Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material from recordings made during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains full album length, remastered tracks culled from all three studio albums; Heaven and HellMob Rules (1981), Dehumanizer (1992), and the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three new recorded songs; "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind" and "Ear in the Wall".
(1980),
It was reported that the collection was first conceived of as a box set, in the vein of Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978); containing all of the group's albums released from their post-Ozzy Osbourne period, starting from Heaven and Hell to The Eternal Idol. This idea was eventually scrapped, and another box set was planned only to feature the four albums recorded from the Dio era of the band. This did not happen either, eventually making way for the single disc compilation.
In an interview conducted by Martin Popoff, Tony Iommi revealed that in fact three tracks were recorded[1]: "Shadow of the Wind" (a slow tune), "The Devil Cried" (a mid tempo rocker) and "Ear in the Wall" (a fast song), therefore changing the original plan for two new songs to accommodate all three tracks in the compilation. "The Devil Cried" was released as a single on March 13, 2007. [2]
On February 23, 2007, both Eddie Trunk and Sirius Satellite Radio unveiled the song "The Devil Cried" from the upcoming album. Rhino Records subsequently made the track available (for preview only) on February 26, 2007. On the week of March 13, 2007, it became available for download at all digital outlets.
| Released | 3 April 2007 | |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded | 1980–1982, 1992, 2007 | |
| Genre | Heavy metal | |
| Length | 79:27 | |
| Label | Rhino Warner Bros. | |
| Producer | Black Sabbath | |
Track listing
- "Neon Knights" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward) - 3:51
- "Lady Evil" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) - 4:23
- "Heaven and Hell" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) - 6:59
- "Die Young" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) - 4:44
- "Lonely is the Word" - 5:50
- "The Mob Rules" - 3:13
- "Turn Up the Night" - 3:42
- "Voodoo" - 4:32
- "Falling Off the Edge of the World" - 5:03
- "After All (The Dead)" - 5:42
- "TV Crimes" - 4:02
- "I" - 5:12
- "Children of the Sea" (live) (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) - 6:12
- "The Devil Cried" (Dio, Iommi) - 6:01
- "Shadow of the Wind" (Dio, Iommi) - 5:40
- "Ear in the Wall" (Dio, Iommi) - 4:04
DOWNLOAD: Black Sabbath: The Dio Years
