Friday, July 16, 2010

Dio's Holy Diver to be Reissued...in Red

Holy Diver, the classic Dio album, will be reissued on 180-gram limited edition gatefold red vinyl on July 30. The vinyl reissue will be released by Back On Black - a company whose specialty is reviving albums on vinyl for collectors and fans across the globe.

Since its release on May 25, 1983, Holy Diver has receive incredible praise from critics and is most often regarded as both Dio's best work and a classic staple in the heavy metal genre. In the U.S., the LP was certified gold on September 12, 1984 and platinum on March 21, 1989.

Following the death of front man Ronnie James Dip in late May 2010, Holy Diver re-entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 149 and stood at No. 11 on Pop Catalog. Some time earlier, a Dio best-of compilation debuted on Catalog at No. 32. Titled The Very Best of Dio, it was certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) on March 11, 2009 and shipments on the U.S. alone were in excess of 500, 000 copies. The best-of package had been originally issued in October 2000 and marked the second greatest-hits collection to be released by Dio.

Dio's last release, Holy Diver Live, featured a start-to-finish performance of the classic album, recorded live in 2005. The performance took place before a sold-out London crowd. The album also included other songs from various eras in Ronnie James Dio's career: "Sign of the Southern Cross," "Mob Rules," and "Heaven and Hell" from the Black Sabbath era; "Long Live Rock and Roll," "Tarot Woman," and "Man on the Silver Mountain" from the Rainbow era; "We Will Rock You" from his solo career.

No comments: