Following this however, Blackmore did as he always seemed to do – went about reshaping the band, personnel wise and also musically. Bob Daisley and David Stone were both moved on, and the gulf between Dio and Blackmore musically widened intensely. Roger Glover, who had been hired to produce the new album and would eventually play bass on it as well, spent a couple of weeks taking cassettes back and forth between the two men with their separate ideas for tracks on the new album. No talk between them, just cassettes, and with widely different paths. After following this strategy for that time, Dio finally quit, something that was a shock at the time, but which Blackmore basically shrugged his shoulders at. From having two egos pulling at each other in order to keep the music ideas balanced, now there was only one ego, who was going to get what he wanted.
And what exactly was that? Well Ritchie had never really hidden from the fact that he wanted commercial success, with songs that stormed the singles chart and made him the kind of icon he wanted to be. And it was obvious that Rainbow was not going to attain that level of commercial success if they continued to sing about mythology and fantasy such as was the lyrics and style that Dio had brought to the band. And so, Ritchie had started to turn towards simpler song structures, and song lengths that were around that four-minute mark that would get picked up by commercial radio, rather than the complex and lengthy tomes that the band had given us prior to this.
The band, now with just Blackmore and drummer Cozy Powell, wrote and recorded the songs for the album without a vocalist, with Glover playing bass and writing the lyrics, no doubt along a path pushed for by Ritchie. Along the way they picked up Don Airey to play keyboards, and Glover was eventually asked to join the band as a full-time member. Ian Gillan was approached to come on board as vocalist, an interesting development given the love-hate relationship he shared with Blackmore over the years, but eventually declined. It was Glover who turned to Graham Bonnet, formerly of The Marbles, and with commercial success in Australia as a resume, who auditioned and was offered the role, which he accepted. Given the songs had already been recorded, his vocals were the final piece added to the album, and so came about the Rainbow album that was to steer their destiny in another direction, “Down to Earth”
On your first listen to the album, the change in direction of the band from their earlier albums is distinctly noticeable. There is far less of the fantasy in the lyrics and far more about... well... the pursuits of young men. And the overall style of the songs trends to the more commercial sound of American radio than soaring heavy metal anthems. And it is true that the Blackmore/Dio partnership did have songs that moved in that kind of direction - “Snake Charmer”, “Do You Close Your Eyes” and “L.A. Connection” for instance – they were few and far between. But once you have heard the entirety of “Down to Earth”, you can hear exactly why Dio moved on from the band, and what Blackmore was hoping to produce as his overall direction for the band to take. And then you have the titles of the majority of the songs on this album, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to guess just what market Blackmore and his band were targeting. “All Night Long”, “No Time to Lose”, “Makin’ Love”, “Since You Been Gone”, “Love’s No Friend”, “Danger Zone”. There’s a bit of difference from these songs to titles such as “Stargazer”, “Tarot Woman”, “A Light in the Black”, “Gates of Babylon”, “Kill the King”, “Man on the Silver Mountain”. So yes, a big change in output, and a big change in direction lyrically and musically.
For instance. “No Time to Lose” is an upbeat song, almost rockabilly in basis, and showcases Bonnet’s vocals at their best. The pace of the song is driven along as a result, and also has an almost Deep Purple like keyboard solo from Don Airey through the middle of the track. There is a bit of the template fro future albums in this track. There is a drop in tempo for the follow up track “Makin’ Love”, along with a melodic backing of vocals to emphasise the heartfelt attempt of the lyrics, while Ritchie plays a generic power ballad solo through the middle section. And then from side two we have an even furthering of the changing tempo and more emphasis put on the soft rock ballad type track with “Love’s No Friend”. The pace plods along and relies on Bonnet’s charisma to push the song along, something he does very well despite the material he has been handed. Once again, this song is almost the blueprint for a lot of the tracks that came on the Joe Lynn Turner era of the band down the track. The result here is that it’s a bit colour-by-numbers songwriting, albeit carried off in a way that draws on the integrity that Glover and Blackmore pull from their Deep Purple days. Which is an interesting thought, because Ritchie left Deep Purple because of the direction the music was taking.
