Quite a while back, we had a look at the record catalog of the band Rush. We're now looking at the band that began heavy metal, the one and only Black Sabbath. We'll look at the band's 49-year career with their albums that influenced a generation, the good, the bad, the highs and lows (operative word: HIGH, which we'll get into), and material that is rather surprising.

The first album, the self-titled debut, 'Black Sabbath', released on February 13, 1970 (a Friday, which is significant), was recorded in twelve hours on a limited recording budget. The opening track, also called "Black Sabbath", is considered the first official heavy metal song, according to many critics. The tolling of the church bell in a thunderstorm, and the infamous tritone of the song's riff, which was known in medieval church music as Diabolus In Musica, or The Devil's Interval. The three notes were so jarring and unsettling, and a perfect introduction to the young band from Birmingham, England. These notes were also used in "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The lyrics describe people being summoned by Satan for earthly pleasures in a Faustian bargain. An adequate way to describe the business of rock and roll.
The track ends with a climactic jump-blues outro. The song was so effective in the band's early pub days when they played it that everyone, including wait staff stood to watch the band play this unearthly song, and they got quite a reaction with Ozzy's howl.

The second song, "The Wizard", is the only song to feature Ozzy on harmonica. The lyrics are about a magical figure bringing happiness to people, perhaps he is a Christ figure, it is not clear. But the song appears to have influenced the song "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" by Blue Oyster Cult, America's alleged answer to Black Sabbath a few years later (which is another story altogether, in ten years).

"Wasp" and "Behind the Wall Of Sleep" incorporate a call-and-response technique in blues, where the vocals are followed by a guitar riff in succession. "Faces cupped within the flower" (guitar) "Deadly petals with strange power" (guitar), etc. And the riff is haunting and full of menace.
As Bill Ward's drums fade out, the bass solo by Geezer Butler ("Bassically") segues into one of the band's most notable songs, "N.I.B." The song is thought to have been named after an acronym meaning "Nativity In Black", as was the title of a Black Sabbath covers compilation in 1994, but it in fact is a reference to Bill Ward's beard resembling the nib of a pen. The band did something that was unheard of at the end of the 1960's: write a love song from the point of view of the Devil! "Your love for me has got to be real..." "My name is Lucifer, please take my hand." Such themes are rife within metal for decades, but in those days this was unthinkable. A far cry from The Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".

The second half of the debut Black Sabbath album featured much of Tony Iommi's guitar playing. The album continued with "Wicked World", which starts out as a fast, jazzy piece before resuming the dark, somber riff of the main lyric. The song describes such grim circumstances in today's society as pollution, war, and fatherlessness. This stood in stark contrast to the happy-hippie utopia promised during the flower power era where peace would prevail and love and sunshine would reign. Yet the members of Black Sabbath saw things much differently.
Halfway through the song, Tony Iommi's guitar goes through two extremes, an eerie, haunting "clean" tone before erupting into a louder-than-loud distorted guitar solo fill.

The next song cycle, "A Bit Of Finger", "Sleeping Village", and "Warning", demonstrates Tony Iommi's guitar textures. The first two songs are performed on what appears to be an acoustic (and also note the jaw harp which sounds as if it is saying "beer bong"), a soft piece before launching into the album's lengthy closer, "Warning". The song moves through various passages and tempos before entering the main lyrics about an omen of broken love. A manic guitar solo ensues before resuming the jump-blues motif, which is followed by the loudest guitar solos ever captured on record. A tasteful bluesy clean-tone intermission breaks in briefly before the high volume solo returns. Iommi appears to be influenced by the Cream song "Spoonful" for the bluesy parts.
The performance by the band on this album resulted in the record's producer demanding that the band turn down the volume so the guitar would not be picked up by the drum mics. To which Ozzy replied, "We don't turn down, man. We turn up."

The album was the closing release of the British electric blues scene at the end of the 60's where bands had gotten louder and heavier such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, the Jeff Beck Group, the aforementioned Cream and many others, but this new band Black Sabbath took heaviness to the next level. In fact, critics then hated this new band of longhairs playing this dark, loud music. This "fad" would end, they wouldn't last. But fans understood the band, they got the music, and the album hit the British charts at #23.

The band's music was simple and effective, and their inadequacies worked in their favor. Tony Iommi suffered a workplace injury where a cutting machine severed two of his fingertips, where he compensated for this by constructing plastic thimbles to enable him to play guitar. He was told initially that he would have to give up playing, but after being told that Gypsy jazz guitar virtuoso Django Rheinhardt played in spite of losing the use of several fingers in a caravan fire, this encouraged the guitarist to keep playing. It accounts also for the jazzy approach. Classical music entered the picture as well on the album's title track, Holst's "The Planets" with "Mars: Bringer Of War".

The band's record label also tried to enhance the appeal of the band on their debut album by using an upside-down cross image and a gruesome poem on the British version of the album. The band was not happy that the label was promoting them as "satanists", which drew occultist types out of the woodwork. But the band's radical approach was its real selling point. The album was so influential that one critic described that it as "the album that eats hippies for breakfast."

Black Sabbath 1970:

On a personal level, at the age of 14, I wanted more than anything to play guitar like Tony Iommi on "Warning". That was in 1977. I still haven't lost that desire.

The debut album's cover was taken at Mapledurham Watermill with model Louisa Livingstone at 4:00 AM.

So the debut album was a success. There was only one thing to do but to capitalize on that momentum, so the band began rehearsing while on tour in Switzerland. The songs became tighter and heavier. The next album was about to be called "War Pigs", but the record label was against that idea as it was "too controversial".

The opening track to the album which was inexplicably called 'Paranoid', was based on news reports Geezer Butler had watched about the Vietnam War going on that was not being heard in America, such as American forces bombing roads they had just poured money into building in Vietnam. "War Pigs" was originally titled "Walpurgis", which was a sort of satanic version of Christmas. A live video of the band performing it exists. But when the record label urged them to change the title, the band kept the lyrics, for the most part and made it into a song condemning war as "the real satanism", "Evil itself" according to Butler, the band's main lyricist.
The song opens with bleak chords and the chilling air raid siren before jumping into the up-tempo call-and-response "Generals gathered in the masses..." lyrics. After drum breaks and guitar riffs, Ozzy's vocals decry the politicians who hide after sending poor people to do their bidding for fighting the war. Ozzy's shriek, "Yeah!" feels the pain and outrage of this.
The guitar leads in the middle of the song are two separate solos on top of each other for a sort of disorienting effect. The lyrics continue with a Biblical, apocalyptic end of the war as God calls for Judgment Day and the war pigs grovel, begging for mercy for having destroyed the world. The song closes with a climactic set of passages. "War Pigs" is regarded as Black Sabbath's most important song. The song had a huge response and connection with vets returning from their tour of duty in Vietnam.

The album's title track, "Paranoid", was in fact the last song to be recorded for the album. The band realized they had enough space on the album for a simple track to fill space, and so within five minutes Butler whipped up lyrics for the song, for which he really knew nothing what the word "paranoid" even meant, but the song worked. The band spent up to two hours hammering the song together and recorded it. The band were unaware that they had recorded metal's first official anthem. Tony Iommi's guitar leads were dissonant and fully charged, and Ozzy's vocals were frantic, and at the same time rather unclear and echoey.

"Planet Caravan", the following song, was a sci-fi-themed soft number with vocal and guitar effects. The song describes a nomadic journey through space with Tony Iommi playing a jazz guitar guitar outro.

And of course, what is regarded as the most popular song , by Black Sabbath, "Iron Man", closes the first side of the album. From the doom-filled footsteps to the metallic announcement "I am Iron Man" and the fearsome guitar riff, the song tells the story of a scientist who travels through time to see what will happen to humanity, but something goes wrong when he enters a magnetic field and is transformed into a metal monstrosity. He returns to the present to warn society, but when he is rejected, he unleashes his revenge and kills everyone. His compassion and concern turns to rage and violence. The song was released as a single in America in October 1971.

The album was in fact released on the same day as the death of Jimi Hendrix, September 18, 1970. The end of one era of rock coincided with the beginning of another.

Curiously, the album's title makes no sense with the sword-wielding figure with a shield on the cover. It would have made more sense with the album's original title "War Pigs". It seems logical that in the sense of a paranoid person suffering from delusions of grandeur, a sort of Don Quixote battling windmills as giants with a saber.

Paranoid and Iron Man are my favorites

Paranoid and Iron Man are my favorites

Same here. I also like Voodoo, I think Ronnie James Dio sings lead on it, at least it sounds like him.

Same here. I also like Voodoo, I think Ronnie James Dio sings lead on it, at least it sounds like him.

That was him on that song from 'Mob Rules'.

Paranoid and Iron Man are my favorites
What??! Not "Sweet Leaf" or "Symptom Of the Universe"?

At the age of nine, in 1971, I did happen to see the 45 single to "Iron Man" with "Electric Funeral" as the B-side. I did not catch the name of the band for about five years, but I remember "Iron Man" as being a far cry from what was popular that year, "Horse With No Name" by America, and "Me And Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul. And whatever an electric funeral was, it sounded cool, I was intrigued by these kinds of metaphors that were so out of the ordinary!

All that time, there was nothing heavier for people in my family than "Iron Man". We went to a restaurant in Auburn, Washington, called Grotto's, where we had to crank "Iron Man" on the jukebox. I'm not sure my mother knew what to think!

Side 2 begins with "Electric Funeral', one of the most familiar Black Sabbath songs, rife with doom and destruction. The song in fact is about nuclear fallout incinerating mankind to the point where even the moon is shaken from its orbit and crashes into Earth. After some heavy slow riffs, the chorus stanza picks up into familiar jazz cadence before returning to an apocalyptic motif of the irradiated world being taken over by Satan.

The next song, "Hand Of Doom", describes a bad heroin trip that begins with fun and euphoria. Ozzy sings about "Vietnam napalm" as the reason he and the band saw so many vet fans from the war immerse themselves into heroin to anesthetize their deep pain. It starts slow and builds with a jump-blues break.

The next song, the provocatively titled "Rat Salad", is a jazzy instrumental highlighting Bill Ward's manic drumming abilities. The song was an influence on a nascent version of Van Halen to name themselves Rat Salade.

The album's closer, "Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots" was written in response to the band being accosted by skinheads. Since these proto-punk thugs wore jackboots, the band decided to mock them by saying "fairies wear boots", using an anti-gay slur. Ozzy decided to turn the lyrics around to make it a hallucinogenic experience of "fairy boots dancing with a dwarf." In response, a doctor explains that Ozzy's too busy smoking and tripping. The album has the jump-blues motif with a few tempo changes. It also incorporates the outro guitar lead from "Black Sabbath".

It is fair to say that this album, even more than the debut, marks the arrival of heavy metal. It is a clear departure from the blues movement with several traces. But since "heavy metal" is a reference to radioactive weapons-grade materials used to build atomic bombs, it makes sense that if music were to reflect this reality, Black Sabbath's dissonant, distorted and droning guitar, and everything else, would be heavy metal. Atomic, deadly, and very potent. Nothing like this had been heard before, and it squarely put the band on the map for decades.

Black Sabbath 'Paranoid' inner photo 1970:

Is there a better album side then side one of Heaven and Hell?

Each time I try to upload an image in my post, I keep getting an error message saying I am not logged in, even though it says that I already am. I log back in on the manage attachment post and it keeps saying I am not logged in. What is happening? This has never happened before.

Is there a better album side then side one of Heaven and Hell?No, there isn't. Soon, we'll get to reasons why after the next several albums. :rock:

No, there isn't. Soon, we'll get to reasons why after the next several albums. :rock:

Wasn't trying to rush things. We'll get there when we get there :)

Wasn't trying to rush things. We'll get there when we get there :)Oh, no. Wasn't thinking we were rushing things. But it is good to know that the Black Sabbath saga got even better after 'Paranoid'.

So until I find out why I am unable to post images on this site, I wish to continue with some commentary:

'Paranoid' is one of the greatest albums of all time. However, it is best to listen to it in its entirety, as just listening to the top three songs do not do it justice, as many classic rock stations seem to want to do.

The third album by Black Sabbath, 'Master Of Reality', was released in the spring of 1971. If 'Paranoid' remains the most popular Sabbath album, 'Master Of Reality' is regarded by many as the heaviest (yet).

The reason for this claim is that Tony Iommi began to tune his guitar to C#. This was lower than standard tuning, and done out of necessity, as standard tuning was too painful for his severed fingertips, even with his prosthetic thimbles. The awesome result is that the sound became darker and heavier, and Black Sabbath became an even more intense band.

The album kicks off with the echoed cough by Tony Iommi on 'Sweet Leaf', where the guitarist hacked on an inhaled joint which was caught on tape. The song's title was named after a British cigarette called Sweet Afton, but the opening track was clearly about what is affectionately known as the Devil's Lettuce, or marijuana. This song featured a very druggy, drony sound all the way through, perfect for many afficianados of the forbidden herb, Midway through the song, the tempo picks up into a "raveup" pace, with Bill Ward's rollicking drumming and even a gong. The guitar accelerates into a volley of notes before returning to the slow, chugging pace. It was at this point Black Sabbath pioneered a sound which would later be known as stoner metal. Very psychedelic, very sludgy.

The next song, "After Forever", was a bit of controversy for the band. It was a sort of ironic thing to many for a band of such reputation as Black Sabbath to address themes of religious belief, but for bassist Geezer Butler, this was not so out of the ordinary. Before joining the band, he was so into Catholicism and "in love with God" that he almost joined the priesthood. But after discovering Jack Bruce of Cream he decided to devote his life to rock and roll. He never really lost belief, however. But the band thought questions about God were fair, that it was not such an awkward thing to believe. This also came at a time when Jesus Christ became a figure in pop culture, the "ultimate hippie" who spoke truth, befriended the marginalized, wore long hair, and confronted the Establishment. This was evident in such movies and plays as "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Godspell", and an awareness in popular music, as well as in a growing subgenre of Jesus music by born again hippie converts. Black Sabbath drew flack by such lyrics as "Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope?" But above all, Black Sabbath were a band which asked questions, and for all their gloom and doom, topics such as God and religion were fair game, a spark of hope, part of their polemics as all else, after all. It was as if they shared more in common with the Jesus rockers out west than was believed.

After a brief instrumental, "Embryo", the band kicked back in with one of their heaviest songs that became part of their setlist encores: "Children Of the Grave", another "political" song like "War Pigs" which encouraged protests against nuclear armaments. The song's marching rhythm was played in a down-tuned set of chords with a drum effect throughout, before the song faded into an apocalyptic outro.

The album's cover was simply swirly purple letters on a black background, and on the original vinyl LP, the words "Master Of Reality" were pressed out letters as if to look "invisible".

The second side to 'Master Of Reality' opens with a pleasant acoustic instrumental, "Orchid", a full two minutes of Tony Iommi's fingerpicking before it segues into one of Sabbath's heaviest deep album tracks, "Lord Of This World". The riff is totally dark and sinister, before it marches into the lyrics. The song lashes out at the cruelty, greed, and exploitation by mankind, which as a result made Satan the master of all the world. The title "Lord Of This World" is a very Biblical description of the Devil as having control and dominion over the entire world and of humanity. Ozzy's vocals take the persona of Satan, mocking the smug self-assurance of the listener who opts for the Prince Of the Power Of the Air for worldly pleasures and pride, but asks if they will be so compliant and the moment of death.

Along with "After Forever", this song was the one that said it all for me. The first song was about hope, and the other was a warning. Two of my top favorites by Sabbath.

The next song is a soft, mournful ballad, "Solitude", a song about broken love and loneliness. It also features flute playing by Tony Iommi. Interestingly, there is a twisted tale when the band attempted to play this song in concert once. Iommi was very high onstage when he blew into the flute, and when he noticed no sound was coming out, he was puzzled as to what was going on. He had the woodwind too far from his mouth, down on his chin. Ozzy had to bring a mirror up to him to show him what he was doing wrong. At the sight of himself in the mirror's reflection, he panicked and ran off stage! He was that baked.

The album closes with yet another one of Sabbath's heaviest, most powerful songs, "Into the Void". The track opens with a detuned riff, accompanied by Bill Ward's thunderous drumming, before launching into a turbulent mid-tempo riff with lyrics about spacecraft fleeing a doomed planet Earth, searching for a new world beyond the great emptiness of space. This was a different take on "Planet Caraven" with a message attacking war and pleading for peace. In 1991, Soundgarden recorded their cover of the song, "Into the Void (Sealth)" which was included on a bonus CD to the 'Badmotorfinger' album called 'SOMMS'. The lyrics were rewritten to include allegedly a piece of poetry or prose composed by Native American Chief Sealth, after whom the city of Seattle is named. Strangely, while many comparisons were made over the pioneering grunge band's similarities to Black Sabbath, the band said that they were "not an influence". But this statement appears to have been made to deflect criticisms toward grunge and alternative bands citing 70's rock and metal bands as inspiring their sound. "Heavy metal" became a dirty word in the 90's, even though its impact was obvious.

