DIO

22 The Avenue said:
So now that I've listened to the entire Iron Maiden discography, it's on to the great Ronnie James Dio. I decided to start with his black sabbath albums and I got Heaven and Hell.
Wow, it's a classic. Neon Knights, Lady Evil and Wishing Well might be my favorites, but they're all good really.

Anyways, I know it's really up to me, but I'm torn in what direction I should go with Dio. I will get Mob Rules next to finish out his early Sabbath albums. I know he had Dehumanizer in 1992. I feel like I should go chronologically from Heaven and Hell, into Dio years and then back to Dehumanizer.
But there's Rainbow and Elf back in the 70s. Ahh what to do. I should just follow chronologically.
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Elf is cool, but you should listen to his other stuff first. Elf is very much based in rock 'n' roll, boogie rock, and blues.

My recommended listening goes something like this:

- All 3 Rainbow albums
- Heaven and Hell/Mob Rules
- Then start going chronologically from the 80's onward. The first two Dio albums are brilliant, the fourth is very good, and Dehumanizer is also rather cool. You probably won't appreciate 90's Dio until you've heard the other stuff, though. In my opinion, his later albums (Magica, Killing the Dragon, and Master of the Moon) were the best thing he did since the 80's.
- After listening to all of the solo Dio material, go back and listen to Elf. It's perfect because the dark, serious tone (especially in the 90's) of Dio's music will immediately contrast with Elf's sound, and it'll make you appreciate the legend anew.
 
I'd go chronological. If you're focused on RJD specifically, you'll get a better idea of who he was as a singer that way. Plus the jump from Elf to the first Rainbow album is pretty amazing. Although I agree with Knick that the Elf stuff is skippable.

Personally my favorite Dio material is the Rainbow stuff. Rising is the best album he sang on and is still one of my all time favorites. The three Sabbath albums are really good (Mob Rules and Dehumanizer less so than H&H) and the Dio solo stuff is a bit more inconsistent for me. Good albums but nothing that reaches the heights of his best Sabbath and Rainbow material.

I agree that his later albums were a serious return to form. It's a shame he didn't do another solo album after Master of the Moon.

Check out live Dio if you get a chance too. His solo songs generally work much better in a live environment, especially the Holy Diver album. Dio at Donington was released shortly after he died, featured a concert from the Holy Diver tour and the Dream Evil tour. Really great, energetic performances. Then there's a video from the Killing the Dragon tour called Evil or Divine. You get the same classics from the Donington disc but with a different band and an older Dio plus new songs. It really shows two things:
1. How great Dio aged
2. His new material totally held up to the 80s stuff. So many songs on that album would've been classics had they been released in the 80s.

There's also Heaven and Hell Wacken 2009, which I believe was his very tour. Shows he was a powerhouse right until the very end.
 
You all are awesome. I was thinking of going at it the same way, chronological except for Elf and then going back to Elf at the end if I really love all of his material. I'm pretty sure I'm going to. He's right up there with Bruce as one of metal's best vocalists.
 
22 The Avenue said:
You all are awesome. I was thinking of going at it the same way, chronological except for Elf and then going back to Elf at the end if I really love all of his material. I'm pretty sure I'm going to. He's right up there with Bruce as one of metal's best vocalists.
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As far as vocalists go, I far prefer Dio to Bruce - but Bruce has a stronger catalogue of music thanks to Maiden.
 
Mosh said:
Personally my favorite Dio material is the Rainbow stuff. Rising is the best album he sang on and is still one of my all time favorites. The three Sabbath albums are really good (Mob Rules and Dehumanizer less so than H&H) and the Dio solo stuff is a bit more inconsistent for me. Good albums but nothing that reaches the heights of his best Sabbath and Rainbow material.
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I generally agree with what others have said, but I think Mob Rules and Holy Diver are stone fucking classics. And I strongly prefer side 2 of Mob Rules to side 2 of H&H. While you're exploring Mob Rules, see if you can find the Deluxe Edition, which has the demo version of the title track, which was used in the Heavy Metal motion picture soundtrack. I'm hard-pressed to think of any song that rocks harder or kicks ass more than that track; I'd stack it up against ANYTHING. It is also the most-played song in my entire music collection, according to iTunes, and by a wide margin.
 
