DIO
- HOLY DIVER / THE LAST IN LINE / SACRED HEART DELUXE EDITIONS Universal / Mercury
When
Ronnie James Dio died a couple of years ago, it was interesting,
and heartening, to see the outpouring of affection for him that
followed – even people who were never going to be fans of
his work were saddened at his loss, possibly because he always
seemed a thoroughly sound chap, who’s honesty seemed to
cut across musical boundaries. It wasn’t always that way
– in his days as Black Sabbath front man, he was subject
to unseemly amounts of hate from Ozzy fans who resented this big-voiced
American taking over the role and changing the band, and when
he left after two albums to form his own group, he was met with
decidedly mixed reviews. And I’ll concede that I was no
fan – his ‘solo’ career began in the midst of
my teenage metal fan period, but I was always more into Maiden
that the more old school sounds of Dio. But with the wisdom of
age and the distance of three decades, I can reassess these releases,
and while still not the sort of thing I might pick as first choice
for listening, there’s a lot to admire here. And while these
double disc special editions are perhaps not as extensive as some
other out there – the new material mostly made up of B-sides
and live tracks – they at least represent the full amount
of Dio output from each of the releases.
Most notably, on 1983 debut album Holy Diver,
Rainbow in the Dark is pretty remarkable
– Dio’s classic rock vocal delivery aside, it’s
less a metal song than one of the best pop tunes of the Eighties,
the keyboard refrain lifting it several notches above the rest
of the album. It’s not too much of a stretch to see this
song being given a Don’t Stop Believin’
style makeover by vacuous manufactured pop puppets, and that’s
no sleight on the song – quite the opposite (I very much
hope that it never happens though!).
Elsewhere, the title track makes a strong introduction to the
album, while the rest of the tracks are solid, if unremarkable
hard rock numbers, very much in the tradition of Dio’s work
with Rainbow (and possibly Sabbath too – I have only vague
memories of those albums). There are highlights and low points
– the band seem most comfortable with epic, riff-driven
rockers like Straight Through the Heart and
Stand Up and Shout, where Dio can unleash
vocally; less effective are pseudo power ballads and slower numbers
like Invisible and Shame
on the Night, which feel a little forced. But on
the whole, this is an album that still works, even if it has only
the loosest of connections to what you might think of as metal
today.
The new edition has Holy Diver B-side
Evil Eyes, which frankly should’ve
been on the album over one or two of the lesser numbers, and a
bunch of live tracks that either appeared as 7 and 12 inch B-sides,
or from the King Biscuit live promo recordings that were made
for radio station use, which includes Rainbow’s Man
on the Silver Mountain. Good quality recordings
and performances, they make a good extra, though it’s a
shame there are no demos and other alternative and unheard material.
But then, perhaps such material just doesn’t exist.
The Last in Line, Dio’s second album from 1984,
opens with a bang, as the riff-laden anthem We Rock
sets out the band’s manifesto. It’s faster than anything
on the debut album, perhaps showing the influence of younger,
heavier metal bands – certainly, this feels a lot more (1984)
modern than anything on Holy Diver. But things
then slow right down with the album’s title track, which
has an almost-folky refrain to it, before suddenly thumping into
epic power metal territory. It’s a rather messy track, to
be honest, not without its moments, but definitely not working
as a whole.
The rest of the album is a mix of fast-paced metal (I
Speed at Night) and slower numbers more in line
with the first album (One Night in the City,
Eat Your Heart Out). Mystery
seems like a pretty blatant attempt to recreate Rainbow
in the Dark, but less effectively – it was
clearly recorded to be an American radio-friendly track. Oddly,
B-side Evil Eyes makes an album track
proper appearance here.
The extras here are again live B-sides – some track being
the same ones used for different live recordings as B-sides to
Holy Diver singles (Stand Up and
Shout, Straight Through the Heart)
and eight tracks recorded at the Pinkpop festival, including Rainbow
and Sabbath tunes (Rainbow’s epic Stargazer
reduced to under two minutes!).
