Dio's Holy Diver Live and Whitesnake's In the Still of the Night

I’ve refrained from naming my blog post as “Holy Diver Live vs. In the Still of the Night” for the simple fact that if it were the case then In the Still of the Night would win hands down. But this post is going to be about my feelings and what I thought what was done right and what was done wrong.

David Coverdale and Ronnie James Dio. These two men started out as frontmen for their respective bands and are now revered as Gods. Rightly so I say. They have nothing to prove. They’ve set the blueprint for most of today’s rock and metal singing that all they have to do now is just to put out amazing concerts. While I may never get to see them perform (thanks for bringing in Lobo for the umpteenth time!) in my lifetime, thankfully they’ve released DVD that showcases them in concert.

This review of mine is going to be more focused on the performances and the overall quality. With regards to the picture and sound quality, both are superb and crisp with all the instruments clear accompanied with a superb bottom-end.

The Good: In the Still of the Night

This DVD simply smokes. You can see the fervour in all of the members. Naturally, Coverdale is the man people want to see and hear and boy does he deliver. Here’s a man that’s almost 60 yet he still moves around like a man in his 20’s. His singing is par excellence and his stage presence is immense. Tommy Aldrige is one seriously mad drummer. He may be pushing 50 but this skinny dude wallops the drum kit like it was like a big pillow. His drum solo is a must see. No words of mine can do it justice. As a fan, this is the closest to the real thing and it’s the only time you’ll hear me sing (yes, sing as opposed to my customary growling) songs about love and the person I hope to share it with.

The Bad: In the Still of the Night

It’s too short! There’s the case of omissions of Soldier of Fortune and Sailing Ships from the setlist. While I can understand why the former wasn’t included (it’s a Deep Purple classic), I find the exclusion of Sailing Ships to be a sad thing. I so love that song! At first I thought that Coverdale might not be able to pull the high notes of the song but I think he could have. Or maybe he did perform it and he chose not to include it for reasons unbeknownst to all but him. Damn!

Minor gripe: why did they censor the F-word? C’mon, most of Whitesnake’s fans are either old or dry for crying out loud! (I’m old not dry yet)

The Good: Holy Diver Live

The entire Holy Diver album is played in its entirety. For those who don’t know, Holy Diver is regarded as one of the best metal albums of all-time. Ronnie James Dio is still as theatrical as ever (and bloody short too). Nevertheless, I must say that could he have toned down the \m/ sign a bit. He really looks like an evil elf who’s trying to torment Santa Claus. Doug Aldrich (who incidentally is now Whitesnake’s primary guitarist) does a commendable job wielding the six-strings. He played most of the songs note for note especially original Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell’s (yes, it’s the same dude in the now shitty Def Leppard) solos and what’s more is that he didn’t use his own gear since he came in as a last minute replacement for the current Dio guitarist who was injured.

The Bad: Holy Diver Live

Oh my. Where do I start with this one. Firstly, Mr Dio sounds like shit. I cringe every time he hits the high notes. Damn, I got it wrong, it should have been the trying to hit the high notes. This is the same man who gave us Man on the Silver Mountain and Stargazer for crying out loud! And here he is sounding like he has a cork stuck in his nose. The theatrics are just plain silly by the way and the embellishments of “Ooh!”, “yeah, Yeah, YEAH!” just plain sucked. And it also goes to show that while you may have sung with the brilliant Rainbow and the reason for it all, Black Sabbath, no band can sound like them. The guitar tone was too happy-sounding and during Heaven and Hell I thought I was listening to ABBA.

So there you have it. My analysis of the above DVDs. While I’m still seething from Dio’s feeble attempts I must also applaud the fact he has taken RM100 from me just because it’s Dio. My hat goes to Whitesnake. They truly put on a fantastic show and the crowd went bonkers right from the get go and stayed that way till the very end.

