Paperback
Dream Evil: Dio in the ‘80s
is my new 246-page book examining in exhaustive detail the Ronnie James Dio solo band records from the 1980s, namely Holy Diver, The Last in Line, Sacred Heart and Dream Evil along with the Intermission EP. It’s in my traditional format, lots of words, one album per chapter. Additionally there are 109 black-and-white images and two tipped-in colour sections containing 38 colour shots.
This 246-page book marks an extensive rewrite and huge expansion versus my Dio book from 17 years ago, and focuses solely on the albums and tour cycles from Holy Diver through Dream Evil. Multiple new interviews were done with Ronnie and Jimmy before they passed on, along with assorted band members from the ‘80s albums since the original Dio book. The book is also expanded due to additional research as well as deeper review-type analysis of the songs by me. There are also 109 black-and-and-white and 38 colour shots, representing a mix of live and memorabilia imagery.
As the back cover sez… Holy Diver, The Last in Line, Sacred Heart and Dream Evil… these are the crown jewels Ronnie James Dio’s catalogue with his namesake Dio band, and most of those—if not all—deserve heavy metal shoulder-to-shoulder status against the man’s other top-flight an’ mighty works, namely Rainbow’s Rising record and Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell.
Such is the mission of this book, namely to celebrate these monster sledges of traditional American-styled power metal, and indeed make the argument that the band’s last from the 1980s, Dream Evil, is long overdue for a reassessment.
In that spirit, Martin Popoff offers his celebrated and time-honoured track-by-track trawl through this catalogue of immense importance (covering music, lyrics, production, cover arts and subsequent tour cycles), with extensive interview footage from members of the band all along the way, including two who are no longer with us, bassist Jimmy Bain and the beloved icon himself, Ronald James Padavona.