So closes the third installment in the catalog of Black Sabbath. They had established themselves as the authors of all that was truly heavy. But in the coming year, there were going to be a few surprising changes.

Black Sabbath 1971. Geezer Butler wears a Celtic cross pendant:

The thing about Black Sabbath and songs like "After Forever" and "Lord Of This World" which spoke to me in 8th grade nearly 45 years ago was that the band had become my source of strength, my weapon, in those turbulent teen years. You roam through the school halls being that shy, awkward kid having to endure the taunts and heckling from the "sosh" types all around. Black Sabbath was my message to the rest of the world that thought disco was "cool". I also painted and drew pictures revolving around Black Sabbath themes. It was my release, my statement to everyone. People were very impressed by my imagination.

So now Black Sabbath had fully arrived and were huge stars, one of the biggest bands in the 1970's. Now that they achieved that lofty status, they went to Los Angeles to record their fourth album. Once they were there, they began to party like rock stars to the fullest: The band had speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered to them and the band consumed astronomical quantities during their time there. Their fourth album was about to be titled 'Snowblind' in homage to the Devil's sugar, but the record company again said no to the title. So the band simply titled it 'Black Sabbath Vol 4'.

The recording was very different from their previous albums. The album retained that heavy, druggy sound, but the themes were not so gloom-and-doom as before. Something about L.A. had a different vibe and feel, more like a sunshine-filled party zone than dreary Midlands England from where they came. The band's indulgence in cocaine and other drugs in fact hampered the performance on many tracks. The band moved from earlier producer Roger Bain to Tony Iommi and the band producing it themselves. The band felt that Bain lacked an idea as to what Sabbath were seeking in their sound.

The album starts off with the haunting notes of "Wheels Of Confusion" before entering a churning pattern of riffs and lyrics about the optimism of childhood shattered by real life (being "lost in the wheels of confusion"). Midway through the song, the tempo picks up with a sort of jam before returning to the main riff. The track closes with an outro jam part called "The Straightener", an upbeat piece which feels like an entirely different song. The entire song is full of surprises and remains an exciting, underrated track.

The next track, "Tomorrow's Dream", is another droning, mid-tempo track that remains one of the highlights of the album. The next track, "Changes", is a piano ballad about breakup and loss of love. Bill Ward and his wife went their separate ways, so Ozzy sang about it. Ozzy even said the song was "heartbreaking", and it became one of the band's most popular tracks. It was certainly a change from the band's more familiar heavy material.

The next track was minute-long piece of experimentation, "Fx", where Tony Iommi's crucifix hit the strings of his guitar and created a unique sound with echoes in the recording studio, hence "effects".

side one of the album closed out with one of the band's most powerful and recognizable tracks, "Supernaut". The riff of the song is detuned and the rhythm is pummeling. Geezer's lyrics about fleeing to the moon to escape the craziness of earth (note how space travel is a recurring theme in Sabbath's lyrics) combined with Ozzy's howl make it a memorable track. In the middle Bill Ward plays a drum and percussion break before the song kicks back in.

Side 2 of 'Vol 4' opens with what was intended to be the album's original title, "Snowblind". This is the centerpiece of the album, celebrating the effects of the Devil's Sugar. In fact, many lurid and rather hilarous stories abound with the band's affinity with the snorted substance:

While the band was high on cocaine, Ozzy accidentally pressed a button that called the police.

Since the band was holed up in a house belonging to the Du Pont paint company founder, the band spray painted an intoxicated Bill Ward as he lied around in his birthday suit. This toxic prank nearly cost the drummer his life. And it was not the only time such a stunt would threaten him.

The band went to see the movie 'The French Connection', about a New York City drug bust. Ozzy said that by the time the movie credits rolled, he was hyperventilating". Geezer Butler even admitted, "We sniffed it, we never shot up ... I didn't realize how nuts things had gotten until I went home and the girl I was with didn't recognize me."

The substance they were abusing was, as they recalled, the strongest, most potent cocaine they had ever tried. It affected their judgment in ways unimaginable. "One sniff, and you were the king of the universe", said Ozzy.

The next song on the second side, "Cornucopia", was where Bill Ward felt at his total nadir. "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just horrible. I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like 'Well, just go home, you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired." The song was in fact an impressive deep album cut, and Ward's playing was rather solid. "You're going to go insane, I'm trying to save your brain", said Ozzy in some rambling social commentary. Who was going to save his?

The next song was the touching instrumental, "Laguna Sunrise", which features Tony Iommi's acoustic guitar with a classical backing track. The song was composed after the guitarist spent all night playing and partying and sat watching the sun appear over the Pacific Ocean at dawn. This remains one of the strongest moments of Black Sabbath with an emotional piece.

The next song, "St.Vitus Dance" was a sort of country-ish rock track for two minutes.

The closing track on the album, "Under the Sun", begins with a familiar doom-y riff before jumping into a heavy blues rhythm. Ozzy rants about people trying to dictate his life and how he wanted to live it on his own terms. Midway the song picks up the tempo with the lyrics, "Every day just comes and goes, Everything is just one long overdose", indicating the frustration the lead singer was facing. The detuned track was a fitting note to the chaos the band was facing as they saw themselves atop the pinnacle of rock star success so many of their peers had achieved, but not without its pitfalls.

The year 1972 found Sabbath at the top of their game. They had arrived finally as rock stars, but they sacrificed their stature as moralizing musicians with gloom and doom as topics and instead meandered with drugs and musical experimentation. The band came out with surprises on this album, yet they were about to face major obstacles in the coming year.

Black Sabbath 1972:

I got this album for Christmas in 1976. It was an amazing album that showed that Black Sabbath could expand their boundaries as musicians and songwriters. For me at the age of 14, Black Sabbath were a band that could do no wrong. I was on my way to learning a few things along the way about a band dealing with certain conflicts. For a young person finding my rock and roll epiphany with a British band saying it like it was in a decade now awash in disco and soft pop, it was inconceivable that such a group was not above reproach. I never got the idea that "Snowblind" was about drugs. I figured that Ozzy and Co. were craving a winter day. Seriously.

It was really cool to see a live set of photos of the band in 'Black Sabbath Vol 4'. Geezer Butler was shown with a clear plastic Dan Armstrong bass, with Ozzy doing his peace signs for the crowd, Bill Ward was sweaty with his matted hair everywhere--and he played with drumsticks facing the rounded handles rather than the usual tips. Tony Iommi played his left-handed Gibson SG in the final photo. For being the loudest, darkest metal musician (and people just still called it "heavy metal"), he was the quiet one. Not a showboater, just letting his music say it all.

Tony and Ozzy live 1972:

In 1973, Black Sabbath found themselves at an impasse: They discovered that they were suffering a bout with creative block. They no longer knew what to write about. They returned to their familiar digs in Los Angeles, did the same drugs, and found themselves dry. They panicked. What were they to do?

The band had realized that their excessive cocaine use was affecting the band in adverse ways. Tony Iommi found that his fondness for the drug had depleted him, and that he could no longer complete shows. A tour was cancelled, and it was time for the band to take a while to regain their collective gears.

In desperation, the band returned to England where they set up at Clearwell Castle, built in 1727. British bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Mott the Hoople had recorded there, and Black Sabbath decided to follow in their lead. Once they had relocated there, the vibe they had been seeking came rushing back. There was a spooky, sinister vibe to the castle, and this served as potent inspiration for the band's renewed inspiration. The band was told that the castle was in fact haunted by a ghost, to which the band responded with alarm. The band retreated to the dungeon of the castle to where Tony Iommi came up with the idea for a new song called "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". At that point, song ideas and lyrics came fast.

The opening title track "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" began a resurgence of the band finding itself once again. The band immersing itself in drug bacchanalia gave it a trippy, experimental sound, but it felt that they had lost its intent. Here the band discovered its darker themes, and in the process, became more sophisticated in its experimentation. The theme for the song came from Geezer Butler reading the works of occultic author Dennis Wheatley, who, in Butler's estimation, had come up with some very evil writings. This served as inspiration for the main character in the title track finding some arcane writings as these and, as a result, found his life turned inside-out and seeing his life on a fast track to hell. All that was life-giving was inverted to destructive. Many guitarists, including Slash and Brent Hinds of Mastodon, claimed the outro guitar solo in the track as being some of the heaviest that Tony Iommi ever created. Anthrax even covered the track in 1987. The riff that opened the song was claimed to be the riff that "saved Sabbath". However, the song was rarely played live during that time.

Interestingly, the acoustic, jazzy break in the first chorus ("Nobody will ever let you know...") was the beginning of a strange development that eventually Ozzy would find uncomfortable. The band was finding its way again with progressive experimentation and a return to focused heaviness, but was this a welcome thing?

The next song, "A National Acrobat", was a track with different sections in a mid-tempo format, touching on themes from life and reincarnation. "When little worlds collide" was about the merging of spermatazoa with the egg for the fertilization of life, which would lead to the potential of future lives. Black Sabbath got deep into the discussion of the meaning of life on this excellent track. The passages became more intense and spacey, before coalescing into
a jazzy outro.

The third song, "Fluff", was another soft acoustic guitar piece showcasing Tony Iommi's ability to play lighter material.

The song closing out the first side, "Sabbra Cadabra", was a raucous number which featured Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman in the middle sectiion. This was known as one of the finest deep album tracks on a Black Sabbath album. The track is basically a love song from Ozzy's perspective. The track morphs into an extended jam to the end.

'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' was released in December 1973.

Black Sabbath 1973, but did not Tony Iommi sound heavier WITH his mustache?

Side 2 of the album began with one of the strongest songs the band ever recorded, "Killing Yourself To Live". The song was written with the realization that their management had been milking them out of millions of dollars and pressing them to tour and record beyond their means. While many Christians and bands such as Stryper cited the song as "proof" of "suicidal" themes in rock lyrics as that of Sabbath, the song condemned the exploitation of others for profit. The band was fatigued and ground into the dirt with what their management were doing. They sought to manage themselves as a result.

The track in fact continues as a sort of three-song medley in shifting tempos. In the first section as the tempo picks up, Ozzy says in semi-whisper, "Smoke it....Get HIGH!" It was not surprising Ozzy could be so bold on a song. He then continues, "You think that I'm crazy and baby, you know that it is true."
As the song shifts into its final phase, Ozzy concludes, "I don't know if I'm up or down, whether black is white or blue is brown. The colors of my life are all different somehow, Little Boy Blue's a big girl now."

The next song, "Who Are You?" is a song composed entirely on synthesizers. The lyrics appear to question the arbitrary nature of a vengeful deity such as God who wishes to send souls to hell on a whim. In contrast to the hope expressed on "After Forever" where God would save us from sin and hate, he now appears to be vindictive and cruel. Who was this God?

The third song on the second side, "Looking For Today", touches on the ups and downs of trying to remain relevant and current before you realize you're just out of time. It is an uptempo number featuring flute playing during the chorus.

The final track, "Spinal Architect", was based primarily on the recent discovery then of the spiral DNA helix and the understanding of the origin of life and biology. The band incorporated acoustic and electric passages with a hopeful summation of life in the lyrics. The band even brought in an orchestral string section to compliment the song. The song remains one of the stronger deep album tracks revealing a sensitive side of Black Sabbath and their willingness to explore and experiment.

Black Sabbath pose with Gold discs, 1973:

The back cover to 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' shows the trapped man on the front cover being surrounded by grieving loved ones as he lies dying. The arms of God are outstretched waiting to receive him. It is a touching image, one of comfort in contrast to the front cover image.

I bought 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' at the age of 14 in early 1977. I also ordered a t-shirt in the mail with the logo of Black Sabbath and the skull image on a black background. Some students in junior high even then thought that my "obsession" with Black Sabbath indicated that I was some sort of "satanist".

I was in fact interested in otherworldly things, but I was not a "satanist". I was interested in religion, in themes relating to the end of time and what civilization was facing. As for Black Sabbath, this album appealed to me with the depth and diversity the band had in creating compelling music. It was heavy, but not in ways we commonly think of it now. It was certainly tougher, and more experimental. Tony Iommi said then about the recording in 1973 that Black Sabbath was a band that knew no rules. In fact their entire existence since 1970 was being a band "against known rules." They experimented, and it paid off very well. Bill Ward even got the idea to just smack an anvil to get some sort of sound effect out of it. Nothing was sacred, the band could use it and come up with complete gold. This was one of the pleasures of being a successful musician in the 70's. You were free to explore.

Like a few of the tracks on 'Master Of Reality', I related to the theme of human cruelty and exploitation on "Killing Yourself To Live", though not in the way the band meant it. School was a sinister place of soshes and tough jockdudes who had no time for dorky nerds like myself. Black Sabbath had become my source of strength and inspiration. In art class I painted and drew countless themes revolving around Black Sabbath. I even gave my art teacher my copy of 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' to listen to at home. For the most part, she liked it. Or at least understood it coming from my growing teenage mind. I even bought a copy of 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' as a songbook in order to learn some guitar.

For me, Sabbath was a band that could do no wrong. And of course, I was in for a few surprises, as was everyone else down the road.


I bought this poster of Black Sabbath at Cal Jam 1974:

The next album, the sixth release by Black Sabbath, was 'Sabotage'. Released in July 1975. The album was a completion of the band's "experimentational" stage, with the title reflecting a tense time in the band's career. The band had undergone severe litigation actions from their former manager Patrick Meehan, and as a result, the band named their latest album as a reference to their former management attempting to sabotage their careers. In response, the band sought to "sabotage" their management and record label from profiting off of them. To this end, the band dressed up in women's clothing and created a seemingly disjointed album to "sabotage" sales. The album became their poorest seller at the time while simultaneously containing some of their most ambitious works.

The album begins with "Hole In the Sky", a loud, raucous track opening with the band tuning up before launching into some boisterous riffs. This is one of the most familiar, yet underrated songs in the Black Sabbath catalogue. Pantera even later covered it for their compilation album in 2002.

The song abruptly ends without notice before entering a minute-long acoustic guitar piece by Tony Iommi, "Don't Start (Too Late)", which segues into:

The crunching riffs of one of the most memorable pieces by Black Sabbath, "Symptom Of the Universe". The song begins with simple chord riffs followed by pummeling drums and bass. Ozzy sings a thundering love song steeped in cosmic references before the song dives into more riveting riffs. The song midway enters a dizzying display of guitar leads by Tony Iommi before taking off into an acoustic outro of the songs main riff. Ozzy once complained in a 'Guitar World' interview in 1990 that far too often at this point, Tony Iommi would come up with a decent headbanger and then come up with some bizarre, complicated parts. The acoustic outro to one of Black Sabbath's heaviest songs was proof of this. The band would begin their live shows with this song in the mid/late 70's.

The closing song of the first side, "Megalomania", appears to be a reflection of Ozzy wanting to be the widely adulated rock star of his childhood dreams. Now that he had achieved that status, was it simply insanity, above all? So many other rock stars and bands had attained that exalted title, was he so different? But Ozzy seemed now to revel in what he became. "Now I've found my happiness, from the depths of sorrow." "Megalomania" also remains one of the top songs in rock, pop, and metal to prominently feature cowbell.

Some of Black Sabbath's most powerful riffs come from this song. It opens with an eerie, mysterious first part describing Ozzy's bizarre delusions before beginning a mid-tempo second part with Ozzy exulting in his mad escape from those holding him back.

This may have also been one of the most controversial album covers the band had ever done. Why was the band dressed, except for seated Tony Iommi, in women's clothing? The band was promised apparel in black, but at the photo shoot, it ended up in something less suitable for the band's "heavier" image. But in hindsight, it made sense: The incongruous dress style coincided with the band's desire to "sabotage" sales so that their management could not profit from Black Sabbath's earnings. Which was well and good, but did Bill Ward really have to wear his wife's red tights to the photo shoot?

Side 2 of 'Sabotage' begins with "Thrill Of It All," one of the finest deep cuts of the Sabbat catalog. As with many songs on the album and as well as many others, the song shifts from one tempo and riff to another before returning later in the song. For the most part, the first half of the song is mid-tempo before the second half, it launches into an up-tempo, celebratory feel. With the second half of the song, it seems as if it could be a hit song and anthem on its own, with Ozzy's chorus of "Oh yeah-- Oh yeah!"

The next song, "Supertzar", featured the English Chamber Choir singing over what was essentially an instrumental. This majestic, even church-like, track would be soon used to open concerts by Black Sabbath. This was one attempt by the band to incorporate classical, symphonic elements into their style of rock. But the inclusion of the choir confused Ozzy. He entered the studio when they were there and thought that he was in the wrong room! This would not be the first time unexpected musicians would create a bizarre, frustrating situation for Sabbath's frontman.

The next song, "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", was perhaps one of Black Sabbath's few attempts at pop rock. The title was not a reference to a radio version or edit, nor an attempt to gain radio airplay, but a play on words with "radio-rental", rhyming with "mental". Ozzy sang about his debilitating state of mental instability with all that was going on. And it was about to get worse.

