Moronika
General Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: metaldams on January 15, 2022, 10:15:44 PM
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Ozzy Osbourne, vocals. Tony Iommi, guitars. Geezer Butler, bass. Bill Ward, drums. These four men make up the classic Black Sabbath line up and would appear on the first eight albums, released from 1970 - 1978. Only Iommi would be around for the entire band’s history and yeah, once the eighties begin, so do the line up changes! The majority of the catalog I enjoy, but that original line up had a very unique chemistry where all four men contributed greatly to the sound. I’m sure you all know what Ozzy sounds like, a very unmistakable voice. Iommi had such a monstrous heavy tone with an identifiable solo style and more importantly, riffs for miles, several of them downtuned. Geezer Butler’s distorted bass tone doubling those riffs, throwing in melodic fills in the empty spaces - one of my bass playing heroes. Bill Ward was a very orchestral and jazzy drummer, not the kind of guy content playing straight 4/4 beats. Basically, all their parts felt like they were part of the composition, like The Who, like Led Zeppelin.
The band started in 1968 as Earth and had to change their name once they found another local band with the same moniker. Geezer thought of the name Black Sabbath after the Mario Bava directed Boris Karloff Italian horror anthology film. I’ll now address the devil thing. The first album, by far, has the most devil references, but even then, it’s more so fear of the devil. In a few albums you will even see some Christian themes. They start with horror movie stuff, but the lyrics get more earth bound in their darkness starting with the second album. Themes of depression, nuclear war, dishonest managers, the military industrial complex, drugs, bad relationships, and loss of loved ones, amongst other things. Very rarely will this band sing about sex and love the way so many other bands of the era did. The times they do can be counted on one hand. During the Ozzy era, Ozzy chipped in the occasional lyric, but the main lyricist was bassist Geezer Butler. Geezer’s lyrics, as the seventies wore on, became both a warning of the evils of the world and catharsis for a bunch of us outcast teenagers.
I will also address the heavy metal thing, which will segue into the first album. The narrative for the past thirty years has been Black Sabbath are the first heavy metal band and the self titled debut album - released Friday, Feb 13th 1970 in the U.K. and June 1970 is the U.S., is the first heavy metal album. Do I agree? I don’t believe heavy metal formed out of thin air one magical day, as elements of it were bubbling up in the sixties. However, I do think Black Sabbath more consistently than any other band played what we now know as heavy metal until Judas Priest came along in the mid 70’s. As far as the first album goes? The most metal album to date, but also steeped in older traditions. As far as metal invention, it would musically get surpassed by the release of DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK a few months later and then again by Sabbath’s own sophomore effort later in the year. The first Black Sabbath album, while helping usher in metal, is also steeped in the latter part of the British blues rock boom that started in 1963. While the earlier people of the scene like Brian Jones and Eric Burdon listened to all those great black blues artists from America, I get the feeling while I’m sure the Sabbath guys appreciate the originals on some level, they were more influenced by the likes of Cream and the other British bands who were influenced by the original source.
The recording circumstances for this album were unique in that it was all recorded in one day! 10/16/69, Regent Studios, the same studio The Rolling Stones recorded their first album. Sabbath never released a proper live album back in the 70’s (LIVE AT LAST fiasco aside), so this is the closest thing to it as these are live performances you are hearing. This is basically a live set, complete with tons of random guitar soloing from Tony Iommi. That aspect of this album is very much a staple of the British blues scene I was talking about. There are a few overdubs in the vocals and dual guitar solos, but beyond that, this is all live.
The first Sabbath release was actually a single released only in the U.K. “Evil Woman (Don’t You Play Your Games With Me)” and the b-side “Wicked World.” The a side opened side two of the original U.K. release and the b-side opened the North American version. I never heard the a side until I was a fan for over ten years because it was a while before that song was on CD in the U.S. and this was before YouTube and streaming services. The a side is a cover from the band Crow that management pressured the band to record. It’s a heavy blues based rocker with a catchy chorus about a girl who gets pregnant and wrongly accuses the singer of being the father. The b side is the first song the band ever wrote and I like it much better. That instrumental intro is totally jazz based (and fun to play on bass) and the singing and riff structure pretty bluesy. Yes, Iommi goes into his off the cuff soloing and the song is about how man can go to the moon yet can’t feed some children on Earth. Recorded around the time of the moon landing.
The second song the band wrote opens the album. It is the song “Black Sabbath” on the album BLACK SABBATH from the band Black Sabbath. A total metal classic. The three note riff is iconic and uses an interval known as the diminished fifth or the tri-tone. Basically, take any key on a piano and play six keys higher or lower. This interval was literally banned in the medieval church because it sounded so sinister. The lyrics are about a run in with the dark one himself and people getting the Hell out of dodge. Basically the musical equivalent of an atmospheric horror film.
“The Wizard” has Ozzy Osbourne wailing away on the harmonica! The guitar and bass play heavy chords in the verse on beats four and one and leave the other spaces for Bill Ward to do his drum magic. Lyrically it’s about some wizard performing white magic and healing people, they say inspired by Lord of the Rings.
“Behind the Wall of Sleep” another heavy blues rocker that has a really swinging rhythm section and a few musical mood changes. Lyrically, the song has always been a bit obscure to me, but through the magic of search engines, it appears Geezer based the song on a Dennis Wheatley novel of the same name. Yeah, more horror based stuff as Wheatley was a horror author and even had a couple of novels adapted for Hammer Horror Films. I’ll have to check the novel out.
“N.I.B.” is another metal classic. Starts out with a bluesy and wah-wah drenched Geezer Butler bass solo and goes into a classic riff in the tradition of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” Lyrically it starts like a typical love song until it’s revealed Lucifer is the one in love with the girl! Catchy as Hell song with fantastic guitar playing throughout. Love the mellow bridge as well.
“Sleeping Village” starts out with some cool clean guitar tone mellow playing from Iommi and a mellow verse sung by Ozzy about waking up in a serene nature situation. In then quickly goes into these monstrous Iommi chords, a freak out jam from the band followed by more soloing from Iommi, sans band. This segues into….
“Warning.” Total twelve bars blues stuff about being ditched by your woman. When people act like this is a pure metal album that invented the genre from scratch, I point them to songs like this and Ozzy’s harmonica and the blues structure of so much going on. I enjoy all this stuff, but it’s not pure metal. This is another cover from Aynsley Dunbar and once again, the band checks out for several minutes so Iommi can solo. Very much like live bands were doing in the late sixties. You will never hear this kind of thing on any other Sabbath album.
So yeah, BLACK SABBATH is a classic album and also unique in the Sabbath catalog. More metal than anything else in February 1970, but still lots of blues and occasional jazz elements. Tons of guitar soloing from Iommi, off the cuff, recorded in a day and bits of horror thrown in for good measure. The opening title track is by far my favorite, by I do like every song here and totally appreciate the uniqueness of this album. While most people rank this among their favorites (well, at least before the days when random dudes on YouTube started claiming HEADLESS CROSS and TYR as the best Sabbath albums), it’s actually my second to least favorite of the eight albums from the original line up. Not a bad thing, though, as Black Sabbath are my favorite 70’s band the way The Beatles are my 60’s band. I just think the songs get more focused and I’m a fan of when they incorporate more progressive rock elements in the mid seventies. Hope you guys enjoy the ride.
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I’m the first to admit I know almost nothing about heavy metal music. I never really grew up with it and for some reason, it never really occurred to me to seek it out until recently. But, hey, I’m up for listening to something new, so I’ll give this a shot. Just please be easy on me because, again, this perspective comes from someone still relatively new to the genre.
Overall, I like a good portion of this album. I really like the harmonica playing on “The Wizard”. I can definitely hear the blues inspiration there. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” has a really cool bass part; in general, I often find myself not really noticing bass parts on first listen and having to look out for them specifically on later listens. Here, though, for whatever reason the bass playing stood out on a lot of these songs. I don’t know if it’s mixed in louder than most albums or if Geezer Butler really is that good of a bass player, but whatever it is, it really works. “N.I.B.” is my favorite song of the bunch. It’s got a really memorable riff and the structure of that with Ozzie’s vocals creates this really unique song style that really works.
The opening and closing tracks are the weak points here to me. “Black Sabbath” starts off fine; the three-note riff is nice, but they rely on it a bit too much before really doing anything interesting and the song comes off as really repetitive. And “Warning” just drags on forever. I love guitar solos as much as anyone else, but this one felt way too excessive. Reading your comments, I’m glad to learn this is not a common thing on these albums. The A-side/B-side pairing of “Evil Woman”/“Wicked World” is decent, but I prefer the B-side. “Evil Woman” does sound kind of out of place so it doesn’t surprise me to learn that management picked it for them.
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I’m the first to admit I know almost nothing about heavy metal music. I never really grew up with it and for some reason, it never really occurred to me to seek it out until recently. But, hey, I’m up for listening to something new, so I’ll give this a shot. Just please be easy on me because, again, this perspective comes from someone still relatively new to the genre.
Overall, I like a good portion of this album. I really like the harmonica playing on “The Wizard”. I can definitely hear the blues inspiration there. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” has a really cool bass part; in general, I often find myself not really noticing bass parts on first listen and having to look out for them specifically on later listens. Here, though, for whatever reason the bass playing stood out on a lot of these songs. I don’t know if it’s mixed in louder than most albums or if Geezer Butler really is that good of a bass player, but whatever it is, it really works. “N.I.B.” is my favorite song of the bunch. It’s got a really memorable riff and the structure of that with Ozzie’s vocals creates this really unique song style that really works.
The opening and closing tracks are the weak points here to me. “Black Sabbath” starts off fine; the three-note riff is nice, but they rely on it a bit too much before really doing anything interesting and the song comes off as really repetitive. And “Warning” just drags on forever. I love guitar solos as much as anyone else, but this one felt way too excessive. Reading your comments, I’m glad to learn this is not a common thing on these albums. The A-side/B-side pairing of “Evil Woman”/“Wicked World” is decent, but I prefer the B-side. “Evil Woman” does sound kind of out of place so it doesn’t surprise me to learn that management picked it for them.
Yeah, the extended guitar solo thing is only here. I have a feeling the situation was they had one day to record this thing and only so much material, so they had to fill the album somehow.
I know you don’t know metal well, but there are a couple of songs on the next album that are extremely famous. I won’t say the titles, but I’ll be curious as to your level of familiarity.
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1970s rock will always remind of my aunt and uncle and staying with them during the summer in the Detroit area. Black Sabbath, along with with Led Zeppelin and Steely Dan were the bands they listened to a lot. Black Sabbath will always remind me of them and the Detroit area as a whole being in the car, going from thrift store to thrift store, visiting family and eating out. They have a cat named them Ozzy! Despite hearing several of their songs I never actually went through their discography. The first album starts off their career with a bang.
"Evil Woman" was a song I haven't heard until today. I haven't heard the original song either, and would almost certainly think of the Electric Light Orchestra if those words were brought up. It is groovy and catchy. "Wicked World" has a great bass riff at the beginning and I do like the jam session sound the track brings. As far back in the 1920s blues and jazz were associated with each other, it's a terrific sound when they are also thrown together with rock.
"Black Sabbath" was a trivia answer my brother used to tell me about a self-titled song being on a self-titled album. It's an awesome setup, the way the song buildups to the end of the song. Reminds me of the way "Rock Lobster" the B-52's goes, repetitive but great before the even better finale. Hearing "The Wizard" the nostalgia really started kicking in. Harmonicas and a great blues influenced riff.
"N.I.B." might be the song I've heard the most from this album. The main riff certainly is recognizable, and it has also a great guitar solo. Is that a didgeridoo in the beginning of "Sleeping Village"? Both times I listened to it I thought I heard one. I'm surprised "The Warning" is a cover, I assumed it was an improvised jam session that they recorded together.
Once again, thanks for giving the historical view behind the art. I think you do an excellent job at that
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Is that a didgeridoo in the beginning of "Sleeping Village"? Both times I listened to it I thought I heard one.
No idea, but I couldn’t resist the chance to make this reference:
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I too thought of ELO when hearing the title “Evil Woman”.
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Yeah, the extended guitar solo thing is only here. I have a feeling the situation was they had one day to record this thing and only so much material, so they had to fill the album somehow.
I know you don’t know metal well, but there are a couple of songs on the next album that are extremely famous. I won’t say the titles, but I’ll be curious as to your level of familiarity.
It’s possible I could recognize some stuff from the radio. At the top of my head, though, I only know some of Ozzy’s solo stuff (“Crazy Train” in particular).
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No idea, but I couldn’t resist the chance to make this reference:
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I too thought of ELO when hearing the title “Evil Woman”.
I love early SpongeBob. Possibly my all time favorite TV show.
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My uncle put on Paranoid before and my brother asked him if it was the greatest hits album because of all the famous songs on there.
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We’ll get to PARANOID in detail next week, but Sam, even if you don’t know a couple of songs on here consciously, I have a feeling a guitar riff or two you’ll hear and instantly recognize. Like Homok said, this feels like a greatest hits album. I’ll get into my thoughts about that for sure.
As far as Electric Light Orchestra, believe it or not, drummer Bev Bevan played for Sabbath on the 83/84 tour, but that’s far in the future. Both bands are from Birmingham, England and the same age, so they know each other.
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For as long as I’ve been a Sabbath fan, I’ve never seen this footage until a few days ago.
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For as long as I’ve been a Sabbath fan, I’ve never seen this footage until a few days ago.
Didn’t recognize it, but already I think that’s a cool song. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.
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Album number two from Black Sabbath and it is indeed, as has been stated, their most famous album ever, PARANOID. Their biggest seller, certified four times platinum in the U.S. The album hit number one in the U.K. charts and number twelve in the U.S. Black Sabbath’s three most famous songs, “War Pigs,” “Paranoid” and “Iron Man” can all be found here. I think you guys who are Sabbath newbies are going to like this one and it’s objectively a great album.
As a hardcore Sabbath fan for close to thirty years (mercy), there is that bit of overkill for me personally. Any reunion era Sabbath concert set list leans very heavily on the first three albums and especially PARANOID. For the geeks like myself who love the mid seventies Sabbath albums as well, it can get frustrating. Think of an artist you love deeply and know the catalog pretty well. When you talk to the casual person and mention this, they name the most predictable hit song and in your mind you know you like dozens of songs better. That is my feeling with PARANOID. But ignore my old man ramblings, still a great album, nonetheless.
One thing not discussed about the first album is the producer, Rodger Bain. He actually is the producer for the first three albums. The first album only took a day but with PARANOID they get six days. Still not much time. But with Rodger Bain, besides the first three Black Sabbath albums, he also produced the first two Budgie albums and the first Judas Priest album. What do these bands and albums all have in common? All the bands are from Birmingham, England and these are the most lo-fi sounding albums of these band’s careers. Not necessarily a bad thing for early heavy music and they’re all good albums, but the point is Rodger Bain just works with local bands just starting out with quickly done recordings. After the first three albums, the rest of the Ozzy era albums are self produced - really by guitarist Tony Iommi and sound like they have a bigger budget. It wasn’t until Dio joined the band that Black Sabbath worked with a big outside producer. OK, onto the songs.
“War Pigs” is one of the famous ones and concert staples and for my personal tastes, one that would probably make my top ten Sabbath songs. It’s worth the hype. Musically it starts with those slow, doomy Iommi chords with Geezer ably filling in all the spaces on bass. The verse has those iconic Bill Ward high hat hits the crowd claps along to at shows and a very impassioned Ozzy vocal. The instrumental sections are a band on fire, very improvisational in parts and towards the end, some very composed and melodic Tony Iommi guitars. Lyrically this is one of the great anti war songs. Sabbath played for Vietnam soldiers at the time and Geezer Butler saw the Hell (PTSD) some of these soldiers went through. This song is an attack on the war profiteers and speaks of the judgment and damnation coming to them. No flowers in your hair hippie stuff, this is anti war in reality and is a pure masterpiece in my mind. One other song inspired by Vietnam to come.
“Paranoid,” the title track and probably the most famous Black Sabbath song ever. You will not hear a single Black Sabbath or Ozzy Osbourne show without this song being played. It was written as a filler track. The other seven songs were done, they needed a few extra minutes to fill the album so they came up with this in about five minutes. The machine gun style guitar is inspired by Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown.” A fantastic heavy pop song I enjoy hearing? Yes. The greatest heavy metal song of all time, which I’ve actually seen this declared in polls? Not even the greatest song on this album.
“Planet Caravan” is total chill and mellowness. Very subtle and clean guitar tones from Iommi, beautiful guitar soloing, a nice rhythm from Geezer and some cool jungle rhythms from Bill Ward. Ozzy’s voice is given some real cool effect and the lyrics are about some astral space trip. Nice peaceful music. The first version I ever heard was Pantera’s 1994 cover from the extremely brutal FAR BEYOND DRIVEN album, so it sounded really left field there. I bought that album as a brand new release and heard Sabbath a few months later, so 1994 is when I got into Sabbath.
“Iron Man.” That opening riff, along with “Smoke On the Water” and “Enter Sandman” I think everybody and their grandmother knows. Another classic song. Sci fi lyrics, about three great riffs throughout, a great solo section and an ending coda where Geezer and Bill play real fast and there is some epic guitar soloing. Homok will appreciate this - the first Sabbath song I ever heard back in the 80’s because The Road Warriors went to the ring with it as their theme music. A classic for sure.
“Electric Funeral” has more great riffs throughout and some great rhythms. Real slow doom metal here. The middle section is more syncopated and bass wise, has Geezer bending the strings and doing some cool stuff. Lyrically this is about the horrors of nuclear disaster and Sabbath doesn’t sugar coat things here. Read these lyrics, somewhat graphic and really depicts the horrors - keep in mind this is Cold War era (which is coming back).
“Hand of Doom” continues the real life horrors. It is about a traumatized Vietnam soldier who turns to heroin to ease his pain. Very graphic depictions of addiction, including the dizziness and nausea and death that comes with it. This song, more so than any school program, kept me off hard drugs. Musically begins with a cool bass riff that builds in dynamic with clean Iommi guitar tones, subtle drumming from Bill Ward and then busts into heaviness. Very blues based Ozzy vocals. The middle part, like “Electric Funeral,” has some cool rhythms and I love that quarter note heavy stomp part.
“Rat Salad” is in the tradition on Cream’s “Toad” and Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” where they play a few riffs to start and then let the drummer take a solo for a few minutes. Bill Ward is awesome here and is one of the great drummers in that era of fantastic hard rock British rhythm sections.
“Fairies Wear Boots” is lyrically a weird acid trip. Musically it has some really cool jazzy playing to start and goes into some powerhouse riff when the verses begin. More great blues based vocals from Ozzy and that guitar lick at the end as the album fades inspired Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
A great album overall and more focused than the debut. Commercially this may be the peak, not that the albums after did bad, going simply platinum or gold instead of multi platinum. But artistically, if you ask me, as good as they are here, they’re going to get even better. More adventurous. Next up is the final album of what I feel is the first phase, the mighty MASTER OF REALITY.
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Wow, my number one thought when listening to this album is how great Tommy Iommi's guitar work is. Some of the best I've ever heard. This is clear right from the beginning with "War Pigs". Excellent song all around, my favorite part is the end of the song that is mostly instrumental. I will never get sick of ending riff. I agree about "Paranoid" being a bit more poppy. It's more accessible than the rest of the songs on the album, but I will concede that the main riff is very catchy.
I happen to really like Pantera's music, but I prefer the Black Sabbath original of "Planet Caravan". It's a great mellow track, almost has a smooth jazz/Latin influenced feel. "Iron Man" is another song that shows how great Tommy Iommi was. Perfect guitar riffs for the verses and chorus, in addition to the solos that make up the middle and end of of the song. I heard that the Road Warriors used this as their theme song in the 1980s. Unfortunately, dubbed it over on the WWE Network for copyright reasons, so I wasn't aware of it when I first watched those JCP and WCW shows. In 2000 when Vince Russo became a wrestler (oh boy) he used a song that was obviously a ripoff of "Iron Man". It's so bad that it sounds like somebody is trying to do a straight cover but doesn't know how to play.
"Electric Funeral" is a slower paced song that reminds me of some 1990s bands like Kyuss and Monster Magnet. There is one part of the song where it get quicker and yes, the bass is great here. "Rat Salad" sounds like a jam session, one you would hear when they are playing live. I wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded in one take. "Fairies Wear Boots" has a great instrumental section at the beginning. I'm hoping they continue these instrumental sections, those are my favorite parts of the albums so far. I think Ozzy is a good vocalist for the band, but it's the instruments that make the music as great as it is. After the opening we get another satisfying Tommy riff.
Another album that's a straight thumbs up the whole way. A huge shout out to Tommy Iommi.
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Well, having listened to this, I can confirm I did recognize at least one song on this album, “Iron Man”. I had no idea that that was Black Sabbath.
Overall, a mostly good record that seems more focused than the first. Whereas the first had that ridiculous ending solo with “Warning”, here the solos seem much more well timed and more playing off of everyone else. One thing I noticed is just how much on these songs they change pace for part of the song only to return to the main theme. It works pretty well for the most part, and in the case of some songs (particularly “Electric Funeral”), they’re my favorite part of the song.
Alright, the highlights. As I mentioned previously, “Paranoid” really caught my attention, and I can see why it’s one of the more popular ones. “War Pigs” had an especially great first minute with the bass playing, and “Iron Man”’s riff really is very distinctive. My two favorites here are “Planet Caravan” and “Hand of Doom”. The former was very laid back and had a really nice guitar part. Very atmospheric with that vocal that sounds like it’s underwater. And that riff to “Hands of Doom” was extremely catchy. I can definitely hear the blues influence on this one, and I like all the sudden changes, like how the riff kind of quietly plays then suddenly everyone comes back in, or when they again go into a completely different direction in the middle. “Rat Salad” is probably my least favorite; it kind of felt like filler more than anything.
So, yeah, an improvement over the first. I liked it, and can see from the crazy guitar work particularly why it’s so popular. Tony Iommi’s guitar style here sounds really familiar. Did his style have an influence on any ‘80s guitarists, because it kind of sounds to me like something from that era.
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So, yeah, an improvement over the first. I liked it, and can see from the crazy guitar work particularly why it’s so popular. Tony Iommi’s guitar style here sounds really familiar. Did his style have an influence on any ‘80s guitarists, because it kind of sounds to me like something from that era.
Tony Iommi has an influence on just about anybody who plays heavy metal music. His solos to an extent, but his riffs unquestionably.
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Fascinating story about how Tony Iommi overcame a handicap to play guitar. Much like Harold Lloyd in that it shows a ton of determination.
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One more quick note. Since I’m also going to be reviewing Led Zeppelin, to avoid review overkill, I will be going back and forth between Zeppelin and Sabbath. So Zeppelin next week, Sabbath the week after, etc.
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Fascinating story about how Tony Iommi overcame a handicap to play guitar. Much like Harold Lloyd in that it shows a ton of determination.
Ouch that workplace injury was hard to stomach. It’s ironic that he was going to skip work that day but his mom made him go.
Thanks for sharing that video. I know it can be difficult to play an instrument with deformed fingers (I have some myself). It was hard to play bass when I tried.
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Ouch that workplace injury was hard to stomach. It’s ironic that he was going to skip work that day but his mom made him go.
Thanks for sharing that video. I know it can be difficult to play an instrument with deformed fingers (I have some myself). It was hard to play bass when I tried.
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the finger deformity? Depending on the deformity, guitar might be easier since the strings are thinner.
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If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the finger deformity? Depending on the deformity, guitar might be easier since the strings are thinner.
I recorded a video of my fingers for you. I tend to pluck with my ring finger and middle finger (I don’t really use my index finger for anything). The thing is my middle finger is quite thick, so it's hard to pluck lightly. My uncle complained that I play like Lemmy. On a side note, I wonder if Harold Lloyd's looked like this.
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I recorded a video of my fingers for you. I tend to pluck with my ring finger and middle finger (I don’t really use my index finger for anything). The thing is my middle finger is quite thick, so it's hard to pluck lightly. My uncle complained that I play like Lemmy. On a side note, I wonder if Harold Lloyd's looked like this.
Looking at your fingers and due to the fact it’s your picking hand, I would say you’d be better off using a pick - a lot of players use one. You can take your ring finger and thumb and find a comfortable grip that way. The rest would all be in the wrist.
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Looking at your fingers and due to the fact it’s your picking hand, I would say you’d be better off using a pick - a lot of players use one. You can take your ring finger and thumb and find a comfortable grip that way. The rest would all be in the wrist.
Thanks, that's what my brother also suggested, surprisingly I never tried that. My mom's best friend cut off some of her fingers with a saw and continued to play piano after that. In case you're wondering, I was born like this, fortunately never had any serious injuries like that.
I'm looking forward to discussing Led Zeppelin, that's another band my family listened to when I was growing up. Will Coda be included? I don't think I've ever listened to that before.
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Thanks, that's what my brother also suggested, surprisingly I never tried that. My mom's best friend cut off some of her fingers with a saw and continued to play piano after that. In case you're wondering, I was born like this, fortunately never had any serious injuries like that.
I'm looking forward to discussing Led Zeppelin, that's another band my family listened to when I was growing up. Will Coda be included? I don't think I've ever listened to that before.
Well, if you decide to play, let us know how it goes. I see no reason why a pick should be a problem. Yeah, we’ll do CODA.
….and what the Hell, I guess I’ll post it. Me 4.5 years ago.
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Well, if you decide to play, let us know how it goes. I see no reason why a pick should be a problem. Yeah, we’ll do CODA.
….and what the Hell, I guess I’ll post it. Me 4.5 years ago.
I was half expecting to see W.C. Fields playing Black Sabbath on bass. Sounds good, do you learn by ear or read notes?
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I was half expecting to see W.C. Fields playing Black Sabbath on bass. Sounds good, do you learn by ear or read notes?
I was sober when I recorded that video. I look exactly like Fields after a few drinks. This particular song I learned from a book I have, I can read music. I learn some songs by ear too. I learned to play long before YouTube existed, there are a lot more resources now.
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Time for album number three with the crushingly heavy MASTER OF REALITY. I think stylistically and instrument wise, this isn’t that far off from PARANOID but there are subtle advances in the production and one big difference with the sound of the guitars and bass. This is the first album they spent more than a week on and it is slightly more layered. They are flirting with overdubs and different instrumentation, something that will be seen much more on future albums. This is the last album where there is such an extreme separation of bass and guitars. The bass is certainly plenty audible with lots of great playing on future albums, but not quite as heavy in the mix like the first three albums. I think this is due to producer Rodger Bain. This is his last album with Black Sabbath and similar mixing choices can be heard on those first two Budgie albums he did.
MASTER OF REALITY is an extremely original album for its time and very important to the evolution of both heavy metal and even grunge. The reason? For a lot of these songs, the guitars were downtuned to C# versus standard E tuning. For any non musicians reading this, that basically means the lowest notes on the guitar and bass are in a lower key, creating a darker sound. This is very common for extreme metal bands these days, but the downtuning of heavy riffs started here. Remember that finger handicap with Iommi? By downtuning the action of the strings is looser, making it physically easier for Tony to play. So not only did Tony find a way to overcome his handicap physically, but it also inspired something new that would be done by future generations of musicians even fifty years later.
This is completely subjective, but I think MASTER OF REALITY, if not my favorite Black Sabbath album, is their heaviest. Certainly the heaviest album ever for 1971. Martin Popoff, one of my favorite metal reviewers, said, and I’m paraphrasing, that collectors can take their rare $500 vinyl of some supposedly heavy band from the early seventies and watch it wither to dust when put up against MASTER OF REALITY. I agree. Onto the songs.
The album opens with a cough. That would be Tony Iommi coughing after smoking a joint. “Sweet Leaf” is the opening track and is basically a love song to marijuana. Who says Sabbath doesn’t write love songs? Truthfully, I think there are lyrically much more thought provoking songs on this album, but what do you expect from a bunch of young guys consuming way too many drugs? The drugs do get harder on future albums and play a big part in the story, but musically, this song is awesome. Like other songs on the album, there are a lot of slow, melodic and really heavy riffs throughout. If you like riffs, this album is for you.
“After Forever.” For anybody who thinks Black Sabbath were a bunch of Satanists, all they need to do is read the lyrics to this song. Unabashedly Christian in tone. About loving God and needing Him for salvation. A bit fire and brimstone for a few lines, but this is a Christian song. Geezer Butler was raised Catholic and that comes out in the lyrics sometimes, be it intentional or unintentional. Musically this is one of the more upbeat songs on the album with very melodic guitar licks from Iommi counterpointed with some excellent melodic Geezer Butler bass fills.
“Embryo/Children of the Grave.” The former is basically just a thirty second intro for the latter’s main song. “Children of the Grave” is the most famous song on the album and has been a Sabbath and Ozzy solo concert staple ever since. Rhythmically this points to faster future forms of metal with that swinging eighth triplet rhythm pulsing throughout. Impossible not to shake your butt to. Some cool mood changes as the middle gets slow and doomy before the tempo picks up again and drum wise, Bill Ward always points out to the timpani overdubs as a sign Sabbath were just starting to get more studio savvy. Great Ozzy vocal, an energetic metal classic whose lyrics are still very relevant.
“Orchid” is about two minutes long and is some nice multi string picked acoustic playing from Tony Iommi. Sabbath always has light moments on their albums and to me, they’re welcome. More light moments will be found on future efforts.
“Lord of This World.” The final three songs are my favorite songs on the album, all masterpieces. The riffs on this song - good God! So heavy. Imagine a brontosaurus slowly walking through the world’s thickest mud puddle. That’s how much weight these riffs have. Lyrically this song is incredible as well. I love both Sabbath and Zeppelin, but I’m a bigger Sabbath fan for two reasons - a bigger part in inventing metal and much more importantly, Sabbath I find to be much better lyrically. This is a great example of what I’m talking about. When those riffs climax at the end of the song, Geezer’s bass providing counterpoint, I feel like an orchestra is playing. So incredible.
“Solitude.” I really hope you guys have never been at a point in your lives where you can relate to this song, but if you were ever lonely, dumped and/or depressed, this song might hit you deep. One of the best songs about depression ever written. Ozzy’s somber vocals really touch my heart as does Geezer’s quarter note bass pulse and Tony Iommi’s flute playing. Yes, I said Iommi on flute. The instruments will branch out in albums to come, signs of it start here. But this song is pure therapy and so achingly beautiful.
“Into the Void.” Probably a top ten Sabbath song for me. A Tony Iommi riff master class. Every one of these riffs is extremely heavy and extremely hummable. Again, for 1971? Nobody was this heavy, just incredible. Also check out the bridge where things speed up. When Bill Ward’s double bass drums kick in it could be any modern metal band. I also love it towards the end when there are those crashing chords followed by Tony sliding up on the guitar, each slide getting higher and higher giving the song a great build in intensity.
A classic album for sure and the end of what I consider to be the end of phase one. The next album is a cusp album as it feels like a combo of what came before and what is about to come. Sabbath are about to go to record in Los Angeles and start experimenting in multiple ways for BLACK SABBATH VOL 4.
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I did notice this album was much more riff based, it actually sounds more accessible than Paranoiddespite not being as commercially successful.
I always hated that coughing intro. Whenever I heard my mom or brother listen to it my thought was "why are you listening to that?". Fortunately what follows is really good. I've never tried weed before and at the moment I have no interest, but I will admit the riff is very catchy. At about halfway through the song it changes and reminds me of some of what we heard on Paranoid. The drums were awesome there.
"After Forever" sounds like it was the song created to be a hit. I was not raised in a religious family, so I never cared if a band were accused of being Satanic. I also don't mind if the lyrics are Christian, that whole paranoia was way overblown.
I can see the influence "Children of the Grave" might have had on future metal bands. The verse sounds kind of thrashy. "Orchid" is breather song and I was surprised to hear it. It's gives you time to settle down and get ready for what's coming next.
I loved the bass playing on "Lord of this World". I could hear it clearly throughout, especially near the end of the song. "Solitude" reminds of "Planet Caravan". It has a somber, dark feeling and the vocals are also in the background. The flute playing enhances the song. It gives me a vision of a foggy day outside.
Yes, Tommy Iommi continues to shine here. "Into the Void" is a catchy song. It shows that despite what my grandmother thinks metal is not just a bunch of people bashing their instruments and it can be melodic.
I'm looking forward to seeing how Black Sabbath change in the future.
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In the 70’s and 80’s, Sabbath and Ozzy were branded as Satanists and picketed. A bad influence on kids. In the early 2000’s, Ozzy was a guest at The White House and considered father of the year. Both extremes are wrong.
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Of the theee Black Sabbath albums I’ve heard, this is probably my favorite. While I certainly liked the riffs on other Sabbath songs (especially “Hand of Doom”), there’s something about the ones here that really stand out, and I can see how the production here was emphasized more, especially with stuff like “After Forever” and “Solitude”.
That being said, I have to agree with HomokHarcos regarding “Sweet Leaf”. The coughing intro is kind of annoying and also have no interest in its subject, but the riff is very catchy. “After Forever” is really cool; I love that really fast riff that’s played throughout and how it successfully goes through the tempo changes without feeling unnatural.
Heck, I even like the instrumentals here. Yeah, I’ve been complaining about a lot of the instrumentals we’ve been talking about here later, but these ones just feel so much more focused and worthy of actually being included on the album. I can see where Iommi’s classical influence comes into play.
“Children of the Grave” and “Into the Void” are also both catchy and “Lord of this World” has a riff that reminds me of “Hand of Doom”. My favorite song here is “Solitude”. Much like “Planet Caravan”, it’s a very atmospheric song, almost sounding as though it’s medieval, and Ozzy gives such a different vocal performance that I had to wonder for a second if it actually was him. I love the flute, the bells, the vocals, the bass…pretty much everything about it is really unusual and cool, and that’s what makes it stand out.
So, yeah, overall a very solid album. Glad I got to check it out.
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https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/henry-rollins-favourite-black-sabbath-album/?amp
The chances of ever breaking eye contact with former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins are rather slim, and for a good reason. The singer, actor and all-around lover of the arts, Rollins has found notoriety for being one of the most intense people in music. It is both a blessing and a curse, and has seen Rollins caught on the wrong side of debates numerous times. However, where the singer’s unrelenting passion comes in handy is when he discusses music.
A total geek on all things music, Rollins has shed light on everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Death and even Pere Ubu in the past. To say that Rollins lives and breathes music would be something of an understatement. He’s one of those fellows, akin to a Mark Radcliffe, Johnny Marr or John Doran, who you could sit and listen to talk about music for hours. Rising from the underground to the legendary status he enjoys today, he has his finger on the pulse and is duly a respected voice on mainstream and more niche acts.
However, as with any avid music lover, there are a few acts that Rollins holds in higher regard than many others. For him, no more is this true than with Black Sabbath. A huge fan of the Birmingham band’s classic lineup, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, there’s one album of theirs that, for Rollins, trumps all the rest, this is 1971’s sludge fest Master of Reality.
This love for Sabbath, and particularly Master of Reality, accounts for Rollins’ dark side, and some of the more punishing moments in his back catalogue.
“Just my opinion, but the Black Sabbath catalogue is essential listening. One record from said catalogue really changed my mind on what arrangement meant in songs,” he told Sound of Vinyl in 2017. “The Black Sabbath album that means the most to me is their third album Master of Reality.” He followed this up with a simple message: “It is the first Black Sabbath album to get, then go from there.”
Given that a lot of Rollins work, be it in Black Flag or Rollins Band, have featured some gargantuan sounds made by the brotherly partnership of the bass and drums, it may come as little surprise to find out that Rollins views Butler and Ward as the best rhythm section in rock history.
When discussing Master of Reality, he told Goldmine in 2020: “Bill Ward and Geezer Butler are one of the greatest, if not undermentioned, rhythm sections in rock. This album not only has Tony Iommi capturing one of the greatest tones ever committed to tape, but Ward and Butler swinging as hard as they’re crushing it. This is a perfectly balanced bit of playing. This is the record I evaluate other rhythm sections by.”
One of the most influential albums of all time, by one of the most significant bands ever, Henry Rollins joins a long list of musical icons who list Master of Reality as one of the most excellent records ever put to wax.
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A one minute clip interview with Bill Ward. Really emotional. Vol. 4 review on Sunday.
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https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/black-sabbath
The general consensus for the Sabbath albums with ratings and reviews, though not necessarily mine.
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BLACK SABBATH VOL 4. Now we’re getting into sacred territory. This album and the few that come after are my favorite albums by Black Sabbath. Through my teens and twenties I considered BLACK SABBATH VOL 4 my favorite Sabbath album and maybe it still is. I can’t make up my mind. What I do know is I love the heaviness. I love the isolation in the lyrics. I love the musical experimentation that’s beginning to blossom and will continue further blossom on future albums. I love the songs. I love this album.
This is the first Black Sabbath album recorded in the U.S., Los Angeles, to be exact. The band, mostly Iommi, self produced it and you can ignore that Patrick Meehan co producer credit. He was their manager looking for an ego boost and will play into the story later. This is notoriously their cocaine album. In the liner notes, they thank the “Great Coke Cola Company.” Go to the Wikipedia page about this album if you want to read cocaine stories, but like so many rock bands of the 70’s, excess was seeping in. My latest listen I was reading along to the lyrics and I can really see on a few tracks the influence the drug had on the psyche and this album.
Musically, this is Black Sabbath, so of course this is heavy stuff. Some of these songs have really forward thinking riffs that show an evolution in both Black Sabbath and heavy metal in general and I’ll point some out in the track by track section. However, being the seventies and before things were so tightly pigeonholed, experimentation is also heard beyond metal. We get piano, mellotron, orchestras, acoustic instruments and Latin rhythms. Let’s do a track by track and see where all these things fall into place.
“Wheels of Confusion.” My favorite song on the album and one of my three favorite Sabbath songs ever. Starts out with a slow 6/8 beat and some somber and soulful Tony Iommi lead playing. Then it goes into this really slow, heavy riff punctured by Geezer Butler bass fills that lead into an again soulful Ozzy vocal. Great lyrics to this song. The riff after this verse is more note heavy and has Bill Ward wailing away on drums. The middle section is real moody, with that pulsing bass and drum beat and catchy Iommi riffs. Things tense up fast in the chorus and then goes back into one more verse. The finale is a highly emotional instrumental section that gives me goosebumps. The ways those chords crash before the rhythm section fully kicks in and Iommi’s soloing - brilliant. I don’t have the proper words for this song to express how much it means to me other than to say I’ve been under its spell for almost thirty years.
“Tomorrow’s Dream” was the attempted single from the album. It did nothing commercially, but it has a cool driving riff and rhythm and a mellower, moody bridge that gives an extra dynamic to the track. A cool, quick heavy melodic track.
“Changes.” I used to think this was an Ozzy solo song. When Ozzy released his LIVE AND LOUD video in the early 90’s, he did this song and MTV played the Hell out of that clip. Found out a few years later it was Sabbath. An amazingly beautiful ballad and probably my favorite break up song. Tony Iommi on piano, Geezer Butler on the mellotron (think of the intro of “Strawberry Fields Forever”) and one of my favorite Ozzy vocal performances ever. Sabbath may be known for heavy stuff, but when they get mellow, few bands play as beautifully as Sabbath in my opinion. There’ll be another example later in the album.
“FX.” Ninety seconds of weird noises. Seriously. I think this is the cocaine kicking in. The way it’s sequenced on the album, though, is perfect. Following the mellow “Changes,” this lulls me to sleep. After going to sleep, it is followed up by….
“Supernaut.” After the sleep inducing 90 second mindlessness of “FX” and the beautiful yet very mellow “Changes,” there has been a significant amount time with any heaviness or rocking. When the opening riff to “Supernaut” goes off, it’s like an alarm clock hitting you after a long night’s sleep. There are some amazing riffs on this song and this has been cited as the favorite Sabbath song of both Frank Zappa and John Bonham. Lyrically this is a bit out there and a bit delusional, probably the cocaine kicking in and my apologies to Geezer if I’m missing something here, but that’s my take. Fascinating nonetheless, and as awesome as the riffs are, this gets more musically adventurous with some Latin section in the middle. Tons of cool Bill Ward percussion and some rhythmic acoustic guitar, for a few moments this sounds like a Santana album. The experimentation is kicking in.
“Snowblind.” I suspect the previous song is influenced by cocaine, with this song there is nothing to suspect. Totally blatant in the title and lyrics. They actually wanted to name the album “Snowblind” but the record company refused. A concert staple and a total classic, this song is heavy and hook laden at the same time. The mellow chorus and solo section is really beautiful and is another great example of how Sabbath can change moods on a dime.
“Cornucopia.” For years this was one of my least favorite songs on the album - now it’s one of my favorites. It’s funny how tastes change. The lyrics have finally made sense to me over the past few years - it seems to be about how the media numbs us from truth and distracts us with consumerism. Great lyrics and musically this has more great riffs. That opening riff is really slow and doomy and then the riff that goes to the verse is a fast one and seems to be way ahead of its time as far as advancing heavy metal.
“Laguna Sunrise” A very, very beautiful instrumental. It’s Tony Iommi playing these layered, multi track acoustic guitar parts backed by an orchestra. The orchestra can be heard on the final verse of “Snowblind” but is more prevalent here. I remember once years ago I was pulling out of my driveway with this song playing. It was a snowy day. The combination of this song and the sun gleaming off the ice created one of the most beautiful moments for me. Probably my favorite Sabbath instrumental.
“St. Vitus Dance.” This is a real short, quick, to the point song. The lyrics and riffs are really direct for the most part except for that cool opening riff, which kind of has a Led Zeppelin feel to it. My favorite part of this song has always been when the bridge starts and the riff changes key. Really effective and it moves the song along nicely.
“Under the Sun.” The closing track and another absolute classic. Another song that starts out real slow and doomy where the bass and drums fill out the empty spaces quite well. The riff going into the verse is again way ahead of its time and one of my favorite Iommi riffs ever. Sounds about ten years ahead. A pretty progressive track with a lot of different parts and those riffs at the end are another example of guitar playing being layered to the point where it’s almost orchestral. Love the way the tempo just gets slower and slower until the song and album ends. Another brilliant track and with great lyrics delivered by Ozzy.
We’re in the run of albums that mean the most to me and the next album gets even more experimental, to the point where almost anything goes. That will be for next time, as for now, crank up BLACK SABBATH VOL 4 and go on the emotional journey it dares to take you.
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Going to throw this out there to. A real cool cover of “Changes” from the recently deceased Charles Bradley that is as good as the original. I heard this on YouTube, sans visuals when it came out and thought it was an obscure R&B singer from the 70’s recording this. Turns out to be fairly recent. Charles Bradley is singing this about the loss of his mother. Whether Sabbath or Bradley, a great song.
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This album I noticed is mostly based around slower riffs, what I think is called drone metal, or something similar. The opening track "Wheels of Confusion" is strong. I like the guitar riff here in the verses. Sounds like they were ahead of their time making the kind of music many bands would be making in the 1990s. The ending of the song is a good instrumental section that is faster paced. "Tomorrow's Dreams" is more of a run of the mill song, like "Paranoid" it feels like a more accessible song to the general public. Doesn't mean it's still not better than most of the songs I would hear.
I guess I had a different feeling about "Changes". I usually think Ozzy's vocals work really well with the heavier songs, but here his vocals felt very out of place for me. I was thinking another vocalist would have fit better for this song. "FX" sounds like ambient music that would be used in a video game or movie when there is tension. It actually reminds me of the first Tomb Raider game. "Supernaut" is the song I was familiar with. I liked the guitar riff a lot. I don't know if I can ever praise Tony Iommi enough. He's had a lot of great riffs so far. "Snowblind" is another catchy song with a good riff that also speeds up near the end and was actually giving me disco vibes. "Cornucopia" also, as you stated feels ahead of their time. It might be because I grew up hearing 1990s bands like Corrosion of Conformity and Monster Magnet, so I associate this sound with later bands. I think they must have been influenced by Black Sabbath.
"Sunrise" I think is a breather song, to put it. I like that we get to see a different side of the band. "St. Vitus Dance" has a very 1970s feel to it. It does sound like Led Zeppelin with the main riff. "Under the Sun" through most of the track feels less heavy, but I'd like to highlight that near the end it gets kind of bluesy with the guitar playing. This was another strong album.
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"Cornucopia" also, as you stated feels ahead of their time. It might be because I grew up hearing 1990s bands like Corrosion of Conformity and Monster Magnet, so I associate this sound with later bands. I think they must have been influenced by Black Sabbath.
Exactly right. In the 90’s, most heavy metal was a dirty word in mainstream circles, unfortunately. Ozzy era Black Sabbath was an exception and were finally starting to get their due. As the decades wore on, other eras of the band seem to be getting their due more and that will be discussed later. But yes, no doubt original Ozzy era Sabbath had a massive influence in the 90’s. I saw Corrosion of Conformity open for Metallica in 1997.
I guess I had a different feeling about "Changes". I usually think Ozzy's vocals work really well with the heavier songs, but here his vocals felt very out of place for me. I was thinking another vocalist would have fit better for this song.
Getting way ahead vocalist wise, but maybe you prefer Tony Martin’s version?
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A 90’s tribute album, before these were common.
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Never owned the vinyl myself, just CD (a few times), but here are the gatefold pictures of VOL 4. Very cool.
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HomokHarcos, I too noticed that there was more emphasis on slower riffs, and I liked that; it really emphasizes the darkness of the themes and music. I will flat out say “Snowblind” is my favorite song here; in fact, I think I’ll go as far as saying this is my favorite Sabbath song yet, even more than “Solitude”. I love that awesome slow riff, the drumming is cool, Ozzy sounds great vocally. I’ve listened to the song multiple times and I just keep wanting to hear it again, that’s how catchy it is. In general, I think Ozzy’s voice sounds at its best so far; the thing I noted most while listening to many of the tracks here were his vocals.
Much like the previous album, they do experiment with some atmospheric, different styles. “Laguna Sunrise” is a beautiful instrumental in classical fashion, and “Changes” is actually a piano-focused song that also effectively captures that somber atmosphere. Other standouts to me were “Wheels of Confusion”, which had a really awesome jam part at the end, and “St. Vitus Dance”, a fast, but really solid number. HomokHarcos, I too noted some blues influences in “Under the Sun” and it was kind of nice to hear that they never completely forgot about that. Much like the previous album, though, this is more focused on pioneering a musical style and also like the previous album, it does it really well. The only track I don’t like is FX. It feels like a waste of space; not very focused and with some dead air.
Production-wise, I did notice the bass was not nearly mixed as high as the first three, which was a bit of a shame considering I liked that aspect, but it’s made up for with that slower style and solid vocals. I’m debating between this and MASTER OF REALITY as my current favorite, as both have incredibly catchy riffs and vary up the styles in just the right way. I think I might be slightly leaning towards this now.
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Glad you like this Sam. You’re the second person I’ve ever played Sabbath for who was especially impressed by “Snowblind.” Agreed, it’s a great song.
I’m really interested in what you guys will think of the next album.
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Anthrax’s cover of the title track of the next Sabbath album. I post this because I heard this before I heard the Sabbath version. I also met singer Joey Belladonna - nicest rock star I ever met.
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Like I stated in the VOL 4 review, we’re in sacred territory here and will be for the next few albums. This is album number five out of eight with the original line up and from here on out, the experimentation will be the most abundant at any time during Sabbath’s career. Out of these final four original line up albums, I would say only one of them is as heavy as the first four and it’s not SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH. I will get into that aspect more in depth and people’s perceptions of these latter era Ozzy albums versus mine when we discuss the last two of these eight. SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH might just be the band’s most artistic album. Tony Iommi himself considers this a peak for the band, Ozzy feels he should have left the band after this album and as for myself, I hear the occasional “Sgt. Pepper” moment or two.
As for the band itself, remember all that cocaine stuff during the last album? Well, the drugs will continue to take their toll all the way until this line up breaks up and beyond. During the VOL 4 tour, Iommi was on a days long cocaine binge and passed out after a show. At this point the band decided to take a break and cancelled the rest of the tour. They eventually went back to the same L.A. studio where they recorded VOL 4 and produced absolutely nothing. A complete case of writer’s block and most likely, due to the drugs and constant touring, exhaustion.
They then went to Morgan Studios in England at the same time Yes were recording TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS in the same studio. One day, Iommi finally came up with the opening riff for the title track and from there the ideas flowed. Morgan Studios offered Sabbath something else that will be prevalent in their next batch of albums - synthesizers. Yes, the sound really starts expanding now. Let’s do the track by track.
“Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.” The legendary title track. Classic Iommi opening riff and great lyrics and vocal melodies throughout. Check this song out during chorus time, such a beautiful dynamic change going acoustic like that. I really love that part and it totally threw me for a loop the first time I heard it because I was used to the Anthrax version. I love the way the song progresses after the guitar solo and that riff under the vocals in the second half is crushingly heavy. Another downtuned to C# riff. This song is a Sabbath classic.
“A National Acrobat.” Awesome lyrics by Geezer. This one is about all the millions of unconceived sperm cells and all those lives that could have been. It then progresses into this bit about reincarnation, really trippy stuff. The opening riff reminds me of “Fade To Black” from Metallica (more on that later), and I love the way towards the end of the song, thing gets faster yet the band really swings, something that got lost with most bands after the seventies. Another great track.
“Fluff” The instrumental of the album and other than some light bass touches, this is an Iommi showpiece. Not only is he on acoustic guitar, but he’s also playing piano and - harpsichord! Remember that from the Elton discussion? Shows up with Sabbath too, gotta love the seventies. A really beautiful, mellow piece. I first heard this song in 1994 and around the same time, R.E.M. had a hit with “Everybody Hurts.” I noticed instantly the opening acoustic guitar licks for both songs are one and the same.
“Sabbra Cadabra.” Remember when I said Sabbath, unlike most other seventies hard rock bands, didn’t sing about sex? This is the one exception. A positively rocking song about being happy having your girl and making love to her. The music itself is joyful and again, the rhythm section really swings on this track, walking bass in parts and impossible not to shake your butt to. Oh, and the piano and synths on this one? Rick Wakeman from Yes. The above mentioned Yes album is the only classic era Yes album I have not warmed up to and Rick Wakeman feels the same way - he left the band shortly after. Probably bored with Yes, he hung out with the Sabbath guys and recorded some cool parts for this song. Rick’s son, Adam Wakeman, who was born around this time, has played keyboards for Ozzy and Sabbath and released an album called JAZZ SABBATH (jazz covers of Sabbath tunes), I really should check out.
As for Metallica? Out of all the Sabbath songs they could have covered, it was “Sabbra Cadabra” that showed up on GARAGE, INC. However, it wasn’t a straight cover as they made it a medley with “A National Acrobat.” A cool cover on its own, but lacks the swing of the original.
“Killing Yourself to Live.” Speaking of Metallica, I just read this is Kirk Hammett’s favorite Sabbath tune. A concert opener for a couple of tours, this is another Sabbath classic. Though this song is way more progressive than anything Kurt Cobain would ever write, the riff during the chorus sounds very Nirvana like. There are some cool synth parts in this one, played by Tony and Ozzy, and again, another song that speeds up in the end and has this joyous, infectious swing in the rhythm section, Geezer and Bill are awesome. The song is totally about drug addiction, to make sense of the title.
“Who Are You?” Five years before The Who song and album, folks. Ozzy actually wrote this one and it is the most synth heavy track on the album. Really cool Orwellian lyrics as well. Ozzy and Geezer on synths, Tony on piano and Geezer again on mellotron. The opening synth riff is real simple. Ozzy is a one handed piano player, but that’s a cool and doomy sounding riff nonetheless. Some fans like this one, others don’t, but throw me in the former. I like the experimental side of Sabbath and like I said, I will discuss this more in depth on albums seven and eight.
“Looking For Today.” This and the final track, along with the title track, are my three favorite songs on the album. This song is pop perfection and pretty ironic considering the lyric is about one hit wonders. Ah, but this is way more progressive and thoughtful than one hit wonders tend to be. Starts with an upbeat riff and galloping Bill Ward rhythm along with Ozzy’s melodic verse singing. Then it gets to that mood change in the next part, as stunning as the mood change in the title track. Back to the two parts one more time and then they get to that unbelievably simple and catchy chorus. This song makes the hairs on my arms stand, but then it is followed up by the mighty…..
“Spiral Architect.” Black Sabbath’s “A Day In the Life.” A true masterpiece and one of my favorite Black Sabbath songs ever. Starts with some beautiful clean Iommi guitar playing, goes into this rhythm punctuated by these Pete Townsend like power chords and has this melodic guitar hook and drum beat going into the verse. Another melodic masterpiece and the way the orchestra kicks into the pre chorus adds such depth to this song. Speaking of the orchestra, they get to shine in the middle in place where the guitar solo would normally be. I also love the way the tracks ends as it fades out with the applause and rhythm section going.
An artistic masterpiece from Sabbath and their most mature effort to date. All these words and it still fails to express how much this album means to me. Next time we get to discuss the mighty SABOTAGE!
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Holy moly. If they were having personal problems with drugs it definitely wasn't ruining their musical talent at this point. I think this is their best album yet.
"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is the song I was most familiar with, and it is an excellent rocking tune. The usual great Tommy guitar playing is here again. The acoustic part also surprised me, but then they seemed to do quite a few tricks in this album. "A National Acrobat" is a song that could have fit in the earlier Black Sabbath albums. It has an awesome guitar riff for the most part of the song, and then changes into another beat that becomes the highlight of the song. "Fluff" sounds like a song that would fit in those older fantasy inspired video games as background music. "Sabbra Cadabra" surprised me with the pianos and synthesizers. I liked the piano here, the end of the song actually sounds like Black Sabbath doing jazz fusion.
"Killing Yourself to Live" is definitely metal. I can see how Metallica and other metal bands from the late 1970s and 1980s have been inspired by this band. "Who Are You" works for what it is. I used to not be into synth music, but I'm warning up to it. It's not a poppy use of the instrument in this song, but a more atmospheric feeling. "Looking or Today" is a slower paced song that is a good follow-up to what came before. It goes right back into the hard rocking. The ending of the song is again my favorite part. "Spiral Architect" is an excellent song. The orchestra was awesome, and I think this is the first Black Sabbath song so far that has the feeling of an epic. Might be my personal pick for favorite track on here.
There hasn't been a miss yet, and this is my favorite album so far.
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Black Sabbath will have keyboards throughout most of their career this point forward, but with perhaps a one album exception in the mid 80’s, used mostly for atmospheric or progressive purposes.
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I can see what you meaning regarding the band’s expanding of styles here. The presence of the synths especially is something that gives it a bit of its own identity. “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” is a great opener, and one I swear I’ve heard before. It’s another nice number that’s able to naturally change from electric to acoustic and back. “A National Acrobat” is also really cool; I especially like the focus on Ozzy’s harmonies and what I think might be double-tracked guitar (sorry if that’s wrong, I’m still not great with all guitar terminology); it kind of gives the overall song a “duo” feel, almost as though the guitar is also harmonizing with itself along with Ozzy.
I’m surprised at the amount of instrumentals Black Sabbath has done. “Fluff” is another cool acoustic-focused song, and yes, I too enjoyed the presence of the harpsichord on it. “Sabbra Cadabra” is the first noticeable use of synths here; my thoughts on synths are kind of similar to HomokHarcos; I have warmed up to synth-dominated music more recently, but I still think it’s at its best when it’s used for color and not the dominant sound, and that’s exactly what happens here. I especially love the piano here; I definitely can hear the jazz fusion connection.
The next two tracks are where I think things dip a bit. “Killing Yourself to Live” is OK, but I thought it kind of dragged a bit at times. “Who Are You?” is the most synth-dominated track here, and for me it doesn’t really work. It’s strange, because when I heard the synths here, I immediately thought of “Saviour Machine” by David Bowie; the synths have very otherworldly feels to them on both songs, and I really like “Saviour Machine”. But there, it really felt they were building to something; you could hear the pain and desperation in Bowie’s voice and all the instruments including the synth. You kind of get that on “Who Are You?”, but only when they focus more on the guitar and the drums; the rest of it is quite slow and really feels like it’s dead set on following the same synth riff constantly. Sorry, not a big fan of this one.
Things improve again with the last two tracks. “Looking For Today” is indeed a very cool, progressive track. The flutes are cool and it’s another one that transitions perfectly from electric to acoustic. It’s a very catchy song, especially the ending fadeout. “Spiral Architect” is a perfect closer, the kind that feels like it was always meant to be the closer. It builds up properly at the beginning, has an orchestra, really tight drums once again…it screams “epic finale”. It’s a very tight tie between this, “Looking For Today”, and “Sabbra Cadabra” as my favorite track on the album.
So, as a whole, I do think this is a bit of a down step considering I don’t really like two of the tracks all that much, but what’s good is still really good, and I’m glad that they were taking risks and experimenting, because really, that’s how you progress as a band. Even if I don’t like every result, what they pulled off with songs like “Sabbra Cadabra” and “Looking For Today” is really admirable and I still enjoy the majority of the album.
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Definitely double tracked guitars on “A National Acrobat.” There are guitar harmonies throughout. I’ve been listening to more 70’s prog rock the older I’ve gotten, so synths don’t quite bother me as much versus, say, when used an 80’s pop way. “Who Are You?” is very simplistic and I can understand it not being everyone’s cup of tea. When the guys in Sabbath played keyboards, they learned from scratch and weren’t exactly Elton or Wakeman level players. Still, I enjoy the work they did - though on most future albums they will get professional keyboard guys.
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This is a half hour documentary about the album we’ll discuss next weekend. Some YouTube channel made it, not official and it already has almost half a million views in two months. Very well done, going into the mob like management stuff that plagued the band during the SABOTAGE album and then going into a track by track.
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Album number six is 1975’s SABOTAGE. If you put a gun to my head and I had to pick a favorite Black Sabbath album, this would be the one - presently. If I had to choose a favorite song, it would also be on this album. The documentary on YouTube I linked above does a fine job describing what was happening with the band at this time, but I’ll give you the short version. The band had a horrible parting with manager Patrick Meehan, Jr. and decided to manage themselves, which I’m sure you can imagine is stressful. The band was mired in legal battles. Drummer Bill Ward, at the ripe old age of 26, suffered his first heart attack (he, along with the other three guys, are all fortunately still with us). Basically, the band had no money, were having some health issues and were continuing their spiral into drug abuse. Sounds like so many other bands of this era. In spite of all this, they created another classic album.
Like I stated in the SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH review, only one of the last four original line up albums would be as heavy as the first four and that album would be SABOTAGE. It also maintains the progressive qualities of the last album and the two that follow. It’s that combination, the best of both worlds which is why I rank SABOTAGE as the best. There are some extremely heavy parts on this album, heavier, in parts, than anything Black Sabbath or anyone else did by 1975. There are also moments of adventure and beauty sprinkled throughout that really make this album a winner. Another thing to note is that SABOTAGE is the last of what is generally considered to be the classic era of the original line up. There are two original line up albums to go after this and I will give my opinions on those albums versus the general consensus, but that’s for next time. Just know for now, this is considered the last classic, by most people, of the Ozzy era. 1970 - 1975, which I believe coincides with Elton’s consensus classic era. Onto the track by track.
“Hole in the Sky.” Fantastic opener. A real heavy guitar and bass sound can be heard on this song and it fortunately carries throughout the entire album. Another case where there is heaviness involved yet Geezer and Bill still swing mightily. I love the fact Metallica played this song at the Black Sabbath induction ceremony in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Really high Ozzy vocals - actually, Ozzy’s best vocals are on this album. I think they’re almost too good as if you listen to some live concerts from this tour, he has trouble hitting these notes live. I think it’s one of the reasons the band tended to play the earlier stuff in the reunion area, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Great song. Next.
“Don’t Start (Too Late)” What is this, forty nine seconds? Well, it’s cool, multi tracked and harmonized acoustic Iommi guitar playing. It’s gives a momentary mellow mood and listen to this in headphones to appreciate the multiple parts coming out of the different speakers. An intro to the mighty…..
“Symptom of the Universe” Holy friggin shiitake mushrooms. The is the heaviest song ever written as of 1975. Though not pure thrash, it has that intensity and is a forbearer. Classic opening tritone riff and when Iommi hits those three chords after it, Bill Ward’s drum playing can only be described as being inspired from Animal of The Muppets. Also love that other heavy riff Iommi plays where Butler and Ward hit the well timed accents and Ozzy is no doubt flashing peace signs in synch too when played live. This all sounds way ahead of its time. Ozzy’s vocals are again incredible and being seventies Sabbath, what do you do when writing the heaviest song of its time? End it by playing flamenco like acoustic guitar, bossa nova rhythms and Ozzy singing impassioned hippie love child lyrics. Pure brilliance.
“Megalomania.” Oh what, you think they’re going to stop being awesome there? Hell no. Now we get the nine and a half minute mind melter known as “Megalomania.” A song about delusion and madness, the track starts moody and mellow. I love the way Ozzy’s first line fades in and repeats for each verse, such a cool effect. Cool lead guitar, melodic bass, tasteful percussion, fascinating lyrics. After a few minutes of this awesome atmosphere, we get a few bars of piano rock followed by Bill pounding on the mighty cowbell. What then follows is what I consider to be the greatest Tony Iommi riff ever. Seriously, dig that riff. It gets more mighty when the rhythm section followed by Ozzy’s vocals, kick in. Four men, while going through Hell outside the music, still maintaining that undeniable chemistry when they play together. Again, pure brilliance.
“Thrill of It All” A really cool, melodic, multi layered guitar song with fantastic lyrics and fantastic guitar soloing in the end. Also some prominent synthesizers here, a good track to open side two. My least favorite song on the album (not counting the forty nine second instrumental) but still a very solid track. Just a situation where everything that surrounds it is incredible, which takes us too…..
“Supertzar” Plenty of vocals on this one but none of them Ozzy’s. The vocals belong to the English Chamber Choir. There’s a hilarious story, repeated in the documentary, that one day Ozzy walked into the studio, saw the choir and thought he was in the wrong place. An amazing piece of music, basically classical music backed by heavy metal instrumentation. There’s harp on this one too. I’m not a big hi tech stereo equipment guy, but one day I heard SABOTAGE on vinyl at a friend’s on big speakers and this track sounded especially amazing in that environment. One other thing to add is that for several future tours, Black Sabbath would use “Supertzar” as their piped in intro music as they were heading on stage. An awesome piece of music that makes the hairs on my arms stand.
“Am I Going Insane (Radio)” A synth dominated pop track about mental instability that a lot of fans dislike. Not me though, I love this song. I love the lyrics, melodic elements, the atmosphere of the synths, the bass and drums and The Beatles like instrumental section in the middle. Ozzy himself wrote this one. There was down time between the previous album and this one and Ozzy, for the first time, flirted with going solo. This song was the result. He would eventually leave the band but we’re not there yet. The song ends in some multi tracked demented laughter which also bleeds into the next and final track known as….
“The Writ” My favorite Black Sabbath song ever. Lyrically written by Ozzy again, this is about as venomous as Sabbath ever sounded as this is seething anger at now estranged manager Patrick Meehan, Jr. The documentary I linked to above, which just came out a few months ago, gave me more insight on the situation and some of the lines now make even more sense to me as a result. Musically this song is an epic. Starts out with Geezer’s wah-wah pedaled bass line before crashing into the more dynamically intense verses. Ozzy’s vocals are again incredible, at his absolute peak. When the verse ends, it goes back into that soft Geezer line with some cool backward recorded cymbals on the drums accented in certain spots, definitely showing off that studio experimentation. The song eventually progresses into this really beautiful mellow part with amazing melody and again, harpsichord. Worthy of The Beatles here, Ozzy’s singing continues to impress and the lyrics in this part turn reflective and then with a sign of hope through all the BS they are going through as a band. An absolute epic and masterpiece.
Some copies of this album end with a little throw away bit called “Blow On A Jug” Just Ozzy and Bill messing around in the studio singing a drunk pub song on the piano. Serves the same purpose as “Her Majesty” on ABBEY ROAD. The CD version I bought in 1994 does not contain this. Subsequent versions I have bought is box sets and deluxe editions do and I believe it’s available on all streaming services.
So there it is, SABOTAGE. Hope you guys enjoy this one, I rank it with The White Album and MASTER OF PUPPETS as my favorite albums of all time. Don’t expect you to like it that much, but I’m curious what you guys will think.
Oh, and that album cover? The story behind it is classic. Ozzy in a kimono and Bill Ward wearing his wife’s tights and Ozzy’s underwear underneath because he had nothing else to wear. This is covered in the documentary too. A cover that is great and awful at the same time.
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Wow, what can I say than other they put out another great record with Sabotage? A strong album the whole way through, Black Sabbath are probably now one of my favorite bands of the 1970s.
"Hole in the Sky" is a good 1970s hard rock song. A good way to open the album. The way the song ends is a bit off (on Spotify) as it goes right into the next track with out any ending of the song or fade-out. I thought this was my phone or Spotify's fault, but then I heard a playlist on YouTube where the same thing happened. Not sure if that was intentional. "(Don't Start) Too Late" is my favorite mellow song Black Sabbath has done so far. I listened to it over again a few times once the album was over. "Symptom of the Universe" might be my pick for favorite Black Sabbath song overall at this point. It's almost split into two very different sections between a more heavy part and less heavy part. Both sections are very good. I wasn't expecting the song to change like that, but it was a very pleasant surprise. "Megalomania" was probably the catchiest song on the album, and one that would have worked best as a single. Another mandatory shout-out to Tommy Iommi, I'm not too entirely connected to music fandom, but I hope he is recognized as one of the great guitar players.
"Thrill of it All" has a sort of arena rock feel to it, sounds like it was meant to be played at the end of the setlist. "Supertzar" disappointed me. I thought it started off OK enough, but I thought it was building to something more epic. The song kind of stays the same throughout, and then ends. When I first saw the title “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” I thought the title was implying it was a radio edit, but I guess that's what the song is actually called. I liked the song, though I can definitely understand people who think the synthesizers make the song too poppy. "The Writ": I liked hearing an epic. I noticed this album didn't have too many tracks, but that was no big deal as the long songs did not feel too overly long and I didn't notice them dragging at all. I liked the long harpsichord section of the song. It reminded of the early Elton John albums we were listening to. On Spotify it did end with the bonus track.
If this was the end of Black Sabbath's peak output, it was a great run. Who knows though, I might end up enjoying their later releases. After all, I'm a fan of the Joe Besser shorts.
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First six albums = healthy Curly
Last two Ozzy albums = Sick Curly
Dio = Shemp
Gillan/Hughes = Besser
Tony Martin = Derita
Keyboardist Geoff Nichols = Emil Sitka (a supporting player starting with the Shemp era who became an official member later on)
Trust me Homok, there’s a lot of good music ahead.
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Reading about all the management and legal problems they were having around this time, I think it’s impressive that the band were able to find the focus and inspiration to make an album at all, and the result is good, although I do think the first two tracks are the weakest on the album. The vocals on “Hole in the Sky” (and the whole album in general) are indeed very good, but when I listen to it, I just think of “Looking For Today”, and it’s not nearly as catchy as that..and, yeah, the ending of the song seemed off to me too, but I’m not sure if that’s just how it is on streaming versus the original album. “Don’t Start (Too Late)” is very forgettable, probably my least favorite Black Sabbath instrumental in a while.
The rest of the album, though...very cool stuff. I loved the drumming on “Symptom of the Universe” as well as the little acoustic/bongo detour it takes near the end. “Megalomania” is a very atmospheric song; I can see the opening very well being played in a graveyard, and it’s another one of those songs that’s long but never feels like its length due to all the various things happening in it. I can see the arena rock connection to “Thrill of it All”; another solid riff and one I could imagine going down well live.
“Supertzar” is awesome. I don’t know if it’s just me thinking this, but this sounds very much like something that could have been a precursor to symphonic metal. Everything about it screams epic; the choir, the harp, the guitar...it all has a really awesome classical feel to it that’s given a harder edge. I could very well see this being played in a modern fantasy video game. “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” is also really awesome; the mixture of the synthesizer and Ozzy’s vocals was really cool, definitely capturing a very futuristic feel. “The Writ” is another good closer; I love the bass opening and much like “Symptom of the Universe”, it takes these really cool detours in the music where they go a bit softer, this time using harpsichord. I actually kind of like “Blow on a Jug”. It’s funny you mention the connection to ABBEY ROAD, metaldams, because I was thinking more SGT. PEPPER with its crazy fadeout at the end, which I like, unlike”Her Majesty”, which just feels like a throwaway they screwed up the ending to.
If this is indeed the end of Black Sabbath’s “classic era”, then it is indeed a good end to the run, but we’ll see soon if that reputation is entirely deserved.
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Again, glad you guys are digging this. Interesting take about comparing “Supertzar” to symphonic metal - I’m going to have to stream some Nightwish now.
As far as this being the end of the classic Ozzy era, my rebuttal will come with the next album but yes, according to popular belief, this is the case. Ozzy’s initial replacement singer starting album number nine is Ronnie James Dio and the parallels with Curly and Shemp as far as perception go are very much the same. Ozzy and Curly are more known to the general public but there are hardcore fans who swear up and down Shemp and Dio are better.
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Next album preview.
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Album number seven of eight with the original line up is 1976’s TECHNICAL ECSTASY. The band’s management situation was still up in the air at this point and they decided to record this one in sunny Miami with Tony Iommi producing. Iommi complained he did the bulk of the work while the rest of the band relaxed on the beach, so combined with the continued drug use, band tensions are brewing. From a culturally accepted point of view, this album and the next are considered low points of the Ozzy era, which I will get to in a moment. Commercially this album only charted number 52 in the U.S. but they still headlined Madison Square Garden on this tour. So yeah, about TECHNICAL ECSTASY ending the classic Ozzy era, read my take below.
I think the issue is Black Sabbath, in the minds of a lot of people, invented heavy metal. People expect doomy heavy riffs and not much else. Black Sabbath, in the seventies, did a lot more than that and that continues, even more so, on TECHNICAL ECSTASY. The pre punk seventies in general were an adventurous time for music and Black Sabbath were a part of that. If you go on YouTube and watch the tons of album ranking videos of Black Sabbath albums, of about twenty albums, a lot of times you will see this album in the bottom three and the Dio and Tony Martin albums ranking above all the Ozzy albums. Dio maybe I can understand, but the Tony Martin stuff? Again, it’s the whole heavy metal thing. Those albums are more pure metal than TECHNICAL ECSTASY and the seventies stuff in general, but especially TECHNICAL ECSTASY. I think you guys reading this aren’t metal purists so I’m sure you’ll have an open mind concerning this album.
As for me? I worship this album. I’ve listened to this album countless times for the past thirty years and like every album from PARANOID to here, is a 10/10 in my book. Black Sabbath is my favorite band of the seventies for a reason. I love the diversity of the songs, the lyrics, the sound, the playing, everything. This album has always hit me emotionally and is an underdog favorite of mine. I know it like the back of my hand. Onto the track by track.
“Back Street Kids” Pretty heavy galloping opening riff and a song about no matter how famous they are and all the BS they have to go through, they’re still just a bunch of kids from Birmingham who want to play rock. Perhaps a wishful yearning for simpler times. A pretty rocking track and one thing I noticed right away was the dominant synthesizer section. This time Sabbath hired a pro so Gerald Woodroffe (who would later work with Robert Plant solo), plays all the keyboards on this album. The bridge, melodically, always reminded of something that would sound at home on an early Ozzy solo album. Cool song.
“You Won’t Change Me” A classic in my eyes. Love the slow, doomy riff that starts the song, the keyboard riff before the verses, the lyrics and especially Tony Iommi’s lead playing throughout. I actually think some of Iommi’s best soloing is on this album. His tone is really good here as well. Lyrically about yearning for love but knowing somehow that won’t change all that’s inside anyway. Really love this song.
“It’s Alright” If Ozzy sounds different to you here, that’s because it’s drummer Bill Ward singing - and he’s wonderful. A very Paul McCartney meets Brian Wilson kind of song, not the kind of thing one associates with Sabbath. Tony’s lead guitar here is again amazing and has a bit of a Brian May feel to it. A lot of people think he was inspired by Queen at this time and sure enough, Tony Iommi and Brian May, to this day, are real good friends. But yes, another total classic in my eyes, Bill Ward proving he can sing and go into Beatles territory quite well. Covered live by Guns N’ Roses on the Use Your Illusion tour.
“Gypsy” What do Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Mercyful Fate and future Sabbath singer Dio all have in common? A song with this title. Uriah Heep was first. The Sabbath Gypsy is again another classic, a really atmospheric and progressive number that is a cool fantasy song. Starts sci-fi, turns seductive and ends evil. Lots of different parts to this song that gel together extremely well. Love it.
“All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” Geezer Butler - funk bass. If those words don’t conjure up extreme levels of awesomeness, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, there’s some funky bass and keyboards here and it really works well. The bridge takes the song in another heavy and progressive direction - I really like the way they mix up styles on this song and album in general. Like “Cornucopia,” another song whose lyrics I did not understand until fairly recently. Get down with Geezer, funk master general.
“Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor” A song that gets criticized a lot. Yes, it’s Sabbath doing a boogie song with a bit more cliched lyrics than usual. So what? When the rhythm section is that pounding and swinging and Ozzy’s vocal that strong, it works. The lead guitar break also takes the song off in another direction briefly, giving the song an identity beyond a basic boogie song. A well performed, kick ass song as far as I’m concerned.
“She’s Gone” Yet another song that gets criticized a lot. It’s a straight acoustic ballad with strings. If you ask me, it’s beautiful. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Sabbath may be known for heavy music, but when they get mellow and soft, they sound more heartfelt and real than most soft rock groups. At least to my ears. Ozzy’s vocals with this arrangement and lyrics gets me every time and I love the way Geezer’s bass fills out the second verse. A song about a man losing his woman in heartbreaking fashion - simple yet well done.
“Dirty Women” The biggest concert staple on the album. When I saw Sabbath in 1999, I was pleasantly surprised they played this song. The title is self explanatory and I’ve always gotten a laugh that the previous song is about a guy with extreme heartbreak over losing a woman and the next song about a guy in the streets looking for one. A mini concept album? Anyway, my bizarre thoughts aside, a really great song and the riff during the chorus is the heaviest on the album for sure. Another song that goes through a few cool parts and ends as a wonderful guitar showcase for Iommi and an excuse for Ozzy to throw water on the crowd and moon everybody - probably why they play it live. Great album closer.
So yeah, as you can see, I love this album. I love every single song and I have had several phases these past few decades where I listen to this album a lot. TECHNICAL ECSTASY has always been a favorite of mine. While the heavy metal purists tend to knock this one, there are enough of the hardcore faithful that appreciate this album and I’m one of them. I don’t do Facebook, but this album even has a Facebook page for fans of this album, linked below, known as “Technical Ecstasy Appreciation Society.” I hope you enjoy this one as after this, we have one more album with Ozzy and then we are introduced to Jack Black’s favorite singer, the mighty Ronnie James Dio.
https://www.facebook.com/sabtechex/
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I'm not one who generally thinks an artist has to do a certain style, if I have fun and enjoy what I'm consuming I'm happy. It's a similar thing with Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon working for Columbia, yes they were basically doing Three Stooges comedy, but I found them entertaining.
"Back Street Kids": This a rocking song, and looking at the length would have been a good radio single. The synthesizers worked pretty well here, enhancing the music with it. "You Won't Change Me" is a rocking, almost jam-like song that reminds me of their earlier albums.
"It's Alright" caught me by surprise, I wasn't expecting a song like that. I did notice it wasn't Ozzy singing, but couldn't have told you who the vocalist was. The chorus is very good, and a nice change of pace in this album. "Gypsy" definitely sounds like a mid 1970s song with it's sound, almost giving me arena rock vibes similar to other bands from that time. "All Moving Parts (Standing Still)" might be the closest we see the band attempting to play funk, it gives a very catchy chorus as is usual for funk, almost reminds me of the Commodores. The guitar playing is also very good.
"Rock 'n Roll Doctor" has my favorite guitar playing in the whole album, I wouldn't have guessed this song was disliked so much, but then again I'm not one who will let lyrics ruin a song for me. The keyboards being used in a boogie-woogie style is fascinating. "She's Gone" has a very beautiful instrumentation. When it started I assumed it would be a short song like many of the other mellow pieces we've heard, but I liked that it was given full length. "Dirty Women" was a good closer to the album. The ending of the song brought a great, mostly instrumental section.
I definitely didn't think it was too much of a drop from their previous albums, but the ratings on Rate Your Music suggest that's how many people feel.
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I posted the It’s Alright video above. There’s also one made for Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor.
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This is the so-called “low point” of the Ozzy era? This album? I was listening throughout, trying to find out what the so-called “low points” were, and I could not for the life of me find out. Instead, I found an album I really enjoyed from start to finish. In fact, I would go so far as saying I preferred it to SABOTAGE.
“Back Street Kids” is a great opener because outside of the little bits of synth occasionally thrown in, it feels very much like classic Sabbath, something you could of heard on MASTER OF REALITY or VOLUME 4. It feels very much like a callback, a reminder of where they came from. I agree about the keyboard riff before the verses on “You Won’t Change Me”. Really cool, and that combined with the smashing drums throughout make this the type of song I’d most associate with the album cover; they make it sound as though the world is falling apart. Ward’s voice works for “It’s Alright”. The piano and bass really keep the pace going well on this one. “Gypsy” has a very dramatic sound to it, and the backing vocals support this, probably the most unique use of backing vocals I’ve heard from Black Sabbath yet. Once again, the piano and bass really stand out especially; this is the first Black Sabbath album in quite some time where I think the bass is standing out consistently throughout.
“All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” is a really catchy song; it pulls you right in from the beginning, and that guitar riff keeps your attention. I like “Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor” too. Lyrically it may not be great, but the guitar playing still feels very much like Sabbath and the piano playing contributes to that boogie-woogie style, a style that I like. “She’s Gone” is fantastic. The acoustic riffs, the strings, the sorrow in Ozzy’s voice...this song is incredibly powerful and atmospheric. This is my favorite song on the album. Ozzy’s voice and Tony’s guitar blend so well together on “Dirty Women”, and they get another chance to do this really cool instrumental section in the middle. It’s 7 minutes, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it. It really feels like a proper closing, very well made.
So, yeah, I’m with you guys, I think this is a really solid album and I agree it should be considered among their classics as well. It’s got the right amount of variety and even if there was turmoil and issues with the band, to me, that’s not reflected in the record; this still very much sounds like a lineup that was still capable of creating great music together.
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Glad you guys dig this one. I was hoping it would be the case and I think it proves if you don’t go into this album with a heavy metal mindset - like most Sabbath fans do, there’s a ton of great music here. Might as well post the next album review since it’s already written. Listen whenever you’re ready.
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After the TECHNICAL ECSTASY tour in 1977, a major even happens for Black Sabbath - Ozzy leaves the band! A combination of long brewing tensions, drugs and Ozzy losing his father. In the fall of 1977, Black Sabbath get a new singer named Dave Walker and begin writing material for the next album which will be released in 1978 called NEVER SAY DIE. Dave Walker was previously in brief stints with Savoy Brown and a pre Stevie Nicks blues based version of Fleetwood Mac. The line up with Dave Walker even appeared on the BBC and recorded one track for them that was publicly aired called “Junior’s Eyes.” It would be the only thing of note with this line up as Ozzy returned to the band in early 1978.
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After Ozzy returned, all of the songs were already written for the next album and the band went to Toronto in the dead of winter to record. Here’s the problem - Ozzy refused to sing any of Dave Walker lyrics and melodies! So all of the vocals and lyrics were basically rewritten by day and recorded by night. So yes, between recording in Toronto in the dead of winter in a studio that wasn’t ideal, the Ozzy situation, the continued drug problems, things weren’t good. I believe this was around the time they got infamous mafioso manager Don Arden. He is also the father of Sharon Arden - later last name Osbourne. Yup, that Sharon, who I’m sure you all know as Ozzy’s manager and from levels of fame way beyond music. She’ll play into the story, both coming soon and until the present era.
As far as the music goes, I like NEVER SAY DIE, but it is my least favorite of the eight with the original line up. It really boils down to this. There are nine tracks. I love the first six and the last three not so much - though one of the tracks is growing on me in recent years. The band is continuing in the experimental direction over the last few albums and not being heavy by Black Sabbath standards. Keyboards are on the album again, this time played by Don Airey. He would go on to play for Ozzy solo (You guys know the intro to “Mr. Crowley?” That’s him), and a zillion other acts over the years before being the current keyboardist for Deep Purple the past twenty years. Deep Purple. Get used to that name because with all the line up changes we’re about to witness, a good percentage of these people have some degree of separation with Deep Purple. Onto the track by track.
“Never Say Die” Classic title track and the most famous song on the album. This song was big enough in England where Sabbath got to play Top of the Pops. It’s a hard hitting, swinging pop song about perseverance, something the band desperately needed at this point. Love the melody here, be it’s Ozzy’s singing or the counterpoint guitar lines Tony plays. A fantastic bridge that’s Beatle worthy. Very moving, fast paced rhythm section. Awesome opening track.
“Johnny Blade” Big solo synthesizer intro by Don Airey that goes into this awesome Iommi riff - my favorite on the album, before going into the verse. Bill Ward is on fire throughout this entire track, a fantastic drum performance. Lyrically as I understand it, it’s about Bill Ward’s brother, a street gang type of guy. The song musically progresses in a few cool directions with tempo and chord/melody changes and ends in this fantastic instrumental break. Really a great showcase for Iommi’s playing. Another classic.
“Junior’s Eyes” Compare this to the Dave Walker version to see the kind of changes made. I like both versions but the Ozzy version is more meaningful. The lyrics were written about Ozzy’s final days with his father, who just died of cancer. Great bass playing by Geezer in the intro with some tasteful guitar playing sprinkled throughout.
A melodically beautiful song and another track I really love.
“A Hard Road” Another song released as a single. A swinging rhythm section again with fantastic melodic bass playing from Geezer Butler. The only song in the entire Black Sabbath catalog to feature backing vocals from Tony and Geezer. The refrain repeated at the end with those backing vocals has a sort of “Hey Jude” feel to it and whether the band knew it or not, reflects where they were at and where they were going.
“Shock Wave” The start of side two and lyrically, this seems like a throwback to the first album. Horror themed lyrics and there’s even a reference to “the chosen one” - just like the song “Black Sabbath” from the first album. Musically it’s heavy in parts but takes on more melodic parts and is more progressive than the early albums, reflecting the current songwriting style. So musically, 1978 Sabbath. Lyrically, 1970 Sabbath. An interesting combination.
“Air Dance” Love, love, love this song. Total chill and mellowness. A somewhat Iron Maiden like guitar intro followed by this really beautiful verse about an older ballerina pining for her past glory days. Fantastic piano playing throughout by Don Airey and some really nice melodic Tony Iommi fills. The middle of the song gets real dream like with the piano and Iommi’s playing. Hard to describe, but it always puts me in this tranquil place, it’s so beautiful. Then the song gets much faster into almost jazz fusion territory. A really awesome and underrated song, perhaps the last great track from this line up.
“Over to You” Now things start to go downhill. On the positive side, it’s melodically not bad and it has some good bass playing from Geezer. There are times where
it feels like the song is about to grab me but fails to fully do so. I think there’s just a lack of energy here. Both Ozzy and the band sound tired, like the tempo needs to pick up. There’s no fire here. Adding to the picture of the state of the band, there are two songs left on the album, yet “Over to You” is Ozzy’s swan song for the 70’s era of Sabbath. How’s that? Read on.
“Breakout” An instrumental with a ton of brass instruments. I’m not a fan, my least favorite Ozzy era Black Sabbath track. This literally sounds like it should be the intro to Saturday Night Live. I can picture the announcer introducing this week’s guests over it. Not intended to be an instrumental but when Ozzy heard the music, he flat out refused to sing over it. I side with Ozzy on this one.
“Swinging the Chain” A song I did not like for years that has finally grown on me. A really nice riff, swinging rhythm and vocals by Bill Ward. A good butt shaker of a song to end the Ozzy era - with a Bill Ward vocal.
The NEVER SAY DIE tour needs a mention. The opening act was some new band called Van Halen. Most people say Van Halen routinely blew Sabbath off the stage. Some people say Sabbath held their own but had strong competition. Either way, Van Halen in 1978 were this new and exciting band with Eddie Van Halen revolutionizing lead guitar playing. As a contrast, Black Sabbath had a line up at the end of its rope. I strongly prefer the entire Black Sabbath catalog over the entire Van Halen catalog but while I enjoy most of NEVER SAY DIE, even I admit the first Van Halen album is better. That must have been an interesting tour to catch. The final public date of this tour and line up in its initial phase was December 11, 1978 in Albuquerque, NM. One day after the death of Ed Wood and thirteen days before my birth.
Come 1979, the band were writing the next album, but little progress was being made. Ozzy barely showed up and while the entire band had drug issues, Ozzy’s were worse. One day they decided to fire Ozzy and Bill Ward was the one who had to break the news. This line up has some reunion tours and a grand total of two studio tracks left to record, but that’s far into the future. For now, Black Sabbath are about to get a legendary singer named Ronnie James Dio. I will get into his background and circumstances in joining the band next time. As for Ozzy, he will go on to be a solo star, public enemy number one and a reality TV icon. I’ll mention his solo career when it clashes with the Sabbath story but as a public service announcement, the solo stuff is worth exploring, especially those first two albums with guitarist Randy Rhoads.
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Footage from the era.
“Never Say Die” Top of the Pops 1978
“A Hard Road” video
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Commercially released concert from the tour. Along with Paris 1970 (also worth scoping out on YouTube), the only close to full footage from the 70’s. Half hour Midnight Special 1975 and parts of the California Jam 1974 also exist.
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This definitely exceeded my expectations. Instead of being a sad finale to Ozzy's run with Black Sabbath it was a very good final album, with some of my favorite Black Sabbath songs. Some of the songs are good 1970s hard rockers, but it's the more experimental/jazzy songs I like the best.
"Never Say Die", "Junior's Eyes", "Hard Road", and "Swinging the Chain" are the more pure rockers on the album. They all are good at what they do, which is going for the mainstream rock sound of the period, that I mentioned earlier. They deliver on all of them.
But the songs I liked most on the album are the ones they tried to add more gimmicks on such as synthesizers, or when they go into jazz. "Johnny Blade" has a very good synthesizer section at the beginning. I wish they made more use of it later in the song, because whenever it shows up it gives it a cool feeling. I'm starting to really like that use of the instrument.
"Air Dance" is my new favorite Black Sabbath song. It's a jazz fusion/prog rock epic with so many sections that are all great. I'll run them down.
1)Rocking opening that sounds like it will lead us to another pure hard rocker
2)Excellent shift with one of my favorite guitar sounds, with an added piano to make it even greater. There's even some Santana style guitar playing thrown in
3)Less guitar, but the piano playing is now in the center, very beautiful
4)The jazz fusion section at the end to round out the song.
I knew instantly this was my favorite Black Sabbath song I ever heard, and it alone makes the album far from a disappointment.
"Over to You" is actually a pretty good follow up. I like the bass and piano playing in this song. "Breakout" probably is the weakest link on this album. It sounds a theme song fitting for Val Venis or Rick Rude.
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Every time I hear “Breakout” from now on all I’m going to think is, “Hellooooo, ladies.” Can’t believe I never thought of Venis and Rude and thought SNL instead.
I figured you’d like “Air Dance” because of all the jazz fusion stuff. I know that’s your style and I’m glad you like the song. A lot of Sabbath fans don’t get it but the ones who do really tend to like it a lot.
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Unlike the last album, I can kind of see signs of how tensions were in the band with this music, but there’s still a lot to like about this. “Never Say Die” kind of reminds me of “Paranoid”. The highlights of this song for me are that awesome bridge, Iommi’s guitar playing near the end, and the low pitched “Never Say Die” at the very end. The synthesizer on “Johnny Blade” at the beginning is indeed really cool, but the standout for me here is Iommi’s guitar solo near the end. Overall, the riffs on this album don’t feel quite as catchy as on most Sabbath albums, but Iommi’s guitar solos feel more fleshed out to make up for that, and they’re some of the best solos I’ve heard from him.
“Junior’s Eyes” was really cool. The bass playing throughout was solid, and there was this especially awesome part in the middle where Iommi had some acoustic playing countering his electric playing. It does indeed feel like a very emotional song, and yet it still feels like a rocker at the same time. I really love this song, it’s probably one of my favorite Black Sabbath songs so far. I also listened to the Dave Walker version, and it’s also good, but more focused on the rock side and not as emotional. “Hard Road” was really cool from a vocal perspective. Not just the backing vocals, either; I really liked Ozzy’s harmonizing throughout this song. “Shock Wave” is another one where Iommi carries the song through his solos more than the actual riffs.
“Air Dance” is also really awesome, probably my favorite track here. I too love all the constant changes; the way it starts off more like a rock song, then shifts to a lighter sound and a big piano focus. Really well done, and the jazz fusion part at the end is also a cool change of pace. I’m with HomokHarcos on “Over to You”; I actually thought this was fairly memorable as well. The piano playing on it feels like a callback to the previous song, and I like how fast it’s played whenever it appears, like an interesting counterpoint to the rest of the song being slower. “Breakout” on the other hand...I agree, pretty bad. This song is like if you took John Lennon’s “Beef Jerky” (which is a song I already don’t like), and made it even worse by slowing it down. “Swinging the Chain” isn’t super memorable, but Bill Ward once again gets a chance to show off a pretty good singing voice.
So yeah, not quite as good as the previous album, but to its credit, it still flows well for the majority of it, and “Junior’s Eyes” and “Air Dance” are especially great songs. Despite the irony of not actually ending the album with a song featuring Ozzy, this was not a bad finale for the original lineup.
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Maybe, just maybe, “Over to You” will hit me one of these days. Both of you guys like it, so that’s cool. I do agree about less riffs but Iommi’s lead playing carrying this album, it seems to be the case for the last two Ozzy era albums.
Coming next
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Lookout!
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So there’s a new singer named Ronnie James Dio. Who is he? He was a bit older than the other guys, born in 1942. You can find videos of a young version of him on YouTube, pre Beatles era, singing tracks from 45’s he released with various bands, including Phil Spector’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” amongst other things. He’s from upstate New York and spent the 60’s playing in local bands. Got his first real break in 1972 when his band Elf got signed and recorded three albums. They were a boogie style hard rock band who also served as the opening act for Deep Purple. In early 1975, guitar maestro Ritchie Blackmore (my favorite guitar player) left Deep Purple to form a band called Rainbow. He took all the Elf guys, minus the guitar player, for the first album. The Elf guys, with the exception of Dio, then all got replaced before the first tour. Dio would record three studio albums and a double live album with Rainbow. Dio’s Rainbow stuff is all classic material that I highly recommend. Dio had a real powerful yet soulful voice and this was ahead of its time heavy metal, for the most part. The lyrics were mostly more fantasy based and in late 1978, Blackmore wanted Rainbow to go in a more commercial direction - which indeed they did. Dio doesn’t do relationship pop songs at this point, so he leaves Rainbow. He gets the recommendation for the Sabbath gig from none other than Sharon Arden/Osbourne. This is just before she was with Ozzy and reeks of irony, as Ozzy and Sharon would soon have a professional rivalry with Dio.
Dio is on a technical level a better singer than Ozzy - actually, all the other Black Sabbath singers are better technical singers than Ozzy. However, Ozzy has this certain relatable and unique quality to his voice and when you combine that with Geezer Butler’s lyrics, something really relatable, at least for me, on those first eight Sabbath albums is missing going forward. Yes, Geezer is no longer writing lyrics anymore. As great as he was at it, it’s not something he wanted to continue pursuing and Dio is more than a capable lyricist. For whatever quality is lost from the Ozzy era, what is gained is Dio’s incredible singing voice and another set of amazing songs which Dio helped write. Truly a Curly into Shemp situation. Also the introduction of keyboardist Geoff Nichols, who will be the keyboardist for just about the rest of the catalogue, though rarely credited as an official member.
That experimental stuff on those later Ozzy albums? Gone. I think it has as much to do with the times as Dio joining the band. HEAVEN AND HELL was released in 1980, the year heavy metal truly solidified itself as a cultural movement, thanks to these new British bands known as The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). So yes, this album, and pretty much all the albums going forward, are metal albums. As a result, there are plenty of people online who consider HEAVEN AND HELL the greatest Black Sabbath album ever. As for me? It’s not even my favorite Dio Sabbath album, but I really like it a lot. Also should be mentioned the producer here is the legendary and recently deceased Martin Birch. He worked with Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden among several others and definitely belongs in the league of best rock producers. HEAVEN AND HELL, sonically, is one of the best sounding Sabbath albums. Onto the track by track.
“Neon Knights” These days, it’s cool to like Dio. In the grunge dominated nineties, when I first heard this, it was not. I remember approaching this album with trepidation and took a risk buying one of those non Ozzy Sabbath albums. I’ll never forget putting the CD in and hearing this song for the first time. Whatever trepidation I had melted away in about two seconds. There’s no denying the energy right out of the gate here. Fantastic playing by the band, amazing Dio vocals and hooks for miles. A great song for anybody who has a pulse and a true classic. Next.
“Children of the Sea” A light and shade metal ballad classic. Starts out with acoustic guitar with some really tasteful electric guitar and bass fills on top. Actually, the melodic bass playing on this song is fantastic. So are Dio’s vocals. There’s a new melodic sensibility throughout this album with Sabbath and Dio no doubt played a part. Also love the instrumental section with Iommi’s solo and the Geoff Nichols keyboards adding flavor. A power ballad, if you will, and a classic one at that.
“Lady Evil” Never has been a favorite of mine. I suppose it’s pleasant enough melodically and I do like the instrumental section. It’s just a bit cliched for Sabbath and never cared for the lyrics. I suppose I’d like the song better if Foghat did it, but I hold Sabbath to a higher standard. Speaking of higher standard….
“Heaven and Hell” One of the greatest Black Sabbath songs ever, top five for sure. Also one of the great Dio songs from all the projects he’d go on to do. A masterpiece on every level. Fantastic lyrics which get more and more meaningful the older I get. Several wonderful dynamic and tempo changes throughout. I love the way the song slowly builds to that climatic fast part and then slows things down for that beautiful classical guitar fade out.
“Wishing Well” An underrated song. Listen to Bill and Geezer on this track, they’re really driving it along the whole time and the bass playing is really melodic just the same. Again a renewed sense of melody here, another fantastic song.
“Die Young” Another classic and an acknowledged one. Atmospheric keyboards again open the song leading into some tasteful Iommi playing. Once the rhythm section kicks in, it turns into this intense metal song and then goes into this wonderful, mellow, piano driven chorus. A great song showing off Dio’s dynamic range, love it.
“Walk Away” I’ve heard it said and I kind of agree, that opening riff sounds a bit Van Halen like. A slick, cool, melodic metal track with some good hooks and a really atmospheric instrumental section. Another pretty underrated song in my mind.
“Lonely is the Word” The dramatic closer. A slow, dirge like, dramatic blues number with a real beefy rhythm section. I really love Iommi’s lyrical guitar playing towards the end of the, but listen to the keyboard riff that repeatedly closes out the album. It makes for nice drama, but it sounds like it was lifted from “Stairway to Heaven.” I’m surprised more people don’t mention this.
So overall, a really good melodic heavy metal album. Ronnie James Dio does add another real cool dimension to Black Sabbath and if this is your introduction to the man, I hope you enjoy. There is a lot of cool music of his to explore.
So more to the story here. I just want to add as an aside during the writing process, Geezer Butler actually did leave the band for a few months but returned in time to record the album. Personal reasons. Not sure if it’s substance or family or a combination of the two. He had a son born around this time. But he did return.
More importantly, there’s the Bill Ward situation. In August 1980, right in the middle of the tour, Bill Ward left the band. Alcoholism, Bill had to clean himself up. When his friend John Bonham died a month later due to alcohol, Bill was laying in bed when he heard the news and said he’d be next. Fortunately Bill is still with us and has been sober since 1984. He’ll be back in Sabbath.
Mid tour, they had to cancel some dates and about ten days later, had a new drummer ready named Vinny Appice. The younger brother of drum legend Carmine Appice, he would go on to play on the next Black Sabbath album and a few others. He previously played with Rick Derringer. For your Elton John and Black Sabbath connection, Vinny, as a teenager, did handclaps on “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.”
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Future Black Sabbath singer.
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(...This is my favorite Black Sabbath album so far)
Yes, yes, I know people really like Ozzy. I like him too, but...this album, there was just something about it that really kept my attention consistently in a way I don’t think I’ve heard on any Black Sabbath album yet. Even VOL. 4, which I did consider my favorite for the longest time, still has that filler song in “FX”.
I had never heard of Ronnie Dio prior to hearing this album. Coming in, I was not sure what to expect, as even before really listening to Black Sabbath for these discussions, I had always known Ozzy as the main image. But man, this guy is cool; as distinct as Ozzy’s voice is, I think based off of this album that I do prefer Dio’s, not the least because it feels like he makes more use out of vocal harmonies.
The first two tracks are absolutely amazing. “Neon Knights” really pulls you in from the beginning with a very catchy melody. Iommi’s guitar solo in the middle is especially awesome. “Children of the Sea” reminds me a bit of “Snowblind” in its electric riff, but with the addition of acoustic guitar at the beginning and end. You can see where I’m getting at...this surpasses “Snowblind” as my favorite Sabbath song so far. I really do see what you mean when you mention the melodic sensibility with this album; the bass playing here especially feels very melodic. “Lady Evil” isn’t quite as immediate as those first two tracks, but it’s still a fun, uptempo song that shows off Dio’s harmonies in the choruses.
“Heaven and Hell” also has some great vocals and melodic bass playing throughout, but what I especially loved about this one is the use of acoustic guitar in the fade out, right up there with “Looking For Today” as my favorite fadeout on a Sabbath song. “Wishing Well” is a fun, uptempo song that has a super catchy hook with the line “Your wishing well”. “Die Young” once again makes great use of Dio’s harmony vocals and also uses keyboards to create a great string-like effect that, combined with the piano, makes one of the most unique-sounding Sabbath songs yet. Once again, another great fadeout, this time coming from Iommi’s electric guitar.
“Walk Away” isn’t quite as memorable as the tracks that preceded it, but once again all the playing from the vocal harmonies to the bass work is great and has a true melodic feeling to it. “Lonely Is the Word” is a slower, atmospheric song that makes for a good album closer. There’s a part in the first two minutes I especially love where multiple guitars are playing and it’s almost like they’re playing some for sort of slow dance. I really enjoy it, and much like the rest of this album, it’s got a strong sense of melody that really kept me engaged throughout.
This was such an awesome album. I was smiling from start to finish listening to it and am now more excited than ever to explore more of Dio’s work with Black Sabbath. I’ll have to check out more of his other stuff too.
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What I noticed from this album is that it is much more riff based and straight up hard rock, so once again Tommy Iommi is the key member for me. As for Ronnie James Dio, this really is another Curly vs. Shemp situation. I prefer Dio's vocals, but I will admit they probably aren't as unique as Ozzy's.
"Neon Knights" gave me some of the same thoughts that you mentioned, it reminds me a lot of the New Wave of Heavy Metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. A great introduction to the Dio era, it starts off with a bang. The guitar solo near the middle of the song is very good. "Children of the Sea", being a fan of power ballads, was probably my favorite song of the album. I love it when a song has a great acoustic and electric sections. "Lady Evil" has a very noticeable bass presence throughout, it's rare when I notice it more than the guitar, but that was the case here. "Heaven and Hell": I can understand your appreciation for this song. It does have that epic feel to it, with several changes throughout.
"Wishing Well" is another song that I really liked the bass playing in. The album was mixed very well, if you can hear all the instruments well. It was also at this time I realized there were no synthesizers. "Die Young" is my second favorite song on this album, once again thanks to Iommi's guitar songs. While Ozzy may have been the face of the band, I think replacing him would have been much tougher. "Walk Away" would be a perfect radio song, it makes me think of being in car during the summer seeing the street and country roads. "Lonely is the Word" is a good closer, and completes what Umbrella Sam stated earlier, that there is not a bad track on here.
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It’s cool HEAVEN AND HELL is your favorite so far, Sam. A lot of people agree with you. I’m slightly more of a MOB RULES guy when it comes to Dio Sabbath, but I can totally understand people preferring HEAVEN AND HELL. They’re both great.
Homok, as far as Tony being irreplaceable, he is the only person to be on every Black Sabbath album, so there is something to that. As far as line up changes, we’re in for a wild ride coming up. Starting next studio album, there will be four albums in a row with four different singers.
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Next Black Sabbath album is my favorite of the Dio fronted albums and another stone cold classic in my eyes, 1981’s MOB RULES. Martin Birch again producing the album and new drummer Vinny Appice manning the drum kit. Vinny is a very powerful, John Bonham style drummer who can do dynamic fills. It’s funny because most people consider Black Sabbath a bigger influence on metal overall than Led Zeppelin and I agree. However, in the drum department, I always thought Bonham influenced more metal drummers while Bill Ward had this uniqueness that was all his own and harder to duplicate. I love both Bonham and Ward equally and Vinny adds that Bonham style thunder to the proceedings. Again, like Dio replacing Ozzy, it’s a case of something is lost and gained at the same time. Things are increasingly becoming less and less like the original line up and we will really see that more as the years progress.
Minus the drummer change during the last tour, which was a big deal, things have been stable by 80’s Black Sabbath standards from the last entry. HEAVEN AND HELL was a big commercial success, certainly more so than the last two albums with Ozzy. Heavy metal in general is enjoying a resurgence and Black Sabbath are enjoying that wave. I’m not sure if you’re aware of the early 80’s cult animated film HEAVY METAL. Just before this album was released, an early recording of the title track was included on the soundtrack and if memory serves, I think the instrumental “E5150” was also included in the movie. I say if memory serves because I haven’t seen it in thirty years, but this was definitely good exposure for the band. Onto the track by track.
“Turn Up the Night” A good energetic track but you know what? My lease favorite on the album. Pretty unusual for the opening track to be the least favorite. Still, if this is my version of the “worst,” then we’re in for a good ride. A bit like “Neon Knights” for me. I dig it, but a warm up for the monsters to come like….
“Voodoo” Good God almighty. Listen to that bloody riff that opens this thing. Amazing. More amazing when that driving rhythm section and then Dio’s vocals come in. Dio sounds like a deity on top of a mountain singing to his disciples and I get chills when he sings, “So if a stranger calls you.” A total classic, the volume knob always goes up when this song comes on.
“Sign of the Southern Cross” Another total classic. Starts out with some acoustic guitar from Iommi, some tasteful bass from Geezer and some beautiful singing from Dio. Very delicate vocals, a nice showcase for the man. Then it gets heavy with these epic, doomy chords and riffs. Moody verses with Geezer doing these atmospheric bass effects underneath that eventually builds into an emotional chorus. Epic heavy metal at its very best.
“E5150” An atmospheric keyboard and bass effect laden instrumental that is really cool, but maybe could have had one minute trimmed off. Also used as the tour opener and leads to….
“The Mob Rules” Do you know the scene in Citizen Kane when Charles Foster Kane’s wife leaves him and he’s breaking everything in the room? That’s what I want to do every time I hear this song while letting out some insane primal screams. Pure, energetic and sweet musical catharsis. A highly energetic metal classic.
“Country Girl” A lot of people knock this song. They feel the lyrics don’t fit Black Sabbath. Pfft. Whatever. They’re fine by me. I love the riff, I love the groove, I love the vocals and the bridge is my favorite part. Cool song.
“Slipping Away” Not much to say other than this is a perfectly satisfying rocking song. I love the vocal harmonies in the chorus and my favorite part is the solo section. Love the way they trade off solo licks, even Geezer!
“Falling Off the Edge of the World” With some stiff competition, my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite Sabbath songs ever. Starts out mellow and Iommi does this really beautiful violin like effect on his guitar. Another incredibly beautiful Dio vocal here. Then it goes into this slight doomy part before progressing to one of my favorite Black Sabbath riffs ever. Amazingly heavy and musical. When the rhythm section and Dio’s vocal go on top of it, I’m back in Charles Foster Kane mode. Seriously, this song is a prime example as to why Dio is one of my favorite vocalists. Pure beauty in the beginning, pure power towards the end.
“Over and Over” Another case of pure beauty. This song stays mellow the whole time, some tasteful guitar riffs and rhythm section playing and Dio’s vocals almost bring me to tears. So does Iommi’s lead playing towards the end, it gets really intense and emotional. Classy and tasteful album closer for a band firing on all cylinders. Too bad this line up won’t record another album together for eleven years.
Yup, Dio and Vinny leave after this album. The reasons will be discussed in the next entry, which will be a live album entry similar to what we just had with Led Zeppelin, so you guys can take a casual breather. Not quite as much live material as Zeppelin, but enough and I’m including an Ozzy Osbourne solo live album with belongs in the Sabbath discussion. As for MOB RULES, probably my favorite heavy metal album of 1981, which is a big deal because this is one of the golden age years. I say probably because Iron Maiden and old Ozzy himself also released classics this year, but today, I’m giving the nod to Sabbath. Hope you guys like this one, most people prefer HEAVEN AND HELL, but I’m in the loud minority who calls himself a MOB RULES guy. Like I previously said, the first of four consecutive Black Sabbath studio albums with four different vocalists. You’ll be introduced to more legendary singers who have a lot more music to discover outside of Black Sabbath.
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Well, HEAVEN AND HELL really put my expectations up, so how does MOB RULES compare? Well, I think HEAVEN AND HELL felt a bit more groundbreaking and more memorable as a result, but there still is a lot to like about this one, with a few huge standouts.
“Turn Up the Night” starts off the album and, yeah, I agree, it’s probably my least favorite song here too. It’s fine, but it doesn’t really pull me in in the same way that “Neon Knights” does, it does feel a bit generic at times. “Voodoo” is an improvement. I especially love the section after Dio sings “because he’s voodoo” where everyone kind of does this downward transition into the guitar solo, I thought that was a really cool effect. The next track, “The Sign of the Southern Cross” is awesome. I love the acoustic opening as well as the chance to hear Dio singing in a more laid back style. The falsetto parts are cool and it does indeed transition naturally into a cool, darker riff. Very awesome, atmospheric song.
“E5150” is an OK instrumental. I like how it kind of has an underwater effect which gets cooler as the song goes along, but it does feel like it takes a while to get there and there’s not really a melody to speak of. The title track is another fun song; as usual, great guitar work and it moves at a good pace. “Country Girl” has a really catchy riff, and I also really loved the bridge section. The slower tone is a really cool change of pace and it has some really memorable backing vocals. I agree about the solos trading off on “Slipping Away”; hearing the bass taking part in something like this gives the song a unique feel to it as a result.
The last two tracks are my favorites, and among my favorite Sabbath tracks ever. “Falling Off the Edge of the World” is amazing. The opening with the violin effect is really cool and supported by some fantastic acoustic and keyboard work. The drums during the transition from lighter to heavier are especially awesome, they really feel like they’re building up to something special. Amazing riff throughout, among my favorites. And it closes with the slow, atmospheric “Over and Over”, with some powerful vocals from Dio and constantly shifting guitars. Much like “Heaven and Hell”, it has one of my favorite fadeouts on a Sabbath song; I’ll definitely have Dio singing “Over...and Over!” stuck in my head for a while.
So, yeah, another good album with a few select standouts that reach the same heights as HEAVEN AND HELL for me, and even some of the weaker stuff like “Turn Up the Night” and “E5150” is still fine. It’s sad that this is Dio’s last album for a while, because he really made such an immediate impression on me. Well, we’ll see if the next three singers can make the same impression, although if your comparison of them to Joe Besser has any truth to it...well, we’ll find out soon enough.
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If you need a further Dio fix before we get to 1992’s DEHUMANIZER, his solo albums are worth exploring, especially HOLY DIVER.
As far as comparing Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes, the next two Sabbath singers to Joe Besser - only in the sense their stunts with Sabbath were brief and they are more loved for other projects (think Besser as Stinky = Gillan with Deep Purple).
I actually saw both singers in concert, non Sabbath related within the past five years. It kills me I never got to see Dio live.
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….and it’s twelve years ago today that Dio passed. I can’t believe it’s been that long. It seems like yesterday when I saw the news online and let out a big, “Oh no,” likely followed by some four letter word.
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Another very enjoyable album, it's surprising Dio was only with them for two albums, before eventually returning. The style of the music and Dio's vocals give off a vibe that often is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the words "metal music", along with Iron Maiden.
I thought "Turn up the Night" was a perfectly fine opener; it's a good introduction. "Voodoo" is a slower, paced song that really has the metal sound I associate with the 1980s. I like the fadeout with the guitar still playing.
"Sign of the Southern Cross" was my favorite song on the album, I love the opening section, and noticed Dio was using a different vocal style. The electric guitar section is just as good, and it whole song just sort of screams epic. "E5150" sounds like an industrial horror song that would fit right in the Silent Hill video games. "The Mob Rules", after listening to it, sounds like it would be great for an opening setlist. Really fast paced and gets you pumped up. "Country Girl" has a more mellow pace, I love the middle section of this song.
I agree about the last two tracks, both very strong. It feels like we got two power ballads in a row, which usually bring some of the highlights to an album.
When Dio died my uncle was pretty upset, he even recorded a cover of Rainbow's "Temple of the King" as a tribute. I know Holy Diver gets a lot of praise among metal fans.
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There are four albums with Dio, the other two are spread out. The last one is under the band name “Heaven and Hell” and is a Black Sabbath album in everything but name. It will be discussed and I’ll mention the legal B.S. when the time comes.
If your uncle’s cover on “Temple of the King” is on YouTube, I’d love to hear it. Great song.
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Alright, it’s another live album week, this time with Black Sabbath. Treat this as a little history lesson to catch up with Ozzy and try to figure out why Dio left the first time. Also treat this as a semi week off like the Zeppelin live entry - explore as casually as you like.
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First, there’s the whole deal with the original line-up never releasing a live album in the 70’s. Very strange because that was the golden age of live albums and you’d think it would have happened. Well, they attempted it but the results were never satisfactory for the band. One of these attempts was released in 1980 as an album called LIVE AT LAST. It was recorded in 1973 and the band themselves did not sanction its release. Why would they want to promote a live show from 1973 with Ozzy when Dio just joined the band? Remember former manager Patrick Meehan? He’s the one who released this, just to make a buck. It’s not bad, but doesn’t quite have the gleam of official live albums (let’s be honest, most live albums are touched up in the studio). Still, it’s a decent document of early live Sabbath. Single LP, nine songs, eight of them straight forward and “Wicked World” being the 18 minute jam that screams it’s the seventies.
Come 2002, LIVE AT LAST would get an official, band sanctioned two CD set release called PAST LIVES. The first CD is a cleaned up version of the 1973 show from LIVE AT LAST while CD two mixes mostly Paris 1970 with a few SABOTAGE era tracks from Asbury Park, 1975. If you’re going to get one Sabbath live CD from the 1970’s, LIVE AT LAST is your best bet. Sure, you can be a hardcore freak and buy some of the deluxe album editions that have come out in the past few years with live material, including the entire 1975 Asbury Park show on the SABOTAGE set (probably the best live audio Sabbath document from this era). Just understand that overall, Sabbath were never recorded as well live as other bands in the seventies and it’s a shame. Still, LIVE AT LAST is the best for the casual fan, but honestly, even then, I’d say you’re better off looking for the Asbury Park 1975 show on YouTube or watching video footage from Paris 1970.
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OK, to bring things more up to date in our discussion, 1982 was finally the year we get professionally and officially sanctioned live Sabbath, from both Ozzy and Sabbath’s camps! Two 2 LP live albums released one month apart! Yes, the two sides feuded like Hell in the press over this, so here’s the story, first with Ozzy. In September 1982, Ozzy recorded a few days worth of shows from The Ritz in New York playing nothing but Sabbath songs and released it as a double live album. How and why, especially since at this point Ozzy had two classic studio solo albums to his credit.
Well, to catch up with Ozzy, on those two solo albums, he had a legit band and songwriting team backing him up with bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley, recently deceased drummer Lee Kerslake and guitar legend Randy Rhoads. A band with true chemistry, sadly Ozzy ditched the rhythm section before going to America for Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. Fine players, but not quite the same chemistry as what he had before creatively. As for Randy Rhoads, in one of rock’s great tragedies, he would perish in a plane crash March 19, 1982, age 25. After that messed up and unnecessary incident, Ozzy quickly replaced Rhoads with the recently deceased Bernie Torme for I think about seven shows. Torme before this played for Ian Gillian, who will sing on the next Black Sabbath album. Small world. After Torme left, he was replaced on the tour with Brad Gillis, who would find massive fame in Night Ranger, having a ton of hits in the 80’s. Gillis is the guitarist on SPEAK OF THE DEVIL with Sarzo and Aldridge.
Looking at the track list, this makes an awesome set list. Every Sabbath album except TECHNICAL ECSTASY is represented. However, I hardly listen to this album for a reason a lot of people swear by this album. It’s Sabbath played by post Van Halen style metal musicians. They’re all great players, but I prefer my classic Sabbath to be more grounded in the seventies. No speed picking Iommi riffs and no overly busy rhythm sections for me. I want blues based rhythms and Iommi’s unmistakable style. But that’s me. There are some who prefer the eighties style of playing in these songs and it was this album that got them into Sabbath. More power to them, but not me. Oh, and one more thing, Ozzy is obviously stoned on something here, especially in between songs. Comically so.
Why was this album done? Simple. Ozzy had a contract with current Sabbath manager and Sharon’s Dad Don Arden’s Jet Records. Sharon and her Dad did not get along at this point and Ozzy and Sharon wanted out of the contract. Two albums were still owed, so this double live album did the trick.
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As for the actual Black Sabbath with Dio at this time, they released LIVE EVIL in December 1982. Released after SPEAK OF THE DEVIL but recorded before from gigs in April and May, 1982. This album is easily my favorite of what I’m writing about in this post. A great mix of Dio era tracks and songs from the first three Black Sabbath albums. I love Dio’s dramatic take on the song “Black Sabbath” and the way he hums the guitar melody line at the end of “War Pigs,” something Ozzy himself has done live since then! You get the nice, long extended “Heaven and Hell” and man, that version of “Children of the Sea” is gorgeous. I really dig this album a lot and that album cover is my favorite Black Sabbath album cover. Notice the way each song gets represented on the cover. Study it.
As far as the band itself, they broke up before the album’s release. The story always told, whether true or not I don’t know, is Iommi and Butler would go in during the day to do a mix of the album and at night Dio would go in at night and the mixes would clash. There’s also the two new guys being Americans and the two originals being British, so perhaps a culture clash at first. Appice stated at first he couldn’t understand Iommi and Butler’s accents! Then there was the fact Dio signed a solo deal with Warner Brothers records. He left the band, took Vinny Appice with him and along with Vivian Campbell and the late Jimmy Bain, the original Dio band was formed. Like Ozzy, a solo catalogue worth exploring and like Ozzy, especially the first two albums.
Black Sabbath is out a singer and drummer, so next entry, we get a return of one member and another new member who is more famous for other things besides Black Sabbath. Yes folks, Bill Ward returns and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple - I’m assuming you guys know “Smoke on the Water,” - takes a stab at the mic. This is an album and era of the band I can’t wait to talk about!
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I thought both of those albums were very good, I was surprised how good Ozzy sounded live. I was hoping "Air Dance" would be on there, I'm really curious how that song would sound live, as I think that is still my favorite Black Sabbath song. Would not doubt that Ozzy was stoned while playing this setlist. Also, I think it's funny that he got out of his contract by releasing a double live album, I think there was something similar in the Elton John thread about a live album filling out a contract.
Not surprised with Dio at all, though. I knew he would be a great live vocalist. I wondered how he was going to sound on the Sabbath songs originally recorded with Ozzy, and that was the main reason I was looking forward to this. Most of the songs worked with him quite well. Even "Black Sabbath", which was the one song that I was expecting him to not mesh well with.
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“Air Dance” was never played live. Chris Alo mentioned in the video above Ozzy playing “Never Say Die” for SOTD was the only time anybody from the Sabbath camp played any song off that album after the NEVER SAY DIE TOUR. Even on the tour, only the title track was played regularly, with occasional “Shockwave” and “Swinging the Chain” performances.
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Decided to mainly focus on LIVE EVIL for this, as it goes with where we’re at chronologically and I’ve really been gaining such an appreciation for Dio, having only just learned who he was from this discussion and subsequently discovering some really excellent songs in his catalogue. Like HomokHarcos, I too was most interested in hearing how he handled the Ozzy era songs. He does a lot of them actually quite faithfully to the original, the only differences being the key changes to be more suited to his vocal range, and that’s fine with me. His versions of “N.I.B.” and “Children of the Grave” were especially good. And, of course, the actual Dio era stuff is fantastic too, especially an excellent rendition of “Children of the Sea” and an interesting mix of “The Sign of the Southern Cross” and a reprise of “Heaven and Hell”. A great way to mix the old with the new and Dio feels like he has a real chemistry with the audience that I’m kind of surprised to hear; I guess I always expect the energy to not really be there from the audience when they’re not watching the originals, but they seem to have accepted him quite easily judging from this. Very enjoyable album with everyone in top form.
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Way too busy of a weekend for me so far. Going to try to catch up on music and film reviews later today, including commenting on Elton and finishing up Zeppelin, but in the mean time, here’s a preview of the Sabbath singer for next week’s review. Late and great keyboardist Jon Lord talking before and after the song.
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OK, let’s get the album cover out of the way. One of the worst and greatest album covers for Black Sabbath. It was the idea of manager Don Arden and the band hated it. Singer Ian Gillan said he threw up when he saw it. It is unquestionably the Ed Wood of Black Sabbath album covers, but for all of its baby devilishness, is iconic in its own way. Yes, they make t-shirts of this.
Speaking of new singer Ian Gillan, who is he? He’s from the UK and from a professional recording point of view, his first act was from the mid sixties called Episode Six. They were a male/female harmony group that did covers as a-sides and the b-sides tended to be originals penned by bassist Roger Glover. In 1970, Gillan and Glover joined the classic second line up of Deep Purple and remained there until 1973. Classic stuff if you want to understand early hard rock. If Zeppelin is Chaplin and Sabbath is Keaton, Purple is Lloyd. In 1970, Gillan also sang on the album version of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. The best selling album that year, Gillan sang the role of Jesus, so yeah, not a bit role by any means. After leaving Purple in 1973, he resurfaced with The Ian Gillan Band in 1976, which played more a jazz fusion style. In 1978 up to 1982 he formed just plain old Gillan, a more hard rock/metal band that released six highly underrated albums.
Gillan joined Sabbath in early 1983. The story goes management set up a meeting between Gillan, Tony and Geezer, just to chat. They met in a pub, got really drunk and that night Gillan agreed to join Black Sabbath. The next morning, Ian Gillian’s manager had to remind him he joined Sabbath because he couldn’t remember the previous night and also insisted he consult his manager before making major career decisions! This album cycle of Black Sabbath is the most fun when it comes to Spinal Tap worthy stories like this.
Another major event is that drummer Bill Ward rejoins the band for this album. Bill at this point is sober and this would be the first album he ever recorded as such. Unfortunately, the idea of touring was too much for him so he fell off the wagon and the drummer from this tour was Electric Light Orchestra’s Bev Bevan. If you think that’s a strange choice, he’s also from Birmingham and managed by Don Arden and did a good job on the tour. Bill Ward would get sober in 1984 and remains so to this day. This would be the last Sabbath album he’ll play on, though a couple of random studio tracks for a Sabbath project and multiple reunion tours are in the future.
The final thing I want to bring up before doing the track by track is the mix. Not only did Ian Gillan throw up seeing the album cover, but also hearing the mix. I have grown used to it over the years, but it is very bassy, boomy and distorted in parts. The master tapes, thought to be lost, were found within the past year and Tony Iommi plans to re-release this album soon remixed. We’ll see. Mixing issues aside, I consider BORN AGAIN to be the last classic Black Sabbath album, though there is still good music ahead. Sabbath never made a total dud, in my opinion. Onto the track by track.
“Trashed” The British media referred to this line-up as Deep Sabbath. Well, I do agree at least this song has a Deep Purple feel to it. The verse has a driving rhythm a bit like “Highway Star” and lyrically it’s one of Ian Gillan’s story songs. About a stupid drunk driving stunt he pulled, he’s lucky to still be alive. The bridge is fantastic and has some cool Bill Ward drumming and confessional lyrics. A great, classic rocker to open this thing.
“Stonehenge” Another one of those bass and keyboard atmospheric instrumentals that lead to a heavier track. I’ll use this space as an opportunity to mention Sabbath tried to use a Stonehenge set very similar to Spinal Tap, except their set was too large to fit into most arenas. I’ll just link a five minute video of Ian Gillan telling some Spinal Tap moments with Sabbath, he’s a good story teller.
“Disturbing the Priest” My favorite song on the album and one of my favorite Sabbath songs. About as horror themed of a Sabbath song you will find since the first album. Creepy guitar harmonics and crushing chords punctuated in just the right place from Iommi. Singing wise, in a fifty five year career, this is as histrionic and over the top as Ian Gillan gets. Insane cackles and screams. Not usually a straight heavy metal singer, but when Gillan goes that route, he lets you know. So friggin’ heavy, I love it.
