Coming on the heels of last month's reissue of Holy Diver is word that Ronnie James Dio's widow, Wendy, is in talks with producers to give Dio's 1984 album The Last In Line a similar treatment.
"[The record company] Rhino has more plans to do the same thing with The Last In Line – somewhere down the line; not right away, obviously. But… they wanna do The Last In Line," Wendy Dio told radio station host Joe Rock of 98.9 WMMO of Orlando, "And I'm talking to other producers to do a remix of that. So we'll see what happens."
The Holy Diver reissue was helmed by Joe Barresi, and includes Barresi's own remix of the original album, a remastered version of the original mix, as well as session takes and other rare nuggets. The reissue comes in various forms, including a deluxe box set. Barresi's previous credits include work with Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, and many others.
"I wanna keep things fresh and going," Wendy continued. "And my [goal] in life is to keep Ronnie's music and his legend alive, and that's what I try to do. There's things in the vault that have been sitting there just getting dusty, and I'm thinking, 'The fans should be able to hear this stuff.' Before, I was a bit closed about it: 'Would Ronnie want this out? Would Ronnie want that out?' But I think he would."
It's notable that someone close to the recordings in those vaults is Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, who played with Dio until 1986, including the albums Holy Diver, The Last In Line, 1985's Sacred Heart, and Intermission from 1986. Campbell in a interview last week noted that while fans may be intrigued by the prospects of hearing Dio woodshedding in the studio, he was lightning quick to remind everyone there was a reason they weren't released in the first place.
"I've heard that they've put out outtakes of tracks from Holy Diver and solos that didn't make the cut. And I'm wondering why… There's a reason why stuff didn't make a record in the first place. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to be putting it out there." It's important to note that at the time of press, Campbell admitted he had not heard the final product.
The second Dio LP, The Last In Line was released on July 2, 1984—a mere 14 months after the release of its predecessor, Holy Diver. It immediately rocketed into the US and UK album charts, and—ultimately like Holy Diver—would go on to be certified platinum in the United States.
