Ronnie James Dio (Ronald James Padavona) began his career
in a band called Elf, then was drafted by Richie Blackmoore for
Rainbow, then by Toni
Iommi for Black Sabbath, then
started his own band, which can be considered a mix
of the above. At first, "Dio The Band" included Vivian
Campbell (guitar), Warren Bane (bass), Vinnie Appice (keys), and
Cozy Powell (RIP, drums), with Dio himself singing, writing songs,
and playing keyboards. The band became quite famous in the 80s,
although many felt like the quality of his albums steadily went
down. Then Vivian Campbell left to join Whitesnake and later
Def Leppard (a questionable musical move, but a
lucrative one). Dio was responsible for the huge "Hear N' Aid"
project, which involved members of Judas
Priest, Iron Maiden, Queensryche,
Dokken, Motley
Crue, Nightranger, Blue Oyster Cult, and
many others. He also kept in touch with Black Sabbath, releasing
"Dehumanizer" with Iommi & Co in 1992, but severed ties with
them after hearing that "Black Sabbath The Band" will be opening for
Ozzy Osbourne. In the 90s Dio hired a universally hated
guitarist Tracy G, changed his music and arrangements, and released
a couple of albums that puzzled majority of his fans. However, in
2000 he fired G, replacing him with Craig Goldie and returned to his
old true self on "Magica" (2000), sending all fantasy-metal fans
into frenzy. Goldie was soon replaced by Doug Aldrich, who played on
"Killing The Dragon" (2002), but then returned for "Master Of The
Moon" (2004), because of Aldrich's committment to Whitesnake.
Dio also appeared on the Queensryche "Operation: Mindcrime II"
album (2006), and at the present time, there are numerous rumors for
him joining Iommi once again.
HOLY DIVER (1983)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Holy Diver," "Straight Through The Heart," "Rainbow
In The Dark"
Regarded by many as Dio's best album, his solo debut is indeed
rocking hard. Although it has only one fast song ("Stand Up And
Shout"), but Dio was always good with mid-tempo rockers. The riffs
are catchy and majestic, Cambell's solos are great, and the whole
thing is well produced and complete. Greatest songs include "Holy
Diver," "Straight Through The Heart," "Invisible," "Shame On The
Night," and my favorite Dio song, "Rainbow In The Dark," which
became a textbook example of how good can keyboards combine with
metal guitars. Lyrics, as I said before, were never Dio's strong
point, but at least on this album they are not as corny. "Rainbow In
The Dark" is an image that I still can't comprehend from the
standpoint of pure physics, but, hey, it's a good image. Dio sings
it with great passion; he's one of the best at investing his soul
and entire self into the vocal. What I don't like is when Dio
attempts singing high and clean: chorus of Sabbath's "Die Young" and
on this album, "Don't Talk To Strangers." He just sounds cheesy and
childish. But he does have one of the best and most passionate
voices, "impact voices," as I call them, in music.
LAST IN LINE (1984)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "We Rock," "I Speed At Night," "Mystery"
A lot more speed (now it's TWO fast songs, and they are both
good: a classic speed metal track "We Rock" and, you guessed it, "I
Speed At Night"). As for the rest of the songs, they are just "Holy
Diver Vol. II." Dio's voice is still passionate, but I like it
slightly less. The quality of the songs is a little worse, but
nothing striking. Lyrics are some more of the same: "HD"
has "Gypsy," this one has "Eat Your Heart Out" ("+You've been a bad,
bad girl / So eat it out!"). "Mystery" is a gem, though. Again, like
"Rainbow," it's a perfect mix of guitars and keyboards, and the
lyrics are OK too. Some people like the final track, epic "Egypt
(The Chains Are On)"; I don't. Oh yeah, and a much acclaimed title
track I don't care for either. It rocks and everything, but it's
average. Dio goes philosophical. Oh, well.
