The departure of Ronnie James Dio gave Ritchie Blackmore a chance to reinvent Rainbow, which he does to a certain extent on Down to Earth.
Adding former Deep Purple colleague Roger Glover as bassist and Graham Bonnet as vocalist, Blackmore tones down some of the excess of the Dio years, particularly in terms of fantastical lyrics, and turns to straight-ahead hard rock, only occasionally adorned by prominent synthesizers.
In general, their material is fairly solid, and "Since You Been Gone" easily ranks among the band's best songs, but overall the record is a little generic and sounds very much of its time -- namely, the late '70s, when album rock still ruled the arenas.
Nevertheless, Rainbow has a distinct idea, primarily through the guitar artistry and mystical sensibility of Ritchie Blackmore.
He sounds invigorated on the album, turning in muscular performances and strong solos on each cut; clearly, the reunion has revitalized him.
Unfortunately, Bonnet tends to oversell his vocals, screaming a little bit too often, but he doesn't distract from the fact that Blackmore, Glover, and drummer Cozy Powell turn Down to Earth into a fine hard rock platter.
It might not offer anything unique, but it delivers the goods.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All Night LongRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 2 | Eyes of the WorldRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 39 MB |
| 3 | No Time to LoseRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 03:45 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 4 | Makin' LoveRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 04:40 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 5 | Since You Been GoneRuss Ballard | Rainbow | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 6 | Love's No FriendRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 04:54 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | Danger ZoneRitchie Blackmore, Roger Glover | Rainbow | Play | 04:31 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 8 | Lost in HollywoodRitchie Blackmore, Neil Diamond, Roger Glover, Cozy Powell, Stevie Wonder | Rainbow | Play | 04:50 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 36 mins | 83 MB | |||||
| 36 mins | 231 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Adcock | Organizer |
| 2 | Don Airey | Keyboards |
| 3 | Russ Ballard | Composer |
| 4 | Ritchie Blackmore | Bass, Composer, Guitar |
| 5 | Graham Bonnet | Vocals |
| 6 | Greg Calbi | Mastering |
| 7 | Neil Diamond | Composer |
| 8 | Dennis Drake | Remastering |
| 9 | Gary Edwards | Engineer |
| 10 | Roger Glover | Bass, Composer, Percussion, Producer |
| 11 | Bill Levy | Art Direction |
| 12 | Bruce Payne | Director |
| 13 | Cozy Powell | Composer, Drums |
| 14 | Rainbow | Primary Artist |
| 15 | Ron Walotsky | Illustrations |
| 16 | Stevie Wonder | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |