''Lock Up the Wolves'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American heavy metal band Dio, released on May 15, 1990. It displayed a complete change of musician line-up over the previous album, ''

Dream Evil Dream Evil is a Swedish heavy metal band, assembled by producer Fredrik Nordström in 1999. History Producer Fredrik Nordström had the ambition of creating a power metal band of his own for a long time, but had difficulty finding anyone ...

'', including 18-year-old guitarist

Rowan Robertson Rowan Wingate Robertson (born 22 November 1971) is an English rock guitarist who currently performs in the Las Vegas production show ''Raiding the Rock Vault'' and plays for Bang Tango. He also plays for DC4. Robertson also played guitar for A ...

and Simon Wright on drums who had played with

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

from 1983 to 1989 as well as bassist Teddy Cook who was in the band Hotshot that morphed into

Danger Danger Danger Danger is an American glam metal band formed in Queens, New York, in 1987. History Danger Danger was formed in 1987 by former Hotshot members lead vocalist Mike Pont, bassist Bruno Ravel (born 1964), and drummer Steve West (born 196 ...

. Ronnie James Dio stated that the reason for the change was that it became apparent that the former band members had "lost interest" when compared to Robertson who was the first member of the new line-up. Robertson states that he was playing with the original band for around ten months while the album was being written,

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo ...

and

Claude Schnell Claude Schnell (born May 17, 1955) is an American keyboardist who has been a member of the bands Magic, Rough Cutt, Dio, and Last in Line. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in France, when he was six years old his family mo ...

were replaced "along the way" and

Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice. Career Appice ...

was in the band until two weeks before entering the studio to record the album. Vinny Appice confirms that he was there until the album was written and left because he felt "This is not Dio" with "all these young guys in the band". The song "Evil on Queen Street" takes its title from a

deli Deli may refer to: * Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop * Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia Places * Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

which had a sandwich with that name—per Dio on

Much Music Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

in 1990. Two videos were released from the album, for the songs "Hey Angel" and "Wild One". Guitarist Rowan Robertson stated that two more songs were written and demoed for the album but left off at the decision of their manager

Wendy Dio Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

: "Hell Wouldn't Take Her" and "The River Between Us". The album marked a drop-off in Dio's popularity, charting lower than the previous four studio albums.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

stated in September 1990 that the album "died a quick death on the charts" and "half-empty houses are not uncommon" on the ongoing tour.

Track listing

All lyrics and melodies by

Ronnie James Dio Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and H ...

, music as stated

Personnel

;Dio *

– vocals *

– rhythm, lead and acoustic guitars *

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist who currently plays in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed neoclas ...

– keyboards *Teddy Cook – bass * Simon Wright – drums, percussion ;Production *Executive producer - Ronnie James Dio *Arranged by Dio *Produced by

Tony Platt Tony Platt is an English sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with a diverse mix of artists, including, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Bob Marley, Iron Maiden, Shy, Buddy Guy, Foreigner, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sparks, Jaz ...

and Ronnie James Dio *Recorded by Tony Platt (at Granny's House in Reno, Nevada); assisted by Don Evans *Mixed by Tony Platt and Nigel Green (at Battery Studios in London) *Originally mastered by

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

Charts

References

External links

"Hey Angel" video clip"Wild One" video clip
{{Authority control Dio (band) albums 1990 albums Reprise Records albums Albums produced by Tony Platt Vertigo Records albums