! We get more straight-up hard rock in the next track, the UFO-esque Danger Zone. Back when Blackmore rocked hard, he rocked with the best of them, and perhaps no track epitomizes that the way this one does. And closing things out is track eight, Lost In Hollywood. The fast-paced guitar riffs and fast vocals from Bonnet make this an excellent rocker. In the middle of the track, we even get some keyboard usage not unlike that of Electric Light Orchestra! The closing track on an album should be one that will leave a lasting impression on the listener, and this one does just that. Ultimately, Down To Earth is a GREAT album - it's just a shame it never got the credit it deserved!
The Rainbow catalogue got remastered and reissued in recent years, but the remasters are disappointing in that they only remastered the sound and did nothing else - no expanded liner notes, no bonus tracks, no twofer albums, no extras whatsoever. This is NOT the way to do remasters. Hopefully better ones will get released someday.
Down To Earth ROCKS. Despite being one of the biggest Dio fans you will ever meet, I think this album is better than EVERY Dio-era Rainbow album with the lone exception of Long Live Rock And Roll. That should give you an idea of just how much I like this album. If you're a fan of Rainbow, DO NOT BE WITHOUT THIS ALBUM! They have a lot of great albums, no question, but this one is defintely somewhere near the top in terms of overall musical quality. Back when Blackmore rocked, he rocked with the best of them - and this album demonstrates it beautifully. No classic hard rock collection is complete without this underrated gem
Уже припал к источнику. И еще раз с Новым Годом! 
