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Lift the spirit higher

Paul Gilbert has an RJD tribute album coming out on April 7 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. It is called simply The Dio Album and contains purely instrumental covers of tracks spanning Dio’s career in Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and solo.

An instrumental tribute album dedicated to a vocalist is definitely an interesting concept. Here’s a taste:

Track listing:

  1. Neon Knights
  2. Kill the King
  3. Stand Up and Shout
  4. Country Girl
  5. Man On The Silver Mountain
  6. Holy Diver
  7. Heaven and Hell
  8. Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll
  9. Lady Evil
  10. Don’t Talk to Strangers
  11. Starstruck
  12. The Last in Line

The Dio Album can be pre-ordered here.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.



16 Comments to “Lift the spirit higher”:

  1. 1
    Scott Mcnay says:

    It makes sense to me, his voice is otherwise irreplaceable….

  2. 2
    manheimsilverlining says:

    Paul Gilbert performed that song in a famous club in Paris called la Flèche d’Or back in 2013, but with vocals.

    https://youtu.be/i1I9uv75Muc

  3. 3
    Gregster says:

    Yo,

    It looks like many people are missing RJD…Who would have thought that full tribute albums would be made one day ?…

    Well done Paul Gilbert, a much understated though appreciated musician, at least in the world of guitar-slingers !

    Peace !

  4. 4
    MacGregor says:

    An interesting concept & wonderful to hear a different tribute to RJ Dio. Quality vocalists are to be held in the highest esteem & so they should be. As long as Gilbert doesn’t get too twiddly dee etc with the lead playing. Cheers.

  5. 5
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Not my keg of beer. I don’t really like a guitar aping vocal melodies unless it’s him doing it …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHY3eRUMsM

    That to me is art.

  6. 6
    AndreA says:

    Horrible! You can’t make a record like this! worse than karaoke..

  7. 7
    Etiblepanties says:

    🤷‍♂️

  8. 8
    Max says:

    Sounded interesting to me when I first read about it. After listening to two songs now … I am disappointed though. It’s not the playing – it’s the overall feel. Don’t know how to nail it … Bit like a demo to these ears. I like Paul Gilbert with Mr. Big a lot and don’t have to praise Dio here I think so I thought about getting this tribute. Now I won’t.

  9. 9
    Heepfan says:

    I like Paul Gilbert and the concept is pretty cool, but I must say the vocal melody played in guitar sounds a bit like a Nintendo Video Game from the 80’s….

  10. 10
    Uwe Hornung says:

    To be fair, Halford as a great singer and performer couldn’t really get a handle on MOTSM either.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QWmmLm-Ojc

    I guess you have to be Dio to sing this stuff and sound convincing about it. “I’m a wheel, I’m a wheel, I can roll, I can feel” – WTF?! ; – )

    That said, I always liked Doro’s take on Egypt though she is an extremely limited singer (but a lovely person, all power to her). She at least sings it like she means it and even her cüte little Kraut Akzent works:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35u323qRLkg

    Honorary mention though divisive here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35u323qRLkg

  11. 11
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Three’s the charm … right link in right thread finally!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDO8OmIcMIs

  12. 12
    MacGregor says:

    Ah ha, Uwe’s penchant for the medieval, magical, mystical & other worldly lyric. Words eh, many poets, lyricists etc use them for many things. A feel for the rhyme or to make it sound or feel fine. Rock music or song lyrics I should say often say something simply because it fits the rhyme, the sound etc. And yes Mr Gillan does it also. It is part of the game. Jon Anderson is a classic for that with early 70’s Yes, some words don’t make sense with what the rest do, but it sounds ok, because it fits & doesn’t interrupt the flow of the music. Now I hope we haven’t taken anything out of context by simply mentioning only a smaller section of the lyric.? Shame on you. Cheers.

  13. 13
    Dr. Bob says:

    I am a fan of instrumentals, but it seems to be a strange way to tribute a singer. But perhaps the point is it is better to not try to match the vocals of RJD.

  14. 14
    Uwe Hornung says:

    I have a soft spot for Saxon and really find them entertaining live, but this is quite awful:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1APHxoCftE

  15. 15
    Buttockss says:

    @ 14 Agree Saxon have always been consistent through the years with not a bad album in the lot. And never disappoint live.

  16. 16
    Rock Voorne says:

    Me and my bad memory are often puzzled when finding unknown recordings after years of boots.

    Here Dio delivers txts in a very weird way in some tracks.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZIIJ637Jo&ab_channel=CozyPowell4ever

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