The Last in Line
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| Studio album by Dio | ||||
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Publication |
2nd July 1984 |
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| Label (s) |
Warner Bros. (USA and Canada) Vertigo Rock Candy Records |
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
41 min 7 s |
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Studio (s) |
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The Last in Line is the second album by the American hard rock / heavy metal band Dio .
history
The band had released their debut album Holy Diver in 1983 , for which bassist Jimmy Bain had recorded the keyboard parts. For the tour following the release, the group strengthened with keyboardist Claude Schnell, who had previously been a member of Rough Cutt .
In this expanded line-up, the group also tackled the recordings for the follow-up album at the Caribou Ranch music studio . Ronnie James Dio was responsible for the production and Angelo Arcuri was the sound engineer. The band worked on the songs together, and even when a musician was done with his portion of the recording, he would stay in the studio to support the rest of the group. Bassist Jimmy Bain described the atmosphere at the time in an interview like this:
"When we were recording The Last in Line , we felt a damned strong bond between us, the whole working atmosphere was more relaxed than on the first album."
The namesake Ronnie James Dio also agreed:
"(...) In fact, I would say that the band formed a more conspiratorial unit before and never after."
As a result, the recordings sounded a bit harder, stormier and more mellow than Holy Diver; in the texts, Dio chose more heroic descriptions for the struggle between good and evil.
The album was released on July 2, 1984. The tracks Mystery, We Rock and The Last in Line were each released as singles ; the pop Mystery and We Rock could here in the UK in the charts establish. Commercially, The Last in Line is the band's most successful album in terms of sales.
In 2012 a deluxe edition of the album was released, which contained various live recordings on a second CD, including from the Pinkpop Festival 1984.
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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title
All texts were written by Ronnie James Dio, the following author information relates to the respective composition.
| The Last in Line | |||
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| No. | title | Songwriter | length |
| 1. | We rock | Ronnie James Dio | 4:35 |
| 2. | The Last in Line | Jimmy Bain , Vivian Campbell , Dio | 5:48 |
| 3. | Breathless | Campbell, Dio | 4:09 |
| 4th | I speed at night | Vinny Appice , Dio, Bain, Campbell | 3:26 |
| 5. | One night in the city | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 5:15 |
| 6th | Evil Eyes | Dio | 3:38 |
| 7th | Mystery | Bain, Dio | 3:55 |
| 8th. | Eat your heart out | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 4:02 |
| 9. | Egypt (The Chains Are On) | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 7:02 |
| Overall length: | 41.07 | ||
| 2012 Deluxe Edition CD 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | title | Songwriter | length |
| 1. | Eat Your Heart Out (Live, B-side of the Mystery maxi single) | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 5:11 |
| 2. | Don't Talk to Strangers (Live, B-side of the Mystery maxi single) | Dio | 6:03 |
| 3. | Holy Diver (Live, B-side of the We Rock single) | Dio | 4:23 |
| 4th | Rainbow in the Dark (Live, B-side of We Rock - maxi single ) | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 4:43 |
| 5. | One Night in the City (Live, Pinkpop -Festival, Geleen , Netherlands, June 11, 1984) | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 5:55 |
| 6th | We Rock (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Dio | 5:05 |
| 7th | Holy Diver (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Dio | 4:28 |
| 8th. | Stargazer (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Ritchie Blackmore , Dio | 1:53 |
| 9. | Heaven and Hell (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Geezer Butler , Dio, Tony Iommi , Bill Ward | 13:03 |
| 10. | Rainbow in the Dark (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio | 5:11 |
| 11. | Man on the Silver Mountain (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Blackmore, Dio | 8:14 |
| 12. | Don't Talk to Strangers (Live, Pinkpop Festival) | Dio | 5:38 |
reception
In the United States , the album was awarded a gold record on September 12, 1984 . On February 3, 1987, it reached platinum status with 1 million units sold.
Holger Stratmann wrote in Rock Hard in 1984 that The Last In Line was an "absolutely convincing work". The album offers "nine very good songs, none of which" fall away. The highlights are "the powerful We Rock , the fast I Speed At Night , Evil Eyes Egypt (The Chains Are On) and The Last In Line ". The record is “melodic”, but “has enough power”. Stratmann awarded the grade 9.5.
In the review on the website metal.de Colin Büttner said that on this album it was “the strong” We Rock that set the direction. With the following title track The Last In Line, Dio succeeded in "a grandiose and gripping introduction to his second solo album". Both pieces benefited “above all from the interaction between Ronnie James Dio and his guitarist Vivian Campbell at the time”. Both drive “each other to top performance again and again”. That discharges in numbers like Breathless or in the intense up-tempo piece Evil Eyes . A “rhythm section that is as talented as it is powerful” provides “the necessary groovy substructure”. A “gripping groove” and the “great melodies” made Dio's music so special. One could "record no failure" here. In terms of quality, the album is in no way inferior to its predecessor Holy Diver , it is “a worthy successor to the debut” and is “an equal partner at its side”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The last saint in: ROCKS - The magazine for Classic Rock , issue 05/2018, pages 24–26
- ↑ Report (English) at UDiscovermusic.com, accessed on September 6, 2019
- ↑ Charts DE Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ a b Citation database of the RIAA , accessed on September 5, 2019
- ↑ Rock Hard, No. 7, July 2, 1984
- ^ Review by Colin Büttner on metal.de , May 23, 2010