Post Dio Rainbow descended into a mediocre AOR act and now Sabbath had lost their jewel in their crown. Sabbath had brought a permanment grin to my mug with the power and grace of the 1981 Mob Rules album. Could it be bettered?
What would Dio do next?
1983: he formed his own band around comrade Vinnie Appice, roped in old guard Jimmy Bain and a guitar player par excellence in Vivian Campbell. The result was an inspired act of brilliance, the glorious Holy Diver LP. When it was released I hesitated, some days past before I decided I'd splash out the Scots Pounds to buy a copy. Indeed, it took (once again) the audio rescue of airplay in the form of Lord Vance and his Friday Rock Show and one of my mates who'd already procured his copy to force my hand. Dubious of the follow on from the Sabs I wasn't sure, but my doubts were unfounded, what was before me on the turntable all those years ago was a hypnotic harmony which is now an established part of your humble narrator's record collection. A fantastic fusion of classic tunes which I'd come to expect from Ronnie Dio mixed with some pleasing 80s metal melodies.
The likes of Don't Talk to Strangers, MTV favourite Rainbow in the Dark, Gypsy and the quite beautiful title track all serve up some real gold at the end of this particular Rainbow. It would be unfair to compare it with another contemporary album but I'm going to do it anyway - Holy Diver outtrumped that ultimate ego vehicle Born Again by the Sabs...
Am I wrong?
Be honest with me...
Playlist for a Saturday (recovering from gardening exercion)
Rainbow In The Dark - Dio
Highway Rider - Black Axe
Lady of Mars - Dark Star
Captain Nemo - MSG
One of These Days - Trespass
4 comments:
Mate, I love the way you craft your enthusiasm, love and hyperbole... you capture that rush of excitement when music means so much more than the sum of its parts...
Holy Diver better than Born Again? Not 'alf!!! Holy Diver is a solid gold all time classic album, where as Born Again is just a solid metal outing that Sabbath could have fired out in their sleep.
I didn't like Born Again at all, despite having been a huge fan of Mr Gillan's voice since hearing Child in Time. Steve mentioned that your blog-writing style captures the way music can be more than the sum of its parts. I agree; you achieve this effortlessly. Born Again is an example of the opposite phenomenon: the end result was far less than the sum of the individual talents who wrote, performed and produced the album.
As for Holy Diver, it sounds as fresh and full of energy as ever. The title track is one of my favourite riffs to crank out on guitar, and the big poofy keyboard on Rainbow in the Dark brings a smile to my face. Other than a couple of his '90s solo albums, on which he went a little avant-garde experimental, Dio was a consistently great performer both on record and live. I only ever saw one band blow Alice Cooper off stage (at Edinburgh Playhouse, on Alice's Dragontown tour): Dio, whom Alice had been brave/crazy enough to book as a support act. Not only was RJD on flawless form, Craig Goldy was on fire. Aye, it's hard to go wrong with Dio, whether solo or in Sabbath, Rainbow or Elf.
Excellent choice, once again, Jimmy!
Holy Diver is one THOSE albums, a true classic.
I was lucky enough to catch that Dio lineup at a small venue here.
The album hadn't even come out yet, hardly anybody knew that Dio was Ronnie James Dio's new band so it was not sold out and a very intimate affair indeed.
What a singer, what a performance.
When Dio sang 'Long Live Rock'N'Roll' he really meant it.
At about the same time Born Again came out (what an ugly cover) and I must say that I quite liked it. I do to this day, actually.
'Trashed', 'Disturbing The Priest' and 'Zero The Hero' are good songs in my opinion and Ian Gillan used to be a great singer.
They played live and it was kind of odd that the roadies installed a TV screen that was hidden in a sort of artifact thing that was installed next to the speakers in front of Gillan.
If they were supposed to do it secretly, they didn't do a good job.
The screen showed the lyrics to each song, the man hadn't even bothered to memorise the lyrics.
And watching Black Sabbath play 'Smoke On The Water' was somehow weird.
The winner? Dio, of course. Who else?
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