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A review by ojtheviking
Rainbow in the Dark: The Autobiography by Ronnie James Dio
4.0
This was a bittersweet read in a couple of ways. First of all, obviously, because this book mostly contains the memoirs of one of my all-time favorite legends in rock, metal, and music overall, Ronnie James Dio, but he passed away before he could fully finish writing this himself, so his widow Wendy Dio collaborated with Mick Wall to add to and complete the book some years later.
Bittersweet also because he had planned for this to be just the first book, covering roughly the first half of his life and career, and a continuation was to come later on. Wendy Dio indicates that a second book may see the light of day in the future, but I think that would turn out to be more of a biography than an actual autobiography, so Ronnie's own words might be featured even less at that point.
With that said, Rainbow in the Dark was a fast, but highly entertaining read. Being the music buff that I am, and having already read and seen a lot about my music heroes via interviews and news articles and other books, the core progression of his career was already well-known to me. That's not to say this book only states the obvious, though. It still provides a lot of insight from his own point of view, and this being his own book rather than quick interviews, he is able to flesh it all out with more details and anecdotes, so there are a couple of funny stories along the way, as well as some sad ones.
I was interested to see if it would be clear at all what were his own words and what was the addition of Wendy Dio with Mick Wall's help. Fortunately, that is made very clear for the most part, as Wendy's additions are treated as a separate thing, with her interjections clearly marked as coming from her. I know that Mick Wall also helped polish some of Ronnie's own writings, but I can't imagine that took a whole lot of work; it was mostly because Ronnie preferred to write down his memoirs by hand, using pen and paper, so a digital transcription would have been necessary regardless, and it is said that Mick Wall helped further flesh out some of the later parts of the book (in a way Ronnie would have written it himself) because some of those parts were left unfinished due to Ronnie's passing.
But as I said, it couldn't have required that big of an effort on Wall's compared to other works Wall has been involved with, as it's no secret that Ronnie James Dio was himself a master of words. Decades of song lyrics, as well as the added fantasy story on his concept album Magica, will prove that. That is often where this book shines, too, when he's used his talent for storytelling to let us into some behind-the-scenes moments from his life on the road, moments from his marriage to Wendy, moments from his childhood and growing up, and how he inadvertently and indirectly crossed paths with a mob boss on several occasions throughout his life.
There's a saying in show business: "Always leave them wanting more." This book is the definition of that because, in some ways, it ends just as things are really getting good. We get to explore his humble beginnings, his time in Elf that would morph into his breakthrough in Rainbow, before moving on to Black Sabbath, and finally starting his own band, Dio. But we don't really get that far into the Dio era, and it is clear that the intention was for a second book to explore that more. I hope it does one day.
Bittersweet also because he had planned for this to be just the first book, covering roughly the first half of his life and career, and a continuation was to come later on. Wendy Dio indicates that a second book may see the light of day in the future, but I think that would turn out to be more of a biography than an actual autobiography, so Ronnie's own words might be featured even less at that point.
With that said, Rainbow in the Dark was a fast, but highly entertaining read. Being the music buff that I am, and having already read and seen a lot about my music heroes via interviews and news articles and other books, the core progression of his career was already well-known to me. That's not to say this book only states the obvious, though. It still provides a lot of insight from his own point of view, and this being his own book rather than quick interviews, he is able to flesh it all out with more details and anecdotes, so there are a couple of funny stories along the way, as well as some sad ones.
I was interested to see if it would be clear at all what were his own words and what was the addition of Wendy Dio with Mick Wall's help. Fortunately, that is made very clear for the most part, as Wendy's additions are treated as a separate thing, with her interjections clearly marked as coming from her. I know that Mick Wall also helped polish some of Ronnie's own writings, but I can't imagine that took a whole lot of work; it was mostly because Ronnie preferred to write down his memoirs by hand, using pen and paper, so a digital transcription would have been necessary regardless, and it is said that Mick Wall helped further flesh out some of the later parts of the book (in a way Ronnie would have written it himself) because some of those parts were left unfinished due to Ronnie's passing.
But as I said, it couldn't have required that big of an effort on Wall's compared to other works Wall has been involved with, as it's no secret that Ronnie James Dio was himself a master of words. Decades of song lyrics, as well as the added fantasy story on his concept album Magica, will prove that. That is often where this book shines, too, when he's used his talent for storytelling to let us into some behind-the-scenes moments from his life on the road, moments from his marriage to Wendy, moments from his childhood and growing up, and how he inadvertently and indirectly crossed paths with a mob boss on several occasions throughout his life.
There's a saying in show business: "Always leave them wanting more." This book is the definition of that because, in some ways, it ends just as things are really getting good. We get to explore his humble beginnings, his time in Elf that would morph into his breakthrough in Rainbow, before moving on to Black Sabbath, and finally starting his own band, Dio. But we don't really get that far into the Dio era, and it is clear that the intention was for a second book to explore that more. I hope it does one day.