Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

[Jacew]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

^ I needed to look up who this Chris Jericho was. Sounded really good in this, but I was quite disappointed: Remembered to have seen one of Fozzys videos, but nothing of the music...

What is it with modern singers that many are so good with old songs, but when they do their own, it's pop-style smooth wailing, that's just boring and annoying... They should just let it rip Like Dio, Ozzy etc... used to do.

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

that's just boring and annoying...

That made me laugh!!! LOL!!!

Obviously she doesn't fall into that category mind you!!! LOL!!! Good "normal" voice though. Only on this and in exactly ONE of Arch Enemy's songs (and then only for a brief moment) does she sing "normal" (whatever the right word is).

But you say "let it rip" and I wonder about this. Is this not the same thing as I've kinda banged on about somewhere around here earlier??? I mean: these new bands are FANTASTIC (for me: in particular Arch Enemy) but they are SOOO tight. Maybe TOOO tight is what I'm getting at. And that's live i.e. even tighter in the studio. Compare this to the "looseness" of (early) Dio, Sabbath, Purple, Whitesnake, whatever. Almost as if there was some type of improvisation going on at every performance. Does that make sense??? As it pertains to the vocals which you've mentioned: it's like to vocalists back then sort of "just let go" and "did their thing" and everything sort of "gelled" in the end. Now they're "on cue" to the millisecond. Maybe it's because in the old days we didn't have these infuriating in ear monitors i.e. stage monitors (which you could or could not hear) or nothing!!! LOL!!!

Then again: I see you're in Finland. No stranger to tight bands!!! LOL!!! Spent a good few years on a Tarja/Nightwish trip!!! Absolutely "out of this world" (again: never to be repeated i.e. something "special" about that line-up too).

Regards,

Dale.

[Jacew]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

That made me laugh!!! LOL!!!

Obviously she doesn't fall into that category mind you!!! LOL!!! Good "normal" voice though. Only on this and in exactly ONE of Arch Enemy's songs (and then only for a brief moment) does she sing "normal" (whatever the right word is).

But you say "let it rip" and I wonder about this. Is this not the same thing as I've kinda banged on about somewhere around here earlier??? I mean: these new bands are FANTASTIC (for me: in particular Arch Enemy) but they are SOOO tight. Maybe TOOO tight is what I'm getting at. And that's live i.e. even tighter in the studio. Compare this to the "looseness" of (early) Dio, Sabbath, Purple, Whitesnake, whatever. Almost as if there was some type of improvisation going on at every performance. Does that make sense??? As it pertains to the vocals which you've mentioned: it's like to vocalists back then sort of "just let go" and "did their thing" and everything sort of "gelled" in the end. Now they're "on cue" to the millisecond. Maybe it's because in the old days we didn't have these infuriating in ear monitors i.e. stage monitors (which you could or could not hear) or nothing!!! LOL!!!

Then again: I see you're in Finland. No stranger to tight bands!!! LOL!!! Spent a good few years on a Tarja/Nightwish trip!!! Absolutely "out of this world" (again: never to be repeated i.e. something "special" about that line-up too).

Regards,

Dale.

Huh?

Arch Enemy is great. Where did you picked that up?

I was just talking about Chris Jericho in Fozzy. Who sings in that video as well.

BTW: All singers do great job there, which was kind of the point. There only handful of notable rock singers these days who really nail that classic metal singing in their own work, was what I meant.

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Huh?

Arch Enemy is great. Where did you picked that up?

I was just talking about Chris Jericho in Fozzy. Who sings in that video as well.

BTW: All singers do great job there, which was kind of the point. There only handful of notable rock singers these days who really nail that classic metal singing in their own work, was what I meant.

Huh???

I'm confused myself!!! LOL!!! Arch Enemy is FANTASTIC. Agreed. (Just got some stuff of theirs on Blu-ray and it is AWESOME).

Agreeing with you on the rest too (sorry if my post was confusing).

Regards,

Dale.

[Mincer]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Yeah, I was talking about the Rock and Roll Chidren VIDEO. Watching it again, it is even more comical than I remember. Then again, at the time, I liked the 'Stars' video and song, and both don't hold up to me. I agree about the first 3 Dio albums. There are those, and then the rest. I liked Intermission hen it came out. In my eyes (and ears), Dio with Sabbath can do no wrong.
I think after the first 3 Dio albums, he was trying to chase what changing metal tastes were. He had such a range (again, the Elf albums really how how well he can sing different styles). I think he knew 'metal' at the time, was where the money was, but I wish he would have put out an album that had everything he liked and could do without a thought of what his metal fans would like.

[LLL]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Hello.

Real nice post. Thanks.

