''The Last In Line'' is the second studio album by American
heavy metal band
Dio, released on July 2, 1984. It is the first Dio album to feature former
Rough Cutt keyboardist
Claude Schnell. It became the band's highest-charting album in both the UK and the U.S., reaching number 4 and number 23, respectively (''
Sacred Heart'' would later reach number 4 in the UK as well).
It was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
(500,000 units sold) by the
RIAA on September 12, 1984, and was the first Dio album to be certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
, achieving the feat on February 3, 1987.
In the UK, it attained Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in January 1986, at the same time as ''
Holy Diver''.
To date, these are the only two Dio albums to be certified at least platinum.
Reissues
The album, along with ''
Holy Diver'' and ''
Sacred Heart'', was released in a new two-CD deluxe edition on March 19, 2012, through
Universal for worldwide distribution outside the U.S.
Critical reception
In 2005, ''The Last In Line'' was ranked number 372 in ''
Rock Hard'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.
Track listing
Personnel
Dio
*
Ronnie James Dio – vocals, keyboards
*
Vinny Appice – drums
*
Jimmy Bain – bass
*
Vivian Campbell – guitar
*
Claude Schnell – keyboards
Production
*
Ronnie James Dio – producer
*
Caribou Ranch,
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
– recorded at
* Angelo Arcuri – audio engineer
* Rich Markowitz – assistant engineer
* Mixed on Westlake Audio BBSM6 monitors
* George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
* Andy Pearce – remastering for the 2012 Universal deluxe edition
*
Steve Hoffman – remastering for the 2012 Audio Fidelity 24K edition
* Barry Jackson – illustration
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
''The Last in Line'' song lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last in Line, The
1984 albums
Dio (band) albums
Vertigo Records albums
Warner Records albums