Down To Earth – RAINBOW****

All Night Long/Eyes Of The World/No Time To Lose/Makin' Love/Since You Been Gone/Love's No Friend/Danger Zone/Lost In Hollywood

Down To Earth found the hard rock band Rainbow with a new vocalist Graham Bonnet. Unfortunately for him he appears to fallen out with Ritchie Blackmore and failed to please the fans, so this was his only album. This one features the strong UK hits All Night Long and Since You Been Gone. (US:66 UK:6)

“A brilliant hard rock record, with every song bringing something special, unique and memorable. There are very few bands that had the potential to do that, so I give Down To Earth the highest rating. Even cheesy sweet pop of Makin' Love and Since You Been Gone fit into the whole scheme of this diverse and captivating album.”

“Enter the previously little know Graham Bonnet. His vocal style is sometimes overbearing but it works to great effect on the blistering opener All Night Long and the prog classic Eyes Of The World.”

“Rainbow's only album with Graham Bonnet vocals. However, Blackmore just didn't like what he heard, but I do. Even though Ritchie is a guitar god, and one of the most innovative musicians alive, he can be really narrow-minded when it comes to the sound of his own band.”

“Sadly for Blackmore, and possibly more so Bonnet, the honeymoon period was a short one. Live audiences did not take to him; he didn't look the part and made no effort to change. More importantly he struggled to sing the Dio material and live shows were pretty shambolic. Down To Earth is an excellent hard rock album with a couple of hit singles thrown in for good measure.”

“This is where Rainbow took a turn for the worse and went into a pop direction without Ronnie James Dio. It's good pop rock, but it's a far cry from the greatness of their previous era.”

“This isn't a hard one to review, the only one to feature lead singer Graham Bonnet, is pretty steady. Not as musically adventurous as those with Ronnie James Dio or as commercial as those with Joe Lynn Turner. Everything here is good but not great and the best songs are the singles. Graham Bonnet sings well but overdoes it on occasions.”