"Stars". Believe it or not I only discovered that by accident about a month ago. Pretty shameful huh. Of course Dio and Vivian stand out (for me) but I find it real interesting to listen to it (and to not watch it i.e. just the audio) i.e. a nice little challenge to identify the individual '80's band members after all these years. Some, if not all, are pretty distinctive to my ears and I remember them all well even after not listening to their stuff for many many years (pretty odd given that most time I can barely remember what happened this morning!!! LOL!!!).

"Intermission"!!! Yes!!! It's probably the least mentioned Dio album (I don't even bother mentioning it myself because very few people that I know have even heard of it) but for me it's "right up there" if not "higher" because it's live (all except one song with Craig Goldy I think). "King Of Rock And Roll" is "right up there" with "Stand Up and Shout" and "We Rock" for me. I love it. Had that on LP when it came out!!! LOL!!! And speaking of which: those first few notes of "Rock And Roll Children" on Intermission??? AGAIN: there's my "gnarly, woody, .................." live tone!!! LOL!!!

Regards,

Dale.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

Stone Temple Pilots

“Alls I gots is time, got no meaning just a rhyme”

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Hey Dave.

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

I certainly don't mind the thread taking another (yet pleasant) diversion. I can only hope that the site ops. don't have an issue (but would understand if they did I guess).

Funny you mention Dio's lyrics. I spent the early years of my "Dio career" thinking that "King Of Rock And Roll" was about the Devil!!! LOL!!! In my defense we didn't have the Internet back then!!! LOL!!! Turns out, based on a YouTube interview with Ronnie, that it was "tongue in cheek" (that's the impression I got anyway) about Elvis??? Something like that anyway. Will look it up again at some point. Gotta be careful with stuff like this i.e. incorrect info. gets regurgitated as fact which then becomes mythical!!! LOL!!! My early misunderstandings were not limited to this though. The bass player in my first (abortion of a) band banged on about the occult symbolism in Dio's lyrics and I guess I kinda bought into that until, as I say, some years later when I kinda got the real story from YouTube interviews with Dio. This being said: Dio himself in an interview in the "Extras" of one of my DVDs does hint at "dabbling" in this and warns to stay clear. Make of this what you will. But I do know now, again based on all of the interviews that I've seen on YouTube, that Dio drives home that one should make of the lyrics what suits. None of this has ever phased me though. To me it's just been darn good music. And sometimes I think it suits people to try "pin" stuff on artists particularly people that don't like metal and believe it to be something it's not. I remember somebody pointing out a demonic head on my "Mob Rules" LP cover. I'd never seen it in all the years I had that album cover (until of course it was pointed out to me). Always found stuff like this strange i.e. when I buy an album I buy it to listen to and enjoy not to spend hours and hours analysing the cover artwork and "looking for stuff". Then again: these are the same people that say "I'll bet that guitarist could not play the same thing twice" or "it's a noise". Not until you attempt to play this stuff do you actually realise just how talented these guys are not to mention how difficult it is to play let alone master!!!

My impression of Dio though is that he was somebody who was really serious about his ART (this based on stuff I've NOT seen or NOT read about anyway). I've never read about nor heard of Dio being involved in the type of "antics" usually associated with the likes of Ozzy for example. Don't get me wrong: not dissing Ozzy in any way shape or form (and I've always wondered if Sabbath would ever have made it were it NOT for such "antics"!!! LOL!!!). In every interview I've seen: he's always very serious about the music and the fans. And matter of fact: I've noticed that a lot of those bands from that era (those that are still around and intact that is) have cleaned up their act now. It's pretty refreshing (to me anyway). I always associated metal with drunken partying (and whatever else) and it's one of the reasons why I never accomplished anything of any real value insofar as my music is concerned. And probably a major reason why I'm approaching it a lot differently now and this time around.

One last little "nugget" that many will not be aware of: Dio was actually coming to South Africa but 9/11 put paid to that. I'll never forget driving down a road and seeing "Dio" on a poster on a lamp post. Had to turn around to check if I had "seen things". Sure enough. The date and everything was on the poster (which I no longer have unfortunately i.e. I stole the poster off of the lamp post to keep). Unfortunately that's the closest I was able to come to seeing Dio. By the time I was in a position to do so: it was too late. And something I will regret for the rest of my days I'll tell ya.

Regards,

Dale.

[Adieu]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Huh???

I'm confused myself!!! LOL!!! Arch Enemy is FANTASTIC. Agreed. (Just got some stuff of theirs on Blu-ray and it is AWESOME).

Agreeing with you on the rest too (sorry if my post was confusing).

Regards,

Dale.

Is??? ...try WAS.

And in all truth very Dio-like in being quite 50/50 about their dubious filler material

Without their vocalist --- who I wasn't actually too keen on, but still --- they're just another generic metal outfit. Seems to happen to girl-fronted outfits a lot... Theatre of Tragedy, Nightwish, Xandria.... it's like a damn syndrome. Gotta wonder what actually happens, is it a "dump your solid but now middle-aged frontwoman for some young thing with boobs" metal midlife crisis on the guys' part, or an urge to quit settle down and seek white picket fences on the ladies' part???

