RIP Ronnie James Dio - 1 Year Today

Today's post was supposed to be an exclusive interview with Sabaton, by the overly talented Gryphyn, and I was also working on a review for the new Red Fang album but it all is getting pushed back a day (sorry Gryphyn) so I can bring memory back to one of the mad men of metal: Ronnie James Dio, who died of stomach cancer one year ago today.

It's weird because although I am only in my twenties, thinking of Dio's passing still brings me sadness. I mean, a couple of months previous Peter Steele of Type O Negative died, and he had a much more 'actual' impact on my life, having bought ToN albums and seen them live. But although I lament his death, it is still not anywhere close to what I feel about Dio. In my delusions of grandeur I always hoped I would bump into Dio at the store or at work or something, and that with my stupidly-large knowledge of heavy metal, I could smooth talk my way onto his next tour or something. I know it's foolish but it's my dream ok? I find myself having this same daydream at work now sometimes, before I remember that he has died and that it's a 100% impossibility (as opposed to the 99.9% as it was before). Makes me feel even shittier at my shitty job.

Ronnie James Dio Is Dead

I'm joining the masses of bloggers and mourners; Ronnie James Dio, leader of such amazing bands as Elf, Black Sabbath (for a time), Dio (solo), and Heaven and Hell, has passed away from stomach cancer. His wife, Wendy, released this message a few short minutes ago:

“Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m. [on Sunday] 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.”

Video: Heaven And Hell "The Bible Black"

Keeping with the Dio theme, and as my last post of the month I thought this was good. It's the first single from Heaven And Hell's debut album The Devil You Know. It's kind of a simple video, cartoony with little detail. Not my favorite video, but it is one of the best songs off of the album.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - Solo (Part 2)

• Lock Up The Wolves - 1990

Lock Up The Wolves marks the solid end of "The Golden Age" of Dio material. While it still follows the same formula of wizardry and wars, it seems like the heart is out of it. It shuffles on from song to song - doing nothing bad, but nothing really well either. If this was a release from a different artist/band, the group would quickly be swallowed up by mainstream media, but because it is an act so well known, it keeps on.

• Strange Highways - 1994

This is my least favorite Dio album. With almost every other of his releases, there is at least one track that I can get behind and really enjoy - but not this one. It's all just average song after average song, eleven times in a row. I don't think he was really trying too hard for this one. Even the album artwork is lackluster. Disappointing Ronnie, disappointing.

• Angry Machines - 1996

This is Dio's search for a resurgence into the market. This album focuses on technology and the evils within. While it is better then his previous effort, it falls short on many instances. I view this as the rise, towards what would become on his next few releases.

• Magica - 2000

Now Magica is the closest yet to the glory days (the 80's) of Dio's music. It is a concept album with moving lines and interesting music. All and all a pretty good album, compared to the last few efforts at least. But what kills the album for me, is the 18 minute long spoken track, explaining the story of Magica, in semi-poetic form. Ok, I get that you want all the subtleties of your project realized, but concept albums are known for not knowing the full meaning on the first try. You are supposed to listen over and over again to hear the variation in stories, not have it handed to you. (Check out my article on Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory or my one on Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes for a more in-depth view of a concept album.) While Magica is a call-back to the good Dio-era, the ending explanation is a poor (and very boring) way to finish up a project.

• Killing The Dragon - 2002

Following Magica, and in the same vein (without being a concept album), Killing The Dragon is a continuation of the NWOBHM/power metal sound that the classic Dio albums are known for. While it still isn't measurable against Holy Diver or The Last In Line, it is one of the strongest within this article. A seemingly resurgence of the Dio sound.

• Master of The Moon - 2004

Dio's last album - finally. I was surprised with how much I liked this album. It is definitely one of my favorites from the latter dio-era. The songs are slower, but not too slow. Alot of the songs have a pulsating guitar and drum combo, with simple riffs and 4/4 drumming. It is very groove heavy, and relies alot on the lyrics and vocals, which in Dio's case is a good thing. It's a really strong album, slightly repetitive, but acceptably so. As I said, I am surprised with how strong this release actually is, it sounds like a new band then the previous albums. I would look forward to another Dio album, if it was like this one.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - Black Sabbath...Twice

• Heaven And Hell - 1980

Really a superb album. This was Dio's first release with Black Sabbath (after the firing of past singer, Ozzy Osbourne) and he makes an amazing first impression. Every song is decent, with only one or two not being amazing. If Black Sabbath could release more albums like this, they would still be #1.

