Hi and welcome back to a new round of "In retrospect:". This time I'm tackling the career of Ronnie James Dio, although not all of his career. This might sound weird, but truth be told - the man's legacy started way before Elf, which is kind of the first band people usually know him from. Back in the 1950's and 1960's, Ronnie James Dio was already an active singer, but since this was in a time long-before hard rock and heavy metal, the music was more what you could imagine from that time.
Judging by the fact that Dio's pre-Elf career is too hard to fully trace, not to mention having an interest and patience in hearing it all, leaves me determined to not include his early, mostly unknown career in music. Actually, the same goes for his first little-to-fairly-known band Elf, which I simply haven't heard enough from, and what little I've heard didn't really interest me that much either, I'm afraid.
What I will cover is Ronnie's well-known career and legacy, from Rainbow to Black Sabbath to his solo act Dio. The only releases I will exclude from these bands are live and compilation albums, since they rarely interest me anyway.
A small shoutout before I begin, however, for Rainbow's "On Stage" album which in fact is a good one. Nonetheless, I will not include it in the list, but it's very worth checking out.
Here we go...
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Rainbow
1975 - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Ronnie James Dio's first well-known album, and his first mainstream introduction to the public, is quite a landmark. Though this album was a major factor in Dio's career, it was also important for band leader and legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who had left Deep Purple to form his own band. The release itself, however, is not quite as good to my ears as many other people think. Truth be told, I always found Deep Purple and Rainbow to be somewhat of a hit-or-miss kind of bands. It's solid and got some great tracks, but nothing awesome as a whole.
1976 - (Rainbow) Rising
Now this is a lot better than the band's previous effort, I believe. If anything, it's certainly heavier and more to my taste. While it's got a shorter amount of songs (six in total), half of the album is made-up of eight-minute songs. Back in my early teens many years ago, I was often bored of lenghty songs, but as I grew older I really started to appreciate those musical-journey style songs many bands do. This album really has got that, with music just as epic as the most classic album cover art. One mighty fine hour in Dio's career, not to mention in the rest of the band members' careers as well.
1978 - Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
Dio's last album with Rainbow has got quite an ironic title, doesn't it? Not because rock 'n' roll died, at least not as early as 1978, but because it was the last album of Dio-Rainbow. It doesn't quite matter that Rainbow switched members from every record to record (at least up until "Difficult To Cure", after that I'm not sure), the Dio-Blackmore collaboration was all that counted, really. The album itself is a good closure for Dio's tenure in Rainbow with some of both Dio's and Blackmore's best songs ever.
Black Sabbath (take 1)
1980 - Heaven And Hell
Starting off his career in a band like Rainbow, only to then go on and replace Ozzy Osbourne in the mighty Sabbath. That is one hell of a career move, right? Well, Dio had the chops to did, and he bloody well did. As a major fan of Sabbath I love every album they did with Ozzy except for "Never Say Die!", which is a bit bland. I can understand why some people didn't like a few more of their last Ozzy-fronted albums, though. Anyway, with Dio in the fold, they put themselves back on the map - big time. This album is one of the best albums of all time, particularly within the metal community. Anyone denying its mastercrafted heavy metal sound of grandeur is an idiot. Dio himself stated at several times that this was his very favorite album, as well.
1981 - Mob Rules
While it doesn't really seem like an unknown album, it's certainly underrated and overlooked in comparison to its predecessor. I sometimes wonder if I don't even like this one slighty more, but it's a close call any way. Where this album perhaps went by more quietly, however, it was an important career step for Dio, who met his future long-time drummer Vinnie Appice who plays drums on this album. This would also be the last Dio-fronted Sabbath album in ten years to come, but what a great closure of Dio-Sabbath (mark one) it was. Very heavy and powerful album!
Dio
1983 - Holy Diver
One of the most legendary metal albums of all time. The debut of Dio's solo band really showed the world that the little man with the big voice could make it on his own. An album that surely helped out a lot with putting American heavy metal on the map, because after all, Ronnie James Dio was American. While Dio himself was American, however, his new and sensational young talen Vivian Campbell came from Ireland. Viv Campbell is today more known as one of the guitarists in Def Leppard, something that is quite far away from the style of Dio. Anyway, this album showed everyone that the Dio band was just as good, if not better, than both Rainbow and Black Sabbath had been with Dio. Most worthy of mentioning is also Dio's classic rhythm section with Jimmy Bain on bass and Vinnie Appice on drums. Just one of the great rhythm sections of all time, what a band!
