Various Artists – We Wish You A Metal Xmas And A Headbanging New Year (2008)

This is a2008 holiday release. Deck the halls with long haired rockers, decorate the tree with Flying Vs! Yes, it’s time to pump your fists and bang your heads to the crunching sounds of a Metal Christmas with many of your fave Hard Rockers ringing in the holiday season in style. 11 tracks that feature collaborations from artists like Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Billy Sheehan, Tim Ripper Owens, Joe Lynn Turner, Tommy Shaw, Ronnie James Dio and many others.

If you have not heard of this release yet, well its time you do. The perfect stocking stuffer for that headbanging thrasher in your family come on you know every family has at least one. Extremely well produced and featuring many of metals best players. We Wish You A Metal XMas And A Headbanging New Year is actually a very decent recording to add to your collection or download from iTunes to your xmas holiday playlist like I did. My favorite track would for sure be Run Rudolph Run featuring Lemmy on vocals, it just bleeds coolness.

Hearing Dio belt out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, like only Ronnie can is almost kind of spooky, and dark, and actually bad ass! For fans of cookie monster style vocals, you will enjoy Silent Night like you have never heard it before and hearing Geoff Tate sing Silver Bells is pretty cool. Now for me this is not a cd I would enjoy year round, but around the holidays I will be happy to fire it up each year as a new tradition. (by fullmetalrock.com)

Tracklist:

Jeff Scott Soto, Bruce Kulick, Bob Kulick, Chris Wyse & Ray Luzier:
01. We Wish You A Merry Xmas (Traditional) 4.39

Lemmy Kilmister, Billy F. Gibbons & Dave Grohl:
02. Run Rudolph Run (Berry) 4.00

Alice Cooper, John 5, Billy Sheehan & Vinny Appice:
03. Santa Claws Is Coming To Town (Gillespie/Coots) 4.19

Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo & Simon Wright:
04. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Tradiitional) 4.07

Geoff Tate, Carlos Cavazo, James Lomenzo & Ray Luzier:
05. Silver Bells (Evans/Livingstone) 5.05

Dug Pinnick, George Lynch, Billy Sheehan & Simon Phillips:
06. Little Drummer Boy (Simeone/Onerati/Davis) 4.37

Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens*, Steve Morse, Juan Garcia, Marco Mendoza & Vinny Appice:
07. Santa Claus Is Back In Town (Leiber/Mike Stoller) 4.01

Chuck Billy, Scott Ian, Jon Donais, Chris Wyse & John Tempesta:
08. Silent Night (Gruber/Mohr) 4.11

Oni Logan, Craig Goldy, Tony Franklin & John Tempesta:
09. Deck The Halls (Traditional) 4.10

Stephen Pearcy, Tracii Guns, Bob Kulick, Billy Sheehan & Greg Bissonette:
10. Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer (Brooks) 4.41

Joe Lynn Turner, Bruce Kulick, Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo & Simon Wright:
11. Rockin’ Around The Xmas Tree (Marks) 3.21

Tommy Shaw, Steve Lukather, Marco Mendoza & Kenny Aronoff:
12. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Lennon/Ono) 4.27

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Ronnie James Dio – Live in San Jose (1983)

Ozzy may be the Prince of Darkness, but Ronnie James Dio is the Elfin King of Evil!

After reigning as the lead ghoul in TWO prototypical metal bands – Black Sabbath and Rainbow – Ronnie James struck out on his own in 1983 ‘cuz he knew he could do it better. He certainly didn’t disappoint with Holy Diver, the first album from the band that could only be known as DIO. Like fellow black magicians Ozzy Osbourne and King Diamond, Dio had a preternatural ability to surround himself with virtuoso musicians capable of bringing his Medieval fantasies to fruition. As though the molten-metal assault of his band wasn’t enough, Dio augmented his arsenal with outrageous theatrics, including (but not limited to) explosions, smoke and fire, a castle, lasers and a sword fight with a 20 foot dragon. Yes, it’s that awesome.

All the finest moments from Holy Diver are brought to life here, plus a post-Ozzy Sabbath classic, and what would no doubt have been Dio’s signature theme if he hadn’t immediately crushed it with his solo debut: Rainbow’s “Man on the Silver Mountain.” All are flawlessly executed by Ronnie James’s team of ringers, with the notable exception of a showy drum solo by Vinny Appice, which offers little more than an opportunity for the faithful minions to queue up for the toilet without missing a second of their leader’s screed.

Performance values and technical ability have been all but abolished from rock ‘n’ roll. Attempting anything even remotely approximating a Dio show could potentially get a band laughed off the stage – and that’s what makes it great. It takes guts and no small amount of talent to pull this off, and if done correctly, no one can deny its entertainment value. So, stand up and shout! This is DIO! (by concertvault.com)

Personnel:
Vinny Appice (drums)
Jimmy Bain (bass)
Vivian Campbell (guitar)
Ronnie James Dio (vocals)
Claude Schnell (keyboards)

Tracklist:
01. Stand Up And Shout (Dio/Bain) 5.59
02. Straight Through The Heart (Dio/Bain) 4.37
03. Shame On the Night (Dio/Appice/Bain/Campbell) 5.42
04. Children Of The Sea (Dio/Iommi/Butler/Ward) 6.34
05. Holy Diver (Dio) 8.33
06. Stargazer (Blackmore/Dio) 4.01
07. Heaven And Hell (Dio/Iommi/Butler/Ward) 16.00
08. Rainbow In The Dark (Dio/Appice/Bain/Campbell) 4.49
09. Man On The Silver Mountain (Blackmore/Dio) 9.08

Alternate frontcover

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Various Artists – Humanary Stew – A Tribute To Alice Cooper (1998)

On this album, compiled by former Meat Loaf sideman and one-time Cooper touring guitarist Bob Kulick, members of metal’s biggest bands pay tribute to the artist formerly known as Vincent Furnier. New life is breathed into Cooper’s classic tunes as hardheads such as Alice in Chains ‘ Mike Inez, the Who’s Roger Daltry, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, and Slash rework (and add their own distinctive licks to) “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” and the anthem for graduating seniors everywhere, “Schools Out.” The most unexpected contribution, however, comes from former Deep Purple bassist Glen Hughes, who after spending most of the ’90s off the radar screen, wrings out a wickedly dramatic version of “Only Women Bleed,” Cooper’s dark paean to feminism.

Personnel:
See details in the booklet

Tracklist:
01. Joe Elliott: Under My Wheels (Bruce/Dunaway) 3:20
02. Dave Mustaine: School’s Out (Cooper/Bruce/Duxton/Dunaway/Smith) 3:59
03. Roger Daltrey: No More Mr. Nice Guy (Cooper/Bruce) 3:40
04. Ronnie James Dio: Welcome To My Nightmare (Cooper/Wagner) 5.11
05. Vince Neil: Cold Ethyl (Cooper/Ezrin) 4:03
06. Bruce Dickinson: Black Widow (Cooper/Wagner/Ezrin) 4:47
07. Dee Snider: Go To Hell (Cooper/Wagner/Ezrin) 4:35
08. Phil Lewis: Billion Dollar Babies (Cooper/Bruce/Reggie) 3:58
09. Glen Hughes: Only Women Bleed (Cooper/Wagner) 5:43
10. Don Dokken: Eighteen (Cooper/Bruce/Duxton/Dunaway/Smith) 5:10
11. Steve Jones & Duff McKagen: Elected (Cooper/Bruce/Duxton/Dunaway/Smith) 3:58

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