Ronnie James Dio.
The almighty dragon slayer and a metal icon! Hes fronted so many iconic bands and made so many great songs you
can’t help but admire the man. From his
early days in Ronnie and the Redcaps to Heaven & Hell hes made so much
interesting and epic music.

So where should I start?
Well Black Sabbath and Rainbow are being covered by others, but I
thought it would be interesting to give some insight to his early days before I
move on into his dragon slaying solo career in the 80s.


So I will start out with his days with the Recaps up to Elf
then I will do into Holy Diver. Now for
this review I attempted to find somewhere to listen to his early music. I had it once before, but I don’t have it
any longer. I have to admit it was very
amusing to hear Ronnie sing pop tunes from the 60s like Love Potion #9.






Even more interesting was listening to a bootleg I had where
his band covered War Pigs. I found a
certain degree of irony in listening to this song well after I’d already heard
him sing it on Live Evil.


Another interest thing about Dio in those early days was he
was also the bass player of The Elves.
I had heard an interview asking Dio why he dropped the bass and he said
because he either wanted to be a great bass player or a great singer. I think we all agree he made the right
choice.





Well I don’t have too much to say of Elf, besides its very
interesting to hear him sing these blues rock tunes, complete with the honkey
tonk piano and the obvious blues influenced lyrics. A bit of a difference from the dark imagery in his later
bands.






I can tell when I was listening to them that
Dio was having so much fun making them, and obviously enough fun that he is
interested in reforming the band. That’s
right, in a 2009 interview with Classic Rock magazine he hinted at a future Elf
reunion and album.






I can’t say I have much speculation on what that’s going to
sound like with his heavy metal career now under his belt! Elf with lyrics of beasts and heros? You think that would happen?




I don’t have much more to say about these albums, I’m only
briefly touching on them because I think its important to establish this as his
base. Obvious this band got his start in Rainbow, which is where I assume most
people on these boards agree is his true beginning in heavy rock. Deep Purple were apparently such fans of this band that Ritchie asked Ronnie to join Rainbow which got him the recognition he needed.


I’ll post
Holy Diver tomorrow!

One of my older cousins gave me some ELF albums and said he had seen them back east when they opened for Deep Purple when he first returned from Vietnam. I was a big Purple fan, having seen them earlier that year at my first concert...The California Jam.

Ronnie James Dio (along with Joey Ramone) is my fave singer of all time, with that being said I remember hearing stuff from his Redcaps days and finding it a bit amusing at first but quickly realized how versatile Dio is. As far as Elf is concerned I have all three albums and I love them all, it's nice to hear him sing some bluesy songs, he certainly has the voice for it! Elf (and Dio music in general) dominated my iPod for the entire summer and I'd definitely but a new Elf album on the day of release. When I first heard Elf, being that I was used to his music from Rainbow on upward, I felt it was a little weak and I felt the same about his voice during the Elf years. But, as time went on I realized again, how versatile he is. Although I prefer his Rainbow and Black Sabbath days, there's not an album Dio has done that I don't like. Get well Ronnie!

I think the Elf albums are interesting because it is so different to what he would later do with Rainbow and Black Sabbath. I like the almost Southern style laid back New Orleans style to alot of this material and I have enjoyed this Elf albums alot over the years.

If you are a die hard classic metal fan and not heard his Elf albums you might be in for a slight shock, but if you keep an open mind it will show a different musical side to Ronnie James Dio we rarely get a glimpse at any longer and introduce you to the beginnings of one of the most important songwriters and performers of his era.

I never heard anything by Elf, the Elves or what-have-you, but this really makes me want to find a few songs to listen to.

I'm a reasonably big Dio fan and will be following this thread closely. I have all the Rainbow, Sabbath and all the Dio albums except Angry Machines, which I didn't like enough to buy. But I think I will soon, just to complete the collection.

I like the Elf albums. No, they are not heavy, but they are still quality rock and roll.

Here is a sound clip of Dio fronting Elf.

I'm a huge Dio fan! However, I'm not at all familiar with Elf (other than knowing who they are). But this sample you posted is actually pretty good! Like Ult said - good rock and roll!

Actually this song even seems like it's hard rock! What do you guys think?

He did keep the influence alive afterwards too, stuff like 'If You Don't Like Rock 'n Roll'...

Eh, I won't be here much. All I've got for Dio solo stuff is Holy Diver. I like Rainbow and Sabbath a lot, but the rest never thrilled me.

You should get 'The Last In Line' too....hopefully it gets a long awaited remaster/deluxe treatment, however....but I do sort of have to agree that the bulk of his solo stuff is just not that great......

However, I can listen to 'Rising' and 'Heaven And Hell' all day..

yeah once Vivian Cambell split, I lost interest

Holy Diver (1983)








After the unexpected and certainly odd firing of Ronnie
James Dio and Vinnie Appice after Black Sabbath’s Live Evil record, Dio took
advantage of a clause in his contract where Warner had him signed for solo
albums as well.

