Great Rock Albums of 1986: Dio- Intermission

In an interview with Ronnie James Dio a year after this live album, “Intermission,” was released, he stated that he never wanted to put out a live album like this. Instead of the six song mini- album which is “Intermission,” he wanted to release a double live album. That’s what many fans, like me, were hoping for at the time and therefore, many were disappointed at this one.

While “Intermission” might have been a disappointment to many Dio fans, I must say that it’s not at all bad. It could be said that he chose the right six songs to feature on the album but with me, any Dio song could have been put here and I would have been thrilled, especially if was recorded live. Having seen Dio five times, (only four at the time of this album’s release), I can attest to how  absolutely dynamite they are live.

Because the album was recorded during the “Sacred Heart” tour, the opener of that album, “Kings of Rock and Roll” opens here. It is a decent song as far as openers go but I think that Dio knew that they already had a great opening song and that’s why when I saw them for the fifth time a year later on the “Dream Evil” tour, they went back to opening with “Stand Up and Shout.”

The next track represents one flaw with “Intermission.” It doesn’t have the continuity of their live performances from the tour. I have firm memories of the classic, “Rainbow in the Dark” being played at the encore. While the song is great no matter what position it’s played in, it does contradict my concert memories. If fact, the third track here, “Sacred Heart,”was played before the band’s first exit from the stage and subsequent encore. In other words, at concerts, “Sacred Heart” came before “Rainbow in the Dark.”

In an effort to introduce new guitarist, Craig Goldy, who replaced the fired Vivian Campbell on the tour, the band recorded, “Time to Burn.” You know, because I hadn’t listened to “Intermission” for a couple of decades, I had completely forgotten about this track. I couldn’t even remember if they played it live when I saw them in live when they came around on tour for this album. Thankfully, modern technology allows me to go back into history and I found that they did. That’s the thing, “Time to Burn” is an all right song and it does showcase Craig’s talents on the guitar, but it pales in comparison with many of the other Dio classics. This particular live show was recorded and it took place in June, 1986 at the Philadelphia Spectrum and I was there! The concert appears in “Rock and Roll Children.”

Also played live before “Rainbow in the Dark” but appearing as the penultimate track on the album was the medley of “Rock and Roll Children,” “Long Live Rock and Roll” and “Man on the Silver Mountain.” It sounds good on the album but I remember it sounding much better live.

Both the album and live performances end with the classic, “We Rock” from “The Last in Line” album. This particular song was used as the show closer on three tours, so that tells you all you need to know about what a great song “We Rock” is.

Track Listing:

1. Kings of Rock and Roll
2. Rainbow in the Dark
3. Sacred Heart
4. Time to Burn
5. Rock and Roll Children/Long Live Rock and Roll/Man on the Silver Mountain
6. We Rock

Dio

Ronnie James Dio- vocals

Vivian Campbell- guitar solos

Jimmy Bain- bass

Claude Schnell- keyboards

Vinnie Appice- drums

Craig Goldy- guitar on “Time to Burn” rhythm guitar overdubs on the live tracks

I put this video in because it shows the famous mechanical dragon.

“Intermission” isn’t a bad album, it’s not even a bad live album. However, with so much great material from three studio albums and Dio’s stints with Rainbow and Black Sabbath, it didn’t satisfy the pubic’s desires. A double live album would have been much better.

Next post: Accept- Russian Roulette

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com