The Ronnie James DIO thread

[jjrock88]

I would say "Lady of the Lake" is my favorite Dio era Rainbow tune

I do like that one    - one of the few albums from the 70's that stands up for me.  Like almost everything from that period it sounds like it was recorded in the 60's compared to Van Halen 1 though 

Well VH1 changed the game

[Calvin6s]

Another example of differences would be that if you are on the previously mentioned interview, and you link over to the one that says "brutally honest,"

I clicked right on that 4 part interview from 1994.  And when he just goes through his career, it becomes a bit clear that Dio is probably hard to get along with.  His whole career was get together with some guys, make 2-3 albums, break up and onto the next 2 album collaboration.  That kind of suggests he was just as much a part of the personality/ego problem.  And the interview puts into perspective Goldy's father figure view of Dio because RJD had only great and even defensive things to say about Goldy when he was more or less bashing everybody except Goldy and Rowan.  And I know he later bashed Tracy G.  But Goldy and Dio must have had the perfect personality connection because the way Dio talked about Goldy (almost like a son) was how Goldy talked about Dio (the father).

But once again I'm just a casual Dio fan.   Jesus, Mary and the Holy Ghost is probably my favorite Dio song.  It isn't just a good Dio song.  It is an all time great.

[/quote]


towards the end of it, he refers to side 2 of Rainbow Rising (Stargazer and A Light in the Black) as being '"a self-indulgent piece of shit."
Now I don't agree with that. I like both of those songs.
[/quote]

[Lowdz]

I don't mind Goldy and I find Aldrich very easily recognisable...........that doesn't make him memorable.   I think he's a ridiculously strong player who tend to fall back on the same legato runs over an over.  I prefer his playing on the Lion and Bad Moon Rising stuff.

Lock Up The Wolves is the Dio album I grew up with and so I tend to rate it higher than most.  Half of it is Black Sabbathy plodders which I can take or leave but the more regular paced songs..........whew.......Rowan slays it and they're some of my fave Dio songs.  Walk On Water,Wild One, Hey Angel, WHy Are They Watching Me etc...

I just don't get the love for Lock Up The Wolves. It was such a disapointment after 4 great DIO albums. It killed DIO for me and although I bought the albums that followed they just didsn't stand up to the first 4. Yes, I'm a big fan of Sacred Heart too 

[bl5150]

I didn't know there WAS any love for LUTW      I like Sacred Heart too and think it's possibly more consistent that most of his other stuff.

[jjrock88]

I agree there is a bit of a drop in quality after the first 4

[BlobVanDam]

I didn't know there WAS any love for LUTW     

Neither did I. But it's a really good album, and much better than the two before it. Not as good as Holy Diver and The Last in Line of course, but none of the them are.

[TAC]

LUTW is awesome.

Although Sacred Heart has aged wonderfully, I remember it being a huge drop off.


And aside from Stargazer and A Light In The Black, I have really no use for anything else off of Rising.

[BlobVanDam]

I've never really gotten into Rising, I've always much preferred Long Live Rock n' Roll.

[Evermind]

The whole Rising is brilliant for me, one of my favourite albums ever.

[Mladen]

Dio lost me a bit with Angry Machines & Magica. Still decent albums but I never understood the glowing reviews for Magica

I've always disliked Magica, it was surprising for me to actually find out it was really well liked among the fans. When it comes to his later solo works, it's Master of the moon all the way for me. 

Rising is my favorite Rainbow album easily. I like the debut, but Long live never really grabbed me for some reason.

[jjrock88]

Dio lost me a bit with Angry Machines & Magica. Still decent albums but I never understood the glowing reviews for Magica

I've always disliked Magica, it was surprising for me to actually find out it was really well liked among the fans. When it comes to his later solo works, it's Master of the moon all the way for me. 

Rising is my favorite Rainbow album easily. I like the debut, but Long live never really grabbed me for some reason.

