ALBUM REVIEW: Paul Gilbert – The Dio Album


 

There is no love like a labour of love. There is no greater folly than a labour of love. Are those two statements contrary, or can they co-exist “happily”, somehow relating the same truth? Listen to The Dio Album (Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group), and come back to me.

 

US super picker, string bender, tone master, and shredder par excellence Paul Gilbert (Mr Big, Racer X) must have been seeking a challenge. This 12-track instrumental – yes, you got that right, wholly INSTRUMENTAL – tribute album finds yer maestro not only attempting to guitar-mimic the celebrated Ronnie James Dio vocals, but also striving to reproduce/reinterpret the fabled achievements of axe legends Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi and Vivian Campbell, ie some of the very best geetar sounds since the veritable bucking of the hum. Does Gilbert succeed? Read on, my good brothers.

 

RJD was heavy metal’s elfish inspiration, a strategically astute warlord, leading a ferociously loyal band of followers, forever “throwing the horns”. He died on May 16, 2010, after a battle with stomach cancer, aged 67.

 

The diminutive frontman of Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his very own Dio (not to mention others such as Elf and, latterly, Heaven & Hell) knew all about black and white, evil or divine. His lyrics are full of conflicts and contrasts. From ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’: “I’m the day, I’m the day, I can show you the way, And look I’m right beside you, I’m the night, I’m the night, I’m the dark and the light …” He gave us loads of that kind of thing. “The lover of life’s not a sinner, The ending is just a beginner.” I could go on and on and on … on and on and on … it’s ‘Heaven And Hell’!

 

There has already been a very worthwhile Dio tribute album – 2014’s Ronnie James Dio: This Is Your Life, which included THE VOICE, HIMSELF, on the blessed title track, plus the likes of Anthrax, Tenacious D, Motörhead, Killswitch Engage, Rob Halford and Metallica.

 

On this new tribute, the virtuoso host plays every instrument you can hear, except drums (take a bow, Bill Ray). Every now and again, I’m reminded of Shooting Stars and Vic Reeves, Club Singer. But every now and again (quite often, actually), Gilbert gets it spot on – sonically accurate, soulfully serendipitous, the vocal nuances and idiosyncrasies intact. Love/Folly? Brave/Daft? You tell me.

 

But I would point you towards the very best of it, ‘Holy Diver’, the aforementioned ‘Heaven And Hell’, ‘Don’t Talk To Strangers’, the cataclysmically climactic ‘The Last In Line’.

 

Dio captivated us with his take on a mystical, medieval milieu, serving up a fantastical, table-round smorgasbord of ladies of the lake and towers of stone, the temple of the king and the gates of Babylon. Magic, mental, elemental. That content, the lyrics, and, crucially, THAT voice, are essentially absent from The Dio Album – or are they?

 

It’s like The Godfather Part II without Brando, so much a monumental presence in the first movie. The sequel/prequel includes a coda scene, the Corleone family gathered around the dinner table, waiting for Don Vito (Brando) to appear, which he never does – a scene that only serves to heighten the absence of the main man … or is it an absence that somehow invokes and enhances the power of the great talent, now passed? Can both those “realities” co-exist, relating the same truth? Every time I watch that scene, I’m waiting for Marlon to walk through the door. Every time I play the Gilbert album, I’m waiting for Ronnie to …

 

Love conquers all. “Come and make me holy again.”

Buy the album here:

https://lnk.to/PaulGilbert

 

8 / 10

CALLUM REID