The final song on the album, "The Writ", was penned by Ozzy himself, as opposed to band lyricist Geezer Butler, when their former management began to serve legal papers while the band was recording in the studio. This infuriated the band and Ozzy, and his vocals have never been more shrill and enraged. "What sort of people do you think we are? Another joker who's a rock and roll star for you?" And, "Are you Satan, are you man?" These verbal and lyrical attacks were reserved for an unscrupulous former management and record company who thought nothing of bleeding one of the most successful bands of the 70's for millions of dollars while leaving the band high and dry as a result of this exploitation and greed. The song had some very notable riffs throughout, though oddly, Tony Iommi included some touchy-feely acoustic parts over which Ozzy had to sing. Did this not threaten to dampen the rage and exasperation that the singer was feeling in the song?

Black Sabbath live in 1975. Note that Ozzy is on the right hand of the stage. For many tours, this was the norm for him:

'Sabotage' was in fact the second album I had bought by Black Sabbath in the summer of 1976, right after 'Paranoid'. In spite of the curious purpose by the band to dress in women's clothing, I was drawn to the motif resembling the art of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte with the reversed mirror image. I was of the impression that such an image meant this album was totally heavy. Which it was, but not in the way that 'Paranoid' was. It was a while before I was aware of the heaviness of the successor to 'Paranoid', the album 'Master Of Reality', but I was so madly in love with Sabbath that the unexpected musical flourishes mattered little.

The album was loud, bombastic, relentless, and had this amazing grandiose touch that was unmatched in other Black Sabbath albums. Many critics cited this as the pinnacle of the band's career, their most towering achievement in spite of the problems facing them during the recording. For the most part, the band at that point produced their own albums by themselves, since most record producers and engineers failed to understand the intense sound and scope of what they were attempting to do. On this album they captured it admirably. This album closed the canon of the "experimental" phase of Sabbath. The band was awash in legal hassles left and right affecting them in the very studio as they worked, and in spite of the band on the verge of spiraling out of control, they triumphed with one of their greatest works, in spite of the fact that the band were not able to achieve gold status, only climbing to #29 on the U.S. charts. But, with all of their troubles, what was next?

Black Sabbath 1975:

The "experimental" phase of Black Sabbath had ended, and in its place was a need to keep the band and "relevant". As a result, the band attempted to release an album more in keeping with the times. During the year 1976, a growing movement in England called punk had challenged the idea of the supremacy of rock that had come before it. In response, Black Sabbath released a new album titled 'Technical Ecstasy in September of that year, to appease critics who had thought the band were simply rehashing old glories.

While 'Sabotage' contained music that was grandiose and powerful, 'Technical Ecstasy' was a rather different album with a polished guitar sound and an attempt at sounding more pop. As in sunny Los Angeles four years earlier, Black Sabbath went to record the album in Miami, where the band enjoyed plenty of sunshine and relaxation. But tensions were rising on the horizon. As the band sought to escape their legal woes, recording took longer than expected. One of Ozzy's biggest complaints previously was that the band now took too long to record an album, as was the case with 'Sabotage'. And now the sound was moving away from their trademark heaviness.

But this was intentional: "Some people may have heard the band in 1970," noted Tony Iommi, "and be thinking, 'Oh no, not them again!' But if they heard us now, they probably might like us." Tbe band was seeking to reinvent itself in this new era of punk rock hellions such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Damned. The band did not wish to be seen as has-beens. Black Sabbath began as the grim antidote to the happy hippie 60's, but now they were being replaced by a younger group of angry young men with leather jackets, spiked hair and safety pins. So the band did something very different. But did it work?

The album begins with "Back Street Kids", with a driving beat. It appears to be one of the "heaviest" songs on the albums, though the guitar sounds very dry. Ozzy sings about being a kid from the back street whose love for rock and roll translated into being a successful rock star. The song seems to have the right intention musically, but the lyrics seem uninspired and just "there". The chorus was rather bland, "Nobody I know will ever take my rock and roll away from me." Just sung in a tepid manner.

The second song, "You Won't Change Me" contains a strong Sabbath-y riff and an organ. The song seems to capture the "doomier" sound of Sabbath, but in a pop context. Iommi's guitar contains a decent lead, but the song still feels half-hearted. The lyrics are about relationships and being true to oneself, and it could have been a strong Sabbath song but the desire to go "pop" makes it a disappointment.

And if this was odd enough, the next song, "It's Alright", was the first Black Sabbath song to not feature Ozzy on vocals (and no, it was NOT an instrumental). Surprisingly, drummer Bill Ward sang vocals on this track. It was a soft pop song, a little ballad-y, with a guitar break, and it was not really a bad song. It could have been a hit for Sabbath, and even seems strange that it was not released as a single. But it apparently flew against the idea of Black Sabbath as being a heavy metal band. Still, the song apparently has some fans: Axl Rose of Guns 'N' Roses even sang this song in concert (which is also not surprising for the band who gave us "November Rain"). Bill Ward wanted to sing for the first time, but was reluctant to take the mic away from Ozzy. As it turned out, Ozzy was very pleased and proud of Bill Ward's performance on the song. It actually makes sense that Black Sabbath released a power ballad like this one, as KISS did with "Beth" at that same time, with their drummer Peter Criss on vocals and making that become their biggest song. One wonders if Ozzy may have felt songs such as "It's Alright" may have been a little too "sappy" for himself to sing, but considering the number of soft songs and ballads he had sung up to this point, it may have been unlikely. Still, questions remain.

The song closing out the first side, "Gypsy", was an up-tempo rocker beginning with Bill Ward's drum rhythms, with Ozzy singing about a mysterious woman with clairvoyant powers attempting to control him. It could have been a darker, doom-filled song, but of course the band (meaning Tony Iommi) were going for that hard pop sound. Piano also was featured prominently on the track. Gerald Woodruff played piano and keyboards on this album throughout.

Interesting note about the album cover: Like a number of Black Sabbath album cover illustrations, it was one which made little sense. It was artsy, but what was it, exactly? In so many words by Ozzy, it "looks like two robots having sex on an escalator!"

The cover conveyed none of the gloom and doom of a number of their previous covers, as that was not really the angle of the band on this record.

Side 2 opens with "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)", a song about transvestite who becomes president of the United States. Geezer Butler explained he wrote the lyrics about this "because America was such a misogynistic society at the time."

The next song was an attempt at an anthem, "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", which became a concert staple during that tour, but the inclusion of the piano made the "heaviness" and raucousness feel fake. The vocals and lyrics also felt uninspired.

The next song was yet another orchestral acoustic ballad, "She's Gone", which was touching but still one soft song too many.

If there was one song which redeemed the album from being totally steeped in mediocrity, it was the closing track, "Dirty Women". With lyrics written by Geezer Butler, it was about him noticing the number of hookers all roaming about the streets Miami in the dead of night. The riff was slow and changed often into entering an extended jam in the outro. This was the only song from the album which appeared in future setlists, and it worked rather well.

Black Sabbath were in the thick of pressing personal and legal problems at that time. It became a frustrating situation for all involved. Tony Iommi basically handled all of the production duties himself since no one was around to assist him. As he explained in 'Guitar World' magazine in 1992.
"We recorded the album in Miami, and nobody would take responsibility for the production. No one wanted to bring in an outside person for help, and no one wanted the whole band to produce it. So they left it all to me!"

Another interesting note is that the band recorded at Criteria Studios there in Miami at the same time The Eagles were recording 'Hotel California'. "Before we could start recording we had to scrape all the cocaine out of the mixing board," Geezer divulged to 'Uncut in 2014'. "I think they'd left about a pound of cocaine in the board." During the recording ot the 'Hotel California'' album, the members of The Eagles had to stop recording because Black Sabbath was playing so loud next door that the sound was coming through the walls.

Critics questioned this bizarre direction by the band that were the architects of heavy metal, all dark and doomy. Why had they gone pop? It felt so ham-fisted. It was also the first time that Ozzy felt like leaving the band. "I'd even had a T-shirt made with 'Blizzard of Ozz' written on the front. Meanwhile, in the studio, Tony was always saying, 'We've gotta sound like Foreigner', or 'We've gotta sound like Queen.'But I thought it was strange that the bands we'd once influenced were now influencing us." He also noted that the cost of recording in Miami was "astronomical". He found that he had
"lost the plot with the booze and the drugs", so he checked into an asylum when he returned to England to recover.

"That was the beginning of the end, that one", bassist Geezer Butler confessed to Guitar World in 2001. "We were managing ourselves because we couldn't trust anybody. Everybody was trying to rip us off, including the lawyers we'd hired to get us out of our legal mess. It was really just getting to us around then, and we didn't know what we were doing. And obviously, the music was suffering; you could just feel the whole thing falling apart."

The band found themselves to relics in the past at that point when a new breed of rock upstarts were stealing away fans on the tour behind the album.
Geezer Butler recalled a new band called AC/DC nearly got into an altercation when, at a bar in Switzerland, he and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young were almost at fisticuffs when Butler pulled out a switchblade comb. Young, thinking it was a real switchblade knife being pointed at him, was about to come to blows with the bassist. Neither of the two got along at all. AC/DC had a fresh, rocking sound while Black Sabbath appeared drug-addled and "dated".

Black Sabbath on tour November 26, 1976 (the day before my 14th birthday coincidentally). Note Ozzy's trademark fringe jacket:

'Technical Ecstasy' was the third album I bought by Black Sabbath in the fall of 1976. While at first 'Sabotage" with all its fancy flourishes and the like were an acquired taste, 'Technical Ecstasy' was a total surprise. I appreciated the band's adventurous sense of doing things out of the ordinary, but I noticed upon listening to the album they were sounding much like a new band then like Boston or some pop-rock act. The right kind of arena-rock designed to go over well with commercial radio, but "Iron Man" or "Children Of the Grave" this was not. Still, as a new hardcore young Black Sabbath who felt they could do no wrong, I accepted this new offering.

The 'Technical Ecstasy' tour on November 14, 1976 at the Seattle Center Coliseum was my first concert, and my first time seeing Black Sabbath. Tickets were either $5 or $6 day of show. I bought my ticket downtown and went in. I wanted to go up to the stage and see the show right up front Ozzy, Geezer, and Tony in all their glory concertgoers were starting to come in. Some person, a roadie or security or whoever it was started approaching me and telling me that I wasn't supposed to be standing there or whatever his warning was. Feeling intimidated, I retreated further back toward the rear of the Coliseum to escape detection. I may not have needed to feel afraid of this person at all.

After hearing fans chant the lyrics to "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin on the speakers, the house lights turned off, which was surprising to my 13-year old eyes (my 14th birthday was almost two weeks away around Thanksgiving, so this was an early birthday present), and the opening band Target came on, playing some sort of hard Southern rock. They were popular for a while in the mid-late 70's.

When the house lights went black again, a mighty roar from the crowd went up, and the song "Supertzar" filled the Coliseum, with a bright cross appearing over the stage. My heroes, Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill all took the stage and launched into "Symptom Of the Universe" (without the acoustic outro).

Other songs included:

Snowblind
War Pigs
Black Sabbath
Megalomania
All Moving Parts (Stand Still)
Gypsy
Rock 'n' Roll Doctor (with Bill Ward's drum solo at the end)
Tony Iommi had a guitar solo part with a few riffs of "Supernaut"
Dirty Women
Electric Funeral
Iron Man
Children Of the Grave
Paranoid

It was interesting to see Ozzy and Bill be the only members to move constantly while Geezer and Tony appeared to stand still and play. Well, Geezer moved about a bit, and it was pretty amazing for Ozzy to hop around in high platform boots and fringe jacket, trying to get the crowd worked up by shouting "Wooo!" But I noticed something else: Why was not Ozzy singing the chorus to "Megalomania" with high shriek vocals as he did on the album? Did I sense even then that something was amiss in the band's performance?

I really enjoyed the show, yet could not put my finger on something about the band's show and their music. But this was the first of many shows I would see over the years.

Tony and Ozzy live 1976:

The year 1977 was a year of turbulence for the band. Ozzy decided that he wanted out, and he left. He was frustrated with his role in the band, feeling he had little to contribute to a band. He had no interest in whatever songs or musical direction the band was going in. Above all, his drug and alcohol problems had escalated, and he was devastated to learn this his father had died. Ozzy left the band to concentrate on a spinoff band he called Blizzard Of Ozz, and Black Sabbath briefly replaced him with Dave Walker, vocalist for both Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac. Walker co-wrote some of the songs that would appear on the next album. Walker even sang in a televised appearance on BBC that year.

Eventually Ozzy returned to the band but refused to sing any of the material the band had written during his absence. Eventually the band reunited to record 'Never Say Die!' which was released in late September 1978. But the recording, done in the first half of the year, took months. The band had struggled to come up with material and eventually songs took shape. But the proceedings were glacially slow, due to Ozzy's personal crises. The band did not want him to leave in the first place, but the situation remained unstable. Ozzy later explained, "No one really talked about what had happened. I just turned up in the studio one day – I think Bill had been trying to act as peacemaker on the phone – and that was the end of it. But it was obvious things had changed, especially between me and Tony. I don't think anyone's heart was in it anymore."

The title track, "Never Say Die", was a very decent, uptempo number that stood in contrast to the material on 'Technical Ecstasy'. It was a rallying cry, the band was not about to throw in the title, they would move forward. At least on the surface, the song was an anthem not to give up. The song was released as a single in the UK where it reached #21 on the charts. The song was very memorable and strong from that era. However, that was about the extent of it. The remainder of the album was a mixed jumble.

The next track, "Johnny Blade" opens with synthesizers before jumping into a fast, "dangerous" pace. The lyrics describe a criminal thug out to kill enemies, such as the band recalled from their days in Birmingham. The song, as well as much of the rest of the album, suffered from the "dry", over-produced guitar sound that plagued 'Technical Ecstasy'. The song could have been heavier, but as the tempo often shifted, from fast to moderate to fast the guitar was "there" but felt hollow.

The third track, "Junior's Eyes", was originally composed while Dave Walker was in the band, and an excellent, "tough"-sounding demo exists of the song, full of attitude, surprisingly. But this song, opening with a jazzy drum and bass, has lost something in the process. The early crunch of Iommi's guitar continues to dampen the song's effectiveness. Ozzy's vocals, singing lyrics reflecting the loss of his father, seem not so anguished. The song seemed more like a loose jam session with echoed guitar effects. It was disappointing.

The final track on the first side, "A Hard Road", is one of the more memorable tracks on the album with the band all singing vocals over an "up" rhythm. A live video exists of the band singing and playing this on British television. While Ozzy and the rest of the band appear to be having a good time and enjoying themselves on this song, it stood in stark contrast as to what was really going on behind the scenes.

'Never Say Die!' was the ten-year anniversary album of the band's existence, but at this point the band was ready for an early grave. Ozzy initially described the band's direction over the past decade which resulted in the album before the buying public, all the various influences from blues to jazz to heavy and rock, but later panned the album, saying it was the worst thing he had ever done. On top of that, the band on their ten-year anniversary tour was about to bested by a young American act ready to take their place.

The album's second side begins with "Shock Wave", a nod to a more familiar theme of hell and feeling trapped by sinister forces. What could have been a potent Sabbath track contains the dry-sounding guitars and a more pop-tempo rhythm. It remains one of the strongest tracks on the album, but lacks the malevolent bite of their previous work. Tony Iommi plays very convincing guitar solos regardless. This was as good as Sabbath was giving it.

The next song, "Air Dance", was a tasteful soft-rock song featuring Iommi's more jazzier influences on guitar, with a light part hinting back to the main character's memories of being queen of the dance to an up-tempo jazz outro with impressive guitar work.

The next song, "Over To You" was a fractured relationship pop-rock song that, coincidentally, would be the last time we would hear Ozzy on a Sabbath recording for nearly the next two decades.

Which brings us to the next song, considered by many to be one of the most questionable releases ever on a Black Sabbath album: "Breakout", an instrumental featuring the band minus Ozzy, on an improvisational heavy guitar/horn section/saxaphone jam for over two minutes. Ozzy stepped into the studio and thought a circus had invaded. What was this?? To him, the band was no longer Black Sabbath, what was it anymore? He simply left and refused to sing on the final song on the album.

"Swinging the Chain", the final song on the album, features Bill Ward returning to vocals. Ozzy adamantly refused to sing further on the album, so the drummer was left to take his place.

A seemingly happier Sabbath, 1978:

In the fall of 1978, I knew little of the inner turmoil facing my favorite band in the universe. I was anticipating their upcoming concert at the Seattle Center Arena on September 28 that year with none other than the new upstarts of rock known as VAN HALEN.

In contrast to the sunny atmosphere of Miami where 'Technical Ecstasy' was recorded, the band flew to chillier Montreal to rehearse for the new album because, they were told, The Rolling Stones recorded a live album there. The members of Sabbath were miserable as they practiced in a freezing movie theater, taking months to come up with something to please the record company executives.

