Traditionally reserved for the end of the blog is our new releases...but this new release, out on Tuesday April 1st, is something special and I thought I would take a moment to bring it to your attention...
Ronald James Padavona, known to the world as Elf/Rainbow/Black Sabbath/Dio/Heaven & Hell lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio, was one of the greatest influences in the rock/metal world. Known by his colleagues for his humanity, compassion, intelligence and wit, he became through all of his musical endeavors one of the premier vocalists in the world.
In November of 2009, Dio was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and sadly succumbed to it in May of 2010. The music world and the world at large lost a great front man, and a great human being. When USA For Africa did "We Are The World", Dio provided the lyrics and vocals with his band mates Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell's music and put together "Hear 'n Aid", a heavy metal famine relief effort for Africa that raised just over 1 million dollars. The single they released was "Stars"...
Dio and his wife Wendy were also great supporters of the Children Of The Night project whose goal was to help get runaways off the streets of Los Angeles and into mainstream society. In 1991 RJD was awarded with the Dave Pritchard Memorial Award for his contributions to this cause.
Which brings us to why we are featuring "This Is Your Life: A Tribute To Ronnie James Dio" this week. For all of the good that Dio did with his music and with his humanitarian efforts, it did not stop with his passing. The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund was set up in his honor and has to date collected over 600,000 for cancer research. Monies raised have been committed to the T.J. Martell Foundation For Cancer, Aids and Leukemia Research and the gastric cancer research unit of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Dio was treated for his stomach cancer the last six months of his life. Should you feel moved to donate and support this great cause you can find the link here: Dio Cancer Fund ...
All of this culminates with the new release "This Is Your Life: A Tribute To Ronnie James Dio"... Friends, colleagues and band mates got together to pay tribute to Dio and proceeds from the sale of the album will go to the Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. It's an all star cast from the hard rock/heavy metal community performing classics from Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio's solo work.
The track list is as follows [and there is something for everyone!...]
1. Neon Nights - Anthrax [Previously Unreleased]
2. The Last In Line - Tenacious D [Previously Unreleased]
3. The Mob Rules - Adrenaline Mob
4. Rainbow In The Dark - Corey Taylor, Ray Mayorga, Satchel, Christian Martucci and Jason Christopher [Previously Unreleased]
5. Straight Through The Heart - Halestorm [Previously Unreleased]
6. Starstruck - Motorhead with Biff Byford [Previously Unreleased]
7. The Temple Of The King - Scorpions [Previously Unreleased]
8. Egypt [The Chains Are On] - Doro
9. Holy Diver - Killswitch Engage
10. Catch The Rainbow - Glenn Hughes, Simon Wright, Craig Goldy, Rudy Sarzo & Scott Warren [Previously Unreleased]
11. I - Oni Logan, Jimmy Bain, Rowan Robertson & Brian Tichy [Previously Unreleased]
12. Man On The Silver Mountain - Rob Halford, Vinny Appice, Doug Aldrich, Jeff Pilson & Scott Warren [Previously Unreleased]
13. Ronnie Rising Medley [Featuring A Light In The Black/Tarot Woman/ Stargazer/Kill The King] - Metallica [Previously Unreleased]
14. This Is Your Life - Ronnie James Dio
A great record for a great cause... Pick this one up and not only find some great music, but also contribute to the fight against cancer... Stand Up And Shout!!...
Also tying into the release of "This Is Your Life" is the tour of the Dio Disciples, a band consisting of former members of Dio's band as well as musical colleagues paying tribute to Dio's tenure with Rainbow, Sabbath and Dio solo. I had the pleasure of catching this band at the State Theater in St. Pete on Friday night [March 28th], right before they embarked on the "Monsters Of Rock" cruise out of Miami...
Currently managed by Dio's wife Wendy, the band rotates some members and presently consists of vocalists Oni Logan [Lynch Mob] and Mark Boals [Yngwie/Ring Of Fire], guitarist Craig Goldy [Rough Cutt/Giuffria/Dio], bassist Bjorn Englen [Yngwie/Tony MacAlpine], drummer Simon Wright [AC/DC/Dio/Geoff Tate's Queensryche] and keyboard player Scott Warren [Warrant/Keel/Dio/Heaven & Hell].
The performance at the State Theater was outstanding. The mix sounded great and the only minor complaint I would have is that the sound guy had the house mix up too loud to the point where it was distorting a little, but overall it was a great show. Oni Logan and Mark Boals did a great job with the material and this band really did pay a fitting tribute to the amazing Ronnie James Dio. The set list covered Rainbow, Sabbath and Dio but did not include Heaven & Hell [not yet anyway]... Craig Goldy gets kudos for successfully mirroring Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Vivian Campbell and Doug Aldrich... The set list was as follows:
1. Holy Diver [Dio]
2. Killing The Dragon [Dio]
3. I [Black Sabbath]
4. Egypt [The Chains Are On] [Dio]
5. The Gates Of Babylon [Rainbow]
6. The Last In Line [Dio]
7. Stand Up And Shout [Dio]
8. Tarot Woman/All The Fools Sailed Away [Rainbow/Dio]
9. Neon Nights [Black Sabbath]
10. Catch The Rainbow/Kill The King [Rainbow]
11. Long Live Rock 'N Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Heaven & Hell [Rainbow/Rainbow/Black Sabbath]
Encores:
12. Rainbow In The Dark [Dio]
13. We Rock [Dio]
A great band paying tribute to a great man... Catch these guys on tour if you find them in your area!...
