Dio – The Last in Line – 1984 I like this record. I don’t expect anything more from it than it is prepared to give. Taking all he’s learned from Rainbow, Elf and Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio made the album of his life with the previous Holy Diver. Why Continue Reading
Purple Sabbath
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers
Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers – 1984 Ritchie Blackmore! Ian Gillan! Jon Lord! The whole band is back! It’s a Mark II DP reunion! So how is it?!?!? Eh. Look, these guys can obviously play. And they know their instruments, how to play them and they know each others’ instruments Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon
Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon – 1983 Randy Rhodes died. And that’s pretty much the whole story here. Jake Lee is hired as his replacement and it almost works. The title track is great, energetic, shreddy. The rest of the album is….like carbon paper.If Diary of a Madman Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Born Again
Black Sabbath – Born Again – 1983 Well, here we are. Another Purple Sabbath crossover. Ex-Deep Purple lead singer Ian Gillan joined Black Sabbath for their most reviled album of their career. First off, from the beginning it sounds NOTHING like a Sabbath record. “Trashed”, the lead off song is Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Bent Out of Shape
Rainbow – Bent Out of Shape – 1983 (I couldn’t be more pleased to be done with Rainbow for a while…..) 1. Stranded – The radio friendliness continues. It’s not a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. If I had to choose, I would choose to listen to Martin Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Dio – Holy Diver
Dio – Holy Diver – 1982 Opening with “Stand Up and Shout” A shredtastic offering that uses all the things that I’ve come to adore in metal (exceptional energetic playing) and none of the things I don’t (fantasy mythology), Dio’s first solo record is a call to arms from the Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Whitesnake – Saints and Sinners
Whitesnake – Saints and Sinners – 1982 Okay, I admit it. This isn’t really fair. I’ve set a precedent with myself that the Listening Post series is a completion series. I’m supposed to listen to one band’s catalog from beginning to end and immerse myself in that chronology.The task I Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes
Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes – 1982 The first that struck me on Rainbow’s Straight Between the Eyes is that, while it’s very energetic and all, it’s not a very…cohesive record. The opener, “Death Valley Driver”, a cross between “Communication Breakdown” and “Radar Love” is marred by sloppy lead Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman
Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman – 1981 Blizzard of Ozz part 2. this one actually follows the same pattern laid down by Blizzard. Great opener “Over the Mountain”, blistering follow-up “Flying High Again”, power ballad “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll”. And so on. Instead of “Mr. Crowley”, Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Mob Rules
Black Sabbath – Mob Rules – 1981 I don’t love Mob Rules the way I do Heaven and Hell but it’s still terrific. It’s as though Iommi was challenging himself in the contest of Sabbath vs Ozzy because he’s in terrific form and Butler raises the stakes over the less Continue Reading