𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 13, 1985 — Dio released the bands third studio album, Sacred Heart via Warner Bros. Records in North America, and Vertigo elsewhere. (Listen: Apple Music or Spotify)
The record peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. It includes the singles Sacred Heart, Rock 'N' Roll Children (Watch video) and Hungry for Heaven.
Background:
This was the last Dio album to include guitarist Vivian Campbell, who was fired midway through the album's tour. Campbell went on to join several other bands, most notably Def Leppard, Riverdogs, Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy.
A rift occurred during the recording of this album between Dio and the guitarist, Dio stating in an interview "...𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎, 𝚑𝚎 (𝚅𝚒𝚟) 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗‘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍."
The album, along with Holy Diver and The Last in Line, was released in a new 2-CD Deluxe Edition on March 19, 2012 through Universal for worldwide distribution outside the U.S.
Clocking in at 38 minutes, Sacred Heart is the band's shortest album.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Sacred Heart Gold (500,000 units sold) on October 15, 1985. It was for a long time the last Dio album to receive this certification, until The Very Beast of Dio was certified Gold on November 3, 2009.
Album Art & Layout:
The cover art is by Robert Florczak. The inscription around the border of the cover is in Latin and reads 𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙸𝚂 𝙿𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙽𝙸𝚅𝙼 𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙾 𝚃𝙸𝙱𝙸 𝚂𝙰𝙲𝚁𝙰 𝙲𝙾𝚁 𝚅𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙵𝙸𝙲𝚅𝚂 𝙾𝚂𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙼 𝙰𝚅𝚁𝚅𝙼.
A possible rendering is “𝙰𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚜 𝙸 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛”.
More data useful for the interpretation could be contained within the lyrics to the song Sacred Heart.
Since Latin relies on context for a translation the inscription could translate as follows, "𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚊𝚛".
The Sacred Heart Tour:
The accompanying stageshow was a spectacle involving a mechanised dragon and laser effects, as captured on the VHS (and later DVD reissue) Sacred Heart — The Video. Ronnie James Dio and his band referred to the dragon as Dean (although the press renamed it “Denzil”).
The Singles:
• The first single from Sacred Heart (Dio’s sixth overall), Rock 'N' Roll Children was released in July 1985. It reached No. 26 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart. By coincidence, it also reached No. 26 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1985, and remains their most successful release in the United Kingdom to date. The B-side contained the songs We Rock (live) and The Last In Line (live).
• The second single from Sacred Heart (Dio’s seventh overall), Hungry for Heaven was released in October 1985. Many different versions of the single exist; the original UK release had the B-side songs King of Rock and Roll (Watch video) and a live version of Like the Beat of a Heart.
An international version, however, had live versions of the songs Holy Diver and Rainbow in the Dark on the B-side, with a different sleeve design.
The Australian release featured The Last in Line on the B-side, but this may have been a promotional release.
The single peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart.
A different version of this song was originally written for the 1985 movie Vision Quest, appearing both in the film and on the associated soundtrack album.
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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