Somehow only Dutch bands are mostly immune?

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Is??? ...try WAS.

And in all truth very Dio-like in being quite 50/50 about their dubious filler material

Without their vocalist --- who I wasn't actually too keen on, but still --- they're just another generic metal outfit. Seems to happen to girl-fronted outfits a lot... Theatre of Tragedy, Nightwish, Xandria.... it's like a damn syndrome

Somehow only Dutch bands are mostly immune?

What do you mean by "WAS"??? I hope you're not saying that there's something going on with Alissa!!! Unless you're referring to Angela being the "WAS" (in which case: each to their own!!! LOL!!!).

And yeh: must say you're right (again). On this Blu-ray thing (my latest "fad") there's only really about four songs that jump out. The rest pretty much sound the same (but then Alissa makes up for the boredom I guess).

I am, however, impressed that you've mentioned one of my OTHER favs. (well USED to be or "WAS") i.e. Xandria. But Michelle had a bit of a "hissy fit" and she's no longer so there goes that!!! Dunno what's up with these people (a lot of them anyway). As soon as they're "winning" then they start throwing tantrums!!!

Nightwish. As I noted before: something "special" about the Tarja/Nightwish era ("End Of An Era"). Floor doesn't "do it" for me in Nightwish. But she was FANTASTIC with her own band (After Forever). But I know that MILLIONS will disagree with me on all of this of course. The Tarja/Annette/Floor (did I leave anybody out??? LOL!!!) debate will rage forevermore.

While were on the subject: Within Temptation??? Delain (new album coming out in Feb. next year FINALLY)???

It's alright. I sometimes listen to opera and Bach too!!! And some country??? LOL!!! Oddly enough: never had the desire to play any of this (above) stuff though. Go figure. Might be easier to play though. There's a thought!!!

Regards,

Dale.

[Adieu]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

What do you mean by "WAS"??? I hope you're not saying that there's something going on with Alissa!!! Unless you're referring to Angela being the "WAS" (in which case: each to their own!!! LOL!!!).

And yeh: must say you're right (again). On this Blu-ray thing (my latest "fad") there's only really about four songs that jump out. The rest pretty much sound the same (but then Alissa makes up for the boredom I guess).

I am, however, impressed that you've mentioned one of my OTHER favs. (well USED to be or "WAS") i.e. Xandria. But Michelle had a bit of a "hissy fit" and she's no longer so there goes that!!! Dunno what's up with these people (a lot of them anyway). As soon as they're "winning" then they start throwing tantrums!!!

Nightwish. As I noted before: something "special" about the Tarja/Nightwish era ("End Of An Era"). Floor doesn't "do it" for me in Nightwish. But she was FANTASTIC with her own band (After Forever). But I know that MILLIONS will disagree with me on all of this of course. The Tarja/Annette/Floor (did I leave anybody out??? LOL!!!) debate will rage forevermore.

While were on the subject: Within Temptation??? Delain (new album coming out in Feb. next year FINALLY)???

It's alright. I'm weird I know. I sometimes listen to opera and Bach too!!! LOL!!!

Regards,

Dale.

Tell the truth, did you hack that old phone I use for a car MP3 player???

And yeah, I thought Angela growled waaay too much, but she really owned a few good old Arch Enemy songs.

New Arch Enemy, otoh...is just an essentially unrelated metal band that shares the name and a couple instrumentalists from the old Arch Enemy, I guess? Not feeling the continuity


PS also, pretty much simultaneously swapping in freakin Loomis with his Blackout Schecters instead of the previous hot-passives guitarist? NOT HELPING....same name, unrecognizable band

[Jacew]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Is??? ...try WAS.

And in all truth very Dio-like in being quite 50/50 about their dubious filler material

Without their vocalist --- who I wasn't actually too keen on, but still --- they're just another generic metal outfit. Seems to happen to girl-fronted outfits a lot... Theatre of Tragedy, Nightwish, Xandria.... it's like a damn syndrome. Gotta wonder what actually happens, is it a "dump your solid but now middle-aged frontwoman for some young thing with boobs" metal midlife crisis on the guys' part, or an urge to quit settle down and seek white picket fences on the ladies' part???

Somehow only Dutch bands are mostly immune?

You do realize Nightwish is actually the band countless female fronted metal bands copy in 21st century?

[Adieu]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

You do realize Nightwish is actually the band countless female fronted metal bands copy in 21st century?

Yeah...do YOU realize we're talking about Arch Enemy not Nightwish here, though?

Although, yeah, Nightwish without Tarja ---- this all kinda applies too... Without the hella impressive pipes on that lady, they too are just another keyboard music geek and hotshot shredder pair who used to really really like Dungeons and Dragons, plus some random people they hired to fill out the band for shows

Cause, yeah, they ain't copying Nightwish per se, just Tarja's operatic vocals