Perspective from the Dio Mix

In celebration of the new Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell CD The Devil You Know (which debuted at #8 on the Billboard chart!), I took all my Dio-related CDs and ripped them to my computer and then to my MP3 player. That means the three Rainbow albums, the three Black Sabbath albums (plus the three new songs on the Dio Years compilation), and the ten Dio band albums (and even Time to Burn, from Intermission). I added the songs from The Devil You Know, so I’m only missing a few soundtrack/charity items and Japanese bonus tracks. As it is, there’s a total of 155 songs. I’ve been playing those on random shuffle, to put new and old songs into some perspective, relative to Dio’s career since 1975.

I expected to be surprised in some ways, as this sort of exercise always brings out nuances that aren’t fully realized in listening to one CD at a time. I found that the new songs hold up well in the catalog. They aren’t Rainbow-esque- but they fit right in with many moments in Black Sabbath and Dio’s body of work from 1992’s Dehumanizer onward. That wasn’t a surprise to me, but it was nice to have confirmation for the feeling I got upon first listening to The Devil You Know. Also, The Devil Cried, from the 2007 The Dio Years, now sounds better than ever to me.

What was a bit surprising was to hear how solid Craig Goldy’s contribution was, over the years. I had always rated Goldy a bit behind Vivian Campbell and Doug Aldrich, but hearing his songs randomly in the mix of other Dio-related pieces made them become highlights, in many cases. Goldy isn’t flashy, his playing isn’t ostentatious, it simply serves the songs effectively.

I’ve tried many times to get into Angry Machines and Lock Up the Wolves, and it still just isn’t happening. There’s good moments and good songs on both, but they are at the bottom in my preference for the 17+ albums mixed together on my player.

I also ripped the five Tony Martin fronted Black Sabbath albums, and the Ozzy fronted compilation We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N’ Roll. I don’t have them in the same mix with the Dio fronted material described above, but I can still make comparisons. Riff-wise, the Tony Martin stuff sounds very much in the Black Sabbath tradition, much more so than it is usually credited for. The Ozzy material still sounds crude to my ears, and my dislike of his voice hasn’t been overcome yet. The only songs I really enjoy are Tomorrow’s Dream and Snowblind (I do like N.I.B. when Dio sings it on Live Evil, but I haven’t added any live tracks to these mixes yet).

I’ve now owned The Devil You Know for just over a week. My opinion could well change with time, but at this point I’m ready to declare it as being as good as anything its players have done in their careers. It isn’t the single best album any of them have recorded, but it is in the top tier of their work, alongside such famous albums as Heaven & Hell, Holy Diver, and Headless Cross (and it doesn’t even have an “H” in the title!). Rock On, everyone!

Dio's Deep Purple Whitesnake Rainbow

One of the great things about this current era of downloaded music and MP3 players is that album sales are no longer relevant to the quality of a given piece of music. It used to be that only records or CDs that sold well were considered "successful" and stayed in print for new listeners to hear. But now, most any song ever recorded can be found somewhere, whether in legal downloads, illegal torrents, or on Youtube and Myspace. New listeners can easily discover a band or artist, and usually their only context for judging now is whether or not the music is any good. Media hype, press releases, and so on have far less influence than ever before.

An example of this is that many media outlets such as Rolling Stone Magazine like to pretend that the history of Black Sabbath begins and ends with Ozzy Osbourne. It is vaguely acknowledged that Ronnie James Dio played with the band for a bit, but any other albums are forgotten. But a kid just discovering heavy music can explore various torrents, and find a host of Black Sabbath albums to download, and decide for his or her own self what they like and dislike. Awesome (IMHO) Tony Martin-sung releases such as Headless Cross and Tyr are now on an equal footing with Paranoid and Dehumanizer.

This widespread access to music makes it possible for music fans to explore vast, interconnected discographies. There's various ones out there, as musicians switch between bands and projects, but my favorite one is what is sometimes referred to as "the extended Deep Purple family." Deep Purple were one of the founders of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The second lineup of the band included Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Jon Lord on keyboards, Roger Glover on bass, and Ian Paice on drums. The third lineup saw Glenn Hughes replace Glover, and David Coverdale replace Gillan.