• Mob Rules - 1981

While not quite as good as Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules was still a pretty solid album. Holding the singles "Sign of The Southern Cross" and "Mob Rules" this album was a valiant effort by the group to remain in the public's eye, after their renewed popularity from their previous release. The only weird song is the odd instrumental "E5150" with bears little significance to anything else on the album.

• Dehumanizer - 1992

This album is....well average to say the least. While it really isn't horrible, it's nothing that stands out. When you have greats like Dio, Tony Iommi, Vinny Appice, and Geezer Butler all on one project, odds are it's not going to be horrible...it just might not be that good. It's easy to see why the Dio-led Black Sabbath only stayed together for this one album. I'm glad they figured out the winning formula for their newest project, Heaven And Hell.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - Heaven And Hell

• The Devil You Know - 2009

I've already gone in detail about this album, so this will be a shorter post then my others. Now that I've listened to the album a couple of times, I can say that it is a classic album. The first half is amazing, the mixing of the styles (of Dio and Black Sabbath), with the latter part lagging a bit, but still coming in strong.Heaven And Hell is a collaboration of the Dio-era of Black Sabbath, but not just a re-hashing of old songs. That's why they made the new name, they wanted to release new music - the first for Sabbath sense 1995's Forbidden (ugh), and Dio's first sense 2004's Master of The Moon.

All-in-all, if you like Dio, if you like the classic-era of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell's The Devil You Know is a keeper, go out and buy it!

See full length review here.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - Solo (Part 1)

• Holy Diver - 1983

This is it: the definitive Dio album. Everyone knows the title track - even if you don't listen to this style of music, you know it. This album produced several singles that are still heard on the radio; "Holy Diver," "Don't Talk To Strangers," "Straight Through The Heart," and "Rainbow In The Dark." This is by far the most popular album in Dio's catalog, deservedly so, and it helped launch his hefty solo career off right.

• The Last In Line - 1984

This album was released on the tails of Holy Diver, and it is decent - it's no Holy Diver - but it is pretty good. It still plays into the "Swords & Sorcery" theme that was present in the previous album. You can see how much of an impact these first few albums had on the blossoming sub-genre power metal, many bands still reference Dio as a major influence, and many more pay homage through covers. If you like Holy Diver, you will probably find something to enjoy in The Last In Line.

• Sacred Heart - 1985

Sacred Heart still lives in the fantasy realm, but is also more radio-friendly then The Last In Line. Songs like the title track, "Rock N' Roll Children" (one of my favorite Dio songs) and "Hungry For Heaven," all saw radio play (not to much anymore) and the album broke the Billboard Top 200. This was the last Dio album to be rated Gold or higher (the previous albums both went Platinum) until his greatest hits in 2000.

• Dream Evil - 1987

Dream Evil kept some radio-friendly songs, but it also dove back into the story-telling aspect of Dio's music. These songs were longer, and several of them had different sections to the song - periods of tempo shifts and musical changes. In my mind this album signaled the end of the Dio hey-day of the 80's (being his last album of the decade). While the latter albums are pretty good, they just don't hold up to the 80's thunder of Dio. Also as a side-comment, the pseudo-spoof power metal band Dream Evil takes it's name from this album (their Evilized album is one of my favorites).

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - Rainbow

• Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - 1975

Rainbow was supposed to be the title of Ritchie Blackmore's first solo album, not the name of a band. Blackmore was still a member of Deep Purple, and Dio was still the front-man of Elf (his previous band). But, after the success of recording, Blackmore decided to make Rainbow a full-fledged band, and this album their first release. The record companies would not release the album without putting Blackmore's name in the title, hence the album being Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and not just Rainbow. This album is alot more bluesy then the following releases, and that is because the backing band for this release was the group Elf, who had been opening for Deep Purple on the road for a number of years.
This is my favorite Rainbow album, it still has soul, with the moving bass and story-based lyrics, it held my attention without becoming boring or preachy. "Man On The Silver Mountain" is one of the few Rainbow songs you will hear on a classic rock radio station (albeit rare indeed), and the song "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" is downright funky, with a sort of swing feel to it. Great stuff.

