Ten years without Ronnie James Dio - a look back at his discography

[MoraWintersoul]

For Dio enthusiasts, I'd like to point out a pretentious funny campy Roger Glover project from 1974 The Butterfly Ball and The Grasshopper's Feast featuring - among other guest vocalists -  a young soulful Ronnie taking on some "unusual" material. (tracks are Sitting in a Dream, Love Is All, and Homeward)

I have never even heard of this. Will check it out later.

[TAC]

Wow! So irritating. 

[jingle.boy]

I somehow didn't know much about Dio in the 80s.  Just a little outside of my wheelhouse, and without a lot of radio airtime on the stations I frequented, or friends recommending it ... well, I only knew a couple of the smash hits from Sabbath and his solo albums.  The 'hard rock thread' gang got me in to him sometime during the last decade, and while it's almost all top-shelf material, I don't often find myself consciously reaching out for any of the aforementioned works.  I'll run through them this week though.  I got a few hours of listening time available to me this morning.

[Grappler]

I've only seen Dio twice.  The first time with his solo band, opening for Maiden in 2003.  That was a great, short set.  All of the hits, a few from Killing the Dragon, which I love, and a little Rainbow and Heaven & Hell.

The second time was on the first leg of the 2007 Heaven and Hell tour, with Megadeth and Machine Head opening.  That was an incredible show, finally seeing him front Black Sabbath and play all of those songs.  I had chances to see the other legs of the Heaven and Hell tour, but skipped them.  I wish I hadn't, but it's too late for that now.

And I absolutely love The Devil You Know.  Hearing them get so doomy was awesome, and that was an incredible record for Ronnie to leave as his last. 

[MirrorMask]

I'll always remember my first show at Wacken. Great personal company aside, it was my first time seeing such a legend, and while I was fairly certain that I would get the staples such as Heaven and Hell and Holy Diver, and I was already back then enamoured with Rainbow, and I was really, really hoping and wishing that I would get to hear at least one song between Stargazer and Gates of Babylon.

He played them both.  awesome show, the other two occasions as I said in the OP were with Heaven and Hell.

I love also the three new songs he did when he reunited with Iommi: The Devil Cried, Shadow of the Wind and Ear in the Wall. They're all great and they're probably even better than 2-3 songs off The Devil you Know.

[Stadler]

I'm with TAC on the greatness that is Holy Diver.   That was a very meaningful record in my musical advancement. 

[pg1067]

Dio is almost more of a concept at this point.

I got into Holy Diver after-the-fact and bought Last in Line new.  They were hugely important albums to me in my development as a music fan in the early 80s.  I saw Dio on the Last in Line and Sacred Heart tours and, around the same time, went back and got into Dio-era Rainbow and Sabbath.  Rising, Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Holy Diver are seminal albums, and the first three would probably make a top 25 list if I were inclined to make one.

I had tickets to see the Dream Evil tour but had just broken up with a girlfriend, so I sold the tickets in a fit despondency.  Dream Evil was a definite step down, and Lock up the Wolves was awful (with I think only one decent song).  I saw Dio on the Wolves tour.  It wasn't a good show, and that was pretty much it for me and Dio, except that I bought and like (and still like) Dehumanizer and got to see Heaven and Hell in 2007.

[Madman Shepherd]

Saw Dio twice solo and twice with Sabb...err, Heaven & Hell. Got to meet him once too. Love absolutely everything he has done and even have some MP3s of his old doo-wap stuff.

Stopped by his childhood home when I was in New York.

Got to see Last in Line twice and got to meet them. Wish I would have had Dio sign my Last in Line CD when I met him but never would have guessed 15 years from them Vivian Campbell would have made peace with it and would get his and Vinny's signature on it. Jimmy was dead by then so it'll just be the two of their signatures. Oh well.