Black Sabbath - Neon Knights (Ray Gillen Vocals)

[311superfly]

RAY.FUCKIN/GILLEN.....NUFF.SAI­D.

[chrisnuma6]

Wow - this is really good. Many singers have tried and failed to sing this song. Ray nails all the (very) high notes with full power. Great job.

[blica1]

this isn't sabbath..it's a cover band with a bunch of hired guns, with Iommi on guitar !..terrible..awful...a disgruntle Iommi trying desperately to fill the Ozzy and Dio, void...

[MorbidMaximus]

Impressive

[RocktheStageNYC]

I have a video of a 17 year old Ray Gillan doing this song with his high school band on local cable TV. He'd been singing this a long time by this.

[alecr666x]

@RocktheStageNYC Post it pleeeeeaaaaasssss!!!!

[2006leland]

very cool man!

[Fretslayer]

Wow, this is pretty cool. I've heard a lot of other singers attempt (and I do mean attempt) to sing this song. Gillen does it justice. The band, as always nails the song.

As for the 'true voice of metal'... ROFL -- the TRUE voice of metal is the sound of ALL of the Metal God Vocalists singing the same song at the same time. That might come close. \m/

[Wyndrax]

Who the hell is Ray Gillen.

[SonnyGTA]

@Wyndrax REALLY!?!? wow.....dont know who he is?

[therickstah]

@Wyndrax He was the vocalist for Badlands, a group created in 1989 by Jake E Lee of Ozzy fame ... he died of aids in the early 90's. Oh yeah, he was a GREAT singer too. There debut album "Badlands" is still one of my top 25 favorite hard rock/metal albums of all time !!!

[Wyndrax]

@therickstah Cool, I'll check'em out.

[monkeybux]

James hetfield rules tony, dio and this douchebag

[blacksabfan]

@monkeybux

1. Halford has nothing to do with this recording.

2. James Hetfield has nothing to do with this recording.

3. Iommi, Dio and Ray Gillen are/were all way more talented than Hetfield.

4. You're an idiot. Stop commenting.

[bo7341]

@blacksabfan i think he meant tony martin because he was listing singers, but you are still right

[Deathsiren]

@monkeybux You have no fucking clue what you talk about, I hope you die in a pit of flames, poser.

[monkeybux]

halford rools

[Glazirovan]

Nice ) But in my opinion Gillen performed all the song in the same manner and this makes a loss of emoutions and perhaps do the singing simplier.

[Takeshi357]

Well one thing is certain - Ray Gillen can sing Neon Knights a LOT better than Ian Gillan!

[SonnyGTA]

@Takeshi357 that is pretty funny! I heard that...I think he just got carried away!! hahah BUT...Ian on BORN AGAIN is at is psychotic shriekingly best!

[4JayeP]

Sounds pretty killer to me!!

[philofthefuture]

I would have loved Gillen as a recording vocalist during this era of Sabbath, Gillen really was a great vocalist

[darkavengermanowar]

Ray did a great job! I wish people would stop saying this Sabbath singer was better than the other to me,Ozzy,Ronnie, Ian,Glenn,Ray and Tony were all great frontmen for Sabbath!

[Murilobuzzard]

I love this song, Ian voice is very powerful

[MrEdyreddevil]

ray gillen rulez, 10 more best than tony martin.......

[snowden7772]

Ray was great he could do Dio and Ozzy.I hope we lose no more Sabbath singers anytime soon.RIP RONNIE and RAY.You both were great!!

[ricardoleony]

really good voice this ray gillen has..he did a nice job in this masterpiece

[SonnyGTA]

Ray has THE voice. He was from North Jersey. My friends all new him...wish I did.

[HeavenandHell956]

Ray Gillen. So awesome.

[rideon77]

Ray is by far the more precise Sabbaths live singer! To me the best!

[ijemekkos4life]

ranked from best sabbath era to least

1. ozzy (only cause this created metal)

2. dio

3. tony martin

4. ray gillen

5. glenn hughes

6. ian gillan

[SuperMetalogic]

One of the best albums ever written after the DIO era was with ray Gillen.Unfortunaly it was never released but only bootleg.RIP RG

[neurocosm]

@SuperMetalogic - actually, I heard that the headless cross album (first with martin?) was the one ray did the demos for, but he left.

[blacksabfan]

Ray Gillen did the demos for Eternal Idol. I've posted two different version of his work on here already. Martin rerecorded these for the album proper.

Headless Cross was Martin's second album, but the first with his lyrical input.

[EdubGUY]

Damn, better than poor Ian...

