Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material recorded by Black Sabbath during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains remastered tracks taken from the studio albums Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992), as well as a live version of the song "Children of the Sea" taken from the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three songs that were recorded in 2007: "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall".
| Black Sabbath: The Dio Years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 3 April 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 1980–1982, 1992, 2007 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 79:27 | |||
| Label | Rhino Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Black Sabbath | |||
| Black Sabbath compilations chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Tour Edition cover | ||||
 The UK Tour Edition cover | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Billboard | (favorable)[2] |
| Blabbermouth.net |    [5] |
| Jukebox:Metal | [3] |
| Okayplayer | (89/100)[4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [6] |
It was reported that the collection was first conceived of as a box set including all albums from Heaven and Hell to The Eternal Idol. This idea was eventually scrapped, and instead a box set was planned to feature just the four albums recorded from the Dio era of the band. This second idea was put aside, though would eventually be revisited as The Rules of Hell, a box set released in the summer of 2008.
In an interview conducted by Martin Popoff, Tony Iommi revealed that originally two new tracks were planned,[7] but after recording three new songs the original plan was changed to accommodate all three tracks in the compilation.
On 23 February 2007, both Eddie Trunk and Sirius Satellite Radio unveiled the song "The Devil Cried" from the upcoming album. Rhino Records subsequently made the track available (for preview only) on 26 February 2007. "The Devil Cried" was released as a single on 13 March 2007.[8]
After the recording was completed, the members decided to tour under the moniker Heaven & Hell.[9] Dio and Iommi decided that the working partnership they had achieved in recording the three new songs would not be wasted, so they recorded The Devil You Know.
UK Tour Edition
editBefore the Heaven & Hell tour of the UK in November 2007, a special edition release of The Dio Years was released on 5 November, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Tour Edition, to commemorate the tour. This CD, only to be in print for a limited time, features four songs from the Live at Hammersmith Odeon limited edition live album recently released by Black Sabbath. The four songs, recorded live in 1981 during Black Sabbath's "Mob Rules Tour" are "Neon Knights", "The Mob Rules", "Children of the Grave", and "Voodoo".
Track listing
editAll songs were written by Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Neon Knights" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward) | Heaven and Hell (1980) | 3:52 |
| 2. | "Lady Evil" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 4:24 |
| 3. | "Heaven and Hell" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 6:58 |
| 4. | "Die Young" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 4:44 |
| 5. | "Lonely Is the Word" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 5:51 |
| 6. | "The Mob Rules" | Mob Rules (1981) | 3:16 |
| 7. | "Turn Up the Night" | Mob Rules | 3:42 |
| 8. | "Voodoo" | Mob Rules | 4:34 |
| 9. | "Falling Off the Edge of the World" | Mob Rules | 5:04 |
| 10. | "After All (The Dead)" | Dehumanizer (1992) | 5:42 |
| 11. | "TV Crimes" | Dehumanizer | 4:02 |
| 12. | "I" | Dehumanizer | 5:13 |
| 13. | "Children of the Sea (live)" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Live Evil (1982) | 6:14 |
| 14. | "The Devil Cried" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 6:01 |
| 15. | "Shadow of the Wind" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 5:40 |
| 16. | "Ear in the Wall" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 4:04 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 17. | "The Devil Cried" (radio edit) | 4:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Neon Knights" | 4:37 |
| 2. | "The Mob Rules" | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Children of the Grave" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | 5:03 |
| 4. | "Voodoo" | 5:44 |
Personnel
edit- Ronnie James Dio – vocals
- Tony Iommi – guitar
- Geezer Butler – bass
- Bill Ward – drums (on tracks 1–5)
- Vinny Appice – drums (on tracks 6–16)[10]
- Geoff Nicholls – keyboards (on tracks 1–13)
- Mike Exeter – engineering and mixing
Charts
edit| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[11] | 35 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[12] | 32 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[13] | 16 |
| US Billboard 200[14] | 54 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[15] | 16 |
| US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[16] | 8 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ Graff, Gary (7 April 2007). "The Billboard Reviews". Billboard: 38. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ Lye, Andy (2007). "Black Sabbath – The Dio Years". jukeboxmetal.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years". okayplayer.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ Alisoglu, Scott. "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ "Black Sabbath: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (14 December 2006). "Tony Iommi Reveals The New BLACK SABBATH Tracks!". bravewords.com. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ Siegler, Joe (22 February 2007). "The Devil Cried Single". black-sabbath.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
- ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (15 December 2006). "Half of Black Sabbath Reunite With Dio; Tour Begins in March". MTV . Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2003.
- ^ Saulnier, Jason (24 March 2012). "Vinny Appice Interview". Music Legends. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Black Sabbath – The Dio Years". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Black Sabbath – The Dio Years". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Black Sabbath Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Black Sabbath Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Black Sabbath Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 October 2023.