"On your first listen to the album, the change in direction of the band from their earlier albums is distinctly noticeable. There is far less of the fantasy in the lyrics and far more about... well... the pursuits of young men. And the overall style of the songs trends to the more commercial sound of American radio than soaring heavy metal anthems. And it is true that the Blackmore/Dio partnership did have songs that moved in that kind of direction - “Snake Charmer”, “Do You Close Your Eyes” and “L.A. Connection” for instance – they were few and far between.

But once you have heard the entirety of “Down to Earth”, you can hear exactly why Dio moved on from the band, and what Blackmore was hoping to produce as his overall direction for the band to take. And then you have the titles of the majority of the songs on this album, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to guess just what market Blackmore and his band were targeting. “All Night Long”, “No Time to Lose”, “Makin’ Love”, “Since You Been Gone”, “Love’s No Friend”, “Danger Zone”. There’s a bit of difference from these songs to titles such as “Stargazer”, “Tarot Woman”, “A Light in the Black”, “Gates of Babylon”, “Kill the King”, “Man on the Silver Mountain”. So yes, a big change in output, and a big change in direction lyrically and musically".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Down to Earth” by Rainbow, the band’s 4th studio album released 45 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘you ain't got a lot to say, judging by the things you do’ on Music from a Lifetime.