[CoonMike]

I like Ian Gillen, they're too different to say which ones better.

[69johnholmes]

For fucks sake, THE true voice of metal is Dee Snider, no contest!

[aphasia1972]

are you kidding??????????????

[raideraaron13]

I think Dio is great and I think Ray Gillen was also great. Why the fuck children like to argue over who is better I will never understand. They are not rival football teams. You can appreciate them both. Its ok. Besides, everyone knows Halford is the true voice of metal.

[NonstopTrapdoor]

Halford is good...But not and will never be "The true voice of Metal" Nobody will.

[CoonMike]

You're right dude, there are so many types of voices. I think Elvis would have been a metal head if he was born in the 50s

[MrTabby5000]

Halfords nothing,ozzy is the voice of metal.

[ijemekkos4life]

@raideraaron13

you just said not to argue about singers, and you had to add that halford was the TRUE voice of metal.....well sorry, DIO takes that crown buddy.....halford couldn't sing oldies like dio could. dio was so wide as far as WHAT he could sing. dio was more pure, clear, and consistent than halford, and you must admit that. but not to start arguments, halford, dio, dickinson ,etc. are ALL the true voices of metal. lets agree on that.

[SonnyGTA]

@raideraaron13  I AGREE!

[smithdsmit]

@ijemekkos4life I at one time might have argued with you and said halford was way better then dio vocally.I seen heaven and hell and judas in 08. Dio belted out those old sabbath classics like there was no tomarow.He was able to sing songs from their whole catalogue.Halford though he did put on a great performance. band was tight. awesome drum solo.Halford was limited on what songs he could do.some sounded great.some times it sounded like he was shrieking.dios vocals held up far better.sab owned

[nined5thclick]

@raideraaron13 As far a Halford being the true voice of metal, thought that was Bruce Dickinson. I either case, interestingly enough, Halford has sung for Babbath also and there are youtube videos up that show a few song were he fills in for ozzy.

[blackened2008]

@raideraaron13 Amen to everything you said, there just difference in opinions and tastes, thats it. arguments are just immature. its like : i'm right, and whoever thinks im right is right, the rest are wrong!..hehe

\m/

[DevilsStomp]

1. Dio simply can't hit the notes ray could.

2. Ray had a deep soulful voice, so he didnt have to scream his ass off to try to sound better (which work for metal crowds :P).

3. listen to Badlands "in a dream" tell me how Dio stacks up to that. Tpsoldierboy you said "Tony Martins voice fits the Dio Sabbath songs better anyways!""I really dont care for his Sabbath songs though!!". A good singer can sing any genre he wants well, so why don't you like the stuff he did with Sabbath?RAY GILLEN #1

[DFORCEAMAZING]

It is not always about singing ability. Dio is very charismatic and is an outstanding performer. Ray Gillen could hit higher notes than Dio (Gillen was probably a tenor, whereas Dio is a baritone). I do realize that, but Gillen was in his 20's at this time. Dio was approaching his 50's. Think about. Gillen didn't even release an album with Sabbath. All there was was the Eternal Idol Demo.

[Goblonaut]

Dio is a lowish tenor, he can't get really low and his tessitura is pretty high, even true tenors can sometimes have troubles singing that high melodies (usually in the tenor C area).

[uofm97]

If you're throwing words like "tessitura" out there, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess that you are a singer, lol.

[CoonMike]

1. What are you talking about, Dio had a MUCH higher voice than Ray and could get down into tenor.

2. Dio didnt either when he was Rays age, listen to his stuff from Rainbow and thank me later.

3.I've heard "In a dream" and Gillen's voice was breathy in that because it's harder to sing soft than loud because of air control. Tony Martin early on could sing Dio well, but later couldn't even hold a candle to him.

[Whackooyzero]

He can now just listen to the 2009 performance in brazil.

[Tspsoldierboy]

Nobody can smoke Dio period! Listen to the opening scream of Mob rules on Live at Radio Cityy, unbelievable!! But Ray Gillen did right by these songs! Having seen Badlands twice i can attest to Rays amazing vocal prowess live!! I think Tony Martins voice fits the Dio Sabbath songs better anyways! I really dont care for Martins Sabbath songs though!! RIP Ray!!

[L485]

"Gillen" of course on lin 3-sorry

[L485]

ricknick, you are not fair on Ray Gillen in saying he was the best. That is really to much of the good.

Gillan was one of the most talented singers in the mid 80ies, even better than Gillan at this time, but there are severall ones, better than himself at this time:

David Pattison,Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale

(with Snake better than Purple), Dio,

Pete Goalby.

Ray Gillen was in the top ten at this time, nothing more -and this is much.

[SJQK]

Ray Gillen was indeed an amazing singer, but there's no way he ever "smoked Dio" on any level!!

[hchoer]

Wow Rickinick, you sure are cool. Are you into Keel and Y&T too? Just checked my watch. Hmmmm...yup, definitely not 1986. Pat yourself on the back until you have to see a chiropractor! Do you have the Badlands Lunchbox too? Are you waiting for the Kingdom Come reunion tour?

[hl1996]

hchoer; you obviously never have heard Ray Gillen live.He had tremendous range.He mostly sang CLEAR before Sabbath,and when he joined hehad to let out the raunchy sound on the Dio tunes,but make no mistake,this is Ray.

[L485]

Not better than Dio -Ronnie is the perfect singer with a powerful voice like Glenn Hughes,but technical really good.

If Gillen would live in the present, he would be on top level in the scene and in the front row.

[rickinick]

I mean Dios studios recordings. He smoked dio in this point in his career. That funny he thinks its dio's voice dubbed in. Are you like 22 or something?

[modnam000]

marvellous!!

might be even better than Dio（？）

[L485]

Ray Gillen was talented -he should be the

right one to follow Dio.

He is of course by far better than Ian Gillan in Sabbath, listen to Gillan`s ridiculous singing on the live-tracks.

[hchoer]

Well let me say, blacksabfan...I stand correct if that's not Dio, I'm sorry that Ray had to be in Sabbath during their most tumultuous time. BTW I still think Iommi would have had a better career with Ian Anderson! Gotcha!

[hchoer]

WTF??? Ray Gillen my ass! This is RJD. This was from that awesome Seventh Star era? This may be a Dio dubbed in vocal with a crappy '86sabbath live show. -"All right"

[blacksabfan]

No.

[chrisz31974]

@blacksabfan LMAO the one word response is awesome.

[enickma]

That's definately Ray Gillen. He is sorely missed ... that first Badlands CD was/is incredible

[rickinick]

YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE YOUR HUYA. tHIS IS RAY gILLEN AND He smoked dio on every count. dude catch up with reality and stop your miseducation efforts. Ray was incredible and this is him live and sounding better than most of Dios live recordings. Wake up!!

[blacksabfan]

In all fairness, Dio was already over 40 during most of the 80's. Ray Gillen was a young man...not much older than me and all the promise in the world. Ray Gillen's technical ability trumps Ronnie (although I think Gillen would of ended up like Coverdale and blew out his voice eventually) but Ronnie was a much wiser man. He took care of not only his vocal chords, but himself. Sadly, the same can't be said of Ray Gillen. It's actually a good example of humility.

[cast390]

@rickinick Smoked Dio? LMFAO When was the last time you had your hearing checked you moron

[jpocalips1]

@rickinick Your so full of shit it's stinking up the whole comment page, comparing Ray Gillen over Ronnie Dio, Gillen voice would have never lasted dick-smoke

[Alhambrattp]

@rickinick

Ray is great but lets stop smoking crack here.

[uscheckcashing]

@hchoer I'VENEVER HERDOF "RAY" GILLEN,??? IAN GILLIAN? MORE LIKELY

[fuzzleredmenn]

@uscheckcashing No, Ian was back in Deep Purple in 86, its Ray Gillen my friend, he went on to sing with the great band Badlands featuring ex Ozzy guitarist Jake E Lee. He toured with Sabbath, and recorded the Demos for the 'Eternal Idol' album before being replaced by Tony Martin. He also had a band called Sun Red Sun which featured ex Alice In Chains bassist Mike Starr, and recorded songs with Savatage and George Lynch.

[uscheckcashing]

@hchoer

[Diofan1952]

WOOOW, THIS ROCKS!!!

[1alexkeeper]

amazing vocal performance indeed! long live Ray Gillen¨s legacy!!!!!

[moonrah666]

do you have the eternal idol demos with Ray?

[stuckondamoment]

He fits Sabbath perfectly, he had a great talent... such a shame...

[rideon77]

Best Black Sabbath Singer!!! My god, he could sing everything perfect!

[123KIDD11]

Wow, he sings this really good. he has the "heart" of the song, and brings out the punch of it. Surprised I guess cause id never heard Ray.

[EUROPEANmatters]

Ray has contributed some tracks on Phenomena's Dream Runner album which, in combination with Glenn Hughes, John Wetton and Max Bacon all singing on that album, became a rock music classic uniting the best rock voices of the mid-80s on one album.

[guitarminion]

wow, i havent heard ray til now but he sounds good, he sounds alot like dio