Bonnet/Friedman – “Since You Been Gone” |
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THE BAND:
Graham Bonnet – vocals
Marty Friedman – guitar
(rest of line-up unkown)
After hiring Glen Hughes and David Coverdale, Ritchie felt the band was becoming to Bluesy and Funky and made the decision to leave the band in 1975. Sometime between August and September 1974 Ritchie announced after the tour he would be leaving the band. In 1975, Ritchie to back him up. This band included unknown lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio. (who would replaced. After recording three albums Ronnie left the band for a solo career. Once again Rainbow went through a line-up change which included former The Marbles lead singer Graham Bonnet. The label wanted Ritchie to record a more commercial song so on the next album titled, ‘Down To Earth’, which included cover of Russ Ballard’s. “Since You Been Gone” was written and released by former Argent guitarist in 1976. The song was released on his album, titled ‘Winning’.
“When we first began recording the album Down To Earth, we had already created a new sound that was quite different from the Ronnie James Dio-era. It was meant to be more radio-friendly, but it also had a more modern sound with lyrical content that dealt with real life. When manager Bruce Payne brought the song ‘Since You Been Gone’ to the band, everyone was a bit dismayed. It didn’t sound anything like the other songs on the record and was almost pop-like in comparison. Some of the guys were very vocal about their negative feelings about the song. The original version that was presented to us was very different from the song we ended up recording. We received a version recorded by a South African all-girl band called Clout. We changed the chorus ad-libs to sound harder, more hard rock but even then, Cozy threatened to leave the band if we did the song. When the final product was complete, we were all excited by the outcome. It turned out much better than expected. Roger suggested an intro with multiple voices in the vein of a madrigal and it added an unexpected aspect to the song that was quite favorable. Even though we all were happy with the end result, we were stunned by how the song was received. Everyone seemed to love it and to this day, when we play the song live, there isn’t one single audience member not singing along with us. It has appeared in countless movies and TV shows, the most recent being the third installment of the Guardians Of The Galaxy series. Russ Ballard, who penned 'Since You Been Gone', is an incredible songwriter and to this day, is the only outside writer whose material I will record. In essence, I have to acknowledge that SYBG kick started my career in rock and there is no end in sight.”
In 2004 Graham Bonnet and Marty Friedman re-recorded “Since You Been Gone”
The song reached the top-10 single in the United Kingdom, where it reached number six. In the US, the song reached number 57. It was named the 82nd-best "Hard Rock Song of All Time" by VH1. This was the first hit single released by Rainbow.
Rainbow’s Version:
Intro: The intro opened with a couple guitar riffs. The opening riff has an effect to it. Underneath the last note of the first two measures of the guitar a you can hear what sounds like a Cuban clave percussion instrument. When the main body of the intro kicks-in the snare drum is on the two and four just like most rock songs. There are hand claps over the one, two, three and four. This intro alone gave the song a sweet hook. Graham along with one of the other vocalist sang a four part harmony connecting the intro with the verse. Ritchie went to a clean guitar for the musical verses. Keyboards were used as the main instrumentation for the pre-chorus. The choruses used the same rhythm arrangement as the intro including the hand claps. Though the minor and major solo was weak by Blackmore standards they worked for the song.
Bonnet/Friedman:
One of the first things I noticed was how different Marty’s guitar tone sounded completely different than Ritchie’s. First off it doesn't sound like it was recorded in a hollow chamber and Marty used a little more distortion. Unlike the original the musical intro consisted of no percussion instruments. For the musical verse Marty’s Jackson had a cleaner guitar sound. The engineer of the song enhanced Bonnet’s vocals making him sound younger and stronger. They did bring back the hand claps for the choruses. Though Marty is playing the same lead guitar notes as Ritchie, Marty plays them in a way that makes it sound as different solo.
There is one original version by Russ Ballard, who wrote it. Theng to my knowledge four covers of it. Rainbow. Impellitteri. Alcatrazz, The Brian May band, and Bonnet/Friedman. Three have there high points however none are as great as Bonnent/Friedmn. Personally I don’t think any comes close to Bonnet/Fiedman!. I was completely blown away by this!!!!!
As I am talking about Bonnet & Friedman’s version, I am by no means putting down Ritchie. As far as Ritchie goes he will always rank up there in my top twenty guitarists of all-time.
You may stream/perchance “Since You Been Gone here:
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