• Rainbow Rising (or just Rising) - 1976

Rainbow Rising is claimed to be the definitive Rainbow album, with longer songs then the other albums (the entire second side of the record was taken up by two eight-plus minute songs), which allowed Dio to fully tell his stories of magic and mysticism. While not my favorite album (see above), it is pretty damn close. This release is much more straight-forward rock then it's predecessor. This is more due to Ritchie Blackmore disbanding the group (save for Dio) that recorded Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and reforming it with artists he saw as a better fit, then anything else. I'm not sure if that is a good this or not, as this album is great, but as I look more into Ritchie Blackmore's past, I see him as a bit of a pre-Madonna, with firings and disbandment in any band that he is a part of. I'd say he has Axl Rose Syndrome, but he shows up to acts, and he predates Gun's 'N' Roses by two decades. Oh well, if the shoe fits...

• Long Live Rock 'n' Roll - 1978

While this album does have my favorite song on it (the title track) it is my least favorite of the Dio-era Rainbow catalog (everything after Dio is barely classified as rock). The title track and "Kill The King" are favorites of heavy metal bands, they cover these two more then any other Rainbow songs. This album is the beginnings of the mainstream-style that Ritchie Blackmore wanted for his "solo project." While it still focuses on "wizards and sorcery" the songs were much more straight forward - even including a love ballad, "Rainbow Eyes." After this release Blackmore wanted to further move the band mainstream, prompting Dio to quit, later joining Black Sabbath, and making heavy metal history.

There were more releases after Dio left the band, although none even as close as awesome as the original three albums. The mainstream style landed the group a few hits and increased album sales, but Blackmore sold out (I would say the band Rainbow sold out, but Blackmore replaced most of the musicians after every release, so you can't call it a "band" per-se). The Dio-era was by far the best, but he left for greener pastures, landing the short gig as Black Sabbath's frontman, preceding his long solo career. A good trade if you ask me.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - The Elf Years

s my Month of Dio continues, I focus (again) on the awesome blues/rock band Elf.

• Elf - 1972

The first, and my favorite, release of this blues-rock band (heavy on the blues), before they were influenced by Deep Purple. This, as I described to my friend, is "a blues band without the slow, mournful tunes about 'my lady leaving me.'" This is, in my mind, the definitive of what blues-rock should be - the heavy piano, the light non-distorted guitars, the story-telling lyrics, all requirements of a great band.

• Carolina Country Ball - 1974

And thus begins the progression of Elf, from being a Blues band with rock influences to more of a 50/50 blues and rock band. The songs off of Carolina Country Ball have more guitars, and more distortion then their previous release. It's still very enjoyable, but you can hear the change taking place, due to the band opening and touring with Deep Purple for four or five years.

• Trying To Burn The Sun - 1975

Trying To Burn The Sun is the last release of Elf (if you don't count the Rainbow years), and completes the band's transition into a Rock band with Blues influences. Going back and forth from this album to their first, you can hear the change and, except for Dio's voice, it sounds like a completely different group. Still a great album, no matter how much criticism I spout out, I cannot deny that the music is still stellar. Rock, blues, whatever, Elf rocked, and still rocks.

After Trying To Burn The Sun, Elf became the backing band for Ritchie Blackmore's solo project, a project that would eventually become Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. After the release of the first album, Rainbow became a full fledged group, disbanding Elf permanently.

For more on Elf check out my Previous Article about the band

New Band: Elf

Recently I have been listening to the "Recommendations" of my Last.FM account. It's their compiled list of bands that are similar to the majority of your library, but not artists that you've listened to alot. I use this station to find new bands in the same genres of the artists I already love. That's how I originally discovered power metal, three years ago, and how there were more doom bands than Type O Negative. Now, I use it to expand my knowledge of power, thrash, folk, and stoner bands (the stoner is the most recent, expect a Current Trend to appear).
Every now and then an artist pops up that I had heard of before, but I haven't seen much of their stuff over the years. Just the occasional song, or cover song, nothing to sink your teeth into, just a teaser. That's how it was with Elf.

First let me star off by saying, Elf is a fantastic band! While they only released 3 albums in their short tenure, every disc is chock-full of great songs, and catchy rhythms.

