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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => The Dio Years => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on December 07, 2020, 12:19:31 PM
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I think there's a demand to continue this exercise with the Dio albums, starting with Heaven & Hell...
Heaven & Hell starts with Neon Knights, quite possibly the finest opening song ever. Short, fast, heavy but a completely different style from the albums that had come before, but still identifiably Black Sabbath. Love this song to bits and it's not even the best song on the album!
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I'm mirroring the thoughts of KDC on this one!
Neon Knights might just very well be THE GREATEST album opener of all time. Fast, furious and an instant classic.
Amazing riff from Tony, suberb lyrics and vocals by Ronnie, great bass work by Geezer and solid heavy drumming from Bill.
After the complete loss of direction and energy the band suffered with the final two Ozzy albums Ronnie was a more than welcomed addition to the band and brought new life and energy to the band...And he helped bring the Black back into the Sabbath.
Neon Knights is a damn near perfect song and still it's not even close of being the best song on the album...
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The opening track is as awesome as Highway Star. This is how you start an album!
And while the main riff is a straight shot across the bow, there are subtle variations as it approaches the big "NEON KNIII-III-IIIIGHTS" before the guitar solo, and those variations add interest and excitement to the song. Martin Birch is definitely earning his keep in the production booth, keeping the band focused and tight. Dio's voice was what made Rainbow's first three albums such a metallic smash, and he shows here that he can do similar magic with Iommi instead of Blackmore. Dio's touch on the lyrics is welcome after Geezer basically ran out of ideas in the late 70s, so this is a good thing Dio's in the band.
The song opens up the album and, yeah, everything's gonna be all right.
I've heard some criticize that because it's so different from Ozzy-era stuff that the band should have been called Heaven & Hell from the start, but, hey, it is what it is. That argument gets more traction with the Martin era, but not with me on the Dio era records. It's Black Sabbath, but with a new feel to it all.
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I remember years ago when this album came out, how skeptical I was that my favorite band was now changed. But I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Neon Knights. Naturally, the greatest opener of all time was the self-titled debut, which started a music revolution. So I wasn't expecting something on that scale. Nevertheless this is a great opening number and now I had hopes that the high quality established by the Great 8 would continue. So far, so good.
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Just like Typhon, I was concerned how a Black Sabbath without Ozzy would be anything but a let down. I knew Ronnie could sing, but in my mind that was Man on the Silver Mountain or more so Stargazer. Neon Knights quelled that concern!
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I can't make up my mind if Children of the Sea is my favourite track on the album or not, it might be a tie. This is the first of what you might call an "epic" in the Dio era. Sweeping vistas, speed changes, soft and heavy all in one song... we even have a male voice choir. A great. great song.
LOOK OUT!!!
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Like KDC says, Children Of The Sea is not only a very good song, but a song that has the Sabbath sound throughout. This is especially important when you change the front man. So that's 2 good tracks. Now I was more optimistic.
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Children of the Sea again packs in a number of textures into a short timeframe. That choir part is basically Supertzar done properly. I was thinking of the song before listening to it today and it's really quite a lovely tune in places, juxtaposed with epic chord blasts that hint of something darker to come.
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Children Of The Sea is without a doubt one of those "greatest songs in the world" songs. The soft intro, the heavy follow up, soft middle heavy again...pure classic Sabbath material. And you add Ronnie's incredible vocal preformance, suberb lyrics and kick ass solo from Tony...that just is what pure brilliance is made of.
A true epic song...and for just over 5 ½ minutes that's quite an accomplisment too.
And when this song was preformed live it got even better! One of those magical numbers...
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Lady Evil in my mind is the weakest song on the album. I used to skip it all the time, but it has grown on me, and I rarely skip it now. Lyrically it's a bit cheesey if I'm honest, but I have always enjoyed the bass line.
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Lady Evil continues the list of fantastic songs. The bass line is suberb, Ronnie's vocals are top notch and the lyrics paint a picture and tell a great story. Tony's guitar work is brilliant as well and he uses a Wah-pedal here which is a rarity.
A great little mid tempo rocker.
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With the next song, the problem that I feared would happen, when one begins to change the original lineup, starts to show. If you replace the front man with someone who already has an established amount of music from another band, great caution must be taken in order not to start sounding like that other band. With Lady Evil the Sabbath sound slips a bit away. The song's arrangement is more conventional, which is not typical of a Black Sabbath song. To be clear, I think it is a decent song. But a song that is being performed by some other band, not Black Sabbath.