“The Dark/Zero the Hero” The second best song on the album. The main guitar riff is said to have inspired Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” and I can see some similarities in the beginnings of both riffs. Some really heavy bass chords played by Geezer Butler really add to the song and lyrically this is one of those word salads Ian Gillan occasionally likes to do. Another classic.
“Digital Bitch” Rumors, just rumors now, that this song was written about Sharon Osbourne. A nice little speed rocker to open side two. Love the bass just before the rhythm section kicks in. There’s some great guitar soloing throughout and another really catchy bridge. Another cool track.
“Born Again” The title track ballad of the album and this song, more than any other, suffers from the mix, in my opinion. Still a great song with a fantastic Gillan performance and emotional guitar playing from Iommi. Search out a pre mixed version of this on YouTube to really check out subtleties in Gillan’s vocals and also check out the Deep Purple song “Wasted Sunsets” a year after this to get a better mixed example of his ballad singing around this time.
“Hot Line” What a great riff that drives this thing along with the rest of the rhythm section. Gillan turns in another fantastic vocal performance. Not too much else to say, the song just rocks because it does.
“Keep It Warm” A classy closing track Gillan wrote to his lady about coming home from a tour. Again, not the kind of thing you’d normally get from Sabbath, which makes this an interesting one-off. Excellent chorus, fantastic drumming from Bill Ward and some really nice guitar playing to close out the album.
So yeah, I love every song here and have grown used to the mix - but yes, if Iommi releases this album re-mixed, I’d be the first to want to hear it. If this is your introduction to Ian Gillan, admittedly a strange one. A fascinating one-off in a fifty five year career for him. Consider this the equivalent of Roger Daltrey replacing Mick Jagger for one album in The Rolling Stones. I should also mention Black Sabbath did play “Smoke On the Water” during this tour.
After the Born Again tour, this line up broke up. Why? Quite simple. Ian Gillan, along with the other four members of the MK II Deep Purple line up, were given seven figures to reunite. In 1984 they released the classic PERFECT STRANGERS album. Deep Purple, with some line up changes, still exist to this day and with the exception of a one album hiccup in the early nineties, Gillan has been the singer that whole time. Gillan is touring and recording as I write this at age 77, I was finally able to see Ian with Deep Purple live in 2017 along with Alice Cooper and opener Edgar Winter. It was a good time.
I also should mention Iommi and Gillan remain good friends to this day. In 2011, they recorded a couple of songs together for a charity project called WHO CARES. The other musicians were Jon Lord, Jason Newsted and Nicko McBrain. That’s what I call a world class line up.
The BORN AGAIN tour ends in early 1984 and the next Sabbath album isn’t until 1986. A lot happens in that time frame. So much, in fact, you may see a separate post from me on a weekday not reviewing an album, but just to catch up on events before reviewing 1986’s SEVENTH STAR.
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One of my favorite YouTube channels these days is the channel Tastes Like Music, where three guys rank entire discographies of different artists, kind of like Sea of Tranquility. They were especially split on BORN AGAIN, and I assume that applies to Sabbath fans in general too. Should be an interesting one to talk about, looking forward to it.
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One of my favorite YouTube channels these days is the channel Tastes Like Music, where three guys rank entire discographies of different artists, kind of like Sea of Tranquility. They were especially split on BORN AGAIN, and I assume that applies to Sabbath fans in general too. Should be an interesting one to talk about, looking forward to it.
Cool video, I watched the whole thing. Thanks Sam. Of course I don’t agree 100% with everything, but I’m much closer to these guys than some other rankings. Interesting two of them compared the song “Never Say Die” to Thin Lizzy, which never occurred to me. Then when I thought about it, I guess the way the chords are on the beat and shuffle are similar to “The Boys Are Back in Town.” As for BORN AGAIN, probably in the lower half of top 10 for me, even if I don’t know exactly where.
For an example of the younger, more metal centric type rankings you’ll see on YouTube, check this one out. I like Bryce, but can’t say I agree. Keep this in mind when talking of the albums going forward, they do have their following.
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I'll admit my familiarity with Deep Purple/Ian Gillan runs as deep as "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway Star", but it sounds like there's a lot of good music from his career to explore. This album was a very fine hard rock release, I'll definitely consider listening to more in the future.
"Trashed" opened the album with a roar, yes the vocals make it feel like we're listening to a different band, but Ian Gillan has that hard rock voice. I admit I don't think he's as good a vocalist as Dio, but he set a pretty high standard. Funny that you mention "Highway Star" and this song being about driving, because that's what the song brought to mind. "Disturbing the Priest": fantastic. It has a very good mixture of more hallowing verses that aids the atmosphere, along with excellent heavy rock in the chorus. Ian Gillan also shifts from more mellow vocals to screeching ones.
"Zero the Hero" is what you get when you have a guitar riff so catchy that you don't want to hear the song end, it was an over 6 minute song and I still could have listened to it go on a longer. Obligatory shout-out to Tony Iommi here. "Digital Bitch" is a fast-moving song, that sounds very 1980s to me, if that makes any sense. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but once they got Dio not only did the vocals change, but also their music in a way. They seem to be going for a more polished sounds instead of feeling experimental.
Maybe I'm starting to get more used to the track ordering, but I already had the feeling that a ballad would be the next song on the album. Sometimes ballads can be a highlight, but I didn't think too much of "Born Again". The final two tracks, "Hot Line" and "Keep Warm" were more in the hard rock style. I loved the chorus in "Keep Warm", it does sound different to what Black Sabbath usually did, and I don't think it would have worked without Ian Gillan.
Another very fine album, they haven't had a DUD yet, and this album actually works as a promotion for Ian Gillan himself.
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Cool video, I watched the whole thing. Thanks Sam. Of course I don’t agree 100% with everything, but I’m much closer to these guys than some other rankings. Interesting two of them compared the song “Never Say Die” to Thin Lizzy, which never occurred to me. Then when I thought about it, I guess the way the chords are on the beat and shuffle are similar to “The Boys Are Back in Town.” As for BORN AGAIN, probably in the lower half of top 10 for me, even if I don’t know exactly where.
For an example of the younger, more metal centric type rankings you’ll see on YouTube, check this one out. I like Bryce, but can’t say I agree. Keep this in mind when talking of the albums going forward, they do have their following.
Osbourne era near the bottom and Martin era near the top. Hmm...interesting. I guess we’ll see when we get there, though I’m certain this is not the general consensus. That being said, as of this writing, I do agree with him on HEAVEN AND HELL being number one.
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The MTV era is upon us. I probably should start posting these.
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Going to take a couple of weeks off from Sabbath just to recharge my batteries. Next week, Homok is starting Steely Dan and we will be going back and forth bi-weekly. In the meantime, I’ll give you a preview of the next album without any context! The girl in the video is Denise Crosby, who a few years later would be in STAR TREK - NEXT GENERATION.
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Alright, Deep Purple. They’re a band I’ve heard of a lot and one I assumed I’d know at least one song from the radio, but I went and listened to a couple of their biggest hits and didn’t recognize them so...I guess not? They’re one of those bands I keep meaning to explore more of one of these days. As for Ian Gillan...did not make as immediate of an impression on me as Ronnie Dio did. Of the three lead singers we’ve heard so far, I’d say his voice is probably the least distinctive, although it still suits the songs on the album.
It starts with a scream with “Trashed”. Honestly, I thought the scream here sounded kind of silly and really was not the right way to start it, but the song does improve as it goes along. I especially like the way the distant backing vocals are in sync with him when singing things like “turning” and “burning”. I know there are complaints about the mix being muffled, but that’s a rare spot where I think it actually kind of works in its favor. So, yeah, good opening, despite the awkward scream. Next is the forgettable instrumental, “Stonehenge”. Nothing really special about it; yeah, they kind of try doing a heartbeat effect at the end, but it’s not like they’re the only band that’s tried that, it’s just kind of run-of-the mill.
“Disturbing the Priest” also starts with screams, but here it works as an atmospheric effect to support the whole horror theme brought on by the dark guitar riffs. It’s a very atmospheric song, with Ward’s heavy drumming supporting it, and while I still don’t think Gillan’s vocals are great, they do have a charming, fun quality to them, like he really seems like he’s going all in and enjoying it. “The Dark/Zero the Hero” is my favorite song here...and, man, this song is fantastic. This could very easily rival something off of HEAVEN AND HELL, that’s how much I like it. The riff is super catchy, the whole “Zero the Hero” phrase is a really catchy hook, something I just kept wanting to hear. The guitar solo is fantastic with a solid bass keeping the rhythm moving below it. I especially like how the keyboards come in near the end of the solo and seem to be attempting to steer back to the main melody before Gillan’s vocals officially bring it back. The fadeout has these cool, saucer-type effects that counteract Iommi’s guitar-playing, it almost feels kind of psychedelic in a way, but updated for ‘80s metal. Absolutely fantastic song, really glad I checked this one out.
Next is “Digital Bitch”, which was a song I didn’t really care for. It felt kind of all over the place and the mix didn’t help; everything just felt like they were overpowering Gillan’s vocals and it didn’t really feel like they had much of a clear direction with it other than “fast” and “loud”. “Born Again” is definitely better. I actually didn’t mind the mix on this one, and the underwater guitar effects kind of called to mind “Planet Caravan”. It’s a very dramatic song, and I think it’s quite effective, especially some of the percussion parts later in the song. Pretty much agreed on “Hot Line”; not a lot to say other than it’s a fun song with very solid musicianship between the group. “Keep It Warm” does also kind of slightly suffer from the muffled mix, but unlike “Digital Bitch”, they clearly had some sort of direction with it, and I appreciate the unique tone they were going for. I especially like during the solo when they briefly speed up before returning back to the normal speed. Pretty cool song, and this type of song fits as a closing track. I like it.
So, yeah, still pretty good overall even though there are a couple songs I don’t like, and outside of “Zero the Hero”, I don’t really think any of these stack up with the Dio era tracks, which is more of a compliment to just how amazing the Dio era was. Still, to their credit, Sabbath weren’t entirely just covering old ground again; they were experimenting with different styles, especially the closing track. It would have been interesting to see where they went from here had this lineup recorded again. Oh well, on to the next lineup.
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Glad you guys dig this, “Zero the Hero” especially seems to be popular. While I too would have been curious to see what this line-up could have done further, Ian Gillan going to Deep Purple in ‘84 was also the right thing, in my mind.
The next guy, Glenn Hughes - let’s just say a lot of story with him and the state of Sabbath in general we’ll get to in a couple of weeks, as I’m sure you can slightly tell by the video above. Another amazing vocalist, even Dio was a fan.
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So there’s this few years period between 1983’s BORN AGAIN and 1986’s SEVENTH STAR. There is a bit of history to wrap your head around.
OK, so it’s 1984, Ian Gillan leaves to join Deep Purple. Bill Ward, now clean and sober, returns. They recruit a new singer, the recently deceased Dave Donato. This is what I like to call the photo session line up, because that’s all they did. Donato did not last long for whatever reason, but you can find photos of this line up online taken for Kerrang magazine or something. Donato would go on to form the obscure band White Tiger with almost as short lived KISS guitarist Mark St. John.
Next up, going into 1985, was talks of a reunion with Ozzy! The reunion very briefly happened at Live Aid. Yup, July 1985, the original line up played in Philadelphia - “Children of the Grave,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” Talks of a reunion tour briefly happened, but the timing wasn’t right. Ozzy was way more popular as a solo artist at this point and the other guys needed Ozzy more than Ozzy needed them. The talks were short lived. After this, Black Sabbath broke up!
So now that Sabbath has broken up, Tony Iommi decides to write music for a solo album. Initially, he wanted a few singers for the album, rumors include Rob Halford and David Coverdale. Who he actually got was Glenn Hughes, more on him in a bit. The rest of the band was drummer Eric Singer, who was from the touring band of Tony’s then girlfriend, Lita Ford. The bassist was Dave “The Beast” Spitz, brother of Anthrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz. Keyboardist Geoff Nichols, who has played on every album since HEAVEN AND HELL, finally gets band member credit. But the solo album was recorded and when it was time to be released, the record company, Warner Brothers, insisted it be a Black Sabbath album. So 1986’s SEVENTH STAR has the uncomfortable moniker of “Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi.”
Let’s talk about bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes. Got his start in the late 60’s in a band called Trapeze. They released three pretty cool albums (MEDUSA being the best of the three, in my opinion), before Glenn Hughes joined….(drumroll)….Deep Purple in 1973! Ironic he kind of sort of replaced Ian Gillan in that situation as he kind of sort of is here. I say kind of sort if because actually David Coverdale was the strict lead vocalist while Hughes was the bassist who provided a lot of vocals, even the occasional lead. Hughes did three strong albums with Deep Purple until the band broke up in 1976. In 1977 he made a straight funk/soul solo album called PLAY ME OUT. Didn’t show up again until 1981 when he did the melodic hard rock masterpiece with guitarist Pat Thrall called simply HUGHES/THRALL. Can’t recommend that one enough. Sang on a few tracks for Gary Moore as well but between the ten years leaving Purple and to this album, that’s it. His lack of activity can be summed up in one word, drugs, namely cocaine, alcohol and also some overeating, he was overweight by 1986. He even dated Linda Blair for a bit and the two shared the cocaine habit. So many prime years sadly wiped out for this talented man, and he was still a mess by the time of SEVENTH STAR. Hughes today says he doesn’t even remember the 80’s. I’ll give you the second half of the story when we’re done with the track by track.
So yeah, considering this wasn’t even intended as a Black Sabbath album, most of these songs don’t sound like Sabbath, as I’m sure you can tell by the “No Stranger to Love” video. A few power metal type tracks, AOR balladry, and some real tasty blues type stuff. No doom metal at all, nothing dark. I hated this album as a teenager but have grown to like it as I’ve gotten older. It boils down to more open minded tastes, accepting the album for what it is versus what it isn’t and a growing appreciation for the voice of Glenn Hughes. Quick note: on most projects, Glenn plays bass and sings, here, he just sings. Onto the track by track.
“In For the Kill” The album starts out metal enough, though more so in updated 80’s speed/power metal style than what Sabbath are known for. Great track as Glenn Hughes establishes his strong vocal presence right away and we also get a very catchy chorus. Awesome guitar solo by Iommi, great opener.
“No Stranger To Love” If there’s ever a song that proves that this was not meant to be a Sabbath album, this is it. A straight forward eighties ballad that sounds like it can be written by Foreigner. But hey, the older I’ve gotten, the more I appreciate this one. Some tasteful melodic playing by Iommi and Glenn Hughes excels at this kind of stuff.
“Turn to Stone”. Another pretty cool modern for the mid eighties metal track. Not much to say other than I love the opening riff and the double kick drum led rhythm section. Another strong track.
“Spinx (The Guardian)/Seventh Star” Really cool, atmospheric title track. Very Middle Eastern sounding, it actually reminds me a bit of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” The whole song is great, but I especially love the moodiness of the middle instrumental part.
“Danger Zone” Not to be confused with Loggins and Messina, this is another very eighties sounding hard rock/metal track. The rhythm section has that real meat and potatoes eighth note feel common in some mid paced Judas Priest songs of the era. Love the galloping riff in the middle and the bridge especially.
“Heart Like a Wheel” This is a favorite of some deeper Sabbath fans as it is a slow blues that is a great showcase for both Iommi’s guitar playing and Glenn’s powerful vocals. From this point forward, the album is more moody than song craft to me, but this is the most successful of these types of songs.
“Angry Heart/In Memory…” Two separate songs that flow into one for me that close the album. The first part is mid paced, close to dirge eighties rock and the latter is simply a moody piece with acoustic guitars and some soulful Glenn Hughes vocals. Some good musical ideas afloat, but nothing seems fully developed here. A weird way to end the album.
So probably my least favorite “Sabbath” album at this point and it’s still very good. I like all of it better than the low points of NEVER SAY DIE, but nothing approaches the high points. So what happens from here?
This line up goes out on tour and Glenn Hughes, far from ready to perform, only lasts four gigs. In addition to his weight and addiction issues, he gets in a fight and gets punched in the nose. Blood dripping from his nasal cavity makes it impossible for him to sing. He gets replaced the rest of the tour by some 27 year old unknown from New York named Ray Gillen. The first replacement singer without any previous fame. Iommi/Gillen/Nichols/Spitz/Singer will enter the studio for the next studio album. They won’t be together when it’s done, but that’s for next time.
As far as Glenn Hughes, one of rock’s great redemption stories. In the nineties, the man completely cleaned up and for whatever lack of productivity he had from the late 70’s - early 90’s, he has more than made up for since then with multiple solo albums and projects. I saw him live in 2018 at 67 years old singing songs from his era of Deep Purple and at an age where most rick singers are declining, Glenn’s voice was unbelievable. The only concert I ever attended where everyone was looking at the person next to them with a WTF look of disbelief. Such a great show.
This may be Glenn’s only “Black Sabbath” album, but he’ll record two more albums with Tony Iommi under the Iommi/Hughes banner. In the mid 90’s they recorded some stuff which saw release in 2004 known as THE 1996 DEP SESSIONS. There is also FUSED from 2005. Both fine albums that you’ll have to check out on YouTube as they’re not on streaming services. I will link you to the closing track on the latter album, a masterpiece I like better than anything in SEVENTH STAR.
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Coming into this, I tried to stay in the mindset that this was meant to be an Iommi solo album, which I still find a bit odd considering he’s not the lead vocalist on it, but...hey, if he’s not comfortable with singing, then that’s his call. I like Glenn Hughes’s voice. Again, it didn’t impress me quite as much as Dio’s, but I do think it’s better than Gillan’s. As far as the album itself? Well, let’s dive in.
The first track is “In for the Kill”. The previous album’s first track had a silly opening I didn’t like, but the rest of the song was pretty good. This has the opposite problem; I actually really like the way it starts, but as it goes along, it does feel kind of manufactured. You can kind of tell that this is a group that’s not really that used to playing with each other and Iommi’s guitar work, though great, actually feels kind of out of place as a result. The next track, “No Stranger to Love” is a power ballad, a genre I like, and I think it’s played pretty well, although, yeah, it does sound like it could be played by just about any ‘80s band and have the same effect. Nothing about it really screams “Iommi” to me.
The next couple tracks are where things start to get really good. “Turn to Stone” is a really solid number. Hughes’s vocal harmonies are great, the drums sound cool, and I especially like how Iommi kind of does a car engine effect with his guitar near the end. “Sphinx (The Guardian)/Seventh Star” is my favorite track here. Very atmospheric; when I look at the cover art, this is the type of song I would associate with that. The synths sound like strings throughout and I really like the way they support the guitars near the end of the song. I agree, it also kind of called to mind “Kashmir” from Led Zeppelin. “Danger Zone” isn’t quite as atmospheric as the previous two tracks, but it’s still a good rock song, the type of song that would be fun to drive along to on your radio.
“Heart Like a Wheel” has some nice blues callbacks; I thought the bass work was especially good on it. But it’s also a bit drawn out, and that’s including the guitar solo, the first time since the debut where I really felt like the solo didn’t really work as well as they thought it would. As for “Angry Heart/In Memory”, I agree that the first part doesn’t really seem to develop into anything and is a bit bland, but I actually think “In Memory” is really good. It’s a rare use of acoustic guitar on this album, and as such it gives it its own identity to stand out from the rest of the album. I think it works as a closer as a result. Yeah, it probably could have been a little longer, but I still like it the way it is.
So, in the end, I agree, this is my least favorite Black Sabbath album so far too. There are points where it kind of feels like they are just trying to play what’s considered hip for the time, but there also are points like “Turn to Stone” and “In Memory” where it genuinely does feel like there’s a solid sense of musicianship between the lineup, and they succeed. I don’t necessarily hate any of the weaker tracks, I just find them a bit dull, and there are a couple of really good songs on here. So, yeah, I’d probably recommend it, but still with the preface that it’s not really a Sabbath album and definitely not the kind of thing to recommend to a first time Sabbath fan seeking it out for that specific purpose.
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RE: Solo albums and non singers. I never really gave it a second thought until now, but interesting perspective. I think what it boils down to is in the heavy metal/hard rock world, guitar players aren’t looked upon as backing musicians as this is very guitar oriented music. Guitarists Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Schenker have had lengthy solo careers working with several different singers. Michael never sings and Yngwie, after several decades, only very recently - and to much criticism!
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More Glenn Hughes worship. Saw the Jon Lord tribute show from 2014 on blu ray today. Glenn Hughes duets with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson on this Deep Purple classic. I like this version better than the original. Totally blown away, Glenn’s voice is other worldly here and Bruce is awesome as usual.
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Hmm, an album that was intended as a solo release but then gets turned into a band project, sounds like The System Has Failed by Megadeth. I can get why it was released as a Black Sabbath album, he after all was the sole member to be on all of the albums, and there was more brand value. Had no idea why they had "featuring Tony Iommi" though. Glenn Hughes is a nice fit for this sound of music. Imagine if Rob Halford did manage to do vocals on a Black Sabbath album, though?
"In for the Kill" continues Black Sabbath's streak of having killer openings. Awesome guitar solo, and it really got me pumped up. "No Stranger to Love" is kind of sappy, to be honest. Not saying it's bad, but the lyrics are kind of cheesy compared to what came earlier. "Turn to Stone" is another fast, hard rocking track. One that that gives me thoughts of cars speed racing each other on the streets. After all of that “Spinx (The Guardian)/Seventh Star” we get a less hard rocking track. I like the slower guitar work, it totally sounds like a song from an 1980s action movie where the hero has to make a difficult journey.
"Danger Zone" made me think of the song in Top Gun, if only because of the title. But this unrelated Black Sabbath track is the better song. It's basically the same riff throughout the song, but Iommi is one of those people that could make me want to hear it over and over again. "Heart like a Wheel" almost sounds like Ozzy era Sabbath with the bluesy guitar playing. Holy crap is Iommi good. Maybe they should have put his name on all of the album covers. Now the final track "Angry Heart/In Memory": I actually the second section of the song better. The chorus is catchy on the first part, but hearing that guitar style with the "haunting me" vocals was, well, haunting.
I'm not going to say this album is a masterpiece, but it was a good listen.
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Rob Halford, very mildly, plays a part in the Sabbath story and I was almost a witness. I’ll tell that story when we get there.
A preview for next weekend. This is a voice you can get used to - five of the next six albums.
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1987’s ETERNAL IDOL is a fantastic album but is, by far, the most confusing era when it comes to personnel and just about everything else. Three Producers, two studios, management confusion (Geezer Butler almost rejoined the band at this time but bowed out when Patrick Meehan, Jr. started managing the band again - he then played bass for Ozzy) and tons of line up changes during recording and going into the tour.
To start, bassist Dave “The Beast” Spitz, early in the recording, was replaced by Ozzy bassist Bob Daisley. Not just Ozzy’s bassist, but Ozzy’s lyricist as well and he no doubt contributed in the lyrical department here. One of my musical heroes, he not only played with Ozzy, but a zillion other projects, including Rainbow when Dio was in the band. I don’t believe he was ever a permanent member of Sabbath and just helped for this album.
Geoff Nichols remained on keyboards and Eric Singer remained on drums throughout the recording. As far as vocals go, Ray Gillen, who replaced Glenn Hughes on the SEVENTH STAR tour, recorded the entire album. Then, towards the end of the recording sessions, Gillen left the band! His vocals got erased and replaced by Tony Martin, the singer on this album and four of the next five albums after - Dio being on the one Martin doesn’t sing on. The Ray Gillen version of this album, in a rough mix, can be heard on YouTube (or the 2CD deluxe edition of the album) and is worth hearing, he does a fine job.
So who is Tony Martin? We discussed him before when he co-starred with The Marx Brothers in THE BIG STORE. Really amazing that a 73 year old crooner man would change genres this late in life and even convince Sabbath to cover “Tenement Symphony” in concert….and you thought Sabbath doing “Smoke on the Water” was strange. So this elderly gentlemen……(being handed a note), wait, what’s this? A different Tony Martin? I’m shocked! What are the odds? I mean, such an uncommon name for two men to share. Anyway….
Tony Martin was an unknown thirty year old singer from Birmingham, England who has been given the chance of a lifetime. That’s it. He had no previous fame, just like Ray Gillen. Actually, Martin almost got the gig on the SEVENTH STAR tour but since the band needed a replacement while in America, they went with American Gillen so there’d be no work visa issues. Martin is a great singer whose voice to me sounds like a combination of Dio and David Coverdale. He could hit the highs and lows well and could sing all Sabbath eras in concert. For the ETERNAL IDOL, since Martin came in at the last minute, he basically added his voice and sang Ray Gillan’s parts with the occasional flourish of his own. Martin took about a week to record his vocals. A nice example of the chaos that surrounded the Sabbath camp at the time. More chaos for the touring cycle to come. First, let us now do the track by track.
