Black Sabbath - The Dio Years

Excellent overview to Ronnie James Dio's tenure with Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath's April, 2007 release which was a retrospective The Dio Years is an excellent overview to the Ronnie James Dio era in Black Sabbath.
Alot of fairweather Sabbath fans think Black Sabbath began and ended with Ozzy Osbourne from 1970-78 but they are WRONG! The band fired Ozzy in 1979 because his behavior was erratic and out of control because of drug and alcohol use. Then the surviving members which were guitarist Tony Iommi, bass player Terry Butler (nicknamed Geezer) and drummer Bill Ward recruited one-time Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio and all forged ahead.
The first album with Dio which was 1980's classic comeback Heaven and Hell is represented by pretty much the entire album. The choices from here are superb and they are "Neon Knights", "Lady Evil", the classic title cut, the great "Die Young" and the classic closer "Lonely Is The Word".
1981's classic Mob Rules, which saw Ward exit and Vinny Appice fill in the vacated drum stool, is represented by its title track, the killer opener "Turn Up The Night", the superb "Voodoo" and one of my favorites "Falling Off The Edge Of The World". I know that "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" was omitted but CDs can only store up to 80 minutes.
The 1982 live album Live Evil is represented by the stellar "Children Of The Sea".
1992's superb reunion album Dehumanizer is represented by the superb "After All (The Dead)", the excellent "TV Crimes" and "I". I wish "Computer God" was here but then again it would have been a 2-CD set.
The reason to acquire this set (in addition for the remastering) is for the THREE NEW SONGS which are "The Devil Cried", "Shadow Of The Wind" and "Ear In The Wall". Dio still has it vocally wise (whilst Ozzy is now a caricature of himself sounding like a dying seal). Iommi and Butler and Appice still play well.
This collection is the cream of the crop of the Dio era in Sabbath unless you want the new Rules of Hell box set.
RECOMMENDED! July 24, 2008

Nice over-view

This a great over-view for anyone who wants to get acquainted with the second version of "Black Sabbath" In my opinion this is a stronger line-up with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. The three new songs are pretty good and fit in well with the others. I am holding out that this line up will get together and produce a new record of new material in the very new future. February 13, 2008

Great stuff!

Many Sabbath fans seem to be divided into two camps:- Ozzy era and Dio era. The Dio era fans seem to be far more narrow minded and won't accept Ozzy's contribution to this classic group. For me Black Sabbath's albums from their first release up to and including the magnificant Sabotage are pure class.

However,the two final Ozzy albums with Sabbath are very sub standard with drugs and Iommi's ego taking their toll. Iommi also tried to push them into a more mainstream sound making Sabbath sound like Queen. Ozzy was given the push and along came the little man with the big ego,Mr Ronnie James Dio

However the results, Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules were stunning. The sound was totally different and Sabbath came bombing into the 1980's It's hard to chose the best songs from them, but The Dio Years album has done a pretty good job. Neon Nights, Lady Evil, Die Young, Turn Up The Night etc. Fantastic!

We are given 3 songs from Dehumanizer and although they're not of the same standard as Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules, they're still very credible.

I'm glad that only one song has been chosen from Live Evil. The sound is tinny and muted and the audience may not as well have been there as they're so far down in the mix

The 3 news songs:- The Devil Cried, Shadow Of The Wind and Ear In The Wall aren't exactly earth shattering and won't go down as classics, but they're very listenable all the same.

So I highly recommend this album. Ozzy fans, don't close your ears to the Dio era and Dio fans, don't close your ears to the Ozzy era. Both are fantastic.

January 27, 2008

Perhaps the sole flaw is "not enough"

This isn't the place to debate the whole "who is the better singer" issue. If you prefer Dio or want a good cross-section sampler, getting this one is money well spent. Could it have been better? The original press with Tony and Ronnie hinted at a box set so the single-disc compliation-- however complete-- does feel like a bit of a cheat, particularly because both this disc and the "Heaven and Hell" tour did brisk business. A box set or at least two discs certainly would have sold well. Nothing on here really merits dropping, but "Sign of the Southern Cross," "Computer God" and the "E5150" intro to "The Mob Rules" are serious omissions, and only a single song from "Live Evil" is a shortfall.

Make no mistake, a superb product with great sound, I just wish there were more to it. December 29, 2007

MAGNIFICO

Excelente , la mejores canciones con Dio , muy bueno , el tipo canta asi de bien en directo , y con Sabbath , se llega a la Gloria , 100% calidad December 7, 2007

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