SACRED HEART (1985)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "Rock'n'roll Children," "Hungry For Heaven," "Fallen
Angels"
Another famous title track that is alright but nothing more. I
wonder if in "King Of Rock'n'Roll" Dio means himself. "Another Lie"
is boring. "Rock'n'Roll Children" is stupid but very cool. "Hungry
For Heaven" is my favorite track, although I don't quite know who is
Dio talking to. "Just Another Day" could have been a masterpiece,
had poetry been a little better, but it's still very decent. "Fallen
Angels" is "Last In Line" revisited, and both influenced Skid Row's
"Youth Gone Wild" very much. "Shoot Shoot" is the only truly
original tune: funny, bitter, and still rocking. Other songs are
more of the same. Dio is one metal performer you could never accuse
of trying something new (at least until I've heard Strange
Highways) or selling out. He's been his old self from day one.
A good album. If you get it used, it's worth every
penny.
DREAM EVIL (1987)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: title track, "Sunset Superman," "All The Fools
Sailed Away"
Now, this is just bloody awesome! This album has it all: great
guitar work from Craig Goldy, tasteful keyboards from Claude
Schnell, ever-present bass thumping from Jimmy Bain, kick-ass
drumming from Vinny Appice, and, of course, the silver throat of the
Elf himself. Simply put, Dio never sounded better on any of his 70s
and 80s albums. And, what's even more important: the songwriting is
one of the strongest to come out under Dio's name. By "one of the
strongest," I mean catchy riffing, excellent vocal melodies, and
magical lyrics (too bad in some cases, like in "All The Fools," I
cannot figure out what in the world are the lyrics about). True to
the tradition, the opening track, "Night People," is fast, with a
kicking main riff. Title track is similar to the one on Sacred
Heart, but better. "Sunset Superman" is a clear highlight, and
still gets some play at Dio's live shows. "All The Fools Sailed
Away" rivals "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" from Sabbath's
The Mob Rules in its sheer magic. "Naked In The Rain" is
another fast and rocking song, with great keyboard intro. "Overlove"
and "Faces In The Mirror" are equally solid metal tunes. "I Could
Have Been A Dreamer" I don't like as much: it is a little too much
on the pop side. Simply put, an awesome album, from the Lord of the
Magical Kingdom.
STRANGE HIGHWAYS (1994)
RATING: **1/2
BEST SONGS: "Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost," title
track
"Strange" is the not the right word. "Boring" is more
appropriate. In the midst of "alternative" madness, Ronnie James got
himself a new crew of Tracy G (guitars), Jeff Pilson of Dokken (bass, keys),
and his old bandmate Vinny Appice switching to drums, and released a strange album indeed, but, man does it totally lack
spirit. Ever since Metallica in 1991 has set the
tone for a new approach of "ve-e-e-ry s-l-l-o-o-o-w m-e-t-a-a-a-al,"
playing fast became obsolete and "too 80s." This album is sl-o-ow.
It still rocks at times, especially in the album-opening "J, M & THG," and also title track (very typical Dio tune, in vein of other
title tracks, such as Last In Line and Sacred
Heart). I must mention that Tracy
G. is playing in the minors, compared to Campbell and Goldy. His solo
on "Evilution" invokes the images of a cat, stuck in a
chimney, although the song itself is quite alright. But everything
else is rather plain. Dio's voice is the only thing that never seems to
change, but, as I'm discovering more and more often, this is not
enough to make great albums.
"HOLY DIO: TRIBUTE TO THE VOICE OF METAL" (1999)
RATING:
****1/2
BEST SONGS: 1ST CD --
"Egypt," "Children Of The Sea," "Sign Of The Southern Cross," 2ND CD
-- "We Rock," "Holy Diver," "Temple Of The King."
Even though none of the featured bands have
a vocalist quite on the level of Dio, just the choice of
songs is enough to make this 2 CD tribute great. Every song is kept
very close to the original, which is good, but gets tedious after a
while. Priest and Sabbath tributes were more versatile,
and the artists were given an opportunity to sound like themselves.
Here, everybody sounds like Rainbow, BS w/ Dio, and Dio. It kinda
defeats the purpose, doesn't it? That said, it's still a fantastic
album.