“The Shining” Classic opener. So much cool stuff musically happening here. Love the mellow opening lick Iommi plays. I love the way the bass and drums build tension before the main riff kicks in, which is a classic one. Nice mellow verses that build into a very memorable chorus and we eventually get an emotional fantastic middle section that gives the song more character. Great Iommi soloing and Tony Martin does a fantastic job in his first Sabbath track.
“Ancient Warrior” Just a really well made, professional kick ass metal song. Another one of those slow Middle Eastern sounding riffs, a fantastic Tony Martin vocal, Daisley and Singer killing it in the groove, and some nice Nichols keyboards in the chorus. Great Iommi guitar playing in the middle.
“Hard Life to Love” A pretty busy main riff with a solid groove behind it is the highlight of the song in addition to Martin’s vocals. I like the way the bridge takes the song briefly in another direction.
“Glory Ride”. An completely unheralded Black Sabbath classic. That opening riff gets me every time and this song has a chorus for the ages. Again, fantastic songwriting here, there’s some mood changes that really takes this song to fascinating places. The galloping groove reminds me of Iron Maiden.
“Born to Lose” Another killer Iommi riff with a solid groove. Just a nice simple, well played rocker, not much more to say than a good butt shaker. Martin shines again.
“Nightmare” Creepy tubular bells kind of intro followed by a nice grooving Iommi riff. Gets really metal and head banging towards the middle. The laughing you hear in the middle of the song is Ray Gillen, the only contribution of his that was not erased.
“Scarlet Pimpernel” A really cool and atmospheric double tracked acoustic piece from Iommi. Takes me back to “Orchid” from MASTER OF REALITY.
“Lost Forever” The speedy headbanger here, kind of in the “Neon Knights” vein. Totally enjoyable and pumps up the blood. Listen to how powerful that rhythm section sounds, Daisley and Singer are on fire here.
“Eternal Idol” Another unheralded Sabbath classic. Slow, atmospheric doom metal like only Iommi can deliver. That opening riff followed by the backing keyboards and pounding drums is soooooo atmospheric. Absolutely love this song, kind of like an updated version of the song “Black Sabbath.” Tony Martin shines again here.
So yeah, in spite of the mass confusion with line ups, management and producers, a really professional and strong album was created. My personal favorite of the Tony Martin era, though I am in the minority on that. Most people site the next album, but we’ll get there next time.
OK, for some postscript. The rhythm section situation was beyond confusing, but let’s just say the majority of the tour had Terry Chimes from The Clash on drums and Jo Burt on bass. Watch “The Shining” video I posted above. You see the bass player? Literally some random kid picked off the street who couldn’t play. They just needed a body for the video. That’s how confused the personnel was during this period of Sabbath.
In spite THE ETERNAL IDOL being a strong album, it only charted at 166 in the U.S. due to the constant line up confusion. Black Sabbath were dropped by Warner Brothers in the U.S., a company they have been with since the first album. This will effect how we listen to the next four Tony Martin albums - YouTube. Not available on streaming services, I’ll get into that more next time. They did briefly redoing Warner Brothers/Reprise for DEHUMANIZER, so that one we will be able to stream.
A little postscript on a couple of people. Ray Gillen and Eric Singer formed a pretty cool band called Badlands with former Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee. They released two albums but were derailed by two things, changing musical tastes - grunge - and Ray’s health. Ray Gillen sadly passed away in 1993, he has AIDS. Plenty of stories online about it, don’t know what’s true and what is just rumor.
As far as Eric Singer, he is these days way more famous for playing in KISS. He has been in the band about twenty five of the past thirty years and has played in four albums. He’s currently wearing the cat man Peter Criss make up and has been for a while.
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Bonus stuff, if you’re interested in supplements
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The Ray Gillen Version
Some non album b-sides. Not mentioned for previous albums because until now - there haven’t been any.
Another recording of this one will be on the next album.
I think I’ve only heard this song once or twice myself. Sabbath at their most hair metal.
Cool fan made documentary explaining the turmoil of this era.
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You got me with that Tony Martin statement, I actually thought it was the same person doing vocals that appeared with the Marx Brothers. I liked this album, it was a good 1980s metal release. Not going to argue it's one of the greatest albums of all time like some of the earlier Black Sabbath releases.
The album is mostly hard rocking, metal tracks. My favorite of these types of songs are "The Shining", "Hard Life to Love", "Nightmare" and "Born to Lose". All very good Iommi riffs and the types of songs you can play in your car and have an awesome ride. "Ancient Warrior" and "Lost Forever" are tracks that I could imagine being played during the Dio era, the lyrics in the former song feel like they could have been written by Ronnie.
"Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Eternal Idol" were my favorite tracks. Both atmospheric. I liked that "Scarlet Pimpernel" was instrumental, it brought a soothing feeling. "Eternal Idol" was a really cool way to end the album. Love the drumming on this track and how the heaviness goes on and off depending on whether it's the chorus or vocals. I also think this is Tony Martin's greatest vocal performance on the album. Really good track overall.
I haven't heard a Sabbath release yet that I didn't enjoy, they have a pretty good track record.
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A preview for next weekend’s album with probably the signature song from the Tony Martin era - slightly edited for MTV.
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I was all set to write a joke about how Tony Martin went from the Marx Brothers to Black Sabbath, but then I was reminded who our moderator is. [pie] Martin has a very good voice; of all the Sabbath singers, I’d say his is probably the second best, kind of close to Dio’s at times. That being said, I can also understand why people wouldn’t like that, as it sounds so much like Dio’s voice (as well as Ozzy’s occasionally when it comes to more of the screaming moments) that he’s not really as distinct as the other Sabbath singers.
“The Shining” is a really strong opener. Loved the drumming on it, and it’s led by a strong riff to keep the song moving. I actually was not a fan of “Ancient Warrior”. The riff wasn’t particularly memorable and I felt there were a few moments where the guitar harmonies seemed a bit sloppy. “Hard Life to Love” is my favorite track here. Really great riff and I like how it transitions naturally between the heavier and lighter parts; the drums do a really great job tying everything together. There’s something about Singer’s drumming on this album that really stands out a lot more than SEVENTH STAR. Maybe because of the fact that he had more time to get used to working with the group.
I agree that “Glory Ride” does have some interesting mood changes, and I really like when it focuses on the acoustic guitar. But it doesn’t have a strong hook and I wasn’t quite as fond of it as some of the other tracks. “Born to Lose” is a fun, fast paced track. That “shadows in the dark” line in particular was done really well; that alone made the song for me. “Nightmare” has kind of an odd intro; it starts off like something out of an ‘80s horror movie, but rather than fade into the track, it instead fades away and then just suddenly cuts to the main track. Aside from that weird opening, I did like this song. I really liked the crazy instrumental with all the laughing and the “dream within a dream” line is really catchy.
“Scarlet Pimpernel” (not going to lie, I almost wrote Scarlet Pumpernickel out of habit) is a really good instrumental, focused mostly on acoustic guitar, but with an occasional light keyboard sound to add to the mood. “Lost Forever” definitely feels like a Dio era song and does a good job recapturing that, including what I consider the best guitar solo on the album. The title track is probably the most unique one in terms of atmosphere. It does work, especially the intro, although I feel Martin’s vocal harmonies are kind of off here; it almost sounds like he’s working against himself rather than singing with himself to create the right harmonies.
As for the two B-sides, I really like the original version of “Black Moon”, which makes great use out of the organ. “Some Kind of Woman” is kind of forgettable, though.
In the end, I do think THE ETERNAL IDOL has some problems, but “The Shining” and “Hard Life to Love” are definitely classics and there’s still enough good music overall to enjoy. Interested in seeing where the Martin era goes from here, since this was really just him filling in for someone else whereas the future albums are where he has more influence.
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Sam, you make a good point about Martin not being involved in the writing until the next album. That will definitely be discussed. I plan to getting that review in this weekend, but want to catch up on Steely Dan and Elton first.
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I hope you guys can handle what I’m about to say. After the last tour ended, Tony Martin was the singer. He even sang on the album that was being toured for. Now, the next Black Sabbath album is released and Tony Martin is still the singer! Same singer, two albums in a row. Been a while, eh? HEADLESS CROSS, to certain younger sects of Sabbath fans, is considered a top tier Sabbath album, one of the very best. For this younger side of middle aged Sabbath fan (1994’s CROSS PURPOSES was the first album I got into as a new release, so there are certainly older fans than myself), it’s grown on me in recent years. I have my pros and cons with it, though the cons section can be overlooked by most and is something I’ve been more forgiving of as of late. I’ll get to that in a bit.
First, singer stability aside, lots of changes. With the label situation, HEADLESS CROSS, like the three Tony Martin albums that follow this one, are on the now defunct I.R.S. Records. This label was an indie that also sported R.E.M.’s earlier recordings and due to it’s defunct status, these albums have been in legal Hell for years. I did buy CD copies back in the 90’s when they were in print, but these days? YouTube is your best bet, don’t look to Spotify. Fairly recently, Iommi did obtain the rights to the I.R.S. albums and a rumored Tony Martin era box set is in the works, so fingers crossed that happens. A lot of fans want it for sure.
Personnel wise, stability beyond the singer, by post Ozzy Sabbath standards, happens here. Most importantly is drum legend Cozy Powell. He will play on three Black Sabbath albums. Check out his resume on Wikipedia, it’s quite impressive. For here, let’s just say he played with Dio in Rainbow (and one album without Dio). That history will play a part of the story come DEHUMANIZER time. Amusingly enough, when ELP (AKA Emerson, Lake and Palmer), wanted to make an album in the 80’s without Palmer, Powell became the new “P.”
Bass wise, session player Laurence Cottle played on the album and appeared in the video for the title track. Never a member of the band, he was replaced on tour by Neil Murray, who previously played with Powell in Whitesnake. Along with the ever trusty Geoff Nichols on keyboards, this line up would record two non-consecutive albums together after this, making them the most prolific post-Ozzy line up after Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice.
So the pros and cons of the album for me? Musically, the majority of it I like a lot. I’ll get into that detail in the track by track. It’s lyrically where I have to be more forgiving. This is the first album where Tony Martin writes the lyrics and it’s almost like he’s feeding into what people expect from Sabbath, the Satan and demons cliches. It’s not so much on future albums, but man, I miss those intelligent Geezer Butler lyrics. Still, it’s something I try to ignore or maybe even accept on its own terms like a horror movie, because musically, there’s a lot of cool stuff here and Martin’s vocals are really good. Onto the track by track.
“The Gates of Hell/Headless Cross” After a brief one minute atmospheric album opener, Cozy Powell makes his presence known with a powerful drum intro and we get the classic title track. Somewhat forced Satan references aside, this is musically a really awesome track. Fantastic vocals by Martin, Powell puts on a clinic and those blocked Iommi chords are all accented in the right place. The verse rhythm gallops like “Heaven and Hell.” A latter day Sabbath classic.
“Devil and Daughter” “She’s hot, evil and ready.” Those lyrics are fine for KISS, but again, the only thing in the debit column of what is otherwise a cool song. I can see how the younger metal guys, the types who like power metal, are into this. High Tony Martin vocals, tons of double bass drum and even some keyboards in the riff. Very melodic and catchy. Fantastic guitar solo from Iommi.
“When Death Calls” Again, making allowances for the lyrics, my favorite song on the album. A beautiful melodic intro, which I believe is played on the high register of the bass, and some really really mellow and beautiful singing by Martin. It leads into a powerful, heavy chorus - but it’s that middle section that is to die for. To quote El Brendel, “Yumpin Yimminy!” Makes me wanna raise my fist in the air and that guitar solo? Played by none other than Tony Iommi’s good friend, Brian May of Queen. A stone cold classic here.
“Kill In the Spirit World” Gotta be honest, side two of this album has never been one of my more listened to sides, but I’ve revisited a few times for this review. This particular track, all I got to say is starts off to happy, but then all of the sudden goes into these cool atmospheric parts in the middle with some cool Iommi riffs. A song where I like some parts better than others.
“Call of the Wild” Not a song that has stood out for me over the years, upon recent listens it does have some cool Middle Eastern motifs by Iommi and the whole “Hero” chorus does have a bit of a cool eighties vibe to it.
“Black Moon” Black Sabbath produce a song that, in every way imaginable, from the vocals and instruments, sounds like a mid level Whitesnake song. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not very Sabbath and perhaps trying to compete with a band who, at the time, we’re more successful than they were.
“Nightwing” Talk about a revelation these past couple of weeks! This song was never on my radar and now I love it. Love the progressive nature and the different mood changes. Tony Martin shines here and I love the light and shade from Iommi with the electric and acoustic. Great album closer.
So if you want to hear this one, YouTube is the way to go, so link below. The band themselves had minimal American success but were touring Europe, including Russia - bear in mind this is 1989. A good album and one, like some of these other upcoming Tony Martin albums, I should listen to more. God knows the ones before this I know by heart.
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From Russia With Love. Pro shot footage.
Ozzy played Russia in 1989 as well - with Geezer.
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When I bought and installed my first 8 track stereo in my new (used) Camaro convertible I only had enough bread left to buy one 8 track and I chose Black Sabbath. Man I was one cool dude roaring down the road, head banging while blasting the driving beat of PARANOID
Another first was the speeding ticket I got that day doing 80 in a 55! I never played that song again in the car.
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I was listening to KISS ALIVE II for my speeding ticket, a 40 in a 25.
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I was listening to police sirens when I got my first speeding ticket.
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As an album overall, pretty disappointing. I guess maybe my expectations were a bit too high considering so many fans say that this is the best of the Martin era albums and it’s supposed to be this underrated classic. I didn’t exactly hate anything (well, OK, I’ll admit I did find the title track a bit annoying), but there were some moments I felt were just generic and kind of boring, although certain tracks were exceptions and there was one big, BIG exception.
But let’s start with the stuff I didn’t like so much: the title track, “When Death Calls”, and “Call of the Wild”. The title track...sorry, just didn’t work for me. The riff just wasn’t that memorable and like I hinted at earlier, I did find Martin’s constant screaming of the title phrase pretty annoying. I do like the quieter opening to “When Death Calls” and it is interesting to hear Brian May take on a Sabbath guitar solo, but the main body of the song does feel a lot more formulaic and bland. I do like the occasional Middle Eastern sections of “Call of the Wild”, but otherwise I don’t really feel there’s anything that interesting about it.
Getting to the better tracks, I did like the funeral aspect to the keyboards on “Devil & Daughter”. “Kill in the Spirit World” is paced pretty well and I especially like Martin’s vocals on it. I like “Black Moon” too, although nothing about it sticks out significantly compared to the original version, even the organ parts sound similar. I also liked the bonus track, “Cloak and Danger”. Kind of bluesy at times, which is interesting to hear at such a late period and unlike “Heart Like a Wheel”, it’s much more contained and paced right. These tracks are definitely better, but even then, I don’t feel like they really show off the uniqueness of Black Sabbath. These sound like tracks that could be done by just about any metal band; I didn’t get the feeling that the drums were by this absolute legend in his field. That is, until...
“Nightwing”. If the majority of this album didn’t really meet my expectations, then this one definitely exceeded those expectations. I LOVE this song. The arpeggiated acoustic riff is fantastic, the drums are very dynamic, the guitar solos are excellent, the keyboards at times take on a string approach, and there’s a brief little Spanish interlude I really enjoy. I was not expecting a track of this quality this late in their career; this is easily a top 10 Sabbath song for me, maybe even top 5, that’s how much I liked this song.
As for the rest of it, not bad overall, I just don’t see the hype, and outside of “Nightwing”, the band just doesn’t sound as together as a unit on it as on their other work. I wouldn’t say it’s my least favorite so far, but that’s for the sole purpose that “Nightwing” is on it, as that alone is better than the best on the previous two albums. If it wasn’t on here...then, yes, it probably would be my least favorite.
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I liked this album quite a bit, I wouldn't say it's like the other metal music popular during this time, because I did not get hair metal vibes from this release. Instead I found a good metal album.
"The Gates of Hell/Headless Cross": I liked the opening buildup, followed by the really cool rocking track. I liked Tony Martin's vocals on this one, I didn't find the vocals to be grating. I love the guitar solo in the track, and the bass that can also be heard during that section. I thought "Devil and Daughter" was even better, the quick riffs are so cool. I'm not too well versed in power metal, but if this is what the song is I might like to check out some more.
"When Death Calls" is another very good track on the album. Like the opening track, there is a nice buildup to the more hard hitting chorus. It has quieter parts that focus primarily on the vocals, and a VERY awesome guitar solo. Probably my favorite part of the album. "Kill in the Spirit World" has a more generic feel to me, aside from the section that metaldams mentioned. "Call of the Wild" I like aside from the chorus. I thought the Hero part was kind of cheesy, like it was made for an action movie.
"Black Moon" was a good rocker, even if it could have been done by several other bands at the time. "Nightwing": I agree that it is a pretty good track. A contender for my favorite on the album along with from "When Death Calls". I like the end of the song with the instrumental sections in this song, and I think it was the best way to finish the album.
Overall, I think it's a good metal release, but I wouldn't call it one of Black Sabbath's better releases.
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Heavy metal of 1989/1990, from a mainstream perspective in America, was either Guns N’ Roses and other “hair” bands, or heavier stuff like pre Black Album Metallica. The traditional metal bands, the ones in between, like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and yes, Black Sabbath were not as popular. I know that’s especially hard to believe with Maiden considering how popular they are today. But it’s true at the young kids my age were not listening to that type of metal - I discovered it a few years later.. Ozzy got by because of image and reputation. So HEADLESS CROSS was just traditional heavy metal for the time. I think Sabbath actually stopped being innovators once Ozzy left, which of course doesn’t mean good music stopped being made. It’s just that starting in the 80’s, the genre Sabbath explored became mainstream and the bands that took it to other levels no band from the seventies approached.
Which takes us to the preview video of the next album. Now this, I can promise you, is about as generic a 1990 song and video as you can get. I was 11 in 1990 and was discovering music for the first time and devouring MTV. This era I remember well and trust me, this is very dated to 1990. The rest of the album does not sound like this and after this - we get a Dio album!
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There seems to be a point for many bands where they essentially becomes legacy acts, people are more interested in listening to their older music instead of checking out new releases.
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There seems to be a point for many bands where they essentially becomes legacy acts, people are more interested in listening to their older music instead of checking out new releases.
These days, it’s because nobody buys albums anymore, but yes, that’s true.
Black Sabbath were a consistently creative band until 1995. Ozzy then rejoined and yes, they became a total nostalgia band at that point. I plan for on devoting an entire thread on that.
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The next Black Sabbath album, TYR (pronounced “Tear” as in crying), is probably my least listened to album up until this point and I still find half of it really good and the other half passable. I guess I really like this band but relative to the preceding catalog, it’s just another Black Sabbath album. The line up that toured the last album plays on this album, so there’s not too much drama or story to tell here. That will change for the next album, I promise. I will say, my opinion about HEADLESS CROSS being too heavy on the Satan references is shared by Tony Iommi and I just found this out. Here’s an excerpt from his autobiography (which I need to read), taken off Wikipedia, and how it relates to TYR.
“For our next album, Tyr, we went back to the Woodcray Studios in February 1990, with me and Cozy producing it again. On Headless Cross, Tony Martin had just come into the band and he assumed, oh, Black Sabbath, it's all about the Devil, so his lyrics were full of the Devil and Satan. It was too much in your face. We told him to be a bit more subtle about it, so for Tyr he did all these lyrics about Nordic gods and whatnot. It took me a while to get my head around that”
So yeah, more Norse lyrics here, less Satan. Again, this is a case where Black Sabbath had no commercial standing in America and did most of their touring in Europe. Most people consider this and HEADLESS CROSS the two best Martin albums, I’m an ETERNAL IDOL and CROSS PURPOSES guy. Go figure, but I enjoy all four albums. Let’s go to the track by track.
“Anno Mundi” Love it, my favorite Tony Martin era song and a real Sabbath classic. I love those chant like harmonized vocals Martin does to open the song and after a beautiful mellow intro, the song kicks into that riff! Fantastic Iommi riff and I love the groove of the rhythm section behind it. Very beautiful and dramatic chorus with some great drumming by Cozy Powell to add to the tension. Just an amazing song.
“Lawmaker” Just a cool metal song that sounds like it can be a mid level track on a nineties Iron Maiden album. Cozy Powell plays drums here, but it may as well be Nicko McBrain. Sounding like other bands besides themselves aside, an entertaining track.
“Jerusalem” An OK song. The chorus always sounds too happy for my tastes. Tony Martin did a solo album in 1992 when Dio returned to Sabbath that I really need to check out. He re-recorded this song for that album.
“The Sabbath Stones” Oh yeah, now we’re talking! A really progressive and adventurous track with a lot of mood changes, great songwriting. Starts out doomy with a cappella singing, kind of like the verses of “War Pigs.” Goes into this cool riff, gets mellow and then has this epic speedy metal ending that makes me raise my fist in the air. Great track.
“The Battle of Tyr/Odin’s Court/Valhalla” Three separate tracks that are really one. The first part is a one minute instrumental that sounds like music that should be played going into battle in Ancient Greece. Really, just soundtrack music probably played by Geoff Nichols on keyboards. Then the second part is this mellow bit with some nice singing from Martin and some gentle guitar tones from Iommi. Then it goes into the third and final part which is this melodic power metal monster of a track. Another one to raise your fist to and again, I can see why stuff like this is held in high esteem by young metalhead who don’t get the seventies in general but eat stuff like this for breakfast. Even when I heard this as a teen, it made an impression and I love the way each part builds into each other seamlessly. A mini epic.
“Feels Good To Me” After a mini epic, we get Black Sabbath obviously writing a song to break the American market. This sounds like just about any other ballad bands were doing in 1990 just before grunge went mainstream. Not a bad song, these guys are classy musicians and that quality comes through versus a tenth generation hair band, but really, this is Sabbath chasing trends. Not something they’ve done too often, it must be said.
“Heaven in Black” A catchy, speedy power metal song to hoist your beer stein in the air to and end the album with. Not quite the awesome level of the previous album closer “Nightwing” but it does sport a great drum intro from Cozy Powell and some killer guitar soloing from Iommi as the album fades.
OK, so the band tours and on the last gig of the tour, they are briefly joined on stage by Geezer Butler, who just finished touring with Ozzy. Geezer also joined Dio on stage at a gig around the same time. You think something might be brewing here? For whatever lack of story and drama there is with TYR, it will be made up for ten fold on the next album. Stand up and shout folks, Dio and Geezer returns. As far as Cozy, we’ll see what happens.
Again, not available on streaming services, so listen here.
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I really liked this album. Yeah, I’m surprised I’m saying that too, having been so disappointed by HEADLESS CROSS and knowing this one’s not quite as loved, but this one was so enjoyable, so unique, that my expectations were beyond surpassed. This is easily my favorite Martin-era album so far.
It’s interesting that they focused on Norse mythology for a theme because it seems to have given them the push they really needed to branch out. HEADLESS CROSS and (to a lesser extent) THE ETERNAL IDOL felt a bit too safe at times. What I really liked about “Nightwing” on HEADLESS CROSS was that it felt like something fresh, something that had its own unique identity for a band like Sabbath, which by this point kind of felt like it was trying to recreate what it did in the past. I’m not saying that’s necessarily always a bad thing, especially since I did like the majority of THE ETERNAL IDOL, but it also draws unfavorable comparisons to that older work as a result. I feel like TYR does hold up against that older work, because it does have its own unique identity, and it was consistent as a whole in a way I don’t think I’ve really heard since HEAVEN AND HELL.
Starting off the album is the fantastic “Anno Mundi”. I love those Queenesque vocals at the beginning as well as how they return later with kind of this funeral arrangement backing them. Martin’s vocals are great, Cozy Powell feels a lot more comfortable with his drumming, the guitar work is great. It’s a really solid opener. I really like “The Law Maker” as well. I do see your point about the drums, as they are unusually fast, but again that’s not really something you hear with Sabbath and it is interesting to hear them take a crack at it. I have to admit that I’m not that familiar with Iron Maiden, but if this was the type of music they were doing in that period, then I really should check that out, because this song left a really good impression.
