The big news of the week is that Ronnie James Dio passed away Sunday morning from stomach cancer at age 67. If you think of great heavy metal of the 80s, you have to think Dio with his lyrics dealing with dragons, demons, wizards and so on. He played in Black Sabbath, hung around with Richie Blackmore in Rainbow and started as boogie rockers Elf. The praises have come in from every metal singer and bands and nobody has ever had a bad word to say about RJD, calling him one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet.
I'm not what you call an avid fan but I do like a few of his numbers and albums that he made. This week The Top Ten Of The Week pays tribute by picking some of the better known and best loved tunes from my cd player and maybe yours.
1. Man On The Silver Mountain-Rainbow 1975 Richie Blackmore may have been a egomaniac but he would get inspired from time to time as he did with this lead off from the first Rainbow album. One of a few tracks that Dio would continue to play in Dio the band.
2. Stargazer-Rainbow 1976 Perhaps this was Ronnie and Richie's tribute to Zeppelin's Kashmir, it has that Middleeastern sound and this might border on pompous but it starts out with the late great Cozy Powell pounding on the drums before the song kicks in. The first Rainbow album could have been Deep Purple or Elf boogie but Rainbow Rising is the beginning of better things to come. Recorded by Mack at Musicland Studios, and Mack would go on to produce Queen and Black Sabbath Dehumanizer but Martin Birch still produced the affair.
3. Neon Knights-Black Sabbath 1980 By then, probably tired of the clashing ego of Blackmore, Dio moves on to Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osborne left for a solo career. When I listen to Heaven And Hell, the album I find it more of a pop metal sound in songs such as Walk Away (which really sounds pop) then the medival metal of Rising. This was the only album that Bill Ward played drums on, and I could be wrong but it seems like he just was bored with the songs although he drives like a Mofo on Neon Knights. While Ozzy fans railed against the new singer, this record actually sold much better than the last three BS albums and musically, better too.
4. The Mob Rules-Black Sabbath 1981 Originally on Heavy Metal, when The Sabbath redid this song for the Mob Rules album, it was grittier, diritier and much more foreboding. Also helped that Vinnie Appice drove this song into the abyss with a louder sound than Ward had on Heaven And Hell. While I liked Heaven And Hell the album I really loved Mob Rules a bit more, although side two does drag a bit toward the end.
5. Rainbow In The Dark-Dio 1983 A clash of ideas and Dio took off to form his namesake band and taking Vinnie with him. Sabbath would go on adding Ian (deep purple) Gillan and Bill Ward returned to make the so so Born Again but Holy Diver was the better by far. Adding hotshot Viv Campbell on guitar and Jimmy Bain from Rainbow, Dio put together a pretty damn good band. And this did cracked the top 40 for a week or two and even had a MTV video to go with it. May be my all time favorite Dio song.
6. The Last In Line-Dio 1984 His best selling album and another top ten video for the Headbanger's Ball, back in the era that MTV played music videos and not a brain drain. You have to see the video to really believe it.
7. I Could Have Been A Dreamer-Dio 1987 His last song that got any airplay on the real rock stations around here, it features a new guitar player Craig Goldie. Viv Campbell moved on to Def Leppard. Sounds a bit more poppy due to Claude Schnell's keyboards but Goldie keeps it metal. In a way so to speak.
8. Computer God-Black Sabbath 1992 After Live Evil, there were reports that Dio and the BS guys would never work together again but the planets align just right and the guys got back to make to better than what people tells you Dehumanizer album. Again Bill Ward didn't want nothing to do with this, so Vinnie Appice returned and Mack, the dude who recorded Rainbow Rising produced and mixed this to the treble high he could get it. However, the album tanked and went into the bargain bins and Dio returned to his solo career.
9. Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost-Dio 1994 Strange Highways the album. Dio sounded real pissed on this and never sounded more heavier in the process. The new guitarist was the unknown Tracy Grijalva and to these ears he reminds me of Zakk Wylde and that's a good thing. This band also featured Jeff Pilson, on loan from Dokken. This album should have been bigger, but it only got up to #142 on the Billboard chart and it became yet another album for the cut out section. Perhaps my favorite Dio album if I want to get heavy.
10. The Chase-Queensryche 2006 Dio guest starred on Operation Mindcrime 2, playing the mysterous Dr. X and it's interesting to hear the vocal interplay of Dio and Geoff Tate. Mindcrime 2, sold to the faithful but the majority of folks ignored it. It's a bit more unfocused than the original Mindcrime album. The Chase worth a listen.
Around this time, Dio reformed for a third time with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler but this time renaming their project Heaven And Hell and made a live album and last year's The Devil You Know for Rhino Records. There was supposed to be a tour coming up with Metallica and Dio mentioned that a possible reunion with Elf but with Dio's passing that will not take place.
One thing is certain though, Ronnie James Dio had his own style of singing and he gave it all, from the early boogie of Elf to Rainbow to Sabbath to Dio and back again to Sabbath. An original who you cannot replace. Ronnie James Dio will be missed.
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