Ronnie James Dio's band Elf toured with Deep Purple, and Dio performed on Glover's Butterfly Ball project while Glover helped produce Elf's albums. When Blackmore left Deep Purple, he took on Dio and Elf (minus the guitarist) as his backing band to form Rainbow. After the debut Rainbow album, Jimmy Bain joined the band on bass, and Cozy Powell took over drum duties.

From this start, it gets really crazy, and I won't go into it all at this time. But here's a taste of what occured in the following 30+ years. Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath, and Dio took over the vocals. He then left and was succeeded by Ian Gillan. Ozzy formed his own band with Bob Daisley on bass (Bain's replacement in Rainbow), and Dio formed his own band with Bain on bass. Dio's band included Vinny Appice on drums, after Appice had met Dio in Black Sabbath.

Roger Glover had joined Blackmore in Rainbow after Daisley, and Joe Lynn Turner took over vocals in place of Graham Bonnet, who had succeeded Dio. Bonnet then formed Alcatraz with Swedish guitar wizard Yngwie Malmsteen. Yngwie then launched a solo carer, which saw him work at times with several former Rainbow members, including Turner and Powell. Meanwhile, Coverdale had formed Whitesnake, and was eventually joined by Lord and Paice, and then by Powell. Neil Murray was Whitesnake's bassist for a time.

By 1989, Powell had joined guitarist Tony Iommi to bring a new focus to Black Sabbath. Murray joined them an album later. Powell was eventually replaced, twice(!), by former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli. Dio kept plugging along on his solo career, with Rudy Sarzo settling in as bassist in recent years. Sarzo had earlier replaced Daisley as bassist in Ozzy's solo band, after even earlier having played with Ozzy's first solo guitarist, Randy Rhoads, in Quiet Riot. By the time Sarzo joined Dio, Craig Goldy (aka Goldie) was on his third stint as the band's guitarist. Sarzo and Goldy knew each other from the early 80's LA scene, when Sarzo was in the reformed Quiet Riot, and Goldy was in Rough Cutt. They had later formed a project together while Goldy was out of Dio's band the first time. Goldy's third stint in Dio's band was as the replacement for Doug Aldrich, who had left to join Coverdale in a reformed Whitesnake!

There's dozens of further connections I could point out, but I mentioned what I did to illustrate that, for fans of any one of these bands or performers, there are loads of releases to seek out. Someone who enjoys Turner's singing in Rainbow will probably equally enjoy his work with Yngwie Malmsteen, or on the one Deep Purple album he recorded. Whitesnake fans might well enjoy the Deep Purple albums with Coverdale on vocals. In that version of Deep Purple, Hughes also provided some vocals, and listeners who enjoy his sound can then check out the one Black Sabbath album on which he sang, and the two later albums he recorded with Iommi.

Not everyone will like everything, of course. I've stated a number of times in various forums that I can't stand Ozzy's voice. That doesn't stop me from admitting that he's produced a lot of wonderful music with Black Sabbath and his solo band. I need to explore his catalog more than I have. There's hundreds of hours of music out there for fans of any and all of these cross pollinating hard/heavy bands to enjoy. Go to sites such as Encyclopedia Metallum to find discographies and band rosters. Or check out books such Garry Sharpe-Young's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - The Battle for Black Sabbath, and Martin Popoff's studies of Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and Dio's solo career.

If the above was new to you, I hope it opened your eyes and ears to a different world. If you were already in on the story, I hope it made you aware of some additional possibilities. Happy investigating, and happy listening!

Black Sabbath = Heaven & Hell!

Old School Heavy Metal fans are eager in anticipation for the new "Black Sabbath" CD that comes out on April 28. Fans of Black Sabbath know that the Mob Rules lineup of the band, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Vinny Appice on drums, has been playing together for the past couple of years as "Heaven & Hell" (the title of the first Dio-fronted Sabbath album, which saw Appice take over the drums during its touring). The 2007 and 2008 tours went so well that the Heaven & Hell guys decided to record an album of new material, which they titled "The Devil You Know" since fans know it really is Black Sabbath (why not simply call themselves Black Sabbath? Well, the Ozzy-fronted lineup is in the R&R Hall of Fame, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler might play with Ozzy again someday, and Butler was never happy with various non-Ozzy lineups using the Black Sabbath name, so this works out all around, and fans don't expect to hear Ozzy-era songs in concert).