Yeah Master of the Moon and especially Killing the Dragon were a return to form for Dio

[chaossystem]

Another example of differences would be that if you are on the previously mentioned interview, and you link over to the one that says "brutally honest,"

I clicked right on that 4 part interview from 1994.  And when he just goes through his career, it becomes a bit clear that Dio is probably hard to get along with.  His whole career was get together with some guys, make 2-3 albums, break up and onto the next 2 album collaboration.  That kind of suggests he was just as much a part of the personality/ego problem.  And the interview puts into perspective Goldy's father figure view of Dio because RJD had only great and even defensive things to say about Goldy when he was more or less bashing everybody except Goldy and Rowan.  And I know he later bashed Tracy G.  But Goldy and Dio must have had the perfect personality connection because the way Dio talked about Goldy (almost like a son) was how Goldy talked about Dio (the father).

In that interview he also said some disrespectful things about Ritchie Blackmore.

I also remember a magazine interview that he did back around the time of H.D. or T.L.i.L., in which he went on and on praising Vivian Campbell, saying that he could do all of these great and wonderful things that Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi couldn't do, as well as him being better than Yngwie Malmsteen and other such guitarists who were really popular at the time.

But after Campbell left the band, he turned around and did ANOTHER interview, in which he stated that the sound of his band wasn't really all that dependent on the guitar player.

[Lowdz]

The whole Rising is brilliant for me, one of my favourite albums ever.

This.
But LLRnR is great too. Debut is half great.

[Evermind]

The whole Rising is brilliant for me, one of my favourite albums ever.

This.
But LLRnR is great too. Debut is half great.

Yeah, I agree. LLRnR has some very awesome tracks, the title track, Lady of the Lake, Gates of Babylon and Rainbow Eyes are all among my favourites by Rainbow. I'm not a fan of JLT era at all, so when I hear Rainbow Eyes, it's a very emotional song for me, and on top of it I always think about how great the Dio years were and how the following years sucked. It always saddens me that Rainbow went from that unspeakable awesomeness Rainbow Eyes were to the mediocre commercial approach in Down to Earth and further.

Debut suffers from that half-great syndrome indeed, and Stranger in Us All does too. Debut has a lot of great tracks, Man on the Silver Mountain, Self Portrait, Catch the Rainbow, Temple of the King, Sixteenth Century Greensleeves, all are more or less classics. Stranger in Us All too has Wolf to the Moon, Hunting Humans, Ariel, Black Masquerade, Hall of the Mountain King, but for both albums, there's just too much filler, like a half of the disc. Still, I enjoy both of them occasionally.

[TAC]

I love Rainbow, don't get me wrong, but I there is a lot of filler on those albums. I think you could make one great album from the three.

Mine would be:

Side A:
Kill The King
Gates Of Babylon
Stargazer
Temple Of The King
Long Live Rock n Roll

Side 2:
A Light In The Black
Catch The Rainbow
16th Century Greensleeves
Starstruck
Rainbow Eyes

Love the live version of Still I'm Sad too!

[chaossystem]

I'd like to put my "two cents" in on this one-

I went with four songs from each album, and some of them might be considered "filler."

This one is a little long, and I'm not sure if it could have been on vinyl, because side 2 is a little over a half-hour in length.

So here goes:

Side A:
1) If You don't Like Rock and Roll
2) A Light in the Black
3) The Shed (Subtle)
4) The Temple of the King
5) Run With the Wolf
6) Lady of the Lake

Side B:
1) Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
2) Stargazer
3) Kill the King
4) Man on the Silver Mountain
5) Tarot Woman
6) Long Live Rock and Roll

Or you could substitute L.A. Connection for The Shed, and/or Snake Charmer instead of Greensleeves.