History
The act was founded by singer and bassist Ronnie James Dio (of future solo and Black Sabbath fame), keyboardist Doug Thaler, drummer Gary Driscoll, and guitarists Nick Pantas and David Feingstein, both of who were Dio's cousins. Originally called The Electric Elves, then shortened to The Elves, then just to Elf in the beginning of the 70's.
Elf's self-titled debut album was produced by the members of Deep Purple, who saw the group auditioning in 1972, and for the next few years, Elf had a steady gig opening for Deep Purple's world tour. It was during this time that Elf released their next two albums, Carolina Country Ball in 1974, and Trying To Burn The Sun in 1975. Also in 1975, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple with the intent to release solo works. He liked Dio's soulful voice, and thought he would be perfect for his latest project, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Following their band leader, the rest of Elf helped record Blackmore's then-solo project, taking time from touring and recording their own music. After the album was recorded, Blackmore decided to scrap his solo effort, and instead created Rainbow into a full-fledged band, replacing all of the Elf members except for Dio. Without a singer, and without the support of Deep Purple, the members of Elf parted ways, and the band was no more.

Discography
Elf (1972)
The band's first album, and truly their only true album. After this release the band began being influenced by Deep Purple, and because of this, their other releases sounded more like a bluesy-Deep Purple and less like the boogie-rock Elf that was founded.
This is the album that I heard when I was younger, so when I began my trek through the track list, I recognized a few of the songs off the bat. "Hoochie Koochie Lady" is my favorite off the album with "First Avenue" a close second. It's work like this that make me wish that the group had released more albums, at least one more before being discovered by Deep Purple.

1. "Hoochie Koochie Lady" – 5:32
2. "First Avenue" – 4:23
3. "Never More" – 3:50
4. "I'm Coming Back For You" – 3:27
5. "Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright)" – 3:48
6. "Dixie Lee Junction" – 5:09
7. "Love Me Like A Woman" – 3:47
8. "Gambler, Gambler" – 4:26

Carolina Country Ball (1974) - Released as L.A./59 in the US and Japan
This is the album where the sound starts changing, not that it's a bad thing, it's just different. Elf's sound started becoming more complex and layered (the Deep Purple influence), and was more rock-oriented then their debut album, for better or worse.
The best song is the title track, I really liked the groove of the entire song, I was pleasantly surprised at the sudden change of styles from the previous album - at least for this song. After the first track, the other songs I enjoyed were the more original-sounding material, "Ain't It All Amusing" and "Rocking Chair Rock 'n' Roll Blues," both classics.

1. "Carolina County Ball" - 4:46
2. "L.A. 59" - 4:21
3. "Ain't It All Amusing" - 5:01
4. "Happy" - 5:28
5. "Annie New Orleans" - 3:01
6. "Rocking Chair Rock 'n' Roll Blues" - 5:36
7. "Rainbow" - 4:00
8. "Do the Same Thing" - 3:10
9. "Blanche" - 2:31

Trying To Burn The Sun (1975)
Elf's final release, this album made the full jump to rock with blues undertones, very little straight blues in the entire album. Again, this doesn't make it a bad album, just not the sound of the original Elf. Make your own decision whether it's good or bad.
This album had a lot more songs that I enjoyed overall, the only two I didn't really like were the somber, slower melodies of "When She Smiles" and "Wonderworld." They were just too slow and teary-eyed for me. Again, the first track was the best ("Black Swampy Water"), followed by "Shotgun Boogie."

1. "Black Swampy Water" - 3:43
2. "Prentice Wood" - 4:37
3. "When She Smiles" - 4:54
4. "Good Time Music" - 4:30
5. "Liberty Road" - 3:22
6. "Shotgun Boogie" - 3:07
7. "Wonderworld" - 5:03
8. "Streetwalker" - 7:07

So there you have it, the history and works of one of the best unknown bands of all time. While they didn't have the impact of Deep Purple, or even their follow-up act, Rainbow, Elf was still an amazing band. One I plan on listening to until I am 60, by that point the music will be over 70 years old. It'll the the "oldies of the oldies" and I'll embarrass my grandkids every day. Good times...

New Band: Heaven And Hell

I am currently finishing up the new album by Heaven & Hell, The Devil You Know, and I must say it is a really good album. For those who don't know, Heaven & Hell is basically the Ronnie James Dio-era of Black Sabbath, under a new name. They do this, because Black Sabbath is still officially headed up by The Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne (again). But after the Heaven & Hell reunion tour in 2007, the guys decided that they wanted to create some new material. The project started just to write two or three new songs for a compilation album Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, but during their tour they decided to add to these songs and release an album of completely new material. So they got together over the next year and put together some of the best music from a classic metal band that I have heard in a while, not to mention the bitchin' artwork.