I've indicated numerous times on various Metal boards that I "worship at the altar of Dio" and that I greatly dislike Ozzy's voice. I respect the legacy of the early Black Sabbath albums, but my full interest begins with 1980's Heaven & Hell. I like almost all of the band's work that follows, whether with Dio, Ian Gillan, or the massively underrated Tony Martin. Only the last album, 1995's Forbidden, falls short.

I was quite excited to get 2007's Black Sabbath - The Dio Years because it had three new songs recorded in the autumn of 2006. The songs were written by Iommi and Dio, and Butler and Appice then joined them for the recording. I found the songs quite worthy, and it was a good sign that Black Sabbath fans couldn't decide on which was the best of them.

This is happening again with The Devil You Know. Most Black Sabbath fans have probably heard the album by now. This isn't from illegal dowloading, at least not necessarily so, because the full album has been streaming on various sites (one for the USA, another for Europe). Lots of reviews and opinions are appearing, and many listeners are slightly underwhelmed. Few state that the album is poor, but "mediocre" seems to be common. There is no consensus on which songs are good and which are lousy, and again this is a good thing. It means the music holds a wide appeal, "saying" different things to different listeners. And the lukewarm praise indicates that the album hasn't fully sunk in yet for most.

I'd be more concerned with widespread adulation. Since at least 1992's Dehumanizer album, anything by Black Sabbath (or solo projects by its members) has required numerous listens for the quality to truly emerge. I expect that in a few months, The Devil You Know will start to be regarded as a masterpiece, at least among Sabbath and Dio fans. As I listen to the stream for perhaps the fourth time, I hear bludgeoning power, fantastic guitar, and Dio's voice in fine form. There's doom, a bit of speed, and an overall sense of darkness, and the songs are slightly better than the new Dio Years tracks because they were written as more of a full band effort. As another commentator indicated, the 1970 Black Sabbath album Paranoid was perfect for its troubled time, and The Devil You Know is perfect for our current troubled time.

If you are interested in The Devil You Know, and somehow haven't heard a stream of it yet, check out USA or Europe. You'll find an album with song structures rather like those on Dehumanizer, with playing and singing often reminiscent of Mob Rules. I am delighted with it, and can hardly wait to own it on CD in roughly 48 hours. I expect it will ultimately please all fans of Dio-fronted Black Sabbath!

Another one bites the dust...RIP Steve Tompkins

I've been coping well with the loss of my beloved feline friend, but today I discovered another death of which I had been unaware. I learned that Steve Tompkins passed away on March 23 at age 48. He had a heart attack after being hospitalized for severe food poisoning that led to anemia.

Steve was THE world authority on heroic fantasy fiction, with an unmatched style of witty, informative writing in his many posts to various sites. I especially enjoyed his discourses found on The Cimmerian Blog, and his pieces can be accessed here http://www.thecimmerian.com/?author=3. No one else ever put Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien into context with one another in such well thought out ways.

Everyone who knew Steve personally felt he was a great guy. I only knew him through his writings, and those were pretty great too. My condolences to his family and friends, his memory will stay alive as long as people continue to read and enjoy his writing. I'll drink a fine India Pale Ale in his honor, even as I'm sure he's now hoisting a few flagons in the company of Robert E. Howard in the afterlife. Cheers and goodbye!

Kitty Update

I'm gradually feeling better this week, as I keep in mind that Jaws lived longer than could reasonably have been expected, and had a charmed life in every way and at every stage. She was a wonderful cat when it came to dealing with humans, but she never accepted Ember, the other cat I brought into our little family on August 11, 1999. I've been curious these past couple of days to observe how Ember handles the changed dynamic in our home.