Surprisingly, the album was a bit more memorable than its predecessor. The album had a fairly successful title track in the UK. The band played on 'Top Of the Pops' that year, but regardless, the band knew it was on its last legs. No one was getting along with each other, and their drug and alcohol problems were destroying any sort of progress. The album was titled 'Never Say Die', but the band knew they were drowning in excess from which they were not likely to recover.

The tour with Van Halen was a disaster--for Black Sabbath. Van Halen was a new young band whose debut album was taking the rock world by storm with "Running With the Devil", "Eruption", and "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love". Everyone wanted to learn the dizzying solo on "Eruption". Van Halen was full of life and energy while Sabbath simply limped through mediocre material. Ozzy lost so much focus during his drugged-out days on the tour that he overslept at his hotel and missed a concert. He was unpredictable, but his messed-up behavior was becoming predictable. He was instructed to scold the members of Van Halen for ripping off Sabbath stage moves, but when he rambled at the opening band, he could not remember why he was there in the first place. Things were approaching an ugly turn for Ozzy that year.

However, in spite of Van Halen stealing Sabbath's thunder, Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen became great friends. The band was so influenced by Sabbath that they named themselves once Rat Salade, after the instrumental on 'Paranoid'. Eddie would quiz Tony constantly on Sabbath songs the younger guitarist had learned.



Black Sabbath with Van Halen 1978:

As usual, I rushed out to buy the latest Black Sabbath album in 1978 when it came out. For a band I believed could do no wrong, it was unthinkable to think that the band was struggling to come out with a consistent product. No one could ever suspect that rock was going through a significant shift that year. And Van Halen's debut was the sign of that.

Like so many at the Seattle Center Arena that Friday night in the fall of 1978, Black Sabbath was officially the "draw" that night, but most everyone was there to see Van Halen. They put on the greatest show, with so many songs from their first albums complete with bass and drum solos unlike anything we had ever heard, and Eddie's improvisation on "Eruption" was worth the price of admission. I even had a camera to take pics, but those photos have been lost for decades. And David Lee Roth's stage raps were priceless: "A few days ago we went to check out Milwaukee's finest--and I'm not talking about goddamn beer!" Unfortunately, for their long career, this was the ONLY time I ever got to see Van Halen live--but it was worth it!

Black Sabbath came on and put on a good show. It was pretty amazing, for as much as I remained far away at the Coliseum nearly two years ago, I was up close to catch Sabbath in their glory then--and at one point, Ozzy was looking right at me from the stage! At the same time, one of my photos showed something I thought little of at the time, but why was Ozzy singing from the right of the stage as opposed to the center?

The set included several standard songs, "Symptom Of the Universe", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", with new songs including "Never Say Die" and "Shock Wave".
The others were there, including Tony Iommi's guitar solo with "Orchid" on his electric Gibson SG, and Bill Ward's drum solo. But was I just coming in at the tail end of everyone's love affair with Black Sabbath and all things "heavy"?

Black Sabbath live 1978:

In the first half of 1979, the relationship between Ozzy and the rest of the band had deteriorated. Ozzy refused to learn new lyrics that Geezer had written, which frustrated the bassist. A new song, "Children Of the Sea" was introduced, but Ozzy, after a brief demo recording, passed on it, He had no interest. Ozzy was very much incapable of working with anyone in the band. While the rest of the band were very much into the bacchanalia of drugs and alcohol, Ozzy's indulgence of it was in catastrophic proportions. He was simply unable to cope without these. He had missed a show due to his oversleeping in a hotel after a 24-hour binge. Something had to be done.

Finally Bill Ward had to be the messenger to bear the bad news: He went to Ozzy and said, "Tony wants to fire you," and that "the band is moving ahead without you." Ozzy was devastated. Tony Iommi explained in 'Guitar World' magazine in 1992 that he was not in fact the one to fire Ozzy. He was not happy with Ozzy, but he was not the one to dictate the decision to fire him. The rest of the band were fed up and had to make a decision. So on April 27, 1979, one of the darkest days in metal, occurred when the frontman/vocalist for the premiere band of metal was fired and given his walking papers due to his inability to perform and work with the band who had brought him to fame and prominence. Black Sabbath was finished. Ozzy was devastated at the news of his ouster.

But it was not just Ozzy's crippling inebriation and unwillingness to contribute that closed the chapter of the band at the end of the 70's. Geezer's marriage was crumbling, and Bill Ward had personal family crises with his father dying. The band simply was unable to work in any capacity at this point, They were done, Bill Ward admitted, "We were toxic, very toxic."

But other forces were pressing the band to forge onward. British music mogul Don Arden, who had become Black Sabbath's manager, urged the band to bring back Ozzy, as this lineup was most profitable. His daughter Sharon, however, recommended former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio as Ozzy's replacement in Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath 1979:

Tony Iommi met Ronnie James Dio at a bar in Los Angeles. Of course Iommi had seen the disintegration he had led for over ten years and was in need of a singer, if in fact the band could be salvaged. Dio himself had found himself let go from Rainbow, as their guitarist Richie Blackmore, formerly of Deep Purple, had decided to go in a more radio-friendly "pop" direction, as opposed to the "Stargazer", "Man On a Silver Mountain" lyrical themes on previous Rainbow albums. Many 70's bands had taken a more straight-on pop approach, as had even Black Sabbath. But when Iommi discussed his musical direction with Dio, something strong clicked. They hit it off and began to write songs for a new album, The first song on which they collaborated was "Children Of the Sea".

For the next several months, the pair worked on material to record, with first former Elf bassist Craig Gruber and then keyboardist/bassist Geoff Nichols. Geezer Butler returned to the band in January 1980 and the new album was eventually complete. That album was the record that reignited Black Sabbath: 'Heaven And Hell'.

Ronnie James Dio was a much stronger singer than Ozzy. He was more professionally trained, and the band was impressed by his passionate work ethic. Bill Ward eventually came back as well, and the band was complete--at least for a while.

An amazing chemistry now occurred with the band that had not been there for years. The band had found a heaviness not seen since the days of 'Paranoid' and 'Master Of Reality'. 'Heaven And Hell' was the album which brought Black Sabbath into the modern age of metal.

The album begins with the pummeling, powerful jolt of power chords of "Neon Knights", one of the most powerful songs Black Sabbath had ever written. Interestingly, Geezer Butler found relief that someone other than himself to write the new lyrics, as Ronnie James Dio was quite capable of his own songwriting abilities. As one of Sabbath's strongest songs, the track, released as a single in England at #22, but failed to chart in the U.S. The first song on the album was in fact the last recorded track for the album.

The next track, "Children Of the Sea", was the first collaboration between Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio. The song, first recorded then rejected by Ozzy earler, begins with some of the most evocative acoustic work by Iommi, on a twelve-string guitar, before launching into churning guitar chords. The lyrics describe a dying maritime culture as their world faces ruin. At first Iommi was struggling with words to put to the melody he had come up with before Dio took a shot at it. He came up with the lyrics very quickly.

The next song, "Lady Evil", was begun as a sort of hard bluesy track first titled "Lady Evil Blues", reminiscent of the them from a very early Black Sabbath single, "Evil Woman Don't Play Your Games With Me". Of course, Dio gave it that scary touch of a witch and her powers. The bass line opening was very effective.

The title track, the epic "Heaven And Hell", remains one of the band's most stellar moments of their career. With the ominous bass march and haunting chords, Dio's lyrics warn of the deceptive nature of reality. Be on your guard, he says, good and evil are mixed, darkness and light are intertwined, truth and lies are weaved. As was to be expected, Dio wrote and spoke in mysterious metaphor. One had to watch and beware, not resolve oneself to false comfort. The song entered into a brooding guitar solo with plenty of space to increase the tension and fear, before shifting tempos to close out the track, and at the very end, Tony Iommi begins a long fade out on an acoustic guitar.

Interesting note about the album cover of 'Heaven And Hell': The illustration was a painting by artist Lynn Curlee, "Smoking Angels". It was a clever take on "holy" figures engaging in "sinful" activities. Curlee was also noted for being the artist who illustrated the album cover for 'Agents Of Fortune' by Blue Oyster Cult in 1976.

The connection between Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult, however, did not end with having the same artist whose paintings were featured on their top-selling albums, as we will see.

Side Two of the album kicks off with "Wishing Well", a steady, uptempo rocker that works very well. Not dark, rather positive sounding with lyrics about being used by others for financial gain, as in love.

The next track is one of the most popular ones on the album, "Die Young", a song opening with the surreal synthesizer of Geoff Nichols before exploding into a breakneck tempo almost like "Neon Knights". The lyrics are a warning to not wait for tomorrow and to live for today. The next day may not come around, so one must live in the now.

If there were one "weak" song on the album, the band and critics considered it to be the following track "Walk Away". The song is not technically bad, just a sort of "throwaway" track which seems to fill space. It sounds rather "up". Still a vast improvement over the material of the past few albums, to be sure. The lyrics are about the dangers of a beautiful, enchanting woman who entices one into a relationship to bring about children, a romantic snare.

The closing song on the album is the excellent "Lonely Is the Word", a slower, more blues-based track featuring some of Tony Iommi's finest, most emotional playing. The lyrics are sad, indicating the brevity of life and the spectre of mortality, of death. "Maybe life's a losing game", Dio muses. Perhaps none of us really win, after all, he seems to say.

Thus concludes the return of Black Sabbath to the forefront. But how would fans react on the upcoming tour to the absence of Ozzy with a new singer having some huge platform boots to fill?

Black Sabbath in 1980 with three original members having returned to the band: Geezer, Tony, Ronnie, and Bill Ward:

On the upcoming tour, Ronnie James Dio had an uphill climb: The album was a breakthrough masterpiece in the growing roster of metal, but how would in fact that translate on the tour for people who had long associate Black Sabbath with their former vocalist for the past ten years? On the tour behind 'Heaven And Hell', there was a large contingent of fans who promote the "Where's Ozzy?" signs and prevailing mentality. During the concerts, fans would flash peace signs, more in keeping with Ozzy's gesture live, hence the 'Black Sabbath Vol 4' album, and this would frustrate Dio. He did not want to replicate Ozzy's gesture in this new era of Sabbath. He asked Geezer Butler what to do. As much as Ronnie James Dio was credited with popularizing the gesture which signified allegiance with metal, it did not originate with him. It in fact originated none other than Geezer himself, as he later admitted in an interview with Eddie Trunk.

During sets while playing "Black Sabbath" in concert in the early 70's, to get the crowd worked up when the tempo shifted to the faster portion, Geezer would flash this to the crowd:

Geezer Butler with the "devil horns" in 1971:

The tour behind 'Heaven And Hell' was in fact rather eventful. Ronnie James Dio handily won over fans who held up signs reading "Where's Ozzy?" with his "devil horns" salute, also known as The Malloik. He later explained that his Italian grandmother would cast the gesture to anyone she considered as having "The Evil Eye". The hand salute was intended to ward off evil, but in the hands of fans, it became a symbol of identification with the growing movement.

However, Bill Ward, who had returned to the band during its reformation with Ronnie James Dio, found the tour unbearable. He thought Ronnie was a decent enough bandmate, but there was something of a lost chemistry that he had with Ozzy fronting the band. The band was now stylistically different than from the twelve years before. It became so difficult that before a concert in Indianapolis, he binged on his drinking and simply left without warning. He was at his lowest point, almost as Ozzy had been the year before. It was time to bring in his backup, a young drummer referred to him named Vinnie Appice.

Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio live with "the horns" 1980:

So now that the regenerated Black Sabbath with a new lead singer was gaining fans as well as huge momentum, who could criticize it?

There were a few figures. One was Don Arden, the new manager of Black Sabbath who opposed the idea of a new Black Sabbath with a "midget" as a lead singer. The other person who opposed the new revamped version of Black Sabbath was none other than Ozzy Osbourne himself. He said that Black Sabbath would always be him, Geezer, Bill, and Tony. What was this new version who would never really succeed with a modified version of their sound and a new singer? They might as well call themselves, if not Boys In the Shed, then just Black Sabbath II.

To which Ronnie James Dio replied, true, it was NOT the original Black Sabbath. This was Sabbath for the 80's with a new, revitalized sound. It was ironic to Ozzy that Black Sabbath would continue under that name with a new singer who changed their sound drastically. But Ozzy may have been true drunk or stoned to remember that it was he himself who refused to sing on new material they wanted to record. So who was really at fault?

Ronnie James Dio said that he personally had no respect for the former Sabbath singer. Ozzy was just an irresponsible clown. He had been told many stories about Ozzy's antics that soured Dio's opinion of him. This did not prevent him from singing songs made famous by the former frontman,

During this time. Ozzy had been in a state of devastation before fate intervened.

Interestingly, in spite of Ozzy's objection to Black Sabbath reforming with a new singer and changing the sound, it was in fact Sharon Arden, the woman who would become most influential in Ozzy's life and career, who introduced Ronnie James Dio to Tony Iommi in 1979.

And also amazingly enough, when Ozzy was auditioning musicians for his new musical project at that time, Vinnie Appice was asked to join his band as drummer. But Appice turned down the opportunity, ironically, citing that he was "too young" at the age of twenty to join. But he joined musical legends Black Sabbath regardless to replace Bill Ward.

Bill Ward also had a sort of "funny" prank played on him by Tony Iommi when the guitarist asked if Bill wanted to be set on fire. Eventually Ward gave in, and Iommi doused him with a can of gasoline, then lit a match. Bill lit right up like a Christmas tree, according to Tony in an interview, and the poor drummer had to be sent to the hospital for severe burns. While Tony Iommi felt regret over the incident, he explained that this was a common occurence with Bill, being the fall guy for such pranks. This seems to be common with drummers.

But Bill Ward's sudden no-show in Indianapolis due to bottoming out with alcohol was not the only disturbing incident to the 'Heaven And Hell' tour. A riot broke out at a concert in Milwaukee when a person in the audience threw a bottle at Geezer Butler, knocking him out, bloodying his head and slicing his bass strings. The band abruptly stopped the show and left the stage, unable and unwilling to continue performing. Dio announced that they did not need to put up with such nonsense. The audience began to riot in the arena where they performed, causing major damage to the venue and to the surrounding shops. Dozens of police officers were called, resulting in skirmishes between concertgoers and riot control units, and as a result, rock concerts were banned at the venue in Milwaukee-- at least until Bruce Springsteen played there not long after.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC8RLJLNigs

Riot footage from the Milwaukee concert debacle on October 9, 1980:

The incident occurred during the Black And Blue Tour that year, where Black Sabbath co-headlined with Blue Oyster Cult, who were also a huge act at the the time, touring in support of their album 'Cultosaurus Erectus'. Tensions arose between both bands, however, as both bands claimed headlining status, but who was to go on first? Members of Black Sabbath appeared to "have it in" for the New York band, as verbal pot shots were fired from (and at) Dio and Black Sabbath often sought to cut short Blue Oyster Cult's set on some nights. While members of Blue Oyster Cult had long respected Black Sabbath and were inspired by them, they were put off by the ongoing rivalry. And how to determine who was to go on first? Concert promoters suggested that the decision to headline should be determined as to which band was stronger in the concert market in various locales. This did not go very well.

Regardless, both bands were reported to have put on stellar shows each night.

Black Sabbath vs. Blue Oyster Cult:

Interestingly, there was in fact an unofficial live album of Black Sabbath released in July 1980 of a 1973 concert with Ozzy. 'Live At Last' was released without the band's permission, though it managed to reach #5 on the UK charts. The band's former manager Patrick Meehan legally was able to release it as he had the rights to it. The concert was a fairly adequate representation of the band at the time, though the band was dissatisfied with the sound. Critics largely panned the album, which contained such numbers as "Tomorrow's Dream", "Sweet Leaf", "War Pigs", and a bizarre rendition of "Killing Yourself To Live" where, instead of the lyrics of the title in the chorus, he sings, "You're gonna die!" The entire version of the song is sung as if the lyrics were ad libbed and are completely unrecognizable.

But the issue of live albums would soon become a point of contention for the band.

My acceptance of Black Sabbath with a new singer came at a precarious time.
In 1980, as I had become a born again Christian, the "idols" of rock and roll I had looked up to in the late 70's held less appeal, such as Black Sabbath and KISS. I was somewhere else, and it was "unacceptable" to listen to "those" bands, who were undergoing a hard downturn in popularity, particularly with KISS, who had sold out with disco by decade's end.

In 1980, I had heard of Ozzy's new song "Crazy Train", and at first thought little of it, as it was an "interim" release before he joined a proper band. Solo artists were just people who did something on the side before the next band needed a singer. But with Black Sabbath joining forces with Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Rainbow and the guy who sang "Man On the Silver Mountain", this seemed rather exciting, particularly when I first heard "Neon Knights". Wow! I never thought Black Sabbath could sound so heavy! In ten years, they were BEYOND "Iron Man", "War Pigs", and "Into the Void". Songs like "Lady Evil" and "Die Young" were equally impressive. At first, the title track, "Heaven And Hell" did little for me, until I heard it clearly when a local college radio station played it while I was at my friends' house one Saturday morning, good Christians with whom I went to school and church. And Geezer Butler's bass drew me in...and it was then, I GOT IT. The whole song had buried deep in me.

