{"id":5489,"date":"2018-12-19T21:13:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T02:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2018-12-21T11:54:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T16:54:02","slug":"the-portly-politicos-review-of-rainbows-down-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/19\/the-portly-politicos-review-of-rainbows-down-to-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Portly Politico\u2019s Review of Rainbow\u2019s Down to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The good folks at <\/em>Orion\u2019s Cold Fire have generously allowed me the opportunity to contribute to the site.\u00a0 I write primarily about politics, economics, and history at https:\/\/theportlypolitico.wordpress.com<\/a>, but as a \u201csemi-pro\u201d musician (and a full-time music teacher), I enjoy occasionally critiquing music.\u00a0 The purpose of this feature is to review classic 70s and 80s-era hard rock and heavy metal albums.\u00a0 Why such a specific genre and time period?\u00a0 Essentially, I believe this genre represents the pinnacle of rock music.\u00a0 With its confluence of blues, acid rock, country-western, and all the other distinct musical \u201cflavors\u201d of the mid-twentieth century, rock and roll reached its greatest artistic and technical summits during the \u201cclassic rock\u201d era.\u00a0 I\u2019ll write further about <\/em>that contentious claim at a later date; but now, let\u2019s boogie!<\/em><\/p>\n

When considering an album to review, I more or less use this criteria:\u00a0 does it sound<\/em> like hard rock\/heavy metal?\u00a0 Have I listened to it enough to comment upon it?\u00a0 And does it rock?\u00a0 That\u2019s not the best criteria, as it predisposes me to writing glowing reviews of every album, but there you have it\u2014the highly unscientific approach I take to writing about music I generally love.<\/p>\n

All that aside, my first album review for Orion\u2019s Cold Fire<\/em> was a no-brainer:\u00a0 1979\u2019s Down to Earth<\/a><\/em> by Rainbow.\u00a0 This album perfectly encapsulates the direction of rock music at that crucial turning point between punk and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.<\/p>\n

Down to Earth <\/em>was the first and only Rainbow album to feature Graham Bonnet on lead vocals, who replaced legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio.\u00a0 Rainbow\u2019s guitarist and mastermind, Ritchie Blackmore, was notorious for sacking musicians on a whim, so most of the album\u2019s personnel was wildly different than even the previous Rainbow release.<\/p>\n

Regardless, this album rocks<\/em>.\u00a0 While he\u2019s no Dio, the songs on Down to Earth<\/em> are uniquely suited for Bonnet\u2019s vocals\u2014probably because he wrote the melodies after the band had already recorded all of the tracks.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s big hit\u2014and Rainbow\u2019s first hit single\u2014is \u201cSince You Been Gone,\u201d a Russ Ballard-penned tune that strikes the right balance between rock and pop.\u00a0 The chorus is catchy as the flu, but like any good hard rock song, the pre-chorus build really sets up the triumphant release of the chorus beautifully.\u00a0 Listen to the bass and guitar after the line \u201cYour poison letter, your telegram\u201d and you\u2019ll see what I mean.<\/p>\n

That said, my favorite tracks are the opening and closing numbers, \u201cAll Night Long\u201d and \u201cLost in Hollywood,\u201d respectively.\u00a0 Musically, they rock, and \u201cLost in Hollywood\u201d passes what I call the \u201cdrive test\u201d\u2014I drive much faster when listening to it.\u00a0 It also features some of Rainbow\u2019s signature neoclassical embellishments, pointing to the rise of neoclassical metal.<\/p>\n

Lyrically, they\u2019re fairly depressing commentaries of the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll lifestyle, not to mention the Sexual Revolution.\u00a0 \u201cAll Night Long\u201d is sung from the point of view of a jaded, lonely rocker, searching the crowd for a babe to spend the night with him (the most poignant line, from the third verse: \u201cI know I can\u2019t stand another night on my own\u201d).\u00a0 \u201cLost in Hollywood\u201d describes a man so dedicated to rock, he\u2019s lost the woman who makes it all worthwhile.<\/p>\n

There are some less memorable tracks\u2014the neoclassically-inflected \u201cEyes of the World\u201d is a commentary on humanity\u2019s rapacious capacity for violence and waste, but is a bit ponderous; \u201cMakin\u2019 Love\u201d has its moments, but is forgettable\u2014but, from start to finish, Down to Earth<\/em> is as good an introduction to classic hard rock as I can conceive.\u00a0 Crank it up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The good folks at Orion\u2019s Cold Fire have generously allowed me the opportunity to contribute to the site.\u00a0 I write primarily about politics, economics, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1489,1607,551,237,1605,1594],"tags":[1597,1596,1310,1598,38,1599,1595],"class_list":["post-5489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-contributors","category-hard-rock-music","category-music-reviews","category-reviews","category-rock-and-roll-music","category-the-portly-politico","tag-down-to-earth","tag-guest-contributors","tag-music-review","tag-rainbow","tag-review","tag-since-you-been-gone","tag-the-portly-politico"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Portly Politico\u2019s Review of Rainbow\u2019s Down to Earth - 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