Or they could be included on a bonus disc, along with the Onstage version of Still I'm Sad.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Ahhhh... Ronnie James Dio....  He had a HUGE impact on me musically.  Really tuned into him in '80-81.  I had heard and loved H&H, but really didn't know or even really appreciate Dio.  Then I picked up a copy of Rainbow On Stage, and the rest is history!  NEVER...had I heard such a powerful vocalist.  The sheer strength and timbre of his vocals on that album...WOW.  Still I'm Sad, the classic mellow Yardbirds song turned into a brain melting assault.  Kill the King, Mistreated, Greensleves, and the pinnacle...Catch the Rainbow.  After that I was hooked on Dio until the release of Dream Evil.  He was losing me at Sacred Heart though.  Someone in this thread brought up a good point though, I think he really benefited with the powerful songwriting of Blackmore and Iommi.  Something that I think was missing in "Dio".  Like everyone mentions, HD and LIL are awesome albums for sure, but it drops off from there for me.  Another indicator for me, was Dehumanizer.  I liked that album far better than anything he did solo from '87 on.  Again, I guess it's the Iommi/Butler songwriting that might have been the difference.

On Stage, is a top 5 album of all time for me.  "Rising" is awesome, with the gems being on side 2 like everyone has mentioned.  What a frikken line up! Blackmore, Dio, Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain and Tony Carey...wow...  To a lesser degree LLR&R and RB'sR are also great albums.  I remember around the time of Last in Line I reached back into the Elf albums and honestly, they didn't do much for me.  At the time though I was pretty hell bent for metal.  I might have to give them another spin now that my tastes and perspective have broadened.  I mean something was there in Elf to get Blackmore to recruit him.

[chaossystem]

I'm surprised at how much hate, or at least dislike, that Magica has been getting on here.

I actually like most of the songs on there. I had also heard that he was planning on doing not one but two "sequels" to it.

But the "concept" didn't seem to come together very well. Good songs, but no real "theme" to hold them together. Plus there wasn't an actual song where the moment of "good triumphing over evil" was actually described.

To me, though, both Master of the Moon and The devil You know were even bigger disappointments. I only liked about four of the songs off of each of those albums.

As far as the Heaven and Hell band was concerned, I had high hopes, especially after the new songs that were recorded for "The Dio Years."
I really like Shadow of the Wind, and was hoping to hear more music of that quality.

One positive note that I can end this with: I really liked the packaging/artwork on The Dio Years and The devil You Know. So even if you don't like the music, they gave us something really cool to look at.

I like most of Killing the Dragon as well.

[jjrock88]

I am pretty sure I heard as well that Dios next album was supposed to be a sequel to Magica

[TAC]

I've posted these shots a number of times, but I'll add them to this thread:

Providence Civic Center
June 18, 1986

[chaossystem]

Sacred Heart tour, right?

[TAC]

Sacred Heart tour, right?

Yes, the second time around with Craig Goldy. Also saw them the previous September with Vivian on the first leg.

[El Barto]

Looks like my fold up pocket Kodak wasn't fairing as well as TAC's little disc camera. There was one point where he saw I was taking pictures and came over and posed for me, and I was so startled by it that I snapped the picture without flipping off the telephoto and wound up with a picture of little more than one giant bloodshot eye.

Took me a while to notice that Light in the Black was the continuation of Stargazer, so now I never listen to one without the other. I noticed somebody split them up on their fictional Rainbow album and that wouldn't fly. I was definitely surprised to hear his opinion on side B of Rising (the Angry Dio interview). I consider it their finest hour. Yet it also goes to say something about the man that he still played it regularly towards the end (similar to Rainbow in the Dark, which he despised) since h knew the fans wanted to hear it.

Magica is one of my favorite Dio albums. Should get more love than it does. It was also one of the better tours I saw from him (despite being absolutely shitfaced on Jack that night). CG's solo with Annika thrown in there was wonderful. And like TAC I'm quite fond of LUtW. It's a shame Rowan didn't continue with him, but the results were Dehumanizer and Magica so I can only complain so much.