Was I put off by a singer to replace Ozzy in Sabbath? Not at all. Because it was a singer I respected, it felt like a perfect match, bringing Sabbath to a new level of expression and power not felt for the past several years by the band. Black Sabbath had found itself once more, with a singer who helped rediscover itself. It FELT metal, what metal was supposed to be. For a good part of the decade, heavy metal had a stigma of unsophistication throughout the 70's, but by the dawn of the 80's, with the rise of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement, metal had become respectable with bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Saxon. At the end of the 70's, Black Sabbath were considered "dated" and irrelevant, but during 1980, they proved themselves mighty once again with a legendary album that defined metal for the modern era. In fact, it was an album that proved that metal had indeed arrived. The 'Heaven And Hell' album even became the third biggest selling record by the band in years, hitting #28 on the U.S. charts while topping UK charts at #9.

The band's outdoor summer Memorial Stadium concert in 1980 in Seattle with Blue Oyster Cult and openers Riot and Molly Hatchet was memorable with police cracking down on riotous, raucous concertgoers. Great to know the band was back in business. I wished I was there.

Black Sabbath 1980, with Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice:

The second album to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals and the first to feature Vinnie Appice on drums was 'Mob Rules', released in November 1981. The album was prefaced with the inclusion of two tracks, "E5150" and "The Mob Rules" on the sci-fi/fantasy animated movie 'Heavy Metal' that year, based on the adult-oriented comic book publication. The latter song was included on the soundtrack to the movie.

This time around, the band experienced problems with attempting to creating the guitar sound they were looking for. It was not helped that the band experienced drug problems with compromised their search for the proper musical vibe as with the previous album. Even the band's producer, Martin Birch, was dealing with drug problems which hampered the sound.

Still, there were gems on the album. The lineup provided a number of iconic releases which remain classics in the Black Sabbath canon.

"Turn Up the Night", the first song on the album, became the first single. It was an attempt to sound as heavy as "Neon Knights", with limited results. While not a bad song, it seems a little convoluted in attempting to match previous glories on the previous album. The song seems to attempt to replicate the riff of "Symptom Of the Universe". It's a very decent song, but feels a little derivative.

The next song, "Voodoo", has some standout riffs, menacing at a midtempo pace. It does not seem to follow a consistent pattern of the way a song should go. When you expect a certain riff to happen, something else takes its place. It's a great song, but not what one would see coming. Not your regular verse/chorus/verse/chorus song.

The next song, "Sign Of the Southern Cross", is considered the "Heaven And Hell" epic on the album. The song, beginning with Tony Iommi's perfect acoustic guitar intro, enters into a doom-laden series of riffs with Dio's captivating lyrics. The riffs are huge and soaring. The keyboards add a nice touch. The middle riffs are powerful, and it remains one of Black Sabbath's finest moments.

The previous song segues into the eerie instrumental "E5150", Geezer Butler's bass solo sounding completely doomy and spine-chilling with dark single-note riffs with bass string scrapes known as raking, which resemble the sound of demons shrieking. Tony Iommi enters with the guitar outro, before a keyboard interlude connects to:

"The Mob Rules" --one of the heaviest songs by Black Sabbath thunders in with guitar riffs, drums and lyrics warning of a city in peril. The entire song levels the world of devastation not seen since "War Pigs". The drums are punishing, the guitar devastates. Once again a perfect moment for the heaviest band in the universe.

Side Two of the album begins with "Country Girl", a sort of mediocre track, at least by the band's standards, that appears to be a pleasant space-filler song.
The band at the time feels awkward about the inclusion of the song, but it is not really a bad song, just not living up to their expectations.

As on the previous album, the second side contains a few deep tracks filler, "Slipping Away" is a fairly decent song, not every song can be "Neon Knights" or "Heaven And Hell". It makes one wonder what is going on in the chemistry that makes bands put out songs that "sort of" pull it off. To have a winner of a song every time is not easy. For fans of the new Sabbath, was this a bad thing? Or was it becoming predictable so early on? Had we heard it too often at this point? This was not a bad song by any means. But had they established themselves into a pattern?

One redeeming moment on the second side of the album was the classic "Falling Off the Edge Of the World", a near-epic track that opens with a ballad-like beginning before launching into the heavy riffs Sabbath was known for delivering. Interestingly, the middle riff is indicative of an early Iron Maiden "gallop" influence. Had the NWOBHM reached Black Sabbath at this point?

The closing track on the album was "Over And Over", a song with a plodding tempo that appears to be a fairly tedious point. Tony Iommi's guitar work is not bad in the solo, but it appears to be a more throwaway track, given his guitar genius.

Before we forget, there was a compilation album of Black Sabbath, 'We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll', released in 1976. The album featured mostly songs from their first four albums with only two songs included from 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' and 'Sabotage', the title track from the former and "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" from the latter. The album, released by the band's former management with neither their knowledge nor consent, included the following tracks:

Side A
1. "Black Sabbath"
2. "The Wizard"
3. "Warning"

Side B

4. "Paranoid"
5. "War Pigs"
6. "Iron Man"
7. "Wicked World"

Side C

8. "Tomorrow's Dream"
9. "Fairies Wear Boots"
10. "Changes"
11. "Sweet Leaf"
12. "Children of the Grave"

Side D

13. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
14. "Am I Going Insane (Radio)"
15. "Laguna Sunrise"
16. "Snowblind"
17. "N.I.B."

The inner cover was to originally feature the band's photos, but instead featured a woman n garish makeup in a coffin holding a crucifix.

It is also noted that the angular"lightning bolt" S's in the album's title have an occultic, satanic meaning.

The "best-of' double album 'We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll' in fact sold very well.

Back to double albums: In 1983, Black Sabbath released their first official live album, 'Live Evil'. And it was at this point that the lineup who gave the world "Neon Knights", "Heaven And Hell", and "Sign Of the Southern Cross" went south in their professional relationships.

The double-live album, which featured a pictorial montage of the band's songs
on the cover, was recorded at shows in Seattle, San Antonio, and Dallas during the tour for 'Mob Rules' in 1982. That year Black Sabbath's publishing deal with their previous management expired. By re-recording several songs from their earlier catalog and releasing them as a live album, all the songwriters stood to see a hefty profit from the publishing royalties.

But the mixing of the album was riddled with controversy. The story goes that while both Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice were waiting at the studio for Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler to arrive, they listened to the playback of the recording. They were rather dissatisfied with what they heard. Their drums and vocals could have been stronger in some parts, they opinned. When both Iommi and Butler arrived, the recording engineer, who had been drinking, according to Ronnie, told the guitarist and bassist that Ronnie Jame Dio and Vinnie Appice had been doing things such as asking the engineer to turn up the volume and other acts in the mix in an experiment.

Ronnie James Dio had a different take on what was going on. It became a blame game, accusations and insinuations running rampant between two strong members. Tony Iommi assessed at the time that Ronnie was becoming a sort of a control freak to where he and Geezer called him "Little Hitler." Did Ronnie James Dio suffer from a "Napoleon complex"? But Ronnie said that at that point Iommi's and Butler's judgment was compromised by their cocaine use. This caused the original members to be more suspicious and edgy. Ronnie, who had never used drugs, denied that he altered anything in the mix. But Iommi, whose copious cocaine use was causing him paranoia in his role as founder of the band and causing friction with the man who helped save his career.

The writing was on the wall: Ronnie James Dio would leave the band, taking Vinnie Appice with him.

The material on 'Live Evil' contained the following:

Side one

1. "E5150"
2. "Neon Knights"
3. "N.I.B."
4. "Children of the Sea"
5. "Voodoo"

Side two

6. "Black Sabbath"
7. "War Pigs"
8. "Iron Man"

Side three

9. "The Mob Rules"
10. "Heaven and Hell"

Side four

11. "The Sign of the Southern Cross/Heaven and Hell (Continued)"
12. "Paranoid"
13. "Children of the Grave"
14. "Fluff"

In spite of the fiasco regarding the mixing of the album, the tour was a huge success. However, Tony Iommi noted times when his life was in danger due to pyrotechnic mishaps such as during the explosions during "War Pigs" which threatened him physically.

I had only heard several songs from 'Live Evil', so I was not able to make a full assessment of it other than it did not sound too bad. It was rather different for Ronnie James Dio to sing Ozzy songs, considering both vocalists had contrasting singing styles. I recall hearing versions of 'Heaven And Hell' and others with Ronnie's stage monologues live. I recall I was by the Seattle Center Arena that night Black Sabbath played in Seattle in 1982, and wished I had a ticket. But the next day, my friends from church said the usual comments, "Oh, Black Sabbath, they're evil, etc." And in the back of my mind, I thought, "And you know this HOW?" They were obviously not metal fans, and even though I had moved away from it a bit, I still had that curiosity and found it a "guilty pleasure", as new wave had more of that appeal. But yeah, I could not admit to my friends that deep down I was still about the metal, as I had been since high school.

There was a live recording of Black Sabbath doing "Heaven And Hell" with Ronnie James Dio talking onstage about a mysterious figure telling him, "Ahh, heaven is what you need..." to which he replies harshly, "Go to hell!" since as a Christian, it was instinctive to "want" heaven, being with Jesus, as opposed to the opposite, etc., so I was put off by that. But I had to get the full context of the song. I did buy the album around that time, 'Heaven And Hell', and the meaning of the title track was clear, things were deceptive. What appeared to be "heaven" cpuld be a trap, it could be hell, in fact. As we are told in Scripture, Satan does come as an angel of light.

Still, in 1983, at the height of "satanic panic" in rock and metal, during a Bible study at my pastor's house, the story was told that Black Sabbath were involved in "altar calls for Satan" at their concerts. I found this a little hard to believe. In a twisted version of Christian music shows, where people were invited to come up to accept Jesus as Savior, bands like Black Sabbath were inviting people to come up to "accept Satan as savior", etc. Once again, I had to question what my friends allegedly "knew". It just seemed like another excuse to rag on bands Christians found distasteful. This comment seemed tame in comparison as to what Ozzy did during his concerts. But this was the time when bands such as Iron Maiden and others were called "satanic" because of songs such as 'The Number Of the Beast", which was more of a warning than an "endorsement".

Interestingly, the opening band at the Black Sabbath show in Seattle, which was recorded for 'Live Evil', was The Outlaws, a Southern rock member which featured a bassist named Rick Cua, a prominent artist who was beginning a thriving career in Christian music at that time.

Black Sabbath live 1982:

Meanwhile, Ronnie James Dio decided to take advantage of an opportunity Warner Brothers Records offered them while under his contract with Black Sabbath. He decided to become a solo artist, at first while a possibility while performing with Sabbath, but now it became a reality now that he had severed ties with the band whom he had given a second chance, and whom had given him a second chance. Vinnie Appice had joined him as well. The new band would become Dio, and with guitarist Vivian Campbell and bassist Jimmy Bain, they released a stellar metal classic, 'Holy Diver', with songs such as "Stand Up And Shout", "Rainbow In the Dark", and the title track. Metal once again was reborn.

Former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward, who left the band due to the lack of chemistry over the new lineup, said that he listened to the 'Holy Diver' album and was immediately impressed. It became one of his very favorite albums.

Once again Black Sabbath found themselves at a familiar crossroads. The departure of not one but two formidable lead singers was leaving them with a critical decision. Who would they get next? Who was there?

They considered several lead singers to fill the newly vacated slot, including Robert Plant, David Coverdale, and even a new auditioning vocalist by the name of Michael Bolton. But, at the urging of new manager Don Arden, they chose former vocalist Ian Gillan, primarily due to the fact that they liked his legendary shriek. The choice of Gillan was surprising, as Deep Purple had been Black Sabbath's main competitors for rock supremacy in Britain in the 1970's. A friendly rivalry existed between both bands.

So taking Arden's advice, they brought Gillan over to a pub in Oxford for a few drinks, which led to many. But, when the manager of Gillan's self-named band Gillan called him the next morning, he warned the singer that he should
have contacted him first before making such major business decisions. Gillan asked what he meant. His manager told him that he had just agreed to become the new lead singer for Black Sabbath.

Such was the reason why business deals are to be considered carefully while under the influence of alcohol.

The band decided that this time they would not want to be labeled as Black Sabbath, but as a supergroup featuring Gillan. However, Arden recommended that they continued under the name Black Sabbath. It apparently had mileage, so the band agreed to it. "We thought we were doing a kind of Gillan-Iommi-Butler-Ward album…"recalled bassist Geezer Butler. "That is the way we approached the album. When we had finished the album, we took it to the record company and they said, 'Well, here's the contract: it is going to go out as a Black Sabbath album."

Fortunately, Bill Ward returned to the band after his treatment for alcoholism to play drums on the album. His recovery was short-lived as, not long after the recording of the album was finished, he returned to his drinking, only to re-enter treatment for drinking. He left the band once more and was replaced by former ELO drummer Bev Bevan for the tour.

The new album was named 'Born Again', to commemorate that the band was "reborn" with a new singer in August 1983. But it was unclear as to which was the greater controversy, the inclusion of yet a new vocalist after such an amazing transformation with Ronnie James Dio following Ozzy's ouster, or the horrendous red "demon baby" on the cover. Gillan said that he was so revulsed at the cover that he threw up. It was clearly one of the most questionable covers of the band's career.

The 'Born Again' album had a rather different feel from its two predecessors with Ronnie James Dio. It was much rawer, and its intensity was intentional: The band wanted to create the heaviest album of their careers, but the production became rather muddy and dissonant. The album had a number of gems, but Gillan's lyrical writing style and vocals were rather different and loose from Dio's approach. While Dio had a distinct vocal range and sang largely about arcane, "mystical" themes of fantasy, Gillan was much looser and spontaneous. It was a curious release, to be sure.

The album begins with "Trashed", the most notable track which was made into a music video. The song describes a true incident where Gillan was involved in a vehicular collision after a drinking binge at the local watering hole where his borrowed car flipped on its side and ruptured the fuel tank. Gasoline spilled everywhere, and while Gillan's compatriot struggled to free the singer from the wreckage, the singer chose to light a cigarette. Strangely enough, the gasoline did NOT ignite. The song is strong with powerful riffs and an intense guitar solo delivered by Tony Iommi. In spite of the murky production, this solo stands out as one of Iommi's most memorable, IMHO. Even when things do not work out in production, Iommi's guitar still stands out in the effort.

The second song, "Stonehenge", was another attempt at an intro like "E5150", which segued into the next song. The song became a theme and motif for the upcoming tour, with unexpected results, as we shall see.

The next song, "Disturbing the Priest", was based on another actual event where the band was rehearsing in a church when the priest of the church kindly asked if the band could adjust their volume to a lower level while his choir practice were in the same building. The band and the choir group amicably reached a compromise to coordinate and arrange their times around each other's schedules, so everything worked out well. However, later, some anti-rock brigades accused the band of "instigating" "anti-religious", "satanic" messages with the song around that time. So it never ended with the "controversy" surrounding the band.

The next song, "The Dark", was another short instrumental which segued into the final track on the first side, "Zero the Hero". This was one of the other standout tracks on the album. But this was not shared by everyone: The members of Def Leppard were driving down the motorway after the album's release and popped the cassette in the player. Upon hearing "Zero the Hero", the first song they heard on the tape, they recoiled with horror and disgust at the sound and promptly threw it out the window.

'Born Again' back cover:

The first song on the second side, "Digital Bitch", was a rant against money-hungry women. The lyrics appeared to follow a sort of consistent pattern of Gillan's writing style: a series of one-liners and tongue-in-cheek humor that went against the grain of serious social commentary and personal reflection offered on previous Sabbath albums. The song was not bad, but seemed to try a little too hard to be "heavy".

The title track, "Born Again", was a standout track, very eerie and consistent with the sound and vibe of Black Sabbath. Slow, murky, and mysterious, the lyrics were cryptic and fit with the Sabbath vibe. The bass and guitar combine to create a haunting effect. This is very effective. For all the faults of the 'Born Again' album, this is one track that worked. The vocals fit a more bluesy, introspective tone.

The next song was a fairly standard song, "Hot Line". It feels more like a standard track, the sign of a band struggling to create something new and unique and failing dismally in the process. Black Sabbath was credited with creating the heavy metal sound, but they were not without moments of mediocrity in the process.

The closing track on the album, "Keep It Warm", was a decent song, but not a stellar song. The song had the customary heaviness, but was mired in predictability. Perhaps for 1983, with metal on the rise, it was a forgivable act, and Tony Iommi does play some very impressive guitar work in the solo, but in the context of a substandard song by Sabbath's standards. it remains a song of lost potential. Like many 70's bands at the time attempting to reinvent themselves for the 80's. it was a mixed result. For the thirst for all things heavy, it served its purpose and was not disappointing, but in 1983, a banner year for metal, a "do-able" offfering by the band that invented metal
left much to be desired in expectations.