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Lady Evil is one of Dio-era Rainbow's best songs. :smug:
Like KDC said, it's one I also skipped over, but it doesn't hurt to listen to when I'm playing the full album. The backing track has a kinda sleazy feel to it, and that doesn't really jive with the rest of side one's vibe.
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Seems to be a consensus. I've always enjoyed Lady Evil but it was more Dio and less Black Sabbath.
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The title track Heaven & Hell comes next. I like this song a lot, but I've never thought of it as the stone cold classic that others would have it. Maybe because it felt like Sabbath doing a version of Stairway to Heaven, starts slow, speeds up and builds to a rocking climax. Love the bass line even though its quite simple.
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Heaven And Hell is vastly superior to anything else on this album, and is a top 5 favorite of mine. The music builds at a respectable pace (doesn't drag like Stairway To Heaven), and Ronnie's voice nicely accompanies the music rather than dominating it. I remember, back in the day, when this was played on the radio. They kept cutting out the light guitar finish, which perfectly completes the song. That really use to piss me off. >:(
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Heaven And Hell....oh boy...what can be said about this song that hasn't already been said a 1000 times...?
It is without a doubt one of the greatest songs ever made. A stone cold classic...that riff is among the most iconic riffs in the history of music.
The underlying bass line is also nothing short of sublime...and it was actually written by Geoff Nicholls who played Bass for a while too before Geezer came back into the band.
Ronnie's vocal delivery on this song is without a doubt among his finest, same goes for the lyrics.
This is about as close to a perfect song that you'll ever get. But it is in the live setting that this song truly comes alive with the sing along parts, Tony's extended soloing the jams the works...
Wow...what a masterpiece...
And yeah still when this song gets played in the radio they cut the acoustic part at the end...and that's a sacrilige!
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However, it's not *overplayed* on the radio. It's not used in commercials or for wrestlers entering the ring, to the best of my knowledge. As such, it can remain fresh for all the much more longer.
And yeah, lol that the bass line is so simple, yet so epic.
Studio version only points the way to the monster live version, which can beautifully incorporate The Sign of the Southern Cross as a sub-song.
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The first track on side 2 is Wishing Well , another great song on an album of great songs. Of the songs which Ronnie may have brought with him from Rainbow this is the most likely. Yes it's catchy, yes the lyrics are a little cheesey, but I love it nonetheless.
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The first time I heard this song (the whole album, actually), was riding around in a van. The guy had it on 8-track, and the four of us agreed to hear it. We may have been chemically enhanced at the time, and I recall being blown away by Heaven & Hell in particular. What a great song!
I agree with KDC, Wishing Well sounds like it was written for Long Live Rock 'n' Roll.
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"Wishing Well" slots in perfectly between "The Shed" and "Sensitive to Light", definitely a lyrical artifact of Mr. Dio. But the rest of the band are committed for the ride, adding progressive elements to an otherwise pop-friendly main riff. It's a tune with a lot of energy and fun in it. I think "Never Say Die" was *trying* to sound something like this, but fell short of the mark where this shot landed.
And I think Martin Birch may have had his hands in this, as well. Birch and Dio are two guys very familiar with the Ritchie Blackmore School of Rock, and their elements are strong on this album as well as the next.
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Wishing Well is the first real miss on the album. It is bit commercial sounding and indeed sound more like Rainbow than it does Sabbath...I am thinking that musically this might have been a bit of a left over track from the earlier sessions with Ozzy as there is that kind of a vibe to it...and lyrically this might have been something Ronnie would have been working on for the Long Live Rock 'n Roll sessions.
The riff is good but lacks punch and the song just never really gets going.
It's an okay song but honestly it's nothing compared to the songs on Side A....
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And now we take another step away from Black Sabbath music to another band's music. Wishing Well is nothing more than a conventional Dio band song, which is why I always skip it. When I want to hear a conventional Dio band song, which is not to often, I'll put a Dio band cd in my machine. Stuff like this is what degrades this album as a whole.
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The next track is Die Young. This is the one that's vying for top spot along with CotS. It's pretty unique and it's difficult to describe as it's unlike anything they ever did. This has some of Tony's best work (on an album full of Tony's best work!!). Loved it from day one.
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And we return back to the fold with the incredible DIE YOUNG.
