Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material recorded by Black Sabbath during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains remastered tracks taken from the studio albums Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992), as well as a live version of the song "Children of the Sea" taken from the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three songs by Heaven & Hell that were recorded in 2007: "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall".
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years | ||||
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Compilation album by Black Sabbath / Heaven & Hell | ||||
Released | 3 April 2007 | |||
Recorded | 1979–1982, 1992, 2007 | |||
Genre | Heavy metal | |||
Length | 79:27 | |||
Label | Rhino Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Black Sabbath | |||
Black Sabbath compilations chronology | ||||
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Tour Edition cover | ||||
![]() The UK Tour Edition cover | ||||
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Billboard | (favorable)[2] |
Blabbermouth.net | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Jukebox:Metal | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Okayplayer | (89/100)[5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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 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 second idea was put aside, eventually emerging as The Rules of Hell box set released in the summer of 2008.
In an interview conducted by Martin Popoff, Tony Iommi revealed that in fact three tracks were recorded:[7] "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 13 March 2007.[8]
On 23 February 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 26 February 2007. On the week of 13 March 2007, it became available for download at all digital outlets.
After the recording was completed the members decided to tour under the moniker Heaven & Hell.[9] Dio and Iommi decided that the working partnership they had achieved in recording the 3 new songs would not be wasted, so they recorded The Devil You Know.
Before the Heaven & Hell tour of the UK in November 2007, a special edition release of The Dio Years was released on 5 November, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Tour Edition, to commemorate the tour. This CD, only to be in print for a limited time, features four songs from the Live at Hammersmith Odeon limited edition live album recently released by Black Sabbath. The four songs, recorded live in 1981 during Black Sabbath's "Mob Rules Tour" are "Neon Knights", "The Mob Rules", "Children of the Grave", and "Voodoo".
All songs were written by Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, except where noted.
No. | Title | Original release | Length |
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1. | "Neon Knights" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward) | Heaven and Hell (1980) | 3:52 |
2. | "Lady Evil" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 4:24 |
3. | "Heaven and Hell" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 6:58 |
4. | "Die Young" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 4:44 |
5. | "Lonely Is the Word" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Heaven and Hell | 5:51 |
6. | "The Mob Rules" | Mob Rules (1981) | 3:16 |
7. | "Turn Up the Night" | Mob Rules | 3:42 |
8. | "Voodoo" | Mob Rules | 4:34 |
9. | "Falling Off the Edge of the World" | Mob Rules | 5:04 |
10. | "After All (The Dead)" | Dehumanizer (1992) | 5:42 |
11. | "TV Crimes" | Dehumanizer | 4:02 |
12. | "I" | Dehumanizer | 5:13 |
13. | "Children of the Sea (live)" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | Live Evil (1982) | 6:14 |
14. | "The Devil Cried" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 6:01 |
15. | "Shadow of the Wind" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 5:40 |
16. | "Ear in the Wall" (Dio, Iommi) | New song (performed by Heaven & Hell) | 4:04 |
No. | Title | Length |
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17. | "The Devil Cried" (radio edit) | 4:22 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Neon Knights" | 4:37 |
2. | "The Mob Rules" | 3:33 |
3. | "Children of the Grave" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) | 5:03 |
4. | "Voodoo" | 5:44 |
Year | Chart | Position |
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2007 | Billboard 200 | 54[11] |
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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2007 | "The Devil Cried" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 38[12] |
Heaven & Hell | |
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Studio albums |
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Live albums |
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Singles | |
Tours |
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Related articles |
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