The Down To Earth period of Rainbow’s career is underrated. I can only imagine the bewilderment of Rainbow fans who saw this clean cut guy named Graham Bonnet that looked he belonged to the polo club rather than a hard hitting rock ‘n’ roll band. Make no mistake though, he certainly earned his place with the power of his voice and these recordings prove that. The band was now receiving the chance to headline America for the first time and they were ushering in a new in a new era of Rainbow, seeing them cross the spectrum to a more commercialized territory, but while their sound was arguably neutered, their live show wasn’t.

This set encompasses three shows from Denver, Long Island, and Chicago. The recordings seem to be lifted right from the soundboard and hold this grainy sound and the Chicago show especially has this distracting hissing noise. The lineup – Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Roger Glover on bass, Don Airey on the keys, Cozy Powell on drums, and Bonnet on vocals – deliver the best cuts live from Down To Earth including “Eyes Of The World”, the brother to the Deep Purple classic “Love’s No Friend” and “Lost In Hollywood”. For a lineup that wasn’t together all that long, the sound is tight and the unpredictability is present with Blackmore going on various guitar tangents, including teasers of “A Light In The Black” and nods to his Purple past with “Lazy”. Bonnet shows incredible vocal strength and adjusts his voice accordingly singing the pop rocking “Since You’ve Been Gone” and bringing the grit and attitude to Dio triumphs “Man On The Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”.

The Long Island stands outs with a Rainbow that is on fire and includes a birthday celebration for Glover with Bonnet joking that Glover is “only 21.” Also included in this set is a keychain bottle opener (a handy, durable on at that), a patch, pin, and guitar pick so it feels just like buying merch at the show. For those willing to give this overlooked era of Rainbow another chance or a mega Ritchie fan, this definitely worth the purchase.