Down To Earth [Remaster]

Performer: Rainbow
Engineer: Gary Edwards
Producer: Roger Glover
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Rainbow: Graham Bonnet (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Don Airey (keyboards); Roger Glover (bass); Cozy Powell (drums). Personnel: Graham Bonnet (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Don Airey (keyboards); Cozy Powell (drums); Roger Glover (percussion). Audio Remasterer: Dennis Drake. Recording information: Chateau Pelly De Cornfeld, France (1979); The Maison Rouge Mobile Studio (1979). Director: Bruce Payne. Illustrator: Ron Walotsky. Unknown Contributor Role: Bob Adcock. With the departure of Ronnie James Dio from Rainbow in 1978, guitarist Richie Blackmore could have easily sought a Dio clone and continued the group's recognizable sound. He instead brought Graham Bonnet aboard, a dramatic belter with a completely different style. Blackmore would also recruit former Deep Purple mate Roger Glover on bass and the talented Don Airey on keyboards. The band's sound went from sword-and-sorcery epics to more straight-ahead rock. "All Night Long" is one of the more popular tunes, a track on which Bonnet's makes his powerful presence immediately felt. Another equally accessible and handclap-filled effort is "Since You've Been Gone." Both songs received FM airplay and charted the commercial course that later albums would take. Don Airey's keyboards provide a haunting intro to "Eyes of the World." "No Time to Lose" is a '50s R&B number with a harder edge. Bonnet sings the blues on the downtrodden "Love's No Friend." Premier skinsman Cozy Powell's shuffle boosts "Lost in Hollywood." DOWN TO EARTH is tight all around, and shows the band's ability to progress. An excellent hard-rock album.

Ritchie Blackmore's combustible guitar riffs in the seminal band Deep Purple were the sparks that fed the conflagration of a whole new genre: heavy metal. Blackmore's musical ambition led him away from the band in 1975, after which he poached members of the band Elf--including vocalist Ronnie James Dio--to record the solo project that would evolve into the band Rainbow. Dio's lyrics were a castles-and-kings affair and Blackmore's classical-derived music suited them well. The pair--with an ever-rotating line-up behind them--recorded several popular albums, until Dio was lured away by Black Sabbath in '79. Blackmore reunited with Deep Purple in 1984, revisiting Rainbow briefly in the mid-'90s before finally pulling the plug on both bands and moving on to the medieval folk act Blackmore's Night.

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