| Black Sabbath: The Dio Years | |
| Type: | Compilation album |
| Artist: | Black Sabbath / Heaven & Hell |
| Cover: | SabbathDio.jpg |
| Released: | 3 April 2007 |
| Recorded: | 1980–1982, 1992, 2007 |
| Genre: | Heavy metal |
| Length: | 79:27 |
| Label: | Rhino Warner Bros. |
| Producer: | Black Sabbath |
| Chronology: | Black Sabbath compilations |
| Prev Title: | Greatest Hits 1970–1978 |
| Prev Year: | 2006 |
| Next Title: | The Rules of Hell |
| Next Year: | 2008 |
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material recorded by Black Sabbath during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains remastered tracks taken from the studio albums Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992), as well as a live version of the song "Children of the Sea" taken from the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three songs that were recorded in 2007: "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall".
It was reported that the collection was first conceived of as a box set including all albums from Heaven and Hell to The Eternal Idol. This idea was eventually scrapped, and instead a box set was planned to feature just the four albums recorded from the Dio era of the band. This second idea was put aside, though would eventually be revisited as The Rules of Hell, a box set released in the summer of 2008.
In an interview conducted by Martin Popoff, Tony Iommi revealed that originally two new tracks were planned,[1] but after recording three new songs the original plan was changed to accommodate all three tracks in the compilation.
On 23 February 2007, both Eddie Trunk and Sirius Satellite Radio unveiled the song "The Devil Cried" from the upcoming album. Rhino Records subsequently made the track available (for preview only) on 26 February 2007. "The Devil Cried" was released as a single on 13 March 2007.[2]
After the recording was completed, the members decided to tour under the moniker Heaven & Hell.[3] Dio and Iommi decided that the working partnership they had achieved in recording the three new songs would not be wasted, so they recorded The Devil You Know.
Before the Heaven & Hell tour of the UK in November 2007, a special edition release of The Dio Years was released on 5 November, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Tour Edition, to commemorate the tour. This CD, only to be in print for a limited time, features four songs from the Live at Hammersmith Odeon limited edition live album recently released by Black Sabbath. The four songs, recorded live in 1981 during Black Sabbath's "Mob Rules Tour" are "Neon Knights", "The Mob Rules", "Children of the Grave", and "Voodoo".
All songs were written by Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, except where noted.