And Now...For This Week's Sonic Flashback...
Def Leppard - Adrenalize
Released March 31, 1992
Joe Elliott - Vocals
Phil Collen - All Guitars except Acoustic Guitar on "Tonight"
Rick Savage - Bass, Acoustic Guitar on "Tonight"
Rick Allen - Drums
Considered the runt of the litter in the trilogy with "Pyromania" and "Hysteria", Adrenalize was released under difficult musical and personal circumstances in the Spring of 1992... Grunge had taken effect and while most melodic hard rock bands had gotten lost in the wave Def Leppard had the staying power to hit it head on and still hit #1 in both America and Great Britain. Also in the mix was the passing of guitarist Steve "Steamin'" Clark, who succumbed to a mix of alcohol and pain killers on January 8, 1991. The band dedicated the record to his memory.
Not adverse to tragedy, the band soldiered on, remaining as a four piece and without the direct help of their mentor and producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who was busy with Bryan Adams' record. Lange would get executive producer credit, but his input was via telephone and demos sent to him. Mike Shipley [R.I.P], who was an engineer for Lange, was brought on board to produce the record and the overall sound is right in line with it's predecessors, and is often criticized as being too close in sound to "Hysteria". But if it ain't broke...don't fix it...
With almost every song co-written by Clark, guitarist Phil Collen was tasked with playing both guitar parts and played Clark's style on his pieces. Unless you were a die hard fan, and you didn't know Clark has passed, you wouldn't know he wasn't on the record. Adrenalize came in at 10 songs, 9 of which were new [Track 10 - "Tear It Down" was actually a b-side of the single for "Women" from Hysteria, and was re-recorded for the record...], and the record is leaner, but still in my humble opinion an excellent record all around...
Flying in the face of the new grunge movement "Adrenalize" sold 3 million copies out of the box and went on to sell a total of 7 million records. Def Leppard would try to incorporate some of the grunge sound on their next record "Slang" [a favorite of mine...], but that's a whole other story...
Def Leppard would replace Clark with Dio/Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell, who would appear in all the promotional videos for the album except "Let's Get Rocked" and has continued with the band since. The album was released as a Deluxe Edition with b-sides and live recordings. Overall a great record and a respectable addition to the Def Leppard canon, and definitely stands up to it's two older brothers and the rest of the catalog...
New Releases - Coming Soon To A Medium Near You!!...
Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo
Following up their outstanding "Dark Adrenaline" Lacuna Coil are back with "Broken Crown Halo", and the band are ready to take their success to the next level. Dark and brooding, the band states this record is about not looking at everything that's good...but everything that's real, and how it plays out in a modern world. Symphonic hard rock with a nod to the cinematic... [Century Media] [Out 4/1]
Steel Panther - All You Can Eat
Steel Panther are a modern day version of Spinal Tap... Played tongue in cheek and they let you know they're in on the joke... They send up the hair metal scene with comedic effect... The twist however...is that these guys are outstanding musicians able to mimic any band's style and really have the chops to impress. With songs like "You're Beautiful When You Don't Talk" and "Gangbang At The Old Folks Home"...this record will certainly rock you out and bring a smile at the same time... [Universal Republic Records] [Out 4/1]
The Alan Parsons Project - The Complete Albums Collection
Covering from 1976's "Tales Of Mystery & Imagination" through '87's "Gaudi" this box set also includes "The Sicilian Defence", delivered to the record label the same time as "Eve" to fulfill contractual obligations, but not released until this box set... A great collection of progressive rock with pop leanings... [Arista Records] [Out 4/1]
Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
Finnish power metal vets Sonata Arctica release the follow up to 2012's "Stones Grow Her Name" and bows toward more of the classic sound from this band and bringing back more of that power metal element...and wolves... [Nuclear Blast America Records] [Out 4/1]
Deep Purple - Cal Jam 74
Finally a good recording of this historic concert... Released a few times with mixed results, Eagle Rock Entertainment gives you the complete show with excellent sound as is usual for this label... And the classics "Burn", "Smoke On The Water" and "Space Truckin'" are all present here... A great slice of history... [Eagle Rock Entertainment] [Out 4/1]
And Now...For This Weeks Gratuitous 80's Video...
Thanks For Coming Along For The Ride...
J.
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