The guitar intro, the incredible riff, the tempo change in the middle which is pure Sabbath gold, Tony's suberb soloing, the amazing vocal preformance by Ronnie and the top notch lyrics make this song one of the best songs Sabbath has ever done.
And this again is one of those songs which truly comes to life in a live setting.
What a song...what A SONG!
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The Sabbath sound returns with Die Young. A good tune with all band members showing their talents.
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The penultimate song is Walk Away. A song which many think of as the worst song on the album, but I quite like it. Sure it is more Rainbow than Sabbath, but I like early Rainbow! ;)
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And the non-Sabbath type song raises its ugly head yet again. For reasons previously stated, I walk away from Walk Away.
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Walk Away is the other weak song on the album in fact I'd say it's the worst song on the album....in fact this would be the worst Dio-Era Sabbath song hands down.
A very commercial rock sounding song...it is indeed bit more early Rainbow or even Elf style song than Sabbath, but honestly it still does sound more like Sabbath than anything on the previous album that's for sure. Atleast it's got a decent enough riff and great vocals.
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Finally the album closes with Lonely Is The Word. Fantasic soloing by Tony, the song is otherwise quite simple but despite sparse lyrics Ronnie has a great turn as well. One if their best album closers for sure.
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Then it is time for the greatest closing track of all Sabbath albums LONELY IS THE WORD.
Lyrically this song touches very close to home for me dealing about loneliness which is something I know little too much about which is probably why this song resonates with me so much.
But it is musically pretty much flawless as well. The main riff is fantastic and Tony's soloing is his absolute finest work on an album EVER.
Both Geezer and Bill shine on the track as well. It was a real shame this did not become a live staple but I am more than happy that we got the absolutely fantastic live version on Radio City Music Hall Live. That is a preformance I absolutely adore.
This song right here is again very high on the list of greatest songs in the world....what a track...and what a way to close this album that has some of Sabbath's (and heavy metal's for that matter) finest work.
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The album finishes with Lonely Is The Word. It is a decent closer. The only problem, is that Iommi is the star in the bulk of the song. This tune would have been more appropriately placed as the closer of one of Iommi's solo efforts.
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In conclusion, it is pretty clear that the level of creativity and musical cohesiveness was reduced a notch or two with this album. But this is hardly surprising. When you change 1 of the 4 key components, then you can't expect to produce the same magic.
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In conclusion, it is pretty clear that the level of creativity and musical cohesiveness was reduced a notch or two with this album. But this is hardly surprising. When you change 1 of the 4 key components, then you can't expect to produce the same magic.
I would say that this album recaptured the magic which was completely missing for the past 2 ½ albums....and we had a band that ACTUALLY sounded like Black Sabbath again instead of some wannabe jazzfusion commercial alt-rock band from canada.
I'd rank the songs
1. Heaven And Hell
2. Lonely Is The Word
3. Children Of The Sea
4. Neon Knights
5. Die Young
6. Lady Evil
7. Wishing Well
8. Walk Away
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I think it was a shot in arm for the band.
I'd rank the tracks thusly:
1= Children of the Sea
1= Die Young
3. Neon Knights
4= Lonely is the Word
4= Heaven and Hell
6. Wishing Well
7. Walk Away
8. Lady Evil
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Catching back up...
DIE YOUNG - stone cold awesomeness, my fave track of the album and, with Falling Off the Edge of the World, tied for my favorite Dio-era tracks of all time. A perfect song, expertly delivered.
WALK AWAY - I like the song but, yes, it's a let down after the total ripper that comes before it.
LONELY IS THE WORD - Excellent closer, very emotional and though it took me a few listens to understand, I'm glad that I got into it.
Heaven and Hell is the best album since Sabotage. For me, it's second to Mob Rules for my overall favorite LPs, but absolutely hands-down one of the greatest of the great albums.
Ranking the traxx:
1. Die Young
2. Heaven and Hell
3. Neon Knights
4. Lonely Is the Word
5. Children of the Sea
6. Wishing Well
7. Walk Away
8. Lady Evil
I typed out my ranking before reading the ones above it - interesting that I had the same bottom 3 as Charger and KDC! Exact same as KDC, even!
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Inserting my final rating of the albums for completion's sake.
Heaven And Hell = 7/10
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Time to add the final ratings for these too...
This is the toughest one to rate as it does have two weak tracks but the rest are just 100%...
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