This is Chris, signing off. For nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow…

Dream Theater – Score DVD

Who would have thought that a band could accomplish so much yet still has so much more to offer? Some bands after a few albums will gradually slide the downward spiral of mediocrity, with each subsequent album being rehashes and incorporating more radio friendly tunes. Or some just fall from grace straightaway, now languishing with run of the mill ideas and clinging desperately to their glory days when they were a bit slimmer and their tummies didn’t bulge that much. Not many bands continue to climb, reach milestones and put out material that still continues to surprise old-time fans. Dream Theater is one of those bands. They have been consistently releasing album after album, going on lengthy tours and still manage to find time to do other things.

This concert was filmed at the famed Radio City Music Hall, New York, earlier this year to commemorate Dream Theater’s 20 years together creating progressive metal (purists be damned) music. The video is par excellence. The many times I put my face a few centimetres away from the TV screen made me feel as though the guys were playing in front of me (cross-eyed is so not my look). The sound is pristine with every instrument ringing with clarity and a bottom-end that never fails to rumbles.

Naturally the setlist isn’t to my liking, which is a given since every fan would have his favourites thus no one is satisfied. I would have liked to have seen more of their less popular numbers but I guess they went for the haven’t-been-played-in-a-long-time songs. The material on board is culled from their 8 albums with a good mix of familiar and rarely played songs. Of course, this is also in support of their 8^th album, the good in its own right but overall highly disappointing Octavarium (look out for my review!) so you’ll see a lot of those songs from that album. The two “new” tracks, Another Won and Raise the Knife, sit comfortably with their officially released material and provide fans like me two more songs to like from them. Another Won is from 1985, the year the 3 core members first got together and I must say that it’s a fun song. The melodies are clearly Iron Maiden-esque, with hints from other British progressive rock pioneers. Raise the Knife is from their Falling Into Infinity (FIT) sessions which has a definite pop sound to it, which is not surprising considering that FIT was their most commercial sounding album till Octablahrium overtook it. The bonus tracks consist of songs that I’m not that keen on. Well that was before, as now I’m enjoying the said songs whenever I listen to them.

All is not perfect, unsurprisingly. The evermore stolid John Petrucci has considerably piled on some pounds but what’s the relevance? If a guy as generously proportioned as Dino Cazares (former Fear Factory guitarist) is capable of jumping up and down without so much as cracking the floor then I suppose you’re able to at least headbang or headshake or headnod. I don’t know but he’s just there, rooted to the floor with his pedals at his beckoning and his vainglorious footrests whenever a complicated run takes place. Mike Portnoy drums standing up for crying out loud! Jordan Rudess looks a little tired but as usual delivers a solid performance nonetheless. I’m also happy to report that James Labrie, the man who gets vilified unremittingly because he sounds like Whitney Houston before she got too hooked on crack, gives the performance of his career. There’s passion, anger, and power in his voice that I’ve never heard before in their previous live concerts. Also, he has opted for a more utilitarian approach by shedding the unbuttoned shirt with a tee with unspecified design. I have no idea why I put that in.

The first half is basically a retrospective covering material from their inception to their more recent output. The second half is where things get a little more interesting with the ingeniously named Octavarium Orchestra providing all the (what else?) orchestral bits. Their presence is certainly felt and heard, as they lift the songs, giving more depth and spirit. It’s not like Metallica when they had the San Francisco Symphony with them, where some of the songs just didn’t come together well, this is certainly one of the better pairings. The Octavarium songs are given a new lease, sounding more urgent, and on the whole not as wishy-washy as the studio version.

But the most important question is whether or not you should get it. The answer is a resounding Yes. The second disc has a good history lesson for all you Dream Theater fans who didn't know much of their struggles and achievements. Like most bands seeing them live is an experience like no other. For long-time fans this is as close as it gets and for casual fans it’s a great place to start. After all, if 6000 fans saw this concert it can’t that bad can it?

Initial Rating: 8/10

Current Rating: 8.5/10