In an interview I saw on Youtube Dio explained that he began
the sessions for his album and one the guys at Warner were wondering what he
was doing, and he started on a great album.
Taking Vinnie with him on drums he went about getting his solo band
together and not knowing where to start he called his Rainbow bandmate Jimmy
Bain and asked him where he could find a good guitar player.


Well together they found guitarist Vivian Campell, who took
up shredding duties on this album.
Jimmy Bain appointed himself as bass player without really being asked
Dio joked, but he said that was okay because it worked.

So after getting Rainbow and Black Sabbath under his belt he
moved onto this new project and I guess the best way to describe this music is
using the name of the song Rainbow In The Dark.


I feel like the band
took the music of Rainbow and updated the sound and gave it the dark and gloomy
lyrics of Black Sabbath. A perfect
successor to his former bands and definitely an album that stands up in his
best, an album that is easily able to be listened to start to finish.

The overall feeling I get from some of these songs were a
reflection of his recent firing, Stand
Up and Shout can certainly be thought of as a anthem he wrote for himself
describing how he feels about moving.
Hes the driver and owns the road, it’s his baby now,

So to sum it up, this is just one of those classic
albums. Every song on it is great and
the imagery he uses in his lyrics make you think about what he could be writing
about.

Holy Diver owns, my favorite of Dio's solo albums.

After getting a name for himself through Rainbow and Black Sabbath, fans were eager to hear what the voice of metal could come up with on his own terms. The result was nothing short of breathtaking. 'Holy Diver' was Dio's first solo-effort. Though the man himself consistently has said that Dio was, and still is, meant to be a band effort. And what a debut 'Holy Diver' was. Still held by a united horde of fans as a heavy metal classic. And quite frankly, Dio hasn't released a better album since. Who can forget stuff like "Holy Diver", "Don't Talk To Strangers" and "Rainbow in the Dark"? Obligatory in any heavy metal collection!

I replaced the original CD with the 2005 Remastered Collector's Edition. It contains a bonus interview session, an extensive booklet, with loads of comments and pictures, and the sound has been beefed up (not that it is that noticeable to these ears).
Killer tracks: Holy Diver, Caught In The Middle, Don't Talk To Strangers, Straight Through The Heart, Rainbow In The Dark

Holy Diver is a metal classic. This is definitely an album that every selfrespecting heavy rocker should own. Stand up and shout, Holy Diver, and Rainbow in the Dark are all classic tracks.

Holy Diver is a true metal classic and as stated,definitely belongs in everyones metal collection.Besides the more popular tunes,I always thought Invisible was a fantastic song.

Vivian Cambell along with Dio's voice, great lp.

Awesome. Every track is pure metal awesomeness (well, except for "Invisible").

This album simply owns! Dio had something to prove here. He was out of Sabbath and had to build a name for himself as a solo artist. His band was created of a few legendary musicians and an unknown shredder named Vivian Campbell. Together they created one of the most memorable metal monsters in metal history.

I was a huge Dio fan already when this album was released, because of his work with Rainbow and Sabbath. I caught Dio and his band at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia on the Holy Diver Tour with Twisted Sister opening. (They were on their You Can't Stop Rock and Roll tour, another spectacular metal album.) The very next year Dio returned, again with Twisted Sister in tow. The difference was, instead of playing the tiny theater, they sold out the Philadelphia Spectrum.

Holy Diver has one of the best solos ever... Rainbow in the dark!

'Holy Diver' is a classic, Dio had something to prove and he did, hiring a band that was hungry and eager to make their mark. It is hard to believe this is the same Vivian Campbell who now plays with Def Leppard. Campbell's soloing and leads where amazing.

The songs themselves are all classics, including 'Invisible' which has IMO some Dio's best lyrics:
She had thirteen years of teenage tears and never a helping hand
She had fourteen more of rain before she saw the sight of land
She was a photograph just ripped in half a smile inside a frown
And then the light the answer right inside her coming down
She said I can go away I can leave here I can be invisible I'll go away
He was just eighteen and in between a lady and a man
His daddie's girl in momma's world and that was when he ran
You know the word confused has been abused but that's just what he was
And then the spark inside the dark the answer came because it said

As a matter of fact all the lyrics on this album are fantastic, dwelling with real human emotions as opposed to some of his more fanstacy oriented lyrics that he wrote with other bands and would explore in future releases. Excellent album and still holds up today.

Most people here know that Dio is one of my favorite bands. I like pretty much all their albums. This one though, is quite special. To this day, though they have come close, Dio has never topped this one.

Fantastic from start to finish!

My fave songs are:

1. Rainbow in the Dark
2. Holy Diver
3. Caught in the Middle
4. Don't Talk to Strangers
5. Stand up and Shout
6. Gypsy
7. Shame on the Night