Re: Rainbow
This should be embarrassing to admit ... but I haven't ever been embarrassed about this. This is why I bought the record Rainbow - Down To Earth in 1979:
The band name was Rainbow. I was hugely into rainbows at the time. This was just BEFORE rainbows became something of a fad which turned into something of a cliche by the early 80's when you could find rainbows on anything and everything one could imagine.
I really dug the album cover. Had NO CLUE about the band - NONE!!!
Ok, I'm not sure which occurred first ... the hole in the wall no frills record shop at the mall where I bought a lot of records due to 1) best prices; and 2) great selection had a bunch of posters for something like $1.00 each. Actually it was several copies each of promotion posters for a couple of albums. I thought the one for Rainbow - Down To Earth looked really cool ... That one went up on my bedroom wall. (I still have it but rolled up in a tube with other old posters in a closet.) Then I also went ahead and bought the actual record album.
From what I remember none of my friends had heard or knew anything about the band. Well, this one guy I'd hung out with sometimes and who liked a lot of the same records I liked ... I forget his exact comment now but apparently he had heard of Rainbow but wasn't overly impressed with the band. By then it was too late for his opinion anyway! I had no frame of reference and if I read the album credits on the back none of the names made an impression on me. I know I had Deep Purple - Machine Head at that point and really dug that record but I dug the music and couldn't have told you the names of the band members to save my life! Looking at the inner sleeve of Down To Earth with the pictures of the band members - and at that time I didn't care what the people in the bands I enjoyed looked like - Rainbow looked like a bunch of old guys who apparently played great sounding music - pretty much the story of most of the bands I was into right then!
I don't remember what I was expecting the first time I listened to the record if anything at all. Maybe 60's sounding hippie music considering a name like Rainbow? I do remember I liked Down To Earth right from the start - a good rocking album. For a long time I paid more attention to the music. The first time I really listened to the lyrics on All Night Long I was completely appalled! But I managed to put my sense of humor in gear and that song wound up on and stayed on a mix tape I made that sort of evolved over the years.
I also remember there was a sticker on the album plugging both All Night Long and Since You've Been Gone. I found the presence of Since You've Been Gone on the record and that it was being promoted rather odd and confusing. Around the same time Head East had what I thought was a better known rendition on their Live album - from where I was sitting in 1979 - and not only heard that version on the radio a lot but also had the Live 2-record set in question - oh and liked that version better. Years later I found out it was a Russ Ballard tune - so it was actually a cover tune for both Rainbow and Head East.
For some strange reason I didn't pursue Rainbow beyond Down To Earth. I was into so many different bands, songs, records, etc. quite a few music-related things fell by the wayside that I didn't explore until years later.
About 15 years ago I acquired The Very Best of Rainbow CD. I was sort of surprised that I already recognized most of the songs and they were mostly songs I already liked too! But again, being into so much stuff musically I STILL haven't gotten around to exploring Rainbow any further all that much. About time???