1984 - The Last In Line
For a long time this was my favorite Dio album. I don't know if it still is, but it's one damn good album to say the least. Coming from "Holy Diver" which largely lacked keyboards, something which was pretty crucial and prominent in the soundscapes of Dio's former bands, this one saw keyboardist Claude Schnell recruited and a lot of more keyboards being present in the music. I believe this really helped cementing the Dio band's sound, especially with Ronnie's fantasy-themed lyrics which fit the 1980's heavy metal scene very nicely. This album is a very heavy and atmospheric journey of heavy metal music that everyone should own. A great mix of heavy, speed, and poppy metal.
1985 - Sacred Heart
Somewhat unintentionally controversial, this album would prove to be the last album featuring the classic Dio line-up. Guitarist Vivian Campbell and Ronnie had clashed by this point, for whatever reasons (they are widely discussed throughout interviews if you're interested). It's a most typical Dio album in a musical sense, but it does perhaps feature a somewhat more commercial sound. The album's lead singles are quite poppy and the fans were largely split with opinions about this one. This fact along with the ultimate demise and departure of Vivian Campbell's tenure in the band made it somewhat of the controversy it is. But I am one of those fans who love this album. A few tracks do tend to sound a bit more filler than usual, but still - it's a pretty fucking good album anyway.
1987 - Dream Evil
Marking the first album without guitarist Viv Campbell, this was the first (and ultimately at the time the only) album to feature Craig Goldy. I've always been very fond of this album, especially considering it's Craig Goldy who plays on it. That might come across as I don't like the guy's playing, but I'll come back and explain that on later albums. What this album sounds like is a mix between Dio's previous three solo albums and his Rainbow albums. Goldy seemed to be very influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, and perhaps even a bit too much so. The guitar playing is just phenomenal but not really as original or interesting as on previous albums. At the end of the day, however, this release does feature some of Dio's most underrated songs, and for any fans who loved Dio in Rainbow, this one would surely be the album to check out from Dio's solo records.
1990 - Lock Up The Wolves
Dio's fifth album once again showed a change within the band, albeit a much larger one this time around. For this album, Dio had changed out his whole backing band. Some of the old guys got fired for whatever reasons and the rest felt uncomfortable playing with the replacing guys. I can only suppose it was inevitable and a much needed change at the time. But how does it affect the album then? Well, it sounds quite different (obviously). Compared to the previous albums, this one is way much more guitar-driven, with hardly any prominent keyboards at all. Perhaps a sign of the times as the 80's was over, I dunno. The guitarist here, Rowan Robertson, was infamously only seventeen years old at the time he joined the band, and boy was he full of great talent! Ultimately, it's not the strongest Dio release. It took me a few years to truly get into this, but when I finally did, it became a very good more hard-rock/glam metal-influenced record than its predecessors.
Black Sabbath (take 2)
1992 - Dehumanizer
Dio let-go of his solo band in favor of rejoining Sabbath during the early 90's. I suppose the reason was that both the Dio band as well as Black Sabbath had been struggling somewhat throughout the last few years, and while they assured everyone it wasn't about the money, well ... I beg to differ, especially considering how ill they spoke of each other during the 80's. But it all happened anyway, and the end result was one hell of a heavy album. Perhaps even the heaviest Sabbath album of all time, but in the end I always felt this album fell somewhat flat in comparison to Dio's previous Sabbath-albums. It's a solid album, but nothing too spectacular. Sabbath simply did better doom metal with Ozzy in the 70's (without disrespecting Ronnie's performance or place in the band). This reunion was, however, very short-lived.
Dio (take 2)
1993 - Strange Highways
Without a doubt this is the most overlooked and underrated album of Dio's career. I suppose the reasons for it were maybe not all that surprising, though. Seeing as how the 90's obviously changed the music market for this kind of metal, and Dio and his solo band were largely associated with "dragons and rainbows", I just guess nobody was interested anymore. Well, that sure as hell was their huge loss, because this album is fucking awesome. Once again, the old trademark-keyboards are almost completely gone on this one as well, and it's way heavier than any solo record Dio ever did. This one is a lot more like Sabbath's Dehumanizer, p. 2. The only difference is - I think this one turned out way better, to be honest. For this album, Dio used his new guitar player Tracy G. along with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, and his former long-time drummer Vinnie Appice came back to the fold as well. Some fans ultimately disliked Tracy G. and his playing (strongly), but I guess it's mostly because the guy played his own solos on old Dio and Sabbath tracks when they played live. Otherwise, I think the guy had a great guitar tone and I love his "loose" riffing style.
