As requested, here’s “BLACK SABBATH – The Dio Years [Tour Edition]“, a 2-CD limited edition containing material of the band’s era with Ronnie James Dio as frontman.
“Black Sabbath: The Dio Years” features a dozen classic studio recordings, plus one live track — “Children Of The Sea” from 1982’s “Live Evil”. The collection also contains the three brand-new tracks — “The Devil Cried”, “Shadow Of The Wind”, and “Ear In The Wall”, recorded for and only availble on this release, when the musicians reunited 2007 under the moniker Heaven & Hell.
This “UK Tour Edition” of “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years” was released on November 5 (to coincide with Heaven & Hell’s UK tour) featuring a bonus disc containing four live tracks — “Neon Knights”, “The Mob Rules”, “Children of the Grave” and “Voodoo”, recorded Live at Hammersmith, London, 1981.
The ‘Tour Edition’ is a UK only release, and sold out immediately. There are a handful of tracks that appear both on this compilation and the “Stand Up & Shout: The Dio Anthology”. Both were remastered, but do not share the same remastering sessions. They were especially remastered by Bill Inglot & Dan Hersch for this package.
Arranged chronologically, the compilation spotlights Dio’s time with BLACK SABBATH and draws heavily from the lineup’s 1980 debut and 1981 follow-up, “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules” respectively.
Recognized as back-to-back metal classics, the albums feature such signature songs as the title tracks, “Neon Knights”, “Die Young”, “Turn Up The Night” and “Voodoo”. “The Dio Years” also features “After All (The Dead)”, “TV Crimes” and “I” from the singer’s brief reunion with SABBATH for the “Dehumanizer” album and tour.
When Dio was with Sabbath he tended to talk about his songs in terms of tempo. As such, on the new songs, you get one “fast one” (“Ear In The Wall”), one “slow one” (“Shadow Of The Wind”) and one midtempo song (the single “The Devil Cried”). Sound-wise, these three new songs pick up where Dehumanizer left off.
The bonus disc features Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice getting hot one December night in London during Sabbath’s 1981 tour for “Mob Rules”. The sound quality is very good.
Highly Recommended
Disc I
01 – Neon Knights
02 – Lady Evil
03 – Heaven And Hell
04 – Die Young
05 – Lonely Is The Word
06 – The Mob Rules
07 – Turn Up The Night
08 – Voodoo
09 – Falling Off The Edge Of The World
10 – After All (The Dead)
11 – TV Crimes
12 – I
13 – Children Of The Sea [Live]
14 – The Devil Cried [New Recording]
15 – Shadow Of The Wind [New Recording]
16 – Ear In The Wall [New Recording]
+
17 – The Devil Cried (Radio Edit – Digital only)
Disc II
01 – Neon Knights (Live at Hammersmith 1981)
02 – The Mob Rules (Live at Hammersmith 1981)
03 – Children of the Grave (Live at Hammersmith 1981)
04 – Voodoo (Live at Hammersmith 1981)
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Tony Iommi – Guitar
Geezer Butler – Bass
Bill Ward – Drums (Tracks 1-5)
Vinny Appice – Drums (Tracks 6-17, Bonus disc)
Geoff Nicholls – Keyboards (Tracks 1-13, 17, Bonus disc)
Remastered by Bill Inglot & Dan Hersch