Four CD collection features remixed and remastered versions of debut with unreleased material
Rhino Records is celebrating what would’ve been Ronnie James Dio’s 80th birthday on July 10th with Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition on July 8th. Holy Diver was a Platinum-certified smash and one of the late singer-songwriter’s most groundbreaking achievements and has been expanded as a 4 CD set with a barrage of unreleased and rare tracks.
The collection comes with two versions of Holy Diver. The first is a new mix of the album made by Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot). He used the original analog tapes to remix all nine tracks on the album. The second is a newly remastered version of the original 1983 mix. The Super Deluxe Edition also features unreleased live performances and outtakes, along with a selection of rarities from the era.
Barresi’s new mix of “Holy Diver” is available now digitally as a preview to the new album mix.
In addition, Barresi’s new mix of Holy Diver will be released the same day as a 2 LP set on 180-gram vinyl. It includes the original nine tracks, plus the 1983 B-side version of “Evil Eyes” as a bonus track. Side four is decorated with an etching of the legendary demon Murry that graces the album’s iconic cover. The vinyl is kept in a gatefold sleeve that shows off newly commissioned artwork by longtime Dio artist, Marc Sasso. The same artwork is also used for the 4 CD Super Deluxe Edition.
The box set goes beyond the original album with a previously unreleased recording of the quartet performing live in 1983 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California during the Holy Diver Tour. Wyn Davis mixed the concert recording, which spotlights live versions of songs from Holy Diver (“Stand Up And Shout” and “Rainbow In The Dark”), Rainbow classics (“Man On The Silver Mountain” and “Starstruck”), and Sabbath staples, (“Children Of The Sea” and “Heaven And Hell.”)
The Super Deluxe Edition also revisits the Holy Diver recording sessions to uncover unreleased outtakes for several album cuts, including unheard takes for “Invisible,” “Straight Through The Heart,” and a version of “Rainbow In The Dark” that boasts an alternative guitar solo. There’s also an early version of “Evil Eyes,” a song that would resurface on Dio’s 1984 follow-up album, The Last in Line. A selection of rarities rounds out the new collection with mono and stereo 7” single edits for “Rainbow In The Dark” and a version of “Evil Eyes” that was released in 1983 as the B-side to “Holy Diver.”
Critically acclaimed and a commercial success, Holy Diver contributed two timeless classics to the heavy metal canon – “Rainbow In The Dark” and its title track.
After departing Black Sabbath in early 1982, Dio began composing songs that would eventually appear on the album. After writing both “Holy Diver” and “Don’t Talk To Strangers,” Dio then assembled an amazing group of musicians, two familiar faces and one fresh recruit, with drummer Vinny Appice (Dio’s Black Sabbath bandmate), bassist/keyboardist Jimmy Bain (Dio’s Rainbow bandmate) and guitarist Vivian Campbell joining him to record the Holy Diver album.
4 CD
CD 1: Holy Diver (2022 Joe Barresi Mix) [Previously Unreleased]
CD 2: Holy Diver (2022 Remaster)
1. Stand Up And Shout
2. Holy Diver
3. Gypsy
4. Caught In The Middle
5. Don’t Talk To Strangers
6. Straight Through The Heart
7. Invisible
8. Rainbow In The Dark
9. Shame On The Night
CD 3: Live at Selland Arena, Fresno, CA, 1983 [Previously Unreleased]
1. Intro
2. Stand Up And Shout
3. Straight Through The Heart
4. Shame On The Night
5. Children Of The Sea
6. Holy Diver
7. Heaven And Hell” – including guitar solo
8. Rainbow In The Dark
9. Man On The Silver Mountain
10. Starstuck
11. Man On The Silver Mountain – reprise
12. Don’t Talk To Strangers
CD 4: Outtakes, Singles & B-Sides
Tracks 1-7 unreleased
1. Evil Eyes – Wyn Davis remix
2. Don’t Talk To Strangers – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix)
3. Invisible – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix)
4. Invisible – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix)
5. Rainbow In The Dark – Alternative Guitar Solo Version (Joe Barresi mix)
6. Straight Through The Heart – Take 2 (Joe Barresi mix)
7. Straight Through The Heart – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix)
8. Rainbow In The Dark – 7” Mono Edit
9. Evil Eyes – 1983 Version B-Side of Holy Diver
10. Rainbow In The Dark – 7” Stereo Edit
