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Rainbow in the Dark cover art

Rainbow in the Dark

Written by: Ronnie James Dio, Mick Wall - contributor, Wendy Dio - contributor
Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
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Publisher's Summary

Prior to his tragic death in 2010, Ronnie James Dio had been writing his autobiography, looking back on the remarkable life that led him from his hometown in Upstate New York to the biggest stages in the world, including the arena that represented the pinnacle of success to him - Madison Square Garden, where this book begins and ends.

As Ronnie contemplates the achievement of a dream, he reflects on the key aspects that coalesced into this moment - the close gang of friends that gave him his start in music, playing parties, bars, frats, and clubs; the sudden transition that moved him to the microphone and changed his life forever; the luck that led to the birth of Rainbow and a productive but difficult collaboration with Ritchie Blackmore; the chance meeting that made him the second singer of Black Sabbath, taking them to new levels of success; the surprisingly tender story behind the birth of the Devil Horns, the lasting symbol of heavy metal; his marriage to Wendy, which stabilized his life, and the huge bet they placed together to launch the most successful endeavor of his career...his own band, Dio.

Everything is described in great detail and in the frankest terms, from his fallout with Blackmore, to the drugs that derailed the resurrection of Black Sabbath, to the personality clashes that frayed each band.

©2021 Niji Entertainment Group Inc. (P)2021 Tantor

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Great life story

Not a huge fan of the narrators voice or “accents” but he did a decent job

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Straight Reminiscences

Yes, Ronnie James Dio displays a talent for relaying colorful, well-described, often pathos-heavy or amusing recollections.. but they don't really offer any insight into the man.
This book includes eye-opening anecdotes regarding life for a gig-based traveling house band in the 60s, touring in support of Deep Purple with 'Elf', and fronting 'Rainbow', 'Black Sabbath', and eventually 'Dio' - but it's really just a superficial series of road stories.

Daniel Thomas May does his best to elevate the book with an above-average reading performance.. but can't quite manage it. To be certain, May's undeniably professional diction, timbre, and cadence are matched with an incredibly judicious voice-acting display (largely avoiding attempts at accents/impressions, for example).
It's somewhat unfortunate that the producers didn't include a PDF with the author's photographs with this recording - but I would still suggest this audiobook iteration would be superior to a text version if you really want to peruse it.

Altogether, I rate 'Rainbow In The Dark' a somewhat disappointing 5.5 stars out of 10. If you can get it from the 'Plus' catalog, it's a satisfactory distraction for a couple of quiet afternoons, but spend your Credit elsewhere should they ask for one.

[Incidentally: the occult experiences when holding seances with Richie Blackmore are intriguing. The author could have done more than just quickly describe them and move on]

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