[TAC]

I split Stargazer and ALITB but it is all about balance.

I remember being very disappointed with Magica, but i will say it has aged pretty well. It takes a while to get going but ends very strong with Challis, As Long As Its Not About Love, and Losing My Insanity.

[Calvin6s]

Sacred Heart tour, right?

Yes, the second time around with Craig Goldy. Also saw them the previous September with Vivian on the first leg.

Those were some great pics.  Any of Craig?

[LudwigVan]

Even though it spanned 3 different bands, that 6 album stretch of:

Rising
Long Live Rock and Roll
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Holy Diver
The Last in Line

 is as good as it gets.

Unfortunately he jumped the shark with TLIL.  Anything after that was second rate.

[jjrock88]

Even though it spanned 3 different bands, that 6 album stretch of:

Rising
Long Live Rock and Roll
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Holy Diver
The Last in Line

 is as good as it gets.

Unfortunately he jumped the shark with TLIL.  Anything after that was second rate.

Yes that six album stretch is as good as you'll find in the metal genre

[TAC]

Sacred Heart tour, right?

Yes, the second time around with Craig Goldy. Also saw them the previous September with Vivian on the first leg.

Those were some great pics.  Any of Craig?

I have a couple, but not as great as the Dio shots. I'd have to dig them out and scan them in.

Even though it spanned 3 different bands, that 6 album stretch of:

Rising
Long Live Rock and Roll
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Holy Diver
The Last in Line

 is as good as it gets.

 
Absolutely!!

[chaossystem]

I'm surprised that the first Rainbow album doesn't get much love here.

Maybe the production isn't as good as Rising and L.L.R.a.R., but most of the songs are still pretty great, as far as I'm concerned.

There's Man on the Silver Mountain, of course. The rest of Side one is ok, and side two is fantastic. I prefer the Onstage version of Still I'm Sad, but the instrumental version is good, too. I wonder why Ronnie didn't sing it on the album.

[TAC]

I'm surprised that the first Rainbow album doesn't get much love here.

I absolutely love it. Hits the sweet spot.

Of course the On Stage version of the songs are fantastic. I love The Temple Of The King.

[Mosh]

I love all three Rainbow albums, especially Rising. Easily my favorite album with Dio singing.

[Mladen]

This thread inspired me to go through Dio's discography for the first time in many, many years. Obviously, Holy diver is as awesome as I remember it, and The Last in line and Sacred heart have their share of great tracks. I didn't enjoy Strange highways, even though I thought the appreciation I gained for Dehumanizer would help me get into it this time around. However, something happened with Angry machines, it suddenly clicked and I immensely enjoyed it, especially tracks like Black, Golden rules and Dying in America. It's a very good album, it's weird that I hated it all those years ago.

[TAC]

It's weird you like it now!

I like Golden Rules and Dying In America. Also Don't Tell The Kids and This Is Your Life. But really, this is easily Dio's worst album.
Strange Highways was kind of a shocker when it came out in terms of style, but IMO it still has much better songs than Angry Machines.

[jjrock88]

It's weird you like it now!

I like Golden Rules and Dying In America. Also Don't Tell The Kids and This Is Your Life. But really, this is easily Dio's worst album.
Strange Highways was kind of a shocker when it came out in terms of style, but IMO it still has much better songs than Angry Machines.

I pretty much just force myself to listen to Angry Machines once in a blue moon.  Easily the worst from him.

[chaossystem]

The only songs I like from Angry Machines are Big Sister, Double Monday, and Hunter of the Heart.

 The rest of it doesn't do anything for me.

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned any of those songs, good or bad.

As for strange Highways, I don't think the style is really all THAT different from the earlier Dio albums, other than that he is maybe a little more straight-forward with his opinions about some things in the lyrics.

My theory about why some of this album is so angry-sounding is because he was so upset about the Black Sabbath thing not working out.

Again.