The
last of the reissues is 1985’s Sacred Heart,
which was also the last Dio album to have any real commercial
success. It’s easy to see why less committed listeners might
have moved on after this, as it really just offers more of the
same, but less effectively. It’s not a bad album, but it
does suggest a band stuck in a bit of rut. The title track, a
tale of wizards and the like, could’ve been lifted from
a mid-Seventies Rainbow album, while other numbers sound like
a band on autopilot – Another Lie,
Like the Beat of a Heart and Fallen
Angels are not up to the level of previous recordings
though Just Another day does suggest that the band could still
pull it together. Closer Shoot Shoot is probably
the worst track on all three albums.
This album’s obvious stabs at crossover success are Rock
‘n’ Roll Children (and that title alone
probably damned its chances), which despite the poppy keyboards
is a bit turgid, and the rather better Hungry for
Heaven. Compared to Rainbow in the Dark,
both songs fall very short.
Extras here include non-album track Hide in the Rainbow
(Dio certainly liked his rainbows!) and more live B-sides and
live album Intermission.
Notably, after this album, the previously stable Dio line-up began
to fall apart, with members increasingly replaced by short-lived
session men, and from now on, Dio would never really trouble the
mainstream. As the metal scene moved on, Dio’s sword and
sorcery concepts and vocal style would seem increasingly dated.
But listened to again, these albums – well, the first two
at least – are pretty decent slices of power metal –
certainly better than that sub-genre’s modern proponents.
Fans hoping for genuine rarities from these new editions might
feel a bit let down, but as definitive versions, they should be
worth an upgrade or an experiment. boys.
When
Ronnie James Dio died a couple of years ago, it was interesting,
and heartening, to see the outpouring of affection for him that
followed – even people who were never going to be fans of
his work were saddened at his loss, possibly because he always
seemed a thoroughly sound chap, who’s honesty seemed to
cut across musical boundaries. It wasn’t always that way
– in his days as Black Sabbath front man, he was subject
to unseemly amounts of hate from Ozzy fans who resented this big-voiced
American taking over the role and changing the band, and when
he left after two albums to form his own group, he was met with
decidedly mixed reviews. And I’ll concede that I was no
fan – his ‘solo’ career began in the midst of
my teenage metal fan period, but I was always more into Maiden
that the more old school sounds of Dio. But with the wisdom of
age and the distance of three decades, I can reassess these releases,
and while still not the sort of thing I might pick as first choice
for listening, there’s a lot to admire here. And while these
double disc special editions are perhaps not as extensive as some
other out there – the new material mostly made up of B-sides
and live tracks – they at least represent the full amount
of Dio output from each of the releases.
The new edition has Holy Diver B-side
Evil Eyes, which frankly should’ve
been on the album over one or two of the lesser numbers, and a
bunch of live tracks that either appeared as 7 and 12 inch B-sides,
or from the King Biscuit live promo recordings that were made
for radio station use, which includes Rainbow’s Man
on the Silver Mountain. Good quality recordings
and performances, they make a good extra, though it’s a
shame there are no demos and other alternative and unheard material.
But then, perhaps such material just doesn’t exist.
The
last of the reissues is 1985’s Sacred Heart,
which was also the last Dio album to have any real commercial
success. It’s easy to see why less committed listeners might
have moved on after this, as it really just offers more of the
same, but less effectively. It’s not a bad album, but it
does suggest a band stuck in a bit of rut. The title track, a
tale of wizards and the like, could’ve been lifted from
a mid-Seventies Rainbow album, while other numbers sound like
a band on autopilot – Another Lie,
Like the Beat of a Heart and Fallen
Angels are not up to the level of previous recordings
though Just Another day does suggest that the band could still
pull it together. Closer Shoot Shoot is probably
the worst track on all three albums.
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