My favorite albums RJD sings on are:
Heaven and Hell- BS
Holy Diver- Dio
The Last in Line- Dio
Blackmore's Rainbow- Rainbow
The Mob Rules- BS
Dream Evil- Dio
Sacred Heart- Dio
Dehumanizer- BS
Long Live Rock and Roll- Rainbow
Rainbow Rising- Rainbow
Magica- Dio
Lock Up the Wolves- Dio
The Devil You Know- H&H
Trying to Burn the Sun- Elf
Killing the Dragon- Dio
Master of the Moon- Dio
Carolina County Ball- Elf
Strange Highways- Dio
Angry Machines- Dio
Elf self titled

I went off pure memory. Did I miss one or two? I didn't include live albums and the Intermission Ep. Nor Hear N Aid...or the Iron Eagle and Vision Quest soundtracks. Ha
 
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Imo his three best albums are..

Holy Diver (Dio)
The Last in Line (Dio)
Dream Evil (Dio)

He was on fire both creatively and vocally during that period of time.
Plus he had a great band.
We used to have a ghetto blaster and used to roam the streets blasting Dio songs at full volume.
It was great fun.
 
If I had to do a Dio top three, I'd just pick the three best albums from his 3 main bands:

Rising
Heaven and Hell
Last In Line

In that order. No doubt that Holy Diver is a classic, but I find Last In Line to be much more consistent and have higher highs. Generally with albums of that caliber, you almost have to decide which has the best filler when pitting them against each other. I like the deeper cuts on LiL almost as much as the "hits".
 
I guess this is as close as we can get to new Dio music.

I like this.....good stuff. And the singer manages to mention 'mountains', 'the sea', 'the sun' and 'the Devil' all in just one chorus.

Dio would be proud! ;)

 
....honestly, I don't know how I missed this thread before opening one the other day. I searched for it multiple times!

Mods, can you combine them, by any chance?
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
....honestly, I don't know how I missed this thread before opening one the other day. I searched for it multiple times!

Mods, can you combine them, by any chance?
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You were very, very drunk? I'll see what can be done with the 'merge thread' thing. I didn't have much luck last time I tried that.
 
German metal queen Doro Pesch paid tribute to legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio by performing a cover version of the DIO classic "Rainbow In The Dark" on Sunday, May 15 at the first annual Vegas Rocks! Hair Metal Awards at the Casablanca Event Center At Eastside Cannery Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was joined on stage by bassist Rudy Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE, DIO), guitarist Robert Sarzo (HURRICANE), guitarist Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT) and drummer Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

Spanish melodic progressive metal masters LORDS OF BLACK — who feature in their ranks new RAINBOW singer Ronnie Romero — performed a cover version of the DIO classic "We Rock" during their May 14 concert at Sala Chango in Madrid, Spain.
 
Ouch....Doro is really shouting that one out. And yet, she still sounds approximately one million times better than Ronnie Romero's incredible thin, weak tone.

I don't know what Blackmore is thinking with that guy. Sounds weaker than Ripper trying to sing Barlow.
 
Awesome finds, @Forostar! Man, Bruce's high harmonies on Man on the Silver Mountain are awesome. Very interesting to hear them singing at the exact same time.

And man, Death By Love just gets better every time I hear it.
 
My recommendations are all of his 1980s albums. They're all fantastic. Lock Up The Wolves is criminally under rated in my book. Its one of my very favorite Dio albums. I cannot get into Strange Highways or Angry Machines much but they do have some great songs like Hollywood Black, Here's to You and Bring Down The Rain from Strange Highways and Don't Tell The Kids, Hunter of the Heart, and This Is Your Life from Angry Machines. I really liked Magica and Killing The Dragon. If you want my high recommendations for two awesome Dio albums, you should definitely have Holy Diver and Last In Line in your collection.
 
Forostar said:
Dio and Bruce!

+ Nicko (check awesome guitar solo by Goldy!!):

@MrKnickerbocker
Death by Love demo. :)
(solo was already set in stone ;) )
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I remember reading about the show where Bruce and Nicko performed with Dio back in 2000. I rememeber reading about it right before I saw Iron Maiden for the first time and I really wish I was at that show. I'm grateful to have seen both bands as many times as I did, and I saw Dio open for Maiden in 2003 with Motorhead being the first band.
 
I cannot use Youtube here in China because its forbidden. We have some equivalents like Youku, Sohu, and Baidu which has some cool metal stuff. I hope to hear the show with Dio and Bruce someday.
 
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