Ember, who is in the photo, was around 11 weeks old at the time I acquired her. A guy standing in front of the supermarket was holding her, looking for someone to adopt the kitten. I planned to get Jaws a companion, so she wouldn't be alone when I was away on trips, but I didn't expect to do so for a few more months. However, when I drove into the parking lot and spotted the man holding the kitten, I heard a voice in my head state, "that's your cat!" I tried to argue, but the voice persisted. I chatted with the man holding the kitten, but told him I wasn't ready yet for a second cat. As I began to shop, the feeling that I should take the kitten continued, so I decided that if I thought of a name for the female kitty before I was done shopping, I would indeed take her home with me.

I had lately started collecting the new line of Elfquest comics "Readers Collections," and I almost instantly realized that the character of Ember would be the perfect namesake for a kitten. Ember was a brash, brave tom-boy, who took no nonsense from anyone. That was it, the kitten would be Ember, and I brought her home with me!

As soon as we got home, I noticed that 11 week old Ember's tail was already a fair bit larger than 7 year old Jaws' was! Uh oh, I realized, this is going to be one large cat. And indeed, she grew to be huge, with a very long body, and a weight of over 20 pounds as an adult. She is the size of a Maine Coone, but has no other obvious signs of being that breed. I think she is a mongrel who just happened to inherit the genes to be very large. She also inherited incredible smarts. I came to realize that Ember is a genius among cats. She observes her surroundings, takes mental notes, and sometimes I can almost hear the gears cranking in her head. Like her namesake, Ember the cat is also very bold, and from the get-go, she refused to show Jaws any sign of respect. Jaws, therefore, never liked her, and up to a week before her death, still gave Ember the occasional hiss.

Ember has never been a good listener, unlike Jaws, who loved attention so much that I could speak to her for hours. But Monday night, Ember sat still and listened as I explained to her that she was now Senior Cat in the household, and would have priority rights to food (and my lap, and similar things) if and when I get another cat. Ember has never been a noisy purrer, but since Monday night she's been giving me the loudest purrs of her life. I think she is delighted to no longer have Jaws around, and to be receiving my full attention.

Ember was high strung, even for a cat, when she was younger, but she's mellowed a lot in middle age. I think she and Jaws were the proverbial oil and water, and that Ember would have gotten along better with most other cats. I expect the 10 year old Ember will get along fine with any kitten I bring home in the future. Ember never tried to take advantage of a sick and weak Jaws this past week, so I believe she'll be considerate of a small and fragile kitten when the time comes. In the meantime, I'm glad that Ember and I seem to be getting along better than ever, and I hope that won't change.

RIP my Beloved Kitty

Jaws died this morning at not quite 17 years of age. She was born on or about July 1, 1992 on a farm in Utah as the runt of her litter. The owners of the farm took her into their home, but soon realized they couldn't keep her. She was too friendly, and her attempts to cuddle disturbed their newborn child. Therefore they sought a good home for this affectionate kitten, and asked their old friend Mark the Shark if he wanted her. He was one of my roommates at the time, and knew that another roommate, Erik, and I planned on getting a kitten once Erik returned to Fort Collins from spending the summer in New York. Erik was due back in late August. Mark decided to surprise us with the cat.

One day in the middle of August, Mark the Shark drove up to Vail to meet his old friend for lunch. She drove over from Utah with the kitten, and Mark brought her home with him in a wine glass! She was that tiny! I worked the day shift delivering pizza that day, and in the evening I met up with Mark. He showed me the bottles of beer he had gotten for me at the Hubcap Brewpub, and then...surprise!

Here was this perfect little cat! She was tiny, but could eat solid food and use a litter box. She would zip up and down the stairs, and was always on the lookout for a lap upon which to nap. Everyone loved her, and thought she was the best cat ever. We held off naming her until Erik was back a week or so later, and then remained stumped. When we played with her, she would start to chew on our hands like a little Tasmanian Devil, or a shark from a cartoon, so our roommate Matt suggested we call her Jaws. The irony of naming such a sweet little thing "Jaws," along with its uniqueness, convinced us to go with that name.

