Down To Earth is the album where Ritchie went pop, if you believe what was read in the music rags of the time. That slur was mainly due to the hiring of Graham Bonnet on vocals, who had perviously had been in a pop band called The Marbles. It was also due to the more commercial direction on a couple of the album’s tunes, namely Since You’ve Been Gone, and All Night Long both of which did extremely well in mainstream charts all over the world.
Other than the Rainbow live album, this has become my favourite record by the band. Ritchie is still in fine form on tracks like Eyes Of The World which has that old Rainbow feel from the earlier albums, and Lost In Hollywood where the notes fly far and wide in the solo spot. It’s the less well known tunes like No Time To Lose and Danger Zone that shake my tree the most. Mainly because I like the simple riff and groove of these tunes, and Bonnet’s voice is killer. My favourite track however is Love’s No Friend. An old blues riff and groove with a killer vocal and a snappy solo from Ritchie.
I thought with the success of the singles from the album that this record would have sold quite well, but it’s only their fourth best with Rising at the top.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
