The Last in Line

This article is about the album. For the band named after it, see Last in Line.

"One Night in the City" redirects here. Not to be confused with One Night in One City.

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).

The Last in Line
Studio album by Dio
Released	July 2, 1984
Studio	Caribou Ranch (Colorado)
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	41:07
Label	Warner Bros. (North America) Vertigo (rest of the world)
Producer	Ronnie James Dio
Dio chronology
Holy Diver (1983) The Last in Line (1984) Sacred Heart (1985)
Singles from The Last in Line
"The Last in Line" Released: June 11, 1984 (EU) "We Rock" Released: July 30, 1984 (UK)^[1] "Mystery" Released: September 1984 (UK)^[2]
Music video
"The Last in Line" on YouTube

It was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the RIAA on September 12, 1984, and was the first Dio album to be certified platinum, achieving the feat on February 3, 1987.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[6]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	10/10^[7]
Rock Hard	9.5/10^[8]

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.^[9]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Ronnie James Dio, music as stated

Side one

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"We Rock"	Dio	4:36
2.	"The Last in Line"	Dio, Jimmy Bain, Vivian Campbell	5:40
3.	"Breathless"	Dio, Campbell	4:04
4.	"I Speed at Night"	Dio, Vinny Appice, Bain, Campbell	3:22
5.	"One Night in the City"	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	5:15

Side two

No.	Title	Music	Length
6.	"Evil Eyes"	Dio	3:38
7.	"Mystery"	Dio, Bain	3:46
8.	"Eat Your Heart Out"	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	3:49
9.	"Egypt (The Chains Are On)"	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	6:57

2012 Deluxe Edition CD 2

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Eat Your Heart Out" (live B-side of "Mystery" 12')	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	5:11
2.	"Don't Talk to Strangers" (live B-side of "Mystery" 12')	Dio	6:03
3.	"Holy Diver" (live B-side of "We Rock")	Dio	4:23
4.	"Rainbow in the Dark" (live B-side of "We Rock" 12')	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	4:43
5.	"One Night in the City" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	5:55
6.	"We Rock" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Dio	5:05
7.	"Holy Diver" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Dio	4:28
8.	"Stargazer" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Ritchie Blackmore, Dio	1:53
9.	"Heaven and Hell" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Geezer Butler, Dio, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward	13:03
10.	"Rainbow in the Dark" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell	5:11
11.	"Man on the Silver Mountain" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Blackmore, Dio	8:14
12.	"Don't Talk to Strangers" (live at Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Netherlands, June 11, 1984)	Dio	5:38

Personnel

Dio

• Ronnie James Dio – vocals, keyboards
• Vinny Appice – drums^[10]
• Jimmy Bain – bass
• Vivian Campbell – guitar
• Claude Schnell – keyboards

Production

• Recorded at Caribou Ranch, Colorado
• Produced by Ronnie James Dio
• Engineered by Angelo Arcuri
• Assistant engineering by Rich Markowitz
• Mixed on Westlake Audio BBSM6 monitors
• Originally mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York
• Remastered by Andy Pearce (2012 Universal Deluxe Edition)
• Remastered by Steve Hoffman (2012 Audio Fidelity 24K edition)
• Illustration by Barry Jackson

Charts

Album Chart (1984) Peak position Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[11] 51 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[12] 11 Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)^[13] 5 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[14] 23 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[15] 7 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[16] 6 UK Albums (OCC)^[17] 4 US Billboard 200^[18] 23 Chart (2012) Peak position Oricon Japanese Albums Charts^[19] 154 UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)^[20] 23

Singles Mystery Chart (1984) Peak position UK Singles (OCC)^[21] 34 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)^[22] 20 We Rock Chart (1984) Peak position UK Singles (OCC)^[23] 42 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)^[22] 14 The Last in Line Chart (1984) Peak position US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)^[22] 10

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)^[24]	Silver	60,000^^
United States (RIAA)^[25]	Platinum	1,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Popoff, Martin (2018). Deep Purple Family, Year by Year vol 2 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-908724-87-8.
2. "Dio discography".
3. "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database, search for "The Last in Line"". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved February 22, 2009.
4. "Search for Artist Dio". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
5. Siegler, Joe (February 1, 2012). "Dio Deluxe Editions". Black Sabbath Online.com. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
6. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Dio The Last in Line review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
7. Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 978-1894959315.
8. Stratmann, Holger. "Rock Hard review". issue 7 (in German). Retrieved May 24, 2013.
9. Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 59. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
10. Saulnier, Jason (March 24, 2012). "Vinny Appice Interview". Music Legends. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
11. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8940". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Dio – The Last in Line" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
13. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
14. "Offiziellecharts.de – Dio – The Last in Line" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
15. "Norwegiancharts.com – Dio – The Last in Line". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
16. "Swedishcharts.com – Dio – The Last in Line". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
17. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
18. "Dio Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
19. ロニー・ジェームス・ディオのアルバム (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
20. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
21. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
22. "Dio Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
23. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
24. "British album certifications – Dio – The Last in Line". British Phonographic Industry.
25. "American album certifications – Dio – The Last in Line". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links

• The Last in Line song lyrics