Black Sabbath 1983 with Ian Gillan and Bev Bevan, who replaced Bill Ward for the tour:

Interestingly, the union and tour behind the 'Born Again' lineup took on a brief, eventful history all its own, one that added to the colorful history of Black Sabbath.

For one, when Ian Gillan was asked to join the band, he opted not to take up residence in a mansion where the band members stayed. He opted to live in a tent outside in the front yard. He also was averse to wearing such things as leather attire as his new bandmates were doing. He instead preferred to wear cloth and denim garments.

The tour behind the album was noted for its onstage excess, such as the infamous outsized Stonehenge props that dwarfed the band in many venues. This was allegedly satirized in the 1984 "mock rockumentary" 'This Is Spinal Tap' where the band were provided a rather miniscule version of the Stonehenge edifices onstage. But in fact the Black Sabbath debacle over the Stonehenge props was unrelated to the 'Spinal Tap' joke. The script for 'This Is Spinal Tap' was written in 1982, a year before the 'Born Again' album was being recorded and the tour formalized. Still, many venues were unable to allow the Stonehenge monoliths. It became so overwhelming that the band were forced to leave them on a shipping dock at points unknown.

In addition to the Stonehenge fiasco, it was revealed in a documentary on the 'Born Again' album and tour that the band was to open the show with a unique segment: A red demon midget cast as the "devil baby" on the cover was to come on at the beginning to address the crowd before falling onto a stack of mattresses behind him with an echoing cry, and cloaked Druids clutching bells were to then emerge to coincide with the Stonehenge props. The idea sounded great in theory, but in practice, it turned into a disaster. Things imploded and a great idea fell by the wayside, in spite of Don Arden's insistence to the band that audiences would love it.

The fact was that the band was in a confusing position than ever before. As excellent as Gillan was as a frontman, he seemed out of place as the frontman of his commercial rivals in Black Sabbath, Gillan could not sing Ozzy's lyrics because he simply could not relate to them. It remained unknown as to how he responded to singing Dio's tunes. It was questionable when, as an encore, Black Sabbath would launch into a version of "Smoke On the Water". It was a fitting gesture, in theory, but fans were left with what the direction the founding band of metal, Black Sabbath, was going by mid-decade in the 80's. Many bands of the 70's such as KISS found a certain niche in accommodating to new trends, but it neutralized them and made them less than the stellar bands which made them successful ten years before.

It was not long before vocal problems affected Gillan's ability to continue with the band. After that, Geezer Butler followed Bill Ward in a second exit from Black Sabbath in frustration and once again, the future of Black Sabbath remained uncertain.

Meanwhile, Ian Gillan returned to reunited version of Deep Purple in 1984 on their successful comeback album, 'Perfect Strangers'.

Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan on the 'Born Again' tour 1983:

In 1983, while I was impressed with the opening song "Trashed", I largely found the 'Born Again' album to be a sort of an acquired taste. It felt more convoluted in its attempt to be heavy, and certainly did not match the sound of its excellent preceding albums with Ronnie James Dio. The explorations of bass effects were top-notch, adding to the mystique of the album, which certainly did have its moments. In many ways it is an underrated album with its gems, in others it remains disappointing. The sound is often muddy and below expectations. The vocals do not seem to be clear nor consistent. Gillan seemed to be content on puns and one-liners rather than a certain lyrical effect or soaring vocal style as Ronnie James Dio gave.

Another problem was that Ian Gillan said that he felt he was unable to feel the vibe for singing Ozzy's lyrics (no mention as to how he felt about Dio's lyrics). Gillan was certainly not the intended match for the band which Tony Iommi later described was a lineup only on paper. Was this lineup, which lasted for a year intended to go on indefinitely, partticularly when a Deep Purple reunion was on the horizon? Was this reunion already in the works when Gillan joined Sabbath?

It also was clear fans had also had enough of the revolving door lineup. While the album sold within the Top Ten at #4 in Britain, it only hit #39 on the U.S. . While fans were amazed at the band rebounding after Ozzy's ouster with the career-redefining album with Ronnie James Dio which set the template for 80's metal, this third lineup with Ian Gillan appeared to be straining for credibility. However, many rock and metal artists, including Guns 'N' Roses, Cannibal Corpse, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Bill Stevenson, former drummer of Black Flag, all cited the album as a huge inspiration for their music and listened to it repeatedly. So its influence was clear. Tony Iommi even said that the riff from "Hot Line" may have been the inspiration for the riff of "You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party" by The Beastie Boys.

When I was attending Seattle Pacific University at that time in 1983/1984, I may have scared a few Christian students by my playing "Trashed" on the radio. They thought it was a cool song until I told them who it was. Then they backed off and ran! I was also ready to go to the Black Sabbath concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum in January 1984. However, the concert was cancelled when band members were reportedly "sick" (which could have meant anything). Perhaps it was really because they couldn't fit the Stonehenge props through the stage doors, but who really knows.

Black Sabbath 1983:

Of course, Black Sabbath named their latest album 'Born Again' after their third official lineup change (fourth if one counts Dave Walker in 1977). The band did not name the album after having a religious conversion or any such epiphany (i.e., they were not about to become Stryper), but that the band was "reborn" after the exit of Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice. The only religious connection Ian Gillan had was that he did play the title role in "Jesus Christ Superstar" earlier, as he admitted in a television news interview.

For all of its faults, 'Born Again' had quite a number of fans in music and metal. Ozzy Osbourne even admitted that this was his first favorite post-Ozzy Black Sabbath album.

Geezer and Gillan live:

There was one brief bright spot for Black Sabbath for Black Sabbath during the mid-1980's: The band, in their original classic lineup, was invited to perform at the Live Aid benefit concert on July 13, 1985 in Philadelphia. The massive crowd cheered when all four members, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne, who had not performed live with the band for seven long years, took the stage. The band, especially Ozzy, were resplendent their onstage apparel. Ozzy was glittery while Tony wore a black leather jacket with dangling cross pendants. Geezer stood tall in platform boots with a bright red BC Rich Ironbird bass, angularly shaped which made a very metal statement. And shirtless Bill pounded and pummeled away on his drum kit which sported a Live Aid Sticker on one tom.

The crowd, both at the stadium and worldwide live on television sets, were treated to three classic songs by the band, "Children Of the Grave", "Iron Man", and "Paranoid".

Ozzy with Tony Iommi onstage at Live Aid:

This one-off performance of Black Sabbath was not without a few issues. The main one being that Black Sabbath was managed by Don Arden, whose business decisions were not exactly helping the band. And Ozzy was married to Arden's estranged daughter Sharon at that point, and she had no love for her father and had severed her business ties with him. While Black Sabbath and Ozzy put aside their past differences for one moment to perform at a major charity event, Don Arden accused Ozzy and Black Sabbath of working against him in an attempt at a "reunion". A familiar scenario ensued with Arden serving legal papers to the band behind the scenes at the venue. Ozzy and Sharon were so outraged at Arden's actions that they officially banned her father from ever seeing their grandchildren. This was no "reunion", it was a brief benefit appearance to help save starving African children. Once the show was over, Ozzy and the band would get together for drinks at the pub, reminisce about good old times, and go their separate ways and respective careers.

Black Sabbath still HAD a career, did they not?

Black Sabbath at Live Aid 1985:

Enjoy your reviews. I saw Sabbath several times in concert, including at the Fox Theater in Atlanta during their Born Again tour.

Gillan was not a good fit for that band. I think that I read somewhere that he felt he was humbling himself by singing Sabbath's earlier catalog, But the trouble was that the old stuff was what Sabbath's fans were coming to see. So, he'd put his All into singing the stuff he wrote, and the fans were like "Meh,... sing Iron man!"

The encore they did that night was absolutely the best rendition of Smoke on the Water that I ever heard, and I'm a big Purple fan.

I'll be upfront...I really didn't like the work Dio did with Sabbath. I know that is sacrilege for many fans. But he seemed determined to take the band in a direction that I did not think it needed to go. Sabbath was no longer Sabbath with him at the front, and Gillan was just as bad.

The thing of it is, Sabbath lost their sense of identity around about the time of Sabotage, blending in choir music and such. There was this thing where Punk was emerging at the time, and somebody got into Iommi's head and convinced him that the was going to have to either evolve of perish....and so he tried to be creative....and failed. It's just that simple. Nothing against him, he just adapted in a way that was not complimentary to Sabbath's legacy.

I bought Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, and tried to pretend that they were good. But I was self deluded in doing so. Dio was an Improvement over those two clinkers, but that is ALL the recognition he is deserving of, IMO.

I'll be upfront...I really didn't like the work Dio did with Sabbath. I know that is sacrilege for many fans. But he seemed determined to take the band in a direction that I did not think it needed to go. Sabbath was no longer Sabbath with him at the front, and Gillan was just as bad.

The thing of it is, Sabbath lost their sense of identity around about the time of Sabotage, blending in choir music and such. There was this thing where Punk was emerging at the time, and somebody got into Iommi's head and convinced him that the was going to have to either evolve of perish....and so he tried to be creative....and failed. It's just that simple. Nothing against him, he just adapted in a way that was not complimentary to Sabbath's legacy.

I bought Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, and tried to pretend that they were good. But I was self deluded in doing so. Dio was an Improvement over those two clinkers, but that is ALL the recognition he is deserving of, IMO.

It is interesting that there have been so many phases of Black Sabbath through the decades. It wasn't just the one people with which people are most familiar from fifty years ago with 'Paranoid' and ''Master Of Reality'. Often they seemed to be still finding themselves and not be typecast.

Upon thinking of it, the 'Heaven And Hell'/'Mob Rules' era, in spite of being the albums that "saved" Sabbath, do seem to be albums not following a sort of looseness with Ozzy, Ronnie James Dio seemed to be a little TOO perfect, too meticulous. The band seemed to be getting that loose groove back with Ian Gillan, but his style was a little TOO loose. Ultimately, he and Bev Bevan were frustrated that they were simply hired guns for the band. Bev Bevan was most likely chosen to replace Bill Ward simply for the fact that he was from Birmingham as the core members of Sabbath were.

Speaking of drummers, interesting note: Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were close friends. John Bonham was a huge fan of the song "Supernaut" and always wanted to play it.

Bev Bevan was not the only Brummie to join Sabbath, as we will see.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that "Smoke On the Water", the OTHER must-play guitar song popular from the 70's in addition to "Iron Man" and "Paranoid", was played during the 'Born Again' tour.

One of the reasons for Gillan's departure from Sabbath had to do with his having throat and vocal cord issues.

Dio was a "growler"...I didn't like that. It was okay when he was with Rainbow, but it felt "labored" once he was a Sab. Seemed like he was trying to stretch his evil image, or extend his dark side beyond reasonable bounds...so it sounded fake to me.

When he's growling about a Man on a Silver Mountain, it seems less contrived for purpose than when he was growling his way through the Sabbath back catalog..

But then I'm a little weird. When I enjoy metal, I tend to regard the vocals as a fifth instrument, any meaning in the actual lyrics is way secondary to the tonal blend. Which is why I enjoyed Gillan with Deep Purple, they really delivered in that aspect. I think it was almost 20 years later when I finally pulled out a lyrics sheet to try and determine what he was singing about.

TONY IOMMI Says Original Tapes For BLACK SABBATH's 'Born Again' Album Have Been Found: 'I'm Thinking Of Remixing' It

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/tony-iommi-says-original-tapes-for-black-

Tony Iommi says that he is contemplating remixing BLACK SABBATH's "Born Again" album for future release.

Issued in August 1983, "Born Again" was the only album SABBATH recorded with lead vocalist Ian Gillan, best known for his work with DEEP PURPLE. It was was also the last of SABBATH's studio albums to feature drummer Bill Ward.

In a new interview with Michel Valentin of the French newspaper Le Parisien to promote the reissue of SABBATH's "Sabotage" LP, Iommi spoke about his plan to release deluxe versions of other albums from the band's catalog.

"There should be a box set from the Tony Martin era [1987-1991 and 1994-1996]," the guitarist said. "I'm also thinking of remixing the album 'Born Again', the one with Ian Gillan, now that we have found the original tapes."

Following the departure of lead singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice after the studio mixing of the "Live Evil" album, BLACK SABBATH was once again on the lookout for yet another lead vocalist to fill the significant void left at stage front. The band turned to Gillan.

The resultant album and live touring certainly made for one of the more curious associations in the world of heavy metal. Much of this era of BLACK SABBATH has passed into rock folklore and was actually the source for the material used in the rockumentary movie "This Is Spinal Tap". From the replica stage production of Stonehenge, which was too large for some of the venues on the world tour, to the employment of a dwarf to dress up and play the part of the "devil-baby" from the LP front cover, the world of BLACK SABBATH took on a distinct air of the surreal.

While the well-received "Born Again" album and live dates succeeded in stoking the embers and kept the SABBATH flames burning, this would ultimately be a marriage built more on friendship and respect as opposed to any long-standing and compatible musical association. After one tour, Ian Gillan would eventually bid farewell and re-join his old sparring partners for the Mk. II reunion of DEEP PURPLE and leave BLACK SABBATH once more gazing into the crystal ball hoping the face of yet another lead vocalist would reveal itself.

For Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ward, Gillan, and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, work would swiftly commence in May of '83 at the Manor Studios in the village of Shiptonon-Cherwell, Oxfordshire. Produced by BLACK SABBATH and co-producer Robin Black, who had also worked on 1975's "Sabotage", 1976's "Technical Ecstasy", and 1978's "Never Say Die", SABBATH's eleventh studio release would represent a radical departure from the gloomy atmospherics and blackened lyricism that had forged their identity and spawned innumerable descendants.

Gillan's approach to songwriting bespoke a lighter-hearted approach to what had, until then, been the primary concern of Butler. Album opener "Trashed", for instance, was inspired by Gillan's boozed-up race around the Manor's grounds in Bill Ward's car that ended in near-catastrophe and a wrecked vehicle. "Disturbing The Priest" was the result of a door in the studio having been left open during playback, and a local vicar appearing in the doorway asking for the volume to be turned down as it was disturbing choir practice in the adjacent village.

For all of its off-kilter appearance however, "Born Again" was still SABBATH through and through. Musically twisted and possessed with more than a whiff of brimstone, the album is a thrilling glimpse into an alternative world.

In a 2018 interview with SiriusXM, Gillan said that "Born Again" began with a bender at the Bear Inn, one of the oldest pubs in Oxford, England.

"How it started is was just 'cause we got drunk together one night," the DEEP PURPLE frontman said. "I went for a drink with Tony and Geezer, and we ended up under the table. And I can't remember much more that happened. But I got a call from my manager the next day saying, 'Don't you think you should call me if you're gonna make decisions like this?' I said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'Well, apparently you… I just got a call. You agreed to join SABBATH.' So that's how it happened. I was at a kind of loose end anyway, having just finished with my own band and PURPLE not really being anything viable at the time. So we set a one-year plan, and it was to do an album and a tour. Nobody knew what was gonna happen, so we pitched up and I pitched my tent, literally, at the old manor in Oxfordshire. And we made an album. I didn't see much of 'em. They were night people, so they slept all day and worked all night. I got up in the morning, cooked my breakfast, went to the studio to hear what they had recorded the night before and write a song over it. And that's how the album was made."

Gillan went on to describe the making of "Born Again" as "a challenge for me. It was a bit like doing [Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera] 'Jesus Christ Superstar' or singing with [opera singer Luciano] Pavarotti; it's just something completely different," he explained. "But Tony is such a great writer. You know what to expect with Tony. There's no multidirectional approach. He is the father of everything that came out of Seattle, I believe. He's just very direct, and that's how he evolved from the early days.

"I found it very easy to sing and write songs with [Tony]," Ian continued. "And we had a couple of good ones. There was always a narrative. My favorite song from that album is 'Trashed', which was a true story about a racetrack and too much drink and spinning a car and crashing it and going upside down. It was exciting times."

The second track on "Born Again" was a brief instrumental called "Stonehenge", and on SABBATH's 1983 tour, the band hilariously had to shelve a Stonehenge stage concept because the scenery was much too big to use.

"We had a production company called Light And Sound Design; they were in Birmingham, where the band was based," Gillan recalled. "And after rehearsal one day, we had a kind of meeting to go the office, and as we were walking through these corridors, one of the guys said, 'By the way, anyone got any idea of a concept for a stage set or anything?' And Geezer Butler said, 'Yeah. Stonehenge.' And the guy said, 'Wow! That's great.' He said, 'How do you visualize it?' And Geezer said, 'Well, lifesize, of course.' We didn't quite go lifesize, but it was about two-thirds. And we could never get it all up on a stage. We played some huge arenas, and places, stadiums, and you couldn't get it [up there]. So there are parts of it, there are monoliths that are all lying around in docklands somewhere and are spotted around the world, as far as I know."

