Intermission

Released between Sacred Heart and the next studio album, Intermission is a six-track mini-album of five live recordings and one new studio song. The band's official discography lists it as a 1986 live release. The live tracks were recorded at the San Diego Sports Arena by the mobile studio Le Mobile: "King of Rock and Roll", "Rainbow in the Dark", "Sacred Heart", a "Rock 'n' Roll Children" medley that takes in "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" and "Man on the Silver Mountain", and the closing "We Rock". Ronnie James Dio produced, Angelo Arcuri engineered, and the record was mixed at the Record Plant, Amigo Studios and Sound City in Los Angeles. The one studio track, "Time to Burn", was recorded at Amigo Studios and the Record Plant with Craig Goldy, Vivian Campbell's successor, on guitar. Goldy came from Rough Cutt and Giuffria, and he recalls Ronnie James Dio telling him during Rough Cutt's demo sessions that he would be first choice if things with Campbell did not work out. According to Goldy, "Time to Burn" was the first song the two wrote together: the singer chose one of his riffs, reshaped the groove first and only then built the chords and the sections around it. The writing credit names Goldy, Jimmy Bain, Dio and Vinny Appice. Goldy also remembers replaying the rhythm guitar on the live recordings, because Campbell's guitar had been out of tune that night, while Campbell's solos were kept. Warner Bros. issued Intermission in the US in June 1986 as a mini-album at $6.99, below the price of a full album, and Billboard's list of June releases gave 2 June. Vertigo released it in Britain, where a strictly limited run came with a pack of photo postcards and a Dio discography. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 91 on 28 June, peaked at number 70 on 12 July and stayed 16 weeks, and in the UK it reached number 22. Craig Goldy stayed for the next studio album, Dream Evil, in 1987. Universal's 2012 deluxe edition of Sacred Heart includes all six tracks.