Elsewhere, there are the more highly promoted tracks, and the ones that have gained prominence for the right reasons. The album opens with “All Night Long”, the second single released from the album, and is designed precisely to be a single – short, sharp, showcasing the vocals of Bonnet and the guitar of Blackmore, and lyrically is positioned right at their new target audience. “Since You Been Gone” opens up side two of the album in the same sort of energy, and given it was the first single released from the album it is not surprising. This track was a cover of a Russ Ballard song, not the last time they would lift one of his tracks for an album. Both singles are cast from the same mould
“Danger Zone” has a more epic feel about the track itself, Airey’s keys combining perfectly with Blackmore’s more engaging guitar riff and solo through the middle, much more like the Ritchie Blackmore you pay your dollars for. Bonnet’s vocals soar here as well, making a pleasant experience for all on board. And the album closer “Lost in Hollywood” retains the great vibe of the two singles, and ends the album on a great note with plenty of energy, enough to almost convince you to flip it over and start it all again.
The album highlight however is the second track on the album, “Eyes of the World”. It is the only song on the album that retains the mysticism and epic tones from the Dio-era of the band. It has that same atmosphere that is evoked by those songs I mentioned at the top of this section, and it is a song that you can believe you hear Dio singing. It is the one song on the album that isn't dedicated to love or chasing love or acting on love. Instead, it deals with the evil within man and the consequences thereof and is the antithesis of everything else this album portrays. And perhaps because it is so different, that’s what makes it stand out on this album, and makes it so wonderfully brilliant.
While Rainbow was a band that seeped into my listening by way of my regular heavy metal music dealer at high school, the actual push towards listening to the band came from another high school friend, colloquially referred to as ‘Meat Wagon’ (please don’t ask). It was his insistence that Rainbow was the greatest band on earth, and that (and I quote) “Ritchie Blackmore is the one who invented guitar playing, and every other guitarist just copied him” and that “Rainbow are the only original band in the world”, that eventually led me to getting albums of the band. Those albums initially were the later ones, with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals, and the Dio and Bonnet eras didn’t come until later.
The first songs I heard from this album were on the double vinyl “The Best of Rainbow” album that I picked up at Illawarra Books and Records, which had four songs from this album on it. And I loved every song on that best of, but I was interested in Bonnet’s vocals immediately, and wondered how many albums he had done with the band, and what they sounded like. It was still some years later when I actually got a copy of this album, and was able to enjoy it for all of its glory. Well, that was the idea.
The first thing I discovered was that the four songs that had been on that best of album were most certainly the best four songs on “Down to Earth”. So much so that their quality hung much higher than the remaining four tracks. That bothered me for awhile. But by this time I knew the three JLT era albums very well, and once I had come to the conclusion that really those other tracks were a precursor to those albums, I relaxed and just enjoyed the whole album for what it is. It isn’t a Dio-helmed album (apart from one track) and the direction taken here is followed up by the next few albums, just with a different vocalist. It is interesting that Bonnet apparently left Rainbow following this album due to the direction the music was heading as well.
So just to quantify – I have enjoyed this album since I first got it. And I have now had it running around on various devices and stereos for the past month. It is a short album, and I’ve listened to it in excess of 30 times, and I am still enjoying it. For me it is mostly about Graham Bonnet’s vocals, they are still supreme here, and when he really lets fly he is amazing. As was the case as the band moved on, Ritchie’s guitar became less prevalent and more into the mix of the song, much like commercial rock songs. That’s a shame, but there is the odd moment on this album when it crops up, and I still say ‘oh THERE he is!’
Bonnet and Cozy Powell moved on to other projects after this album, and Joe Lynn Turner arrived to become the focus of the band’s drive to tap into American commercialism. It is a shame that this is the only Rainbow album with this lineup, because I feel they could have produced a really excellent heavy album, especially if those two had been able to contribute to the song writing. However, it was not to be, and so we are left with this only outing to showcase that. Overall, it’s a worthwhile experience.
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