I can kind of see your point regarding the “Jerusalem” chorus being a bit happy, but again...it kind of gives it a unique identity as a result. The whole “Jerusalem” vocals have a “singalong” feel to them that I enjoyed, and it’s fascinating hearing that kind of thing with such a dark guitar tone. For me, it works. Pretty much entirely agreed on “The Sabbath Stones”. Lots of changes throughout, an occasional quieter section, but it still ends with a hard edge, all the while making those transitions completely natural.
And yes, “The Battle of Tyr/Odin’s Court/Valhalla” does feel like an epic. After the cool keyboard intro, it transitions into this very nice acoustic piece. I feel like in general this album uses a lot more acoustic guitar than usual, which is always welcome in my book. After that beautiful piece, we transition into a really awesome heavy metal track. Once again, Powell sounds really engaged in his drumming and Martin sounds fantastic. That line, “When the wings of Valhalla run cold” is super catchy, I just loved it so much. A really awesome combination. I actually quite enjoyed “Feels Good to Me”. Yes, I’m aware that even the band feels it’s out of place and, sure, maybe lyrically it is out of place. But production and sound-wise, to me it feels right at home. The guitar work in the first half actually reminds me somewhat of “Nightwing”, so that’s definitely a point in its favor. To me, the album still flows well even with it there. The last track, “Heaven in Black” is a good, heavier song in the older tradition. Ironically, it’s probably my least favorite song, but that’s because the rest of the songs leave such a high standard. And, there is something about Martin’s vocals that really carry it to being an effective closer. While I’ve liked his voice from the beginning, I feel like he’s really found it with this album, the vocals are just so varied and interesting, it doesn’t feel like he’s just trying to sound like a Dio/Ozzy combo like he did at times on the previous albums.
So, yeah, a really solid album in my opinion. I think it flows well, they experiment with other styles and do them well. Ironically, I think it’s kind of a shame they briefly stopped here, as I would have liked to have seen where this momentum went, but at the same time, we are getting Dio back, so I’m really looking forward to that as well. TYR is definitely an album I’ll be revisiting again in the future; a very enjoyable experience.
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This may sound like a shocker, but this might be my favorite post-Ozzy album that I've listened to. Not a single track I didn't like, and what stood out is there seemed to be a good balance between more melodic sections (Sam mentioned more acoustic guitars) and heavier tracks.
Dare I say "Anno Mundi" is a contender for favorite Black Sabbath opening track for me? I liked this one a lot! Especially the guitar riff. "The Law Makerwas also a good followup. I've never really listened to much of power metal, but if this album is mostly an example of it, I might ended up becoming a fan of the genre and listen to more artists. "The Sabbath Stones", "Odin's Court" and "Feels Good to Me" were other standouts to me due to the lighter, more melodic nature of the songs, and I'm glad they were sprinkled throughout. "Heaven in Black" was more heavy, but would I have wanted the album to end another way? I don't think so.
I was taken by surprise from this, it was a very good listening experience.
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Pleasantly surprised by the praise of TYR. Glad you guys like it. It has grown on me over the years. I like it better now than say, when I was 16.
Preview video for the next album. Good song, but there are some stone cold classics on DEHUMANIZER I think they should have made a video for instead. Conceptually, this is a creative video.
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So just to let you guys know, there are six entries left. 4 Black Sabbath albums left, 1 “Heaven and Hell” band album which will be treated as a Black Sabbath album (because it is in everything but legality), and one entry covering the artistically barren but culturally and touring important years of 1997 - 2006.
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Dio documentary coming to theatres 9/28. I’m sure it will be on streaming services as well.
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Dio documentary coming to theatres 9/28. I’m sure it will be on streaming services as well.
I heard about this. Sounds like it could be really interesting and I’m looking forward to being able to see it eventually.
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Well, Geezer is back. Dio is back, for one album, at least. The story of how it came to be? Commercially, neither Sabbath or solo Dio were doing that great in 1990 (as much as I’ve tried, I never could get into Dio’s LOCK UP THE WOLVES album). Part of it is because if you weren’t glam or thrash and were traditional metal, you got lost in the shuffle at that time commercially. There’s also the fact that by the time 1992 and DEHUMANIZER came around, grunge took over. I remember this time well. By the summer of 1992, unless if you were Metallica or Ozzy (more on that in a bit), commercially grunge effected every 80’s hard rock and metal band in the 90’s. 80’s bands were considered dinosaurs overnight at the time - so of course as a teen in the nineties, this is when I discovered all these 80’s bands! This is the environment Sabbath is in now.
On a band level, this reunion never seemed comfortable from day one, though artistically we get a cool album. I guess there were still some scars from the initial break up ten years earlier that had yet to heal. There’s also the fact at the beginning of the writing and demoing sessions, Cozy Powell is still the Sabbath drummer. Dio and Cozy played together in Rainbow in the seventies and apparently, they did not get along either (on a side note, can’t recommend those Rainbow albums enough). Well, this got settled as Cozy was in a horseback riding accident after the demos were done and needed to rehab his hip. So they eventually get Vinny Appice back on drums! Yes, the MOB RULES/LIVE EVIL line up has reunited.
I really do dig this album and while it’s almost impossible to top HEAVEN AND HELL and MOB RULES, DEHUMANIZER has aged wonderfully. This would be the first Sabbath album I ever owned - on cassette. I bought it bulk with a bunch of other tapes and at the time hardly ever listened to it. I did not own the Ozzy albums yet and was simply not ready for Sabbath with anyone but Ozzy. I was 13. It should also be noted the song “Time Machine” appears on the Wayne’s World soundtrack, which I owned. Due to both the success of that movie and “Bohemian Rhapsody” getting a huge second life, that soundtrack album Sabbath was on hit number one on the charts. Let’s do the track by track and then the story of how this band broke up - which is a fascinating one.
“Computer God” Fantastic opener and a track I definitely consider to be a Black Sabbath classic. Written thirty years ago, lyrically this song has aged very well, sadly. Monstrous chords under those verses, excellent and catchy chorus and the song takes a beautifully progressive direction during the mellower middle section with some beautiful Dio vocals. Great song!
“After All (The Dead)” Another classic. This one starts out with a guitar part that has a smooth, violin like effect and the build up of this song is dramatic and incredible. So much so, in fact, that Sabbath, or excuse me, “Heaven and Hell” deemed this song worthy to open their concerts with when this line up reunited in 2007. We start off with two classics, however…..
“TV Crimes” One problem I have with DEHUMANIZER is that some songs are classics and the others are average. Nothing terrible. What I perceive to be average songs are all pieced too close together and this is the start of it. ‘TV Crimes,” the lead off single, is in my opinion the best of the average songs, but I can think of better choices for the video and single. Still, I dig the speed and energy of the song and it’s good to have Geezer back! Listen to that bass. A song about crooked TV preachers.
“Letter from Earth” As many times as I’ve heard this album, this song has just never made an impression on me. It’s pleasant enough when I hear it, but it’s in one ear and out the other.
“Master of Insanity”. The music industry is cutthroat. In the 80’s, Geezer Butler had a band that never got signed. This song was written by guitarist Jim Bell in that band and at least according to Wikipedia, Bell never got paid. He certainly gets no songwriting credit. Not a bad song, the chorus is pretty catchy and there are some cool changes throughout the song tempo and mood wise.
“Time Machine” Oh yeah! Now this should have been the lead off single. There are two versions of this song and I prefer the album version to the version that appeared on the Wayne’s World soundtrack. Incredibly catchy chorus and a somewhat “Symptom of the Universe” like energy throughout that makes me want to jump around the room and break things. A total classic and not the last song on the album to give me this feeling.
“Sins of the Father” The beginning of this song is too happy for me, it reminds me of some obscure NWOBHM band called Witchfynde, who does this kind of thing better. The second half of the song is heavier and more rocking. I love that riff that starts at around the two and a half minute mark. The last of what I perceive to be the average songs, it’s all killer from here.
“Too Late” The ballad of the album and a fine one. A great showcase for Dio’s vocals and the song gets a bit heavier at the end. I really love this song.
“I” Hell yeah, another song I consider an all time Black Sabbath classic and like “Time Machine,” makes me want to go crazy. Seriously, it’s adrenaline pumping stuff like this that makes metal so cool for me. The lyrics and vocals on this thing are amazing, Dio really outdid himself here. The riffs and rhythm section give this thing a solid bottom and I love the mellow and bluesy Iommi riff that starts this before the monster kicks in. Did I say hell yeah? I did. Well, I’ll say it again.
“Buried Alive” The closing track and the song that has grown on me the most over the years. The main riff does have a “Zero the Hero” feel to it it and there are lots of cool changes throughout this song to keep it progressive and interesting. A fantastic closing track and sadly, also the end of this run of the line up.
A good album overall. Not as good as the early 80’s albums but that would be unfair to expect. I can’t name one metal band in the grunge friendly era of 1992 who were making albums that topped their early 80’s albums. The fact Sabbath made an album with Dio that has four or five classics on it is more than acceptable for me. This charted at number 44 which again, under the circumstances, was respectable. We got some good music, but the commercial timing of this reunion was not good at all.
So what happens? Ozzy actually comes into play with this line up breaking up again. Ozzy had a monster hit of an album at the time called NO MORE TEARS and being what was perceived as old (43, my age), decided to announce his farewell tour. Complete bullshit with hindsight, but in the early 90’s, there was no record of people in their 70’s touring like today. NO MORE TOURS would start the trend of farewell tours that are not farewell tours (OK, I guess The Who did it ten years earlier). But let me tell you, Ozzy’s “farewell tour” was being hyped all over the place at the time and people believed it.
The last gigs of Ozzy’s “farewell tour” were in November of 1992 in Costa Mesa, California. Ozzy’s opening act for those gigs was Black Sabbath. Dio, for months on end, said he refused to do those gigs opening for Ozzy, and can you blame him? The band thought he was bluffing but when the time came, Dio stuck to his word and was once again gone. For those two gigs, Sabbath got recently departed Judas Priest singer Rob Halford to fill in on vocals! That must have been a trip to see and would not be the last time Rob helped Sabbath out. I’ll tell you my story about that when the time comes.
At those “farewell” Ozzy gigs, the original four of Black Sabbath got on stage together and performed four songs. The version of “Black Sabbath” the song they performed together appears on Ozzy’s 1993 live album LIVE AND LOUD. To show how disingenuous this whole farewell thing was, there were negotiations at the time for the original four to reunite for a reunion tour. The negotiations fell apart, but this would happen eventually. Before it does, we have two more Black Sabbath albums to go with returning vocalist, Tony Martin.
Like in 1982, Tony and Geezer stick around for the next Sabbath album and Dio and Vinny do the next Dio album. If you like DEHUMANIZER, I would highly suggest checking out the next Dio album, STRANGE HIGHWAYS. Stylistically, it’s more of a follow up than the next Sabbath album and is in my opinion a very strong Dio album.
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Looking up this album, the main thing a lot of people seem to agree on is that it’s the heaviest of the Black Sabbath albums, and I can see that. It feels like there are a lot more doom riffs in the style of the Ozzy era and the lighter moments are much fewer to come by, certainly a lot less than TYR. But that’s part of what I liked with TYR; it felt balanced, like there was a real sensibility as to when something should be light and dark. This is more or less a doom album from start to finish, and to its credit, most of the songs are good, though not always super memorable and occasionally a bit repetitive.
One major negative thing I will say is I think there are way too many effects on this album. I get it, it’s the early ‘90s, that’s just how things were with ‘90s production, but for an album that otherwise is pretty much rooted in guitar heavy sounds, they do sound pretty dated.
“Computer God” is a good opener. Thematically, it’s very ahead of its time and there are some great stylistic changes throughout, including one of the few notable lighter sections in the middle. You can almost tell immediately that that’s Geezer; I don’t know how he does it, but he always seems to make himself heard even when he’s not a producer on it. “After All (The Dead)” has that cool violin like effect at the beginning and the doomy riff especially reminds me of Ozzy era songs like “Black Sabbath”. “TV Crimes” is one of those fast paced songs that I find fun to listen to, but at the end of the day doesn’t stick out as super memorable, certainly not in the same way as something like “Computer God”. Once again, though, Geezer stands out on this track. “Letters from Earth” is fun enough; the riff at times calls to mind “Snowblind” from VOL. 4, not quite as infectious, but it’s nice to hear.
“Master of Insanity” is a real highlight; I love the tempo changes, especially that little guitar section near the beginning that also closes out the song. Some really awesome guitar work and drums throughout this one. “Time Machine” was kind of underwhelming. I saw WAYNE’S WORLD once a long time ago and remembered liking it; it’s one of those films I really want to check out again. But, man, this song just came through one ear and went out the other for me. There’s definitely energy there, just not the kind of riffs or stylistic changes to really keep my attention. “Sins of the Father” is an improvement, and actually wouldn’t sound completely out of place on MOB RULES if they removed some of the effects and maybe polished up the beginning a bit. Iommi once again does some great guitar work on it. I especially liked the quieter sections of “Too Late”. I always like hearing Dio get to have quieter moments and really show off just how great his voice is; the Rainbow song “Rainbow Eyes” is a great example of this, probably my favorite Rainbow song. Supported by some excellent acoustic work from Iommi in the quieter sections and some really awesome bass work from Geezer in the heavier sections, this is a highlight of the album for sure.
“I” is my favorite track on the album. It has this kind of “Hand of Doom” effect to it where the guitars and bass kind of just play alone for a while before the drums really kick in. Dio sounds great on it, the riff is super memorable, the drumming is great...a solid song overall. The riff to “Buried Alive” does indeed sound very similar to “Zero the Hero”, but it doesn’t pull it off nearly as well. I don’t know, “Hero” just felt like it had more hooks and the drumming felt a bit more spirited. This one isn’t bad; once again, Geezer does really show off his bass playing, but it also doesn’t have the feeling of a true closer in the same way as “Lonely is the Word” or “Over and Over”; it just kind of feels like a song treading on previous ground.
And that’s the long awaited Ronnie Dio Sabbath reunion. Some really good stuff here, but as a whole, it does not hold together as well as HEAVEN AND HELL or MOB RULES. It also doesn’t hold together as well as TYR, which was a real surprise as prior to hearing that, I was expecting this album to kind of be the big comeback musically. I can see why some fans might really like it if they’re looking specifically for that heavy sound, but as I said, I do prefer it when they balance things out between the heavier songs and the ballads, something that TYR and the previous two Dio Sabbath albums did so well. Well, that ends the Dio era once again; I guess we’ll see how much things change again years later when we get to THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
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The slow doomy stuff actually is in a lot of the latter Dio catalog in general with MAGICA being the major exception. As far as effects and being dated to the nineties, the album ANGRY MACHINES might not be for you then - though it isn’t for most people. Considered by most to be the worst Dio album, I’m one of the few who like it.
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The slow doomy stuff actually is in a lot of the latter Dio catalog in general with MAGICA being the major exception. As far as effects and being dated to the nineties, the album ANGRY MACHINES might not be for you then - though it isn’t for most people. Considered by most to be the worst Dio album, I’m one of the few who like it.
The thing is, I could see the effects working for Dio, just not Black Sabbath. I’ve only listened to the first three Dio albums so far (eventually plan on getting to all of them), but based off of those it seems like his biggest hits were based around heavy keyboard riffs. There was great guitar work on them, but stuff like “Rainbow in the Dark” or “The Last in Line” had more of a futuristic feel to them than his work with Sabbath, so I could see this potentially work for him. With Sabbath, though, it just sounds off because for the most part the songs sound straight out of the ‘70s or early ‘80s, but then the effects feel super out of place as a result.
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Here’s the preview for the highly underrated CROSS PURPOSES. I will be out of state for a family wedding this weekend and while I’ll have my iPhone with me and can make small replies to things on the board, I won’t have time for a full review. Except the next Sabbath review Monday or Tuesday. Not that many reviews to go.
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When Metaldams posted his review of Steely Dan's album Pretzel Logic, he had this to say: "In one ear and out the other for only one listen, but in a good consistent way. Every track in hear and very pleasing and easy to listen to. " That’s what my thoughts were on this album. It was a really fun heavy metal release. Not exactly one I would call one of my favorites on their lineup, because as Umbrella Sam stated it’s mostly heavy tracks, but it’s a fun album to put on and listen to.
The opening track, “Computer God” is a very good opening track. It certainly doesn’t sound like 1992 to me, but it’s a good 1980s style song. “All the Dead” is a strong follow-up, instead of going for the fast and heavy, it goes for slow and heavy. Quite atmospheric. “TV Crimes” and “Letters from Earth” are both good songs to listen to, but I wouldn’t say they are standouts.
“Master of Insanity” reminds me of “The Wanton Song” as the main guitar riff is similar. Maybe Zeppelin were in fact influencing heavy metal bands! “Too Late” was a nice ballad from the band, Dio has a great voice and it was the track that was not going for the heaviness. “Buried Alive” is a good way to end the album, the song that comes the closest of any on here to sounding like a 1990s track to me, but Dio’s vocals sound 1980s.
I’d still say Black Sabbath has not put out a weak album yet. It is possibly the heaviest, and that was what they were probably aiming for. I didn’t like it as much as Tyr, but I’m not complaining, because it was still a very good listen. Awesome cover art, too. Thanks for bringing up the background information and what was going on behind the scenes, it’s a very entertaining story by itself. Sounds
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Cross Purposes will be next week sometime.
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Listen to CROSS PURPOSES here.
CROSS PURPOSES is an example of how age and timeframe are important. Not generally considered to be one of the better Black Sabbath albums, I like it more than the average fan because 1994 was the year I got into Sabbath and I got into this album as a new release. 12/31/93 a friend came over and bought a VHS of THE BLACK SABBATH STORY VOL. 1 which had footage from the Ozzy years. That, combined with the Iron Maiden videos we watched that night, was a cool night. I just turned 15 the week before and I wish I was still capable of being that impressionable with new music. All this being said, I needed a refresher because I haven’t listened to this much in recent years. My CD is in a closet with hundreds of others and this is not on Spotify, hence another IRS label release we need YouTube for.
So Dio is gone and Tony Martin is back. Geezer Butler stayed on for this album and tour and the new drummer is Bobby Rondinelli. Another ex-Rainbow member, though he was in the band when Joe Lynn Turner was the singer, not Dio. I really think Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore have some kind of exchange program going, it’s insane the amount of musicians who played for both. So yeah, commercially, Sabbath were just playing for the hardcore fans still and grunge was the big thing at this time. Black Sabbath really were considered a big influence at this time, but only the Ozzy era. The Dio era and beyond would get more respect with future generations. Onto the track by track.
“I Witness” One of the few speed rockers on the album and a great way to open the album. Nice riff and man, do I love the way Geezer’s bass goes all over the place during the verses. Just a great, well written and energetic song overall.
“Cross of Thorns” A classic. Beautiful acoustic lick from Iommi with those atmospheric keyboards from Geoff Nicholls really adding flavor to the song. I love the way the rhythm section kicks in on the second verse, Martin’s vocals and again, just a great song, this time a ballad.
“Psychophobia” A pretty moody number. Fast opening riff that goes into the chorus, a melodic, mellower chorus and a faster bridge again highlights a piece of nice songwriting.
“Virtual Death” I thought it when this song was contemporary and I think it now. This song has some Alice In Chains vibes with the way Tony Martin harmonizes his vocals during the verse. Hey, it’s fair. I’m pretty sure Sabbath influenced Alice In Chains as well. Cool song, doomy riff and I love the way the bass starts the song.
“Immaculate Deception” An opening riff that knocks down concrete buildings, a moody verse sung by Tony Martin and a chorus where the rhythm section again really speeds things up. Cool song.
“Dying For Love” Another ballad, this time a bit on the busier side with Iommi’s guitar playing. Not much else to say other then I like it, but not as much as “Cross of Thorns.”
“Back to Eden” That opening riff belongs on MASTER OF REALITY, if not the rest of the song. Love the chorus on this one and the rhythm section gives this one quite a bounce.
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” Another moody song followed by some fast parts. Love the riff when the song gets heavy, again, it has this certain bounce to it, it swings. Catchy chorus, cool mellow opening, I can totally see why this was chosen as the video for this album.
“Cardinal Sin” Absolutely love the intro, again an example of moody guitar riff and keyboard backgrounds. The verse has a gothic feel to it and the chorus is more upbeat. Another cool track.
“Evil Eye”. Trivia: Yes, the band named themselves Black Sabbath after the Mario Bava film. When the film was released by AIP in the U.S., what was is released on a double bill with? Bava’s THE EVIL EYE, naturally (AKA THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH).
More trivia: The only Black Sabbath song co-written by Eddie Van Halen. Yes, the guy you best know for being Valerie Bertenelli’s ex-husband. Eddie wasn’t credited, however, due to contractual reasons with Warner Brothers. The main riff sounds very old school Sabbath and I wonder if that’s what Eddie wrote? He certainly was a fan. But yeah, another in a fine line of Sabbath closers.
So overall, I really dig this album, but I can’t help but wonder how much of this has to do with the fact I was a new and young fan when this was released. Maybe not though, the next album I’m not anywhere close to liking like CROSS PURPOSES, but we’ll get to that next time.
The next release, though, is the long out of print CROSS PURPOSES LIVE. I own the VHS/CD combo pack which I bought as a new release, a collector’s item that a friend of mine is jealous I have. Ha! But alas, I have no VCR anymore and it was never released on DVD in the U.S. But that’s what YouTube is for. One of my favorite Sabbath concerts. Filmed very professionally, the band sound great and the set list is much more varied than the usual conservative set lists Sabbath have. A great mixture of Ozzy, Dio and Martin era tracks. Check it out.
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Turning out to be a pretty busy weekend and I most likely won’t have time for reviews outside of maybe this week’s Langdon review. I am aiming for early this upcoming week to get to CROSS PURPOSES. I will say, though, that I have listened to a little bit of it so far and one thing I noted is that there are quite a few moments where Tony Martin almost sounds like a completely different person, such as the opening to “I Witness”; I’d be interested in knowing if he had intentionally changed his style of singing in between his Sabbath stints, or if this was done specifically for the purposes of reinventing the Sabbath lineup.
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On the one hand, I could see fans really appreciating CROSS PURPOSES, as it seems to really be trying to capture all eras of Sabbath. There are some tracks that sound like they could have been from the Ozzy era, some that sound like Dio era, and even some that sound like they could have made TYR. At the same time, though, it does feel like this attempt to capture everything doesn’t give the album as a whole much of an identity. I think a major reason why I like TYR so much is that it feels contained; most of the songs feel like they should have been on that album specifically, and the album has a bit more of an identity due to its focus on power metal specifically. Still, CROSS PURPOSES does have its moments, mostly in the first half.
My favorite track here is “Immaculate Deception”; that riff is super catchy, the keyboards feel properly placed, and Martin’s slightly calmer vocal tones during the lighter moments really fit. I also really like “Psychophobia”, which also has a good riff and some really good drumming; a very well paced track. “Cross of Thorns” feels very much like a track that wouldn’t have felt out of place on TYR. The acoustic guitar work reminds me a lot of “Odin’s Court”. A very natural balance between the lighter and dark moments on this one; if I did have one minor complaint, I do think it fades at kind of an odd spot, but it’s not too distracting. “Cardinal Sin” was also good, supported by some nice string-influenced keyboard parts.
As far as weaker moments go, I wasn’t a fan of “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle”. Productionwise, it very much feels like a product of its time and I felt the chorus was kind of weak. I also wasn’t fond of “Dying for Love”, which is weird because the main guitar riff is actually kind of similar to “Nightwing”, just in a different key. However, “Nightwing” feels so much more atmospheric. Part of that is the fact that the key feels much gloomier and eerie which makes it much more fitting as a result. Additionally, “Nightwing” does so much more in terms of varying the styles of drumming and different types of guitars throughout. It’s a constantly moving song, whereas “Dying for Love” feels more by-the-book; the drumming feels very average and the keyboards feel a bit more randomized than usual. I also felt the guitar intro dragged a bit. “Evil Eye” occasionally drags at times too, but the bass work is good and there is definitely an old school Sabbath vibe to it that I like.
So yeah, a few weak moments, but the good songs are still memorable and Martin’s slightly more calm vocal style does make for an interesting change of pace as well. Not nearly as memorable as TYR, but that’s mostly because I think TYR is much better than people give it credit for. Again, though, CROSS PURPOSES does have its moments and the weaker songs aren’t terrible or anything. Now, the next album I’m curious about, as I have heard much more negative opinions on that one compared to most Sabbath albums...