Ozzy Osbourne was a tough act to follow, but Ronnie James Dio more than filled his shoes when he took over the frontman role in Black Sabbath for the metal pioneers’ 1979 album Heaven and Hell.  On March 5, Rhino will salute the Dio era with deluxe 2-CD or 2-LP reissues of both Heaven and Hell and its 1981 follow-up, Mob Rules.

When it became clear that Black Sabbath couldn’t proceed with its original lead vocalist, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio (Elf, Rainbow) was paged.  Dio was introduced to guitarist Tony Iommi by Sharon Arden, the daughter of the band’s manager Don Arden and the future Mrs. Osbourne.  Iommi and Dio immediately hit it off, and Iommi sensed the great potential in melding Dio’s powerful tenor to Sabbath’s heavy metal thunder.  The band was still suffering from in-fighting that would see drummer Bill Ward depart within months, but the trio of Iommi, Ward, and bassist Geezer Butler managed to pull together with Dio for one last (to that point, at least) hurrah.  They enlisted producer Martin Birch (with whom Dio had worked in Rainbow) for sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami and Studio Ferber in Paris that yielded such key tracks as the title song and the singles “Neon Knights” and “Die Young.”

When Heaven and Hell was released in April 1980, it was hailed as a return to peak form for the band.  It reached No. 9 in the U.K. and No. 28 in the U.S., where it was also certified Platinum.  The upcoming Heaven and Hell: Deluxe Edition adds a bonus disc with four live tracks from Hartford, CT recorded in August 1980 and previously unissued in North America; four more live cuts from the 1981-1982 Live at Hammersmith Odeon shows released by Rhino Handmade in 2007; and two B-sides and the mono single edit of “Lady Evil.”

Vinny Appice (younger brother of Vanilla Fudge’s Carmine Appice) took Bill Ward’s place halfway through the Heaven and Hell tour and then in the studio for the album that became Mob Rules.  In the sessions helmed by Martin Birch at Los Angeles’ Record Plant, the band created future classics such as “Turn Up the Night,” “The Sign of the Southern Cross,” and the title track which had been first recorded for the animated film Heavy Metal.  Mob Rules went to the top 20 of the U.K. Albums Chart and would be certified Gold in the United States.  But Sabbath was again falling apart at the seams, and Mob Rules would prove Dio’s final studio album with the band until 1992’s Dehumanizer.

Mob Rules: Deluxe Edition has nine bonuses on the first disc including the Heavy Metal version of “The Mob Rules;” a new remix of that song; the live single version of “Die Young;” four tracks from Live at Hammersmith Odeon; and two previously unreleased tracks from an April 1982 concert in Portland, Oregon.  The second disc offers a further never-before-released thirteen tracks from that show.

Both Deluxe Editions will also be available as 2-LP vinyl sets with the original albums plus a selection of bonus tracks from the CD versions.  After reuniting for Dehumanizer, the quartet of Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice came back together in 2006 to record three new songs for Rhino’s compilation Black Sabbath: The Dio Years. The collaboration led to a world tour in 2007 where the group was billed as Heaven And Hell.  The lone studio album under that group name, 2009’s The Devil You Know, proved that time hadn’t extinguished their fire.  Sadly, The Devil You Know was Ronnie James Dio’s final studio appearance.  He died in May 2010.  Black Sabbath disbanded in 2017.

The Deluxe Editions of Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules are due on CD, vinyl, and digital/streaming platforms from Rhino on March 5.  You’ll find the track listings and pre-order links below.

Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino, 2021)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD/LP 1: Remastered album (released as Vertigo 9102 752 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. BSK 3372 (U.S.), 1980)

1. Neon Knights
2. Children of the Sea
3. Lady Evil
4. Heaven and Hell
5. Wishing Well
6. Die Young
7. Walk Away
8. Lonely is the Word

CD/LP 2: Bonus Tracks (+ included on LP)

1. Children of the Sea (Live) +
2. Heaven and Hell (Live) +
3. Lady Evil (7″ Mono Edit) +
4. Neon Knights (Live @ Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT – 8/10/1980) +
5. Children of the Sea (Live @ Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT – 8/10/1980) +
6. Heaven and Hell (Live @ Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT – 8/10/1980) +
7. Die Young (Live @ Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT – 8/10/1980) +
8. E5150 (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982)
9. Neon Knights (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982)
10. Children of the Sea (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982)
11. Heaven and Hell (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982)

Track 1 from “Neon Knights” U.K. single – Vertigo SAB 3, 1980
Track 2 from “Die Young” U.K. single – Vertigo SAB 4, 1980
Track 3 from “Lady Evil” U.S. promo single – Warner Bros. WBS-49549, 1980
Tracks 4-7 from U.K. deluxe edition – Sanctuary/UMC 2735073, 2010
Tracks 8-11 from Live at Hammersmith Odeon – Rhino Handmade RHM2 07735, 2007

Black Sabbath, Mob Rules: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino, 2021)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1: Remastered album (1-9, released as Vertigo 6302 119 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. BSK 3605 (U.S.), 1981) and bonus tracks (10-18 – * previously unreleased; + included on LP 2)

1. Turn Up the Night
2. Voodoo
3. The Sign of the Southern Cross
4. E5150
5. The Mob Rules
6. Country Girl
7. Slipping Away
8. Falling Off the Edge of the World
9. Over and Over
10. The Mob Rules (Heavy Metal Soundtrack Version) +
11. Die Young (Live) +
12. The Mob Rules (2021 Remix) * +
13. Country Girl (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982) +
14. Slipping Away (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982) +
15. The Mob Rules (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982) +
16. Voodoo (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/31/1981-1/2/1982) +
17. Intro (Live @ Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR – 4/22/1982) *
18. Neon Knights (Live @ Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR – 4/22/1982) *

Track 10 from Heavy Metal: Music from the Motion Picture – Full Moon/Asylum DP-90004, 1981
Track 11 from “The Mob Rules” U.K. single – Vertigo SAB 5, 1981
Tracks 13-16 from Live at Hammersmith Odeon – Rhino Handmade RHM2 07735, 2007

CD 2: Live @ Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR – 4/22/1982 (previously unreleased; + included on LP)

1. N.I.B.
2. Children of the Sea
3. Voodoo
4. Black Sabbath
5. War Pigs
6. Drum Solo
7. Iron Man
8. The Mob Rules
9. Heaven and Hell
10. Guitar Solo
11. Sign of the Southern Cross/Heaven and Hell (Reprise) +
12. Paranoid
13. Children of the Grave