One of the all-time metal greats. I've been on a bit of a Dio kick lately, so I figgered why not give a shout out for old Ronnie??

Favorite Rainbow album with Dio: Rising
Favorite Black Sabbath album with Dio: Mob Rules
Favorite Dio album: The Last In Line

So the next time Dio or Heaven and Hell rolls into your town....LOOK OUT!!

This has been a Ronnie James Dio public service announcement.

Also known as Elf.

In his pre-Rainbow days, yes.

Thanks, John.

I also love Rainbow Rising! Maybe it will get the AF treatment.

btw...I have a friend at work who loves heavy metal and Dio. Yet he had never owned Rainbow Rising till I burned him a copy. Strange. You;d think it would be a must own album for any Dio fan.

Tenacious D's Pick of Destiny got off to a brilliant start thanks to cameos by Meatloaf and Dio, but was hit-and-miss the rest of the way through.

Fast foward to the 4-min. mark.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7zDiKDbazY[/youtube]

I've said this many, many times Rainbow's "Rising" is one of the best albums by any band on this useless planet EVER!

Nobody in Metal has better pipes. I saw him in 85 in Philly on the Sacred Heart tour (my second concert).

I pick
Rainbow - Rainbow Rising
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Dio - Holy Diver
But if I had to pick 1 RJD song , it wouldn't be from any of the 3 above , it has got to be "The Shed". I loved that song the first 10 seconds into the first time I heard it.
As far as Elf goes the only thing I ever heard by them is the few songs that are on the Rhino Dio Anthology , and going by those songs , thats all I wanna hear.

My fave albums of Ronnie's:

With Elf: nothing-they sucked
Rainbow-Rising
Black Sabbath-Mob Rules (who knows, maybe it will be "The Devil You Know"?)
Dio-Holy Diver

My fav? Hungry For Heaven.

I've always liked the title track from Lock Up The Wolves. Talk about SLOOOOOW and heavy!

As a whole, I like the Blackmore's Rainbow album better, but "Stargazer" is definitely one of the band's finest moments. From Cozy Powell's intro, to Ronnie's wailing "Now look...look...look...look...look at his tower of stone" that song is epic.

Rainbow - Rising is great, Dio's album Magica is also recommended.
Saw him live with Deep Purple in 2000 (The London Symphony Orchestra). Little man but what a voice!

I didn't get Rising until a couple of years ago myself. Don't know why it took so long. The catalyst was hearing "Tarot Woman" on XM.

Rising was my first experience of Dio - it made me a fan for life.

I've loved the album Rising since it was first released on vinyl. I've bought each CD remastering ever since. It would make a great GOLD cd.

And for a great controversy on the Hoffman board.

John:
You just sent a chill down my spine even thinking about that. I still have my vinyl of that album as well. Only problem-too damn short, just one more song!
Of all the Dio studio albums I'd rate them as such:

Holy Diver (A+)
Last In Line (A-)
Sacred Heart (C)
Dream Evil (C+)
Lock Up The Wolves (B-)
Strange Highways (D)
Angry Machines (D-)
Magica (C-)
Killing The Dragon (B-)
Master Of The Moon (B-)

I've seen Dio the band live 7 times including twice on the ridiculous Sacred Heart tour with one of the shows being filmed in Philly (1986) by NFL Films and released as "Sacred Heart Live". The dragon, the knights, the drawbridge, the lasers, the crystal ball-it was awesome and beyond corny!
Ronnie had to kill the dragon didn't he?

I have a neat-o promo CD of Lock Up the Wolves that's done up in leather and studs. Oh the good ol' days when labels used creative CD packaging.

Still don't know what a holy diver is, and the lyrics aren't any help. But the title track and Rainbow in the Dark are amazing.

And Dio won't tell you, either. He likes fans to come up with their own interpretations of his lyrics.

All hail Dio-looks like others have been over the years as well! Pretty impressive for an album to Gold that never even charted!
From Blabbermouth.net:

DIO's "The Very Beast of Dio" was officially certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 11, 2009 for shipments in the United States in excess of 500,000 copies.

Issued in October 2000, "The Very Beast of Dio" is the second greatest-hits collection CD — and the first to be released in the U.S. — from the Ronnie James Dio-fronted band.

The track listing for the collection is as follows:

01. Stand up and Shout
02. Holy Diver
03. Rainbow in the Dark
04. Straight Through the Heart
05. We Rock
06. Last in Line
07. Mystery
08. King of Rock & Roll
09. Sacred Heart
10. Hungry for Heaven
11. Rock & Roll Children
12. Man on the Silver Mountain [Live]
13. Dream Evil
14. I Could Have Been a Dreamer
15. Lock up the Wolves
16. Strange Highways

DIO's last release was the 2006 "Holy Diver Live" CD, featuring a performance of the classic "Holy Diver" album in its entirety, from start to finish, recorded live for the very first time in 2005 in front of a sold-out London crowd. It also includes, among others, "Heaven & Hell", "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Mob Rules" from vocalist Ronnie James Dio's BLACK SABBATH days, "Tarot Woman", "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" from the RAINBOW era and "We Rock" from his solo career.