Blind Guardian,
against my expectations, does really well on "Don't Talk To
Strangers," Primal Fear smokes on "Kill
The King," Doro Pesch (of Warlock and Doro) totally kicks butt on "Egypt" (one of a
few tunes where the singer's voice actually fits the song better
than Dio's), Jag Panzer rules on "Children
Of The Sea," Fates Warning (they
should stick to covers: their covers are amazing, but original stuff
for the last 10 years has been incredibly dull) does a marvelous job
on "Sign Of The Southern Cross," Catch The Rainbow (a side project
for several German musicians, including Uli Kusch
of Helloween -- whose drums had
absolutely no impact on this acoustic song -- and Henne Basse of Metalium) do likewise on "Rainbow Eyes"
(one of the best ballads of the album), and Gamma Ray makes "Rock'n'Roll" live long
alright! A project from two black/death metal producers Dan Swano
and Peter Tagtgren do a decent job on "Country Girl." Mr. Yngwie J. Malmsteen, who is to guitar
what Dio is to vocals, does an interesting take on "Gates Of
Babylon." I find it unusual, but some people plain hate it.
Grave Digger opens the second half with
"We Rock," and it's another love/hate track. I absolutely love it.
Unlike other people, Chris Boltendahl knows that his voice doesn't
sound one bit like Dio's, and doesn't try to imitate him. This is
why "We Rock" is one of the more original tracks. Hammerfall w/ Kai Hansen on background
vocals (the man never sleeps) do "Man On The Silver Mountain";
it's OK, but nothing exceptional. Holy Mother, on the other hand, are
totally awesome on "Holy Diver." Sometimes it feels like it's Ronnie
James himself singing it! Stratovarius is one of the weakest
numbers on the CD, with another version of "Kill The King." This
version is very old, with Tolkki, not Kotipelto, singing, and he
isn't very good.Then come several
less known numbers, such as Enola Gay and Solitude Aeturnus (why in
hell did they take out the acoustic intro? It was the best part of
the song) on "Heaven And Hell" and "Shame On The Night." Steel Prophet does a great job on "Neon
Knights" and Angel Dust (another band
whose covers I like a lot more than their originals) do likewise on
"Temple Of The King" (another great ballad to finish the disc).
Angel Dust is simply splendid. Love every moment of it. Destiny's End starts out nice on "Last
In Line," but then Rivera's voice fails him, and the song becomes
weaker and weaker, until turning into something almost unbearable. A
great CD on its own, I only wish it was a little more versatile.
MAGICA (2000)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Fever Dreams," "Eriel," "Losing My
Insanity"
Well, I don't like to use the term "comeback" to somebody who
never really went away, but this is certainly a comeback. Hell, it's
only one of the greatest albums of the year that was full of great
albums. Obviously, the title of the album influenced the music
itself: DIO'S MAGIC IS BACK! I've heard it first while visiting my
buddy Dean from Skullview, and then I just had to buy
it. Holy macro, this is one stunning album! Gone is Tracy G (good
riddance), and the new guitarist is Craig Goldy, who played on
Sacred Heart and Dream Evil (welcome back, dude, we missed
you!). Another old buddy is Jimmy Bain on bass. The opening (I'm not
counting the intro) song, "Lord Of The Last Day" I don't care for
that much (one thing that stuck in my mind was a fairly ridiculous
line "I love the night... so many shadows..." -- there are NO
shadows at night, because there's no sun!), but then it just takes
off. It surprised many friends of mine that I loved this album so
much, because I love speed, and there's not a single fast tune here.