1996 - Angry Machines
And without a doubt this is Dio's worst album of his (more well-known) career. I've tried to get into this but I just can't. It sounds like a further exploration within doom metal, this time taking an even heavier approach. The end result is just plain bad. The songs are boring, uninspired and most of all - it doesn't sound very much like a Dio album. I can only suppose that for those who disliked Tracy G., this album did nothing but further cement that opinion of theirs. This was ultimately the last album to feature Tracy G. (as well as Vinnie Appice), who left some years later due to even Ronnie getting tired of his solo-style during live performances. I liked the guy and his personal playing, but this album was pretty bad. Him not playing the older songs' solos properly either, well ... fans were obviously gonna be pissed.
2000 - Magica
This album marked four noteworthy things: the return of guitarist Craig Goldy, as well as drummer Simon Wright (who played on "Lock Up The Wolves") and the former classic and long-time bassist Jimmy Bain, and most of all: the return of Dio's trademark fantasy-style metal. The end result, however, is a bit hit-or-miss. Seeing as it was 2000, with new ways of making digital recording cheaper to use, as well as Dio having not had any greater success for almost ten years by this point, the album sounds rather cheaply recorded. The production is very flat-sounding. On top of this, Craig Goldy's return to the band is more of a disappointment than it is a success. The riffs just tend to sound very much the same over and over. His old Ritchie Blackmore-influenced style of riffing is long-gone on here, and while it was maybe Ronnie who wrote the riffs, it's still a pretty boring performane from Goldy. Simon Wright's stellar-rather-than-loose playing style (if compared to Vinnie Appice) just further makes this album stiff and a bit lifeless. It's sad because this album really had potential in its songs.
2002 - Killing The Dragon
Following much in the same vein as "Magica", this album is more of a success to my ears. It sounds more inspirated and more true to Dio's 80's albums than any Dio album has done post-80's. Maybe this was because of guitarist Doug Aldrich, who temporarily replaced Craig Goldy for a few years while the latter became a father. Still present, however, is the somewhat of the stiff sound from the previous album. It's not nearly as much, however, as the production is a bit more "full" and the guitars (especially) are more varied and alive on this one. Not really a superb album, but without a doubt the best album Dio did after "Strange Highways" in 1993.
2004 - Master Of The Moon
Ultimately what would become the last Dio album, this one once again sees the return of bassist Jeff Pilson as well as Craig Goldy(!), and along with him comes (once again) a more stiff performance like "Magica". Now these two albums have really left me wondering sometimes what this guy did to lose his amazing performance-style from "Dream Evil". It's just sad to see such a promising guitarist become so uninspiring and boring fifteen-to-twenty years down the line. This particular album itself, however, is not bad, but not very good either. Just like with "Magica", this is somewhat of a hit-or-miss kind of album. It's a bit more keyboard-oriented which is nice, but otherwise there's not really one single track that truly stands out as memorable.
Heaven & Hell (a.k.a. Black Sabbath, take 3)
2009 - The Devil You Know
Sometime soon after the mid-2000's, Ronnie once again reunited with his former Black Sabbath bandmates. Sabbath had not too long ago stopped playing with Ozzy Osbourne, whom they had reunited with in the late 1990's. Needless to say, Sabbath was most likely facing another rather unsuccessful bunch of years ahead of them, while Dio had already been working too hard for too little for several years at this point. The guys reunited once more, opting to change their name after the legendary "Heaven And Hell" album this time instead. They released their first and ultimately only full-length album in 2009, which I suppose was successful (judging by time of illegal downloads, etc). The album itself is also a very good one, being the best album by the Sabbath guys (Tony and Geezer) and Dio (with Vinnie Appice) in a long, long time. It's a very heavy doom metal album and a great way for Ronnie James Dio to (sadly) end his career.
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That was it for this time, guys. These are my reflections and presentations of Ronnie James Dio's albums in short. I hope you enjoyed and see you next time!
//J.
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