May 18, 2010
Ronnie James Dio: The Early Years
Novelty records, like everything else, reside somewhere between Heaven and Hell. For 67 years Ronnie James Dio resided there as well.
Early in his musical career the recently departed Ronald James Padavona of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, dwelled in the shadows of the greasy R&B/ white vocal group sound. Before Dio, Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath ruled the pimpled Earth, there trod The Vegas Kings, Ronnie & The Rumblers, Ronnie & The Red Caps and finally Ronnie Dio & the Prophets.
Great Balls of Fire is surprisingly tepid however
My favorite early Dio romp is his loopy take on
Love Potion No. 9. Despite mangling the lyrics (seemingly from memory), Dio hits all the designated marks that firmly plant this 45 into an inky novelty purgatory. Spoken intro, cappy old Madame Rue voice, pouring and bubbling sound effects--Dio catapults to musical greatness in anticipation of his non-ducktail years to come.Posted by Dave the Spazz on May 18, 2010 at 11:44 AM in Dave the Spazz's Posts, MP3s | Permalink
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Comments
In one way, this is an awesome post. How cool to hear these rare recordings of a young Ronnie James. On the other hand, the smug tone of the posting makes me cringe.
Posted by: Tommy Z | May 18, 2010 at 02:35 PM
Incredible! As a senior, he was a member of the slide rule club? And class president? Little Richie Cunningham, what did the 70's do to you???
Posted by: K. | May 18, 2010 at 03:06 PM
I had spent less than five seconds in my life thinking about Dio until I heard he was 67 when he died. I thought, that puts him in a totally different generation.....and along comes Dave The Spazz with context to burn. (or, context to BURN!!!!)
Posted by: Vic | May 18, 2010 at 04:35 PM
I'm not going to be able to listen to these until tomorrow afternoon. One thing you can say about the more familiar stuff from this guy is that he controlled his voice better than some folks control their TV. These older tracks should support my hypothesis that he was never just the guy with the practice space, P/A, van and microphone, who *ahem* just sang the guitar lines.
Posted by: bartleby | May 18, 2010 at 05:46 PM
My favorite Dio stint was when he sat in w/ the Sea Monkeys for "Everything's Archie"! It inspired a 180 degree turnabout in Jughead's Food Emporium scene that is just now culminating in this Archie/Twilight crossover story arc:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/05/17/archie-and-friends-Twilight-parody/-DB
Posted by: deadbob | May 18, 2010 at 05:59 PM
Although short in stature, Dio had the voice and heart of a giant! I've seen him in most of his later incarnations. And when my wife and I were lucky enough to meet him in Yucaipa,CA 10 years ago, he was very kind. He invited us on his tour bus. Signed our tickets. Gave me a T-Shirt and my wife a hug! His generousity is also evidenced in the LP and Video of "HEAR 'N AID", formed by the Heavy Meatal community after they were excluded by the folks at "We Are The World". The resulting song, STARS, features some of Metal's finest. Check it out, if you can.
Posted by: Rory Murray | May 18, 2010 at 08:55 PM
Despite how constrained he allowed himself to be by genre he really could have done about anything with his voice.
Posted by: bartelby | May 19, 2010 at 09:11 AM
@Tommy Z: From what I'm told, Dio was a good guy with a self-effacing sense of humor. I genuinely like these early 45s and this was my backhanded way of paying tribute to an acknowledged legend. I hope that somewhat diffuses what you perceive to be smugness on my part.
@Dead Bob! How the hell are ya? I wrote about you here:
Posted by: spazz | May 19, 2010 at 12:54 PM
Who knew?! I'm blown away that he was from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I lived across the river in Kittery, Maine from '68-'71. What a dull place it must've been in the early 60's because it was truly squaresville going back there throughout the 70's.
Posted by: Bill Luther | May 19, 2010 at 03:12 PM
Thank you Mr. Spazz! http://30daysout.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/ronnie-james-dio-between-heaven-and...
Posted by: Mr. Jones | May 19, 2010 at 03:38 PM
Hi Dave. I should have left the last sentence off my comment. This is a really great posting, with interesting information and not just platitudes.
Posted by: Tommy Z | May 19, 2010 at 03:39 PM
Thanks Dave! This is exactly the stuff I was curious to hear and you put it all in one place! thanks!!
pgPosted by: Pete | May 19, 2010 at 09:36 PM
This is so cool. Thank you. For the record, while Dio was born in NH, his family moved to Cortland, NY, when he was very young and that is where he was when he recorded the above songs. Sorry to nitpick. I live in Cortland. The fact that Dio grew up here is one of the coolest things about the place.
This is my favorite line from Dio's Wikipedia entry: "His parents raised him in the Roman Catholic church, an experience he found unsatisfactory."
Posted by: That Guy | May 20, 2010 at 01:24 AM
My Favorite Dio #:
http://crudcrud.blogspot.com/2006/11/ronnie-dio-rules.htmlPosted by: Tom Hotchkin | May 20, 2010 at 09:19 AM
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