Still, it rules. "Fever Dreams" has a mesmerizing main riff, "Turn
To Stone" and "Feed My Head" are both punishing hitters, "Eriel" is
a rocking and emotional epicky tune (check out the guitar and
keyboard interplay at the second part -- oh yeah!), and "As Long As
It's Not About Love" is a monster of a ballad (the only reason for
it not being all over mainstream radio in the age when power ballads
are making a return is the lack of taste among radio personnel
worldwide, as they keep rehashing the same 80s crap like "Every Rose
Has Its Thorn" and "Heaven"). Now, if all these things didn't
convince you that this album is a masterpiece, there's "Losing My
Insanity"! Immediately it became my favorite song of the album, and
a year later, it became my second favorite song from Ronnie James
Dio. Its celtic groove, combined with Dio's singing ("Someone said,
'BELIEVE IN YOUR OTHER SIDE!!!'"), gives me chills and makes me want
to jump out the window or something. This is pure metal ecstasy,
unparallel and divine. The story is two-fold: one part actually has
to do with an album and the other part is just related to images and
song titles (it's basically an extended version of a song "Winged
Horse" by Gamma
Ray, only I'm not sure Dio has ever heard of GR, and
there is no horse). The CD contains a full story sheet written in
small text, but, for some reason, people behind the album assumed
that your average metal lover can't read, and they included the
whole story on a CD, as a spoken track. This track is spoken with a
voice that brought unholy images of Rhapsody horrible spoken narrations.
But these are all minor gripes, and the major thing is that this is
one astonishing album. Live it wasn't disappointing either: Dio
singing "Losing My Insanity" made me wet my pants. No further
adjectives. If you don't have it, you have no business in metal or
in good quality music.
KILLING THE DRAGON (2002)
RATING: ***
BEST SONGS: "Along Came The Spider," "Better In The Dark,"
"Throw Away Children"
Contrary to many people, who loved this album, I see it as a
huge step backwards for Dio. The arrrangements became more
simplistic, the music is not as interesting, and the production
(especially of Dio's main weapon -- his voice) is extremely dry. It
also sounds like Dio has decided to pay a huge tribute to the 70s
music, in songs like "Rock'n'Roll" and "Cold Feet" it's painfully
obvious just how much he likes Led Zepellin. The songwriting has
never been more bare-boned, and it's a waste of Doug Aldrich's
talent to be on this half-ass record. The riff to the opening title
song would have sounded too basic in 1972, let alone in 2002.
"Scream," "Push," and "Guilty" are more of the same, with minimal
thought going into their writing. The lonely bright moments are
"Alone Came The Spider" (great wicked groove) and "Better In The
Dark" (no, not the sequel to the "Holy Diver"'s superhit). "Throw
Away Children" is good, but I simply can't hear Dio singing the word
"chi-i-ildren" anymore (after "Children Of The Sea," "Rock'n'Roll
Children," and opening lines to "We Are Stars"). I just saw the band
live: Ronnie still sounds awesome live, but the songwriting needs to
be cranked up for my level of enjoyment.
MASTER OF THE MOON (2004)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "One More For The Road," "The Man Who Would Be
King," "I Am"
No, this album is not about Howard Stern. But it is not about
"We rock!" either. While the overall level of the songs is higher
than on "KtD" (at least there is no abominable crap here like "Cold
Feet"), but the arrangements are still simple, the melodies are
still second-hand, the mood is barely involving, and the energy is
still merely tinkering, instead of shining bright. There is no speed
here whatsoever (if you want speed Dio-style, your best bet is to
hunt do Feinstein's "Third Wish"), the only
song that barely shifts gears into uptempo is the opening "One More
For The Road," and the only song that could make a Dio "best of"
compilation is "The Man Who Would Be King" (and with a serious
stretch at that). This tune, btw, is one of the rarest Dio tracks
that is very relevant to today's events: clearly about Bush Jr. and
the war in Iraq, it shows that Dio does glance outside of his ivory
castle, guarded by demons and flying dragons, every now and then. A
definite improvement over KtD is the production of Dio's voice: it
sounds juicy once again. Overall, this album can be treated as one
very long mid-tempo song, without any particularly bright or dark
spots, decent but not great, likeable but not enchanting, made for
enjoyment but not for headbanging. I wonder if Dio really feels the
urge to write songs, TO CREATE, or he just releases album after
album to fulfill some obligation to a very small group of people
(including those of his fans that would eat up anything he
releases), and the more I think about it, the more I see that
Magica was a very odd accident, rather than a return to Olympus.
Ronnie James Dio is, after all, an old man, and nobody could blame
him for not having many new ideas in store.
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