A longtime treasure among hardcore SABBATH fans, "Born Again" was re-released in the spring of 2011 as a special two-CD set featuring a 1983 live performance from the Reading Festival.

At the time of its initial release, "Born Again" was a commercial success. It was the highest-charting BLACK SABBATH album in the United Kingdom since "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and became an American Top 40 hit. Despite this, it became the first BLACK SABBATH album to not have any RIAA certification (gold or platinum) in the U.S.

Black Sabbath at Live Aid 1985:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4R9YLaAXXc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqmEeOU9EI

It was amazing to watch this that Saturday afternoon!

After the triumphant, brief return of the original Black Sabbath lineup in the summer of 1985, Black Sabbath and Ozzy once again went their separate ways and resumed their respective careers. Or rather, Tony Iommi had time on his hands to create what was intended to be a solo album, as 'Born Again' in fact was meant to be as well. But the Warner Brothers record label and management from Don Arden insisted that Iommi keep the Black Sabbath name. For the next album, 'Seventh Star', released in January 1986, the new band went by the name 'Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi'.

Thus began a questionable period for the band calling itself Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi was the only original member, with a number of fine musicians filling out the ranks in the album, but it was rather dubious to call itself Black Sabbath. Apparently the band's label and management felt there was mileage in the name. More commercial appeal. And after all, Tony Iommi WAS Black Sabbath. Well, Ozzy was sort of Sabbath, but was doing very well as a solo artist apparently. And besides, hadn't the band done well with new lead singers? Well...

"It seemed to me like the band was on its last legs and my heart just went out to Tony," former drummer Bill Ward remembers. "I thought, 'God, how much more can he take?' or 'How much more does he want?'… What I saw was a great band I just felt was diminishing.

The latest "Black Sabbath" lineup included:

Tony Iommi – guitar
Glenn Hughes – vocals
Dave Spitz – bass guitar
Eric Singer – drums
Geoff Nicholls – keyboards

Glenn Hughes had a few stints in bands such as Deep Purple, and Eric Singer later went on to become a member of KISS.

The first track on the new album, "In For the Kill", has a good Gillan-esque vocal approach, continuing in the vein of 'Born Again'. Still, in spite of a decent lead guitar solo, the song seems generic. If Tony Iommi were to succeed in creating this as a solo album, it would have done well, but the legendary name Black Sabbath, expectations remained high, and as a result were disappointing.

The next song, "No Stranger To Love", was the "hit" from the album, a power ballad for which a music video was made. It was a nice touch, but not exactly memorable. In the video, Iommi appears to be playing a left-handed Washburn guitar. The guitar solo is tasteful. Tony Iommi said he wanted to do something a little different from what he was known for doing, yet this song seems to be yet another radio filler polished pop rock song that the mid-80's was known for.

"Turn To Stone" begins with fast drums and a Motorhead-style tempo. Once again the erstwhile Black Sabbath appears to want to morph into their rival band Deep Purple in the vocal department.

"Sphinx (The Guardian)" is a minute-long synthesizer into which segues into the title track, "Seventh Star". The riff is steady but really does not do much. It simply feels stagnant. The guitar break is fine, but this song sounds like a band trying too hard to make a "statement" but becoming only generic, as far as 80's rock and metal tended to go.

'Seventh Star' back cover:

The second side of 'Seventh Star' opens with "Danger Zone", a fairly standard track with riffs that seem rather derivative of practically everything else that came out in mid-80's metal. And while Glenn Hughes is a very capable vocalist, he adds nothing that made Sabbath distinctive. You could get a good howl from both Ozzy and Gillan, and of course Dio's voice was a promising start, but whatever Black Sabbath had become was forgettable. This would have been a good solo album for Tony Iommi, but Sabbath was quickly losing credibility by having its name attached to the project.

"Heart Like a Wheel" is a passable heavy blues track, a little different for Iommi. Once again it tries a little too hard to stand out. Tony Iommi's guitar solo just seems "there", but nothing really special. Most of the time he hits it out of the park with his playing and unique guitar tone, but here it fails to get out of the dugout.

The final two songs "Angry Heart/In Memory" are mid-tempo, with the latter track being ballad-y.

Was anyone waiting to see how the so-called "band" would follow up this convoluted excuse for an album?

The erstwhile "Black Sabbath" in 1986:

And so the revolving door lineup continued. In November 1987, the band calling itself Black Sabbath returned with 'The Eternal Idol', with some semblance of a stable roster of muscians. It was the first in a long partnership with lead vocalist Tony Martin, who would go on to appear on several future albums with the band. Even Ozzy's former bassist and lyricist Bob Daisley joined on bass for this album, as well as drummer Eric Singer returning. This was also the last album to be recorded on the Warner label.

The album cover was originally intended to be a photo of Auguste Rodin's 1889 sculpture 'The Eternal Idol', but as permission to use a photo could not be secured, two models covered in bronze paint were used to re-enact the artwork. Unfortunately, due to the paint's toxicity, both models had to be hospitalized after the photo shoot. What people suffer for their art...

Side one begins with "The Shining", and for once, a proper Black Sabbath sound begins to gel. This track has a heavy, thunderous feel hearkening back to the 'Mob Rules' era, and Martin gives a good vocal style reminiscent of Ronnie James Dio. The band seemed to be finding itself, in spite of lacking original members. A video was made for this track as well. This remains one of tne most memorable tracks from the Tony Martin era of the band.

The next song, "Ancient Warrior", opens with synths and guitar, and Martin continues in a Dio-esque vibe. The song is doable, with a steady rhythm and fantasy lyrics, but the song is rather standard mid-80's metal with nothing standing out. The guitar solo is pretty impressive, however. In the context of a song that's just "there", that might not say much.

The third song, "Hard Life To Love", is a more uptempo song with a passable riff. Martin's vocals are less like Dio in this one. Once again, the song feels more like mid-80's filler.

The song closing out the first side, "Glory Ride", starts out strong with a powerful riff. Tony Martin proves himself a very capable vocalist. The band appears to have that dramatic, operatic touch, and for the most part , it works.

The first song on side two, "Born To Lose", is an uptempo rocker with vocals sounding reminiscent of Sammy Hagar. The song is decent, but suffers from the predictable sameness that affected so many bands in the mid-80's. Rather generic. Not bad, but nothing memorable which made Sabbath originally stand out. Was Tony Iommi running low on creative batteries?

The next song, "Nightmare", begins with a keyboard intro segueing into a hard bluesy riff. A little different, not bad. With lyrics such as "Don't be fooled by the devil", Tony Martin evokes Dio-style songwriting. But at this point, does not Black Sabbath seem to be plagued by "spooky" metal cliches that became standard in metal by then? The band introduced such motifs in modern metal seven years earlier, but by then it seemed like they were "trying a little too hard" to be Sabbath.

The next song, "Scarlet Pimpernel", is an acoustic piece with Tony Iommi's acoustic guitar work that becomes a nice touch to the album, changing the pace and otherwise predictability of the album.

The next song, "Lost Forever", is a raging rocker akin to "Turn Up the Night" or "Symptom Of the Universe". The track is an improvement over much of the album. The one admirable thing about Tony Martin's vocals is that he is much looser than the singer he emulates, Ronnie James Dio. While Ronnie was meticulous, Martin has a raw groove to his vocal approach. The lyrics are a warning of death and doom, of escaping eternal fate, with the standard Sabbath touch.

The final song on the album, the title track "The Eternal Idol", is one keeping consistently with the the Sabbath sound of doom and darkness. The lyrics are painful questions about the meaning of God in a world full of suffering. To the singer, the question of God's existence becomes moot, yet we struggle to worship an "eternal idol". There is that spark of hope that God still lives within us, that we can change things, but in the aftermath of the televangelist scandals in 1987, Martin alludes to the greed and money corrupting men's souls in the name of religion. This remains one of Sabbath's finer moments, in the vein of "Lonely Is the Word", with a bluesy, ballad-esque feel.

Black Sabbath 1987 with Tony Martin second from right, with noticeable receding hairline (something a musician did not want to have that year):

I became aware of 'The Eternal Idol' in the fall of 1987 when I was in Los Angeles. I thought the cover was sexy and intriguing. Love was the eternal idol? That made sense. Later I found the song was a diatribe against organized religion. I got it, though I did not share completely in slamming religious belief as the band did at that point. It was a little bit more nuanced than that.

A few months later, I listened to the song "Ancient Warrior" on KISW's 'Metal Shop'. I almost thought it was a Christian song because of the lyrics, "He is the king of all kings", a title of Christ. But it was simply the band trying to tap into fantasy, power metal, and grandiosity. I thought the song was impressive, though at the time, I had begun a renewed epiphany into metal after a few years dabbling in current trends with U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, the New Wave, and an exciting crop of guitar-driven British bands and roots-rock college American bands such as REM, the Plimsouls, the Long Riders and others. By 1988, I understood Metallica and others. The "generic" feel of the current Black Sabbath was not an issue with me. I had gone through a radical transition in evaluating my Christian faith, and for once, I had understood metal, something I felt I had lost since the late 70's.

It appeared that a revolving door lineup of Black Sabbath was something that fans would have to deal with. Unfortunately, one of the biggest-selling bands of the 70's would find their fortunes and credibility dwindling in the 80's and beyond. So what if Black Sabbath became a footnote by sounding pretty much like everyone else that was considered metal? Was that necessarily a bad thing? Considering the mountainous legacy of the band some years before, it was disappointing.

Tony Martin and Tony Iommi interviewed in 1987:

By the end of the 80's, Black Sabbath appeared to have established a solid lineup with Tony Martin as vocalist. He fronted the band as the lead singer on 'Headless Cross', released in April 1989. The title track is considered one of the biggest signature songs by the band in the absence of Ozzy or even Ronnie James Dio.

By this time the band had been dropped by its longtime record label Warner Brothers but was picked up by IRS Records headed by Miles Copeland, brother of Stewart Copeland of The Police. Copeland encouraged the band to keep on with what they had become famous for doing: "You know how to write albums, you know what people want. You do it and I'm fine with it." As a result, Tony signed with their new label.

However, there were clashes with the former lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, over titles that were too identical: A song called "Devil's Daughter" had to be renamed due to a song by Ozzy with the same name. Interestingly, Geezer Butler was asked to join the band, but he opted to join Ozzy's new lineup.

The album focused entirely on themes of Satan and the occult, staples of the band's lyrics for nearly twenty years by then.

The album opens with 'The Gates Of Hell', a minute-long instrumental setting the tone of the album with haunting effects. The song segued into the title track, 'Headless Cross'. The track was similar to 'E5150' and 'Stonehenge' in an opening track. Many metal songs in the 80's had an opening track to set the tone for the main song, such as "The Ides Of March"/"Wrathchild" by Iron Maiden and "Hellion"/"Electric Eye" by Judas Priest.

"Headless Cross", the title track, was one of the most memorable songs by Black Sabbath, even if most fans did not remember, nor care to remember, this lineup of the band. This was ironic, since the Tony Martin era lasted in fact longer than even Dio's tenure with the band, and even almost as long as Ozzy's stint with the band. A video of the song was made which aired on MTV. Tony Martin's vocals were powerful, captured perfectly, and Tony Iommi's guitar solo was top-notch. Cozy Powell opens the song with a thunderous drum beat. One standout lyric was "There's no escapin' the power of Satan". A catchy lyric in that it was so goofy and cliched. Black Sabbath, who had initiated the trend of dark, macabre lyrics about themes of the devil at the beginning of the 70's, had now become trite and predictable as almost every metal band was doing it--and the tide was now turning as newer metal bands such as Metallica and Megadeth were discussion "real world" social themes in their songs. At the same time this was a signature song for the band, it still felt that it had that predictable, polished 80's sound and sheen to it.

The next song was "Devil And Daughter", whose title had to be re-written as Ozzy had a similar song title on his latest album. The song was a little more uptempo with a jump-y beat and rhythm. The song was another familiar track about Satan, with some sort of "evil woman" theme common in Black Sabbath songs thrown in ("Lady Evil", "Gypsy", and the pre-debut single from 1970, ""Evil Woman Don't You Play Your Games with Me", a cover by the band Crow). The song was good, but really broke no new ground, as it suffered from the glossed-over production and composition. Black Sabbath was falling pray to the commercial sameness which dominated so many bands in the late 80's.

The final track on side one, "When Death Calls", opens with an intriguing bass line courtesy of Laurence Cottle, a studio musician hired on to fill the now-vacant bass slot due to Geezer Butler's exit. The song also features a cameo appearance by Brian May of Queen, who was friends with Tony Iommi for years. May was the only guitarist with whom Iommi had a working collaboration outside of Sabbath. The song had the dark heaviness that was an improvement over their most recent offerings of sameness in metal. Tony Martin's vocals fit the Dio vein without sounding too identical. He had the perfect how and edge.

Black Sabbath in 1989 featured drummer Cozy Powell, Tony Iommi, Tony Martin, and bassist Laurence Cottle:

The second side begins with "Kill In the Spirit World", a predictable 80's metal song with lofty undertones. Not bad, but the thing about Black Sabbath was that they always seemed to defy conventions in music when they made their mark. Which was not always the case as we have seen. It was not terrible, but not particularly groundbreaking.

The next song, "Call Of the Wild", was not a bad song either, but seemed little more than space-filler for fans craving a Dio-soundalike. Had Black Sabbath become a cliche of itself after all this time?

"Black Moon", the third track on the second side, appeared to have a different sort of "swing-y" feel to it, and it was not a bad song. But did it match Black Sabbath's standards of heaviness and innovation? This was a song left over from 'The Eternal Idol' that made it to the latest album.

The next song on the album, "Nightwing" was an impressive ballad-y song in the opening song before launching into familiar heaviness.

The final track on the album, "Cloak And Dagger", was a song on the picture disc on the Japanese version of the album. Was it an official release? In any case, it seemed rather predictable with a mid-tempo rhythm. Had Black Sabbath finally mired into redundancy?

Twenty years into their career as a band, depending on how one defines them as a "band", Black Sabbath had reached a strange crossroads in what could loosely defined as their "career". Only Tony Iommi remained as the original member. Their record label insisted on retaining the name as a means of commercial gain. The problem was not that albums such as 'Headless Cross' were bad. It was that they were created by a lineup that few listeners recognized. Whatever Tony Iommi was doing, he was certainly milking it. The band was certainly past its glory days at the end of the 80's.

The problem was that, when one considered it, Black Sabbath arrived in the late 60's/early 70's at the very tail end of the British Invasion. The whole concept of the British Invasion of the 60's was to introduce individual band members as unique individual figures worthy of our attention (John, Paul, George, and Ringo, or Pete, Roger, John, and Keith), or an interesting pairing of flamboyant vocalist and dour guitarist (Mick and Keith, or Robert Plant and Jimmy Page). Ozzy was eccentric and outgoing while Tony Iommi was quiet and dark. But in the MTV-ready 80's, a strange phenomenon developed where even top bands could trade and fire members to be more "accessible" commercially, or if one musician failed to suit a frontman (case in point Whitesnake with David Coverdale), that member could be replaced at whim. It no longer became a band effort. It was a revolving-door process.

My opinion of the erstwhile Black Sabbath was passable then, I accepted that they had changed and the video for the title song I would see periodically on MTV's 'Headbanger's Ball' that year was good. But for the vast majority of metal fans in 1989, we had moved on from Black Sabbath as the be-all, end-all band of all things heavy and dark. Why be fascinated over the attempts of Iommi & Co. to be "spooky" and "satanic" when Slayer and so many other bands could do it so much better? Geezer Butler was no longer in the band to pen his trademark lyrics, he in fact joined Ozzy's band for the 'No Rest For the Wicked' era. Who was responsible for the cornball lyrics,
"There's no escapin' the power of Satan"? The band which started the trend to all things dark and demonic in rock and metal songs had finally become a caricature of itself.

In a July 1990 interview with Ozzy and Zakk Wylde in 'Guitar World', Ozzy opined, "Tony Iommi needs to stop writing lyrics about devils and bull:censored: because it's been done." Ozzy also admitted that he had a rather cold relationship with Iommi then because the guitarist was rather intimidating and was close to being a "bully". Considering that in the streets of Birmingham in the old days when the future founders of Sabbath were rival punks, this was a revealing statement as this adversarial situation continued professionally in Black Sabbath during the 1970's. Ozzy was fired due to his descent into drugs and alcohol by the end of that decade, but Ozzy countered that the entire band being hypocritical for firing him because they were ALL messed up on cocaine, drugs and alcohol. Ozzy just happened to be the fall guy.

Black Sabbath 1989 playing at the end of the Cold War in Moscow:

The next album by Black Sabbath, 'Tyr', was released in August 1990. This album was rife with concepts related to Norse mythology, a departure from the typical "Satanic" schtick of their previous album. The Norse concepts led many critics to label the record as a concept album, which then-bassist Neil Murray refuted later.

