Search - Dio :: Evil Or Divine Live in New York

Great songs, great vocals, great CD all around!

Schenker is God | Los Angeles, CA United States | 04/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very solid live album with truly great performances from RJD and the band. Recorded on the "Killing the Dragon" tour, guitarist Doug Aldrich adds some serious fire and intensity to these already classic songs. Ronnie's voice is in fine form. He hits all the high notes, and adds some great improvised runs as always. They've added a great ending to the song "Killing the Dragon": the way Ronnie sings "...the dragon again..." at the very end really brings the song to a higher level for me, and makes this disc a must-own. I also prefer the live version of "Rock and Roll" on this disc to the studio version, as Ronnie adds some really nice little improvised runs here and there. Jimmy Bain and Simon Wright are locked in so tight that they really add to the heaviness of the songs. The only disappointing part of this disc is a lackluster performance of "Fever Dreams", which is one of my favorite Dio songs of all time. I was really looking forward to hearing a live version of this song, but they play it too fast, and Doug's solo just seems like a cheap immitation of Craig Goldie's superbly crafted solo on the original studio version. They also play "Man on the Silver Mountain" too fast, but Dio's been playing it too fast for 20 years so I'm over it. (Check out "Holy Diver Live" for a great version of "MotSM" played at the original speed!) This isn't a perfect live album, but it's definitely better than "Inferno" and "Intermission", and covers all the classics better than "Holy Diver Live", so "Evil or Divine" will probably go down as the quintessential Dio live album."