MTV used to play a handful of Rainbow videos in the early days, but I became a big Rainbow fan after I learned about Ronnie James Dio and started working my way backwards through his discography. "Down to Earth" was the first Rainbow LP post-RJD, and although I haven't listened to it in forever, I recall it was similar to many of the post-RJD LPs: ok, but not great. But as I watched this video for the first time in a long time, I was reminded that this lineup of Rainbow was great: obviously guitarist Ritchie Blackmore is the center piece of the band, but it also has Cozy Powell (Jeff Beck Group, later Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and many others) on drums, Roger Glover (Deep Purple) on bass, and journeyman keyboardist Don Airey (later Ozzy, Deep Purple, and others). Even vocalist Graham Bonnet, in his single LP with Rainbow, is pretty good even though he's no Ronnie James Dio.
So with a lineup that strong, other than a handful of good singles, why aren't the post-RJD LPs more memorable? RJD consistently brought a fantasy, D&D feel (e.g., "Kill the King", "Man on the Silver Mountain"), and earlier Deep Purple often had an epic, sci-fi mysticism (e.g., "Child in Time", "The Mule"). Starting with "Down to Earth" and continuing through the 80s, Rainbow scored some radio-friendly hits, but the LPs themselves don't have a unifying theme and are not special.
Putting that aside, "Since You've Been Gone" has strong hooks and a crunchy guitar riff -- it's hard to believe this was not a bigger hit, as well as a karaoke favorite. Don't take my word for it, take the word of guitar gods Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Chris Impellitteri, and Brain May.
Russ Ballard - "Since You've Been Gone"
Rainbow - "Since You've Been Gone"
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