Tony Iommi recalled that incoming vocalist Tony Martin was under the impression that since he had joined Black Sabbath a few years before, that he was expected to write about the usual "satanic" topics. Iommi explained, "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."

The album was the most radical departure from Black Sabbath's traditional sound. Cozy Powell's drums and the keyboards of Geoff Nicholls are prevalent on the album, and many critics felt the record was one of Sabbath's heaviest albums.

The opening track, "Anno Mundi", is a compelling song, one of Sabbath's best. However, it is not a track one would expect to open the album, with acoustic guitar work reminiscent of "Children Of the Sea" with a group of chorus vocals. The song is a vast improvement over the material of the past several releases. It is majestic, yet not fully "dark". The song, whose title in Latin means "Year of the world", hints in Dio-esque fashion the fate of our times in uncertain days, of war and misfortune.

The next song, "The Law Maker" sees Black Sabbath venture into thrashing territory. The song is about a malevolent figure, like God, but more like a devil or some other menacing entity.

The following song, "Jerusalem", has the band attempt a previous darker feel with a power-metal sound resembling Dio's work. The lyrics seem to speak warning to the famed holy city of Scripture. Is it a thinly veiled social or political commentary on Israel's policies, or is it similar to the prophets of the Old Testament who foretold disaster of the capital?

"The Sabbath Stones" is a slower track featuring a plodding tempo with acoustic guitar thrown in. This is also the third song by the band to mention the word "Sabbath" in the title. The lyrics hearken back to Dio's "mystical" themes of divine direction and the like. The lyrics are never really clear and are best left up to interpretation. The name of the song would later become the title of a future Black Sabbath compilation album.

When we getting to Dehumanizer? :wave:

When we getting to Dehumanizer? :wave:Thanks for reminding me, because I was about to get to that!

Sorry I've been putting off more posts on this retrospective, but I've been finding some INCREDIBLE information on Black Sabbath that nearly changes everything we've ever thought about the band! And I'll get to that momentarily.

But I haven't forgotten about 'Dehumanizer', I'm glad SOMEONE is paying attention, because people's knowledge of Black Sabbath seems to have dropped off after 1970 (except for ten years later, of course).

So I was discussing the latter half of the 'Tyr' album:

The album continues with 'The Battle Of Tyr", an instrumental, which is part of a song cycle, with "Odin's Court" and "Valhalla". All three songs are impressive with Tony Martin's excellent (yet underappreciated) vocals. This was an album Black Sabbath was meant to make. It was almost a power metal album with its themes, consistent with what Dio was making several years before with the band.

The next song on the album nearly soured me on the record when I heard it on the radio: "Feels Good To Me" was a sappy power ballad, as I figured, nothing particular amazing when I listened to it on the radio in 1990. I think now, yeah, it was the proper space filler needed to make it more "commercial". Now I don't think it's terrible, but it does seem out of place in a series of songs about Viking lore and the like.

The final track on the album, "Heaven In Black", opens with Cozy Powell's drum fills and is a decent up-tempo rocker. Still it feels like filler with lofty power metal concepts on the rest of the album.

Black Sabbath 1990 tour poster:

Like most albums from that era of Black Sabbath, I had heard very little of it except the track "Sounds Good To Me" which did NOT sound all that good to me, because it sounded so standard. This was the best (the then-current) Black Sabbath could come up with? But then I read in 'Guitar World' that one of the members of Judas Priest said this was the album he wanted for Christmas, so it gave me the idea that there may have been something more to the album than what I heard.

It was interesting that the metal press made so much about the 'Tyr' album being about Nordic and Viking lore and themes, as the Norwegian black metal scene was ready to make headlines internationally in the early part of the 90's with lurid tales of church arsons, murders, and an abrasive form of extreme metal in Scandinavia. Black Sabbath at least did not sound much like that.

Tony Iommi on an import disc 1990:

The next year, Black Sabbath felt the pinch of declining sales and decided to do something desperate: They needed to get a "name" singer back, and for this, they reached out to Ronnie James Dio to handle the vocal parts on their upcoming release. The strange thing was that current vocalist Tony Martin was never officially fired. Material was in fact done for the new album with Martin on vocals. But the band decided to replace him with Dio regardless.

Tony Martin explained:
"I had already started my first solo album 'Back Where I Belong' – so, when I got the call to go back, I was committed by that point. And in fact it was just a couple of months after they had started the thing with Ronnie James Dio. I was determined to finish my solo thing and so turned them down at that point. We did keep in touch though and I went to some shows. Ronnie wasn’t too pleased, but eventually they had enough and asked me to rejoin again later so it felt like I hadn’t actually left. In fact, I was never formally fired; the phone just stopped ringing. Ian Gillan (Deep Purple singer, and another ex-Sabbath singer) asked me once if I had actually been fired and I said, 'No.' He said, 'Neither have I.' We should just turn up one day and walk on stage!"

Both Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio worked out the various issues which led to the singer's departure several years before. Both musicians realized the chemistry was still there and that the reasons for the separation in 1983 over the 'Live Evil' debacle were silly and pointless. So work began on the next album, 'Dehumanizer', which was released in June 1992.

Unfortunately, even though Cozy Powell appears on the cover and credits of the album, he did not join the band on tour as he had a horse die and fall on him, breaking his hip! Dio wanted to replace him with former Dio and AC/DC drummer Simon Wright, but Vinnie Appice was brought back instead.

The themes of 'Dehumanizer' were of a more sci-fi, "real life", current events series of themes than the sorcery-and-fantasy topics that Ronnie James Dio was known to write.

The album begins with the thunderous "Computer God", a song with the dystopian theme of computers and the internet taking on a religious nature in the lives of its users. Dio appears to be practically prophetic about the power of the internet and cyberculture in an era when such things were still in their infancy as a presence in our world and society. "Love" would also become a vicarious act on the internet with virtual reality. Ronnie James Dio felt that the rising dominance of the internet and computer technology would soon take over humanity. This was a heavy return to form for Black Sabbath, one of their finest in a long while.

The second song, "After All (The Dead)", a doomy sounding track, questions the concept of the afterlife when asking those who passed on, who, of course, cannot answer. Ronnie James Dio, in the repudiation of his strict Catholic upbringing, dismissed the concept of heaven and hell as the ultimate goal of the soul once it departs from the here and now, with him saying that heaven and hell were what we experience on this side of life. His assessment of a life to come remains grim, as he personally did not subscribe to it. Who were we to pass judgment, he seemed to say, on those who answered nothing on it?

"TV Crimes", the third track, more up-tempo, was about a common current events theme in those years, the televangelist scandals of the late 80's. The "crimes" were the shameless pitches on television by jaded, opulent preachers promising salvation to the well-funded and gullible, and the subsequent scramble to avoid prosecution by the authorities. The song fits the theme of similar metal songs including "Leper Messiah" by Metallica, "Holy Smoke" by Iron Maiden, and "Miracle Man" by Ozzy,

The slower-paced "Letters From Earth" is a lyric in the form of a prayer to God for answers to the injustices in the world, and that Dio himself is not free from guilt. What can Dio offer this God but pain and chaos in this life?

The final track on the first side is "Master Of Insanity", perhaps a play on the title 'Master Of Reality' where the lyrics ask us to confront the madman, the craziness, within us all, in spite of our insistence to deny its existence. The song has a sort of fast, off-and-on galloping rhythm.

Black Sabbath 1992, with Vinnie Appice at far left, who replaced Cozy Powell after the drummer's unfortunate injuries from a horse which fell on him:

Side two of 'Dehumanizer' begins with "Time Machine", a fairly uptempo song which was featured on the 'Wayne's World'. Two versions of the songs were recorded; one which was heavier and contained one set of lyrics, while the other, used for the soundtrack, sounded a little less so while a different set of lyrics were sung in the song. The song is a metaphor for life, that our bodies are a time machine where we choose the input and how we deal with circumstances.

The movie was memorable for the "headbanging" scene in the back of the car to "Bohemian Rhapsody", the second time the song rose to massive acceptance in popular culture. Tony Iommi had musically collaborated with Queen guitarist Brian May and was featured in the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 after the lead singer's tragic death due to AIDS.

The next song, "Sins Of the Father", continues with a trudging, doom-filled pace, The lyrics, like "Master Of Insanity", deal with the dual personality living in us which causes crimes and misdeeds.

"Too Late", which follows, features an acoustic melody with lyrics about regret with no time to undo the past. This is the "power ballad" track on the album.

"I", perhaps the shortest title in all of rock and metal, is one of the stronger tracks on the album with a marching beat and excellent guitar work. The lyric consists of the pronoun depicting the speaker in many forms and guises.
As is common with Dio's lyrics, he remains mysterious and leaves the interpretation up to the listener.

The final track on the album, "Buried Alive", is not an exceptional track, rather standard and plods along. The lyrics appear to be about a funeral and the seeming futility of life, as well as death's finality. Quite a cheerful note on which to close the record. Once again, the lyrics remain ambiguous.

Below is a photo of the 'Dehumanizer' demos before Dio was summoned to handle vocals. Tony Iommi, drummer Cozy Powell, then a member of the band, and Geezer Butler are featured in the picture.

Above it was mentioned that "TV Crimes" became part of a growing list of rock and metal songs criticizing the televangelist scandals of the late 80's. The song was in fact specifically about one controversial figure who became part of the revolving door lineup of Black Sabbath during the 'Seventh Star' era several years before in 1986: Jeff Fenholt, who may or may not have been a vocalist for the band, or at least was one very briefly, spun a story following his departure from Black Sabbath which turned into a very successful televangelist ministry based on his notoriety of being associated with the band.

Jeff Fenholt first played the title role in the Broadway production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. He then performed on several pop musical projects in the 70's with little success before opting for rock in the 80's. He traveled to Southern California where metal was big and became involved with Tony Iommi's solo album project. He performed on several demo tracks which would later be released with a different vocalist. Iommi thought he was a decent vocalist, but felt Fenholt was not up to the task of doing older material, so they went their separate ways.

Jeff Fenholt:

While Tony Iommi indicated that "things just didn't work out" with Fenholt, it was not particularly due to musical differences that caused the rift
in a working relationship between the two. Apparently Fenholt met up with Christian construction workers who gave the singer the evangelistic
message of salvation through Christ who could change his life. Seeing that his life was on a downward spiral due to drugs, alcohol, and the usual
degradation associated with the rock and roll lifestyle, Fenholt took up the call to embrace the message offered by his evangelical messenger.
That was at least the story Fenholt gave Iommi as to the reason to his departure from Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi found Jeff Fenholt's sudden
conversion story rather incredulous. One week Fenholt was bragging about a woman with whom he had sex, and the next moment he was going
on about how he had "seen the light" and was going to use his notoriety as a converted metal vocalist as a way to become a major figure in
televangelism to warn of the dangers of the rock and roll lifestyle.

Iommi was appalled, though not particularly surprised that Fenholt's involvement with Black Sabbath would once again be used against the
band now that he had become an overnight sensation in the Christian TV evangelism circles. Fenholt soon had his own show on TBN and would
promote the familiar story that Black Sabbath was "evil" and "decadent", feeding into the "satanic panic" regarding heavy metal. Iommi realized
that his status as a televangelist would add fuel to the fire that Sabbath and metal were "bad" and that the cards were stacked against him because
after all, who would doubt the word of a hip televangelist about rock and metal?

'Dehumanizer' came at an awkward time for Black Sabbath. While it was refreshing to have Ronnie James Dio return to the fold with the band, the album was not quite the stellar release that 'Heaven And Hell' and 'Mob Rules' were over ten years before. Dio wrote lyrics more about real life issues and dystopian themes than his usual fantasy themes. The album also suffered in sales due to the advent of grunge which had stolen the thunder of metal lately. While Kurt Cobain and Nirvana referred to their music as being influenced by early Black Sabbath, the 80's version of the band with Dio was not a consideration.

There was another factor threatening the renewed partnership of Dio with Black Sabbath: The band was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne on the final dates of his 'No More Tours' shows in Costa Mesa, California in November 1992 as an opening act before their former frontman entered retirement. Ronnie James Dio refused to participate in this. He saw the writing on the wall: He was never a fan of Ozzy and had considered him an ill-mannered clown. It did not help that Ozzy taunted Dio onstage during the 'Diary Of a Madman' tour with a midget he facetiously named "Ronnie" who would be "hanged" to the amusement of the audience. This stunt was to mock Ronnie James Dio in reference to his physical stature. Dio also became aware that a reunion with Sabbath and Ozzy was allegedly imminent, and that things were afoot to oust Dio from the band and replace him with Ozzy. Regardless, Dio felt this event to "reunite" with Ozzy was an insult to the reunion on 'Dehumanizer"; Dio had sacrificed his own band to return to Sabbath, and it was all over before it had even begun.

On the final show with Black Sabbath, Dio had departed but not without a replacement: Rob Halford, formerly of Judas Priest who had left that band to search for a solo career, stepped up to the microphone to sing Black Sabbath songs. The three original members of Black Sabbath joined Ozzy for several songs before going their separate ways once more.

Rob Halford and Tony Iommi live 1992:

A photo of the (briefly) reunited Black Sabbath at Ozzy's final concert in Costa Mesa, California, on November 15, 1992:

The 'Dehumanizer' album did not exactly feel like the awesome record that both 'Heaven And Hell' and 'Mob Rules' were. It was good that Ronnie James Dio was back in the band, but of course it was not to last. The conflicts with Ozzy remained, and Dio sensed there was about to be a power struggle. The song "Computer God" was great, but most of the album felt simply do-able. Not bad, just decent. But given time, the band would have just needed to re-charge its creative batteries.

It has been said that one reason for the album's lackluster reception was that grunge and alternative had taken over and had stolen the fire from metal, even if this was the founding band of metal. Kurt Cobain had cited Black Sabbath as an influence but it most likely was not the Dio era (coincidentally, in the press at that time, Cobain said his first concert was punk band D.O.A. at the Showbox or some location in downtown Seattle, but in fact his first concert was Sammy Hagar in 1982 at the Seattle Center Coliseum--but that wasn't a "punk" thing to say. Alternative Nation had to abide by the "narrative" that omitted metal in order to establish "cred".) Perhaps the one reason for the disappointing sales was that for years fans had tired of the revolving door lineup of the band, even if the "other" lead singer from ten years before had returned. And of course, the revolving door spun once more when Dio left a second time.

I was still all about the metal, and honestly, I never even knew that the Seattle grunge scene, with which I was so acutely aware of working by the Seattle Center then, had "killed" metal. I found it strange that there was a sort of de-emphasizing of metal. All sorts of bands were being promoted as "metal" at the Musicland/Sam Goody record shops at the local mall: Smashing Pumpkins were "metal"?? It was not for even a couple years that I no longer heard some MTV metal (the "hair" bands) were oddly absent. What happened to them? I thought many of them had great songs and a killer look. Yeah, flannel and Doc Martin boots were cool. Grunge was great, but it wasn't everything. Yngwie Malmsteen looked resplendent on the cover of the latest 'Guitar School', but on the inset of the cover, there was a picture of Nirvana with a dopey, snotty-looking picture of Kurt Cobain staring at the camera while smoking a cigarette to show how he looked like such a "bad boy punk". It didn't impress me at all. Just show me how to play and shred like the Malm, people!

I was not aware that "TV Crimes" was about Jeff Fenholt, but I was aware of this character now, trying to make a name for himself in televangelist circles. I was going through my own disenfranchisement with the current state of Christianity, with deep confusion, hurt, and frustration by not being heard and understood by many in the church. But this guy on TBN trying to hijack Black Sabbath's name for his own shameless self-promotion was nauseating. It was more show-biz. I saw him on his show scolding rock fans using drugs: "All you people out there smoking dope and getting high, well let me tell you--Jesus is the MOST high!" Uhh, yeah, I get what he's saying, but that was crossing a line with that one. I could not take this guy seriously.

Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio 1992:

Black Sabbath with Ozzy and Rob Halford 1992:

So the hoped-for reunion with Ronnie James Dio was over before it begun, it seemed. And now that Ozzy had entered retirement, it was time for Black Sabbath to resume its familiar pattern of revolving door musicians and below-the-radar albums. Thus, in January 1994, 'Cross Purposes' was released.

Tony Martin returned to the fold to handle vocal duties, and drummer Bobby Rondinelli came on board to perform percussion. Geezer Butler would remain with the band for less than a year before leaving.

The album begins with the standout track, "I Witness", an uptempo song that is rather decent and rocks with the best of them. The lyrics appear to be about an escape into dark thoughts and desires away from "proper" inclinations, away from the "holy man" and all the "lies". A safe ground awaits the frustrated seeker, one of hope and promise.

The second song, "Cross Of Thorns", plays with the most common themes and objects of the Christian story. The lyrics touch on the sense of betrayal, perhaps a "Judas" figure in this narrative. Many Christian themes are played for proper effect ("tongues