I've had her ever since, until today. She seemed to get sick a few days ago, she stopped eating, drank a lot of water, and had difficulty relieving herself. At first I thought it was something like a cold that she'd get over, but she got weaker and weaker. Yesterday, I looked up veterinarians, and found one just a quarter mile or so from my home. I left a message for them, and this morning finalized an appointment for Jaws for 11am. Jaws and I then sat together for half an hour or so while I used my computer. I knew it couldn't be good that her usual loud purr was more like a murmur, but at least she was purring and happy. At 10:50 I carried her down to car, and drove to the vet office. I brought her in, filled out a form, and quickly was able to bring Jaws into an examination room.

I set her on the table, and the vet came in. He started examining her, and they took her temperature. He was worried about her breathing, which sounded very poor. The thermometer showed her temperature to be dangerously low, and just then, the vert told me he couldn't find her pulse. She still responded to his touch, for a moment, but then her eyes lost their recognition for the first time ever. she was staring into space, and I knew she had expired right then and there. She lived as long as she possibly could, and I'll eternally be relieved that I never had to make the call to euthanize her. I'm also grateful she didn't die alone, with me to find her later, but had my company up to the final milisecond.

A sign of affection from many cats is to wink at someone they love. Jaws had often winked at me over the years, and she did so again several times over the past few days. I'll always treasure that we parted on good terms. My other kittie, Ember, is almost 10. Ironically, one reason I got her is because I knew that Jaws, at age 7, wouldn't live forever. I hoped to soften the blow of her eventual demise, never imagining that she'd live for another decade. Jaws and Ember didn't get along, but Ember was very respectful towards Jaws these past few days, so they went out on good terms too. Jaws had a very long and happy life, and I'm devestated to lose my little buddy, but I can't be too sad about the overall situation. She had more than her share of years, love, shelter and food. She'll be cremated, and I'll eventually bring her ashes up to South Dakota to spread in the area where, years ago, I spread my parents' ashes in the Black Hills

I'll get Ember a new companion sooner or later. Ember came as a sort of surprise in her own way, so I'll sit back and wait, and see if fate surprises me a third time with a feline friend. Rest in peace, Jaws, you had such a good life that I doubt you've passed on to a better world. But I hope you are finding times just as good in Kittie Heaven. I love you, Baby Girl!

Thought for the day: If you are a cat fan, check out my Lol Cats (photos to which humorous captions are added) at http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/pictures-by-BigWade57/

The Dungeons and Dragons Dilema

Wow, what strange timing. A week ago I discussed older forms of Dungeons & Dragons, and mentioned the easy availability of legal pdf downloads of product for these games. As of Monday, April 6, 2009, Wizards of the Coast (owners of the D&D copyright) revoked the license of the various sites that sold these files. For the moment, no legal pdfs exist for any version of D&D prior to the new 4e (and not for that version either, if I understand correctly).

The internet gaming community has been discussing this at length, usually quite angrily. WotC hasn't issued much in the way of explanation, other than to state that they are trying to crack down piracy. Of course, this isn't done by denying access to paying customers, so speculation on the real reason has fallen into two camps. On the one hand, some feel that WotC are trying to shore up the position that they aggressively defend their copyright, as they commence with legal action against eight individuals believed to have illegally shared scans of the new 4e Players Handbook 2. Eventually, WotC will open their own online shop to sell pdfs. The other, more cynical view, is that WotC want to force those with an interest in D&D into playing 4e, and so have removed the availability of products through which the company competed with itself.

I'm hoping the rationale is the former, while I suspect it is really the latter. I don't know the actual state of affairs, and can't make even an educated guess. I do feel strongly that removing the availability of old school D&D pdfs will ultimately only lead to more people downloading pirated versions. This material isn't hard to find on file sharing and bit torrent sites. Just do a web search for the name of any older D&D product, and you'll see all sorts of illegal results. It really is that far out in the open, at least for the moment.

I know that those who seek long enough can find old Middle Earth Role Playing products, and those are items the designers WANT to be available to potential players! MERP was always far more obscure than D&D, so older D&D products are not going into hiding, despite what WotC may want. Perhaps this will all blow over soon, or possibly the outcry among gamers will be great enough to force some sort of change. I'll be watching curiously from the sidelines in the weeks ahead.