My thoughts on The Dio Years

GreenJacket · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Adelaide, Australia

Album cover and packaging.

The lettering font is great. The design too eith the two crosses and the "devil". Inside reto photos are good but an up to date of them would have been better, particulary the one with all of them in the church, featured in Metal Hammer I think. Wes Benscoter's inside collage is very good but not great. A similar collage like Judas Priest's Metal Works album cover would have been better.

Song selection.

Great selection of chosen songs. But like all compilations there is always one or two songs you feel SHOULD have benn included. I would've like to have The Sign Of The Southern Cross added, but being almost 8 minutes long it would be difficult to include on a single CD release. Letters From Earth and Time Machine, in my opinion, are better songs to include, however, After All (The Dead) and I are still good. Great that they included Children Of The Sea from Live Evil. The three new songs are very good. Not classics I would say, but still worthwile.

Overall, very impressed. Hope they tour Australia.

berserkur · Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Reykjavik, Iceland

I think they should have done a 2CD CD with the new tracks on the extra disk. Then they could've also fit SOTSC and maybe 2 more on the other one.
When did Dio last tour Australia? I was reading some interviews and he always said hopefully.

Bildo · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1413 Location: Uranus

It should have been a complete boxed set with all 3 studio albums, the live album, the new tracks, and some unreleased live tracks, as well as a book with past photos and photos of them in the studio recording the new stuff. The book should also have contained extensive notes by all members on their music. It should have come in a box design that looks like the cover of the disc that they did release.

That being said, I enjoy the disc, and hope that enough people do as well so that the record company would consider putting out a complete boxed set some time in the future.

I'm sad, yet happy.
I'm sappy...
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Magica Dragon · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 626 Location: England

Although I thought the cover was excellent a the liner notes quite interesting I have to say that for the song selection was a bit rubbish. The number one thing is the amount of material from Heaven & Hell. There's no point buyig the album unless you're a really big fan. I don't see why Children Of The Sea was a live version. Just to represent Live Evil I suppose. Having said that the remastering is noticeable and the tracks do sound louder and clearer. All in all I'd give it about 7/10. Slightly flawed even if all the material is excelllent quality.

GreenJacket · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Adelaide, Australia

Bildo,

The box set you mention would have been AWESOME!!!, but box sets usually are a career spanning 8 to 10 disk set. Not really a portion of it in Dio's case. Anyway box sets are expensive and usually for collectors only. I'm glad it was a single disc set; more people would be willing to buy it. They should have done a duel disc set with the music videos on one side. Again only the major labels do that like sony, not really Rhino; shame.

Magica Dragon · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 626 Location: England

I still think a box set could well surface at some stage. Something like this perhaps:

Disc 1: Heaven & Hell

Disc 2: The Mob Rules

Disc 3: Live Evil

Disc 4: Live At Hammersmith Odeon

Disc 5: Dehumanizer

Disc 6: New Tracks and Rarities

Disc 7: Heaven & Hell DVD

Disc 8: Live Evil DVD

Now that would be a hell of a boxset Cool

hevihoo · Joined: 28 May 2006 Posts: 13

Box set! That would have been the best arguably. But is ther a market for a full box set of Dio only material Sabbath in 2007? I would like to think so, but.... Maybe after the tour? I really am a fan and would be the fiist in line if there would be some rarities included.
Yes, a 2-disc release(one filled with the essential tracks and the other with live, rarities & three new tracks) would have beeb the best. But the sales are already smaller and smaller for every band anfd how does this affect artist like Dio? Maybe less than U2, the fans are more willing and committed, but then again every soul lost counts.
So, what I´m trying to say is, as great as a treat this whole career spanning package would be, is something that really isn´t profitable. And that is what matters.

alitivity · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:19 am Post subject:

Beast_Regards · Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Posts: 61

Magica Dragon · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 626 Location: England

Well the thing is as much as a boxset would be great I don't know if I would have bought it. It's a lot of money to shell out at one time so I'm personally really glad they made it a single disc. In the future a boxset would be a good idea (after Sabbath retire perhaps) but for now it would mean a lot of fans would'nt get hold of the new tracks because box sets are expensive and people may well own much of the material. I did think the tracklist was a little flawed as I said above but all in all a good representation. Just too much from H&H basically.

Beast_Regards · Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Posts: 61

Magica Dragon · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 626 Location: England

Lady Evil and Lonely Is The Word are the tracks I would have taken away to make room for SOTSC also. And I thought Comptuer God would've been good too.
The thing with the H&H overload from a business standpoint is that people who are introduced to this Sabbath era by The Dio Years will think twice about buying a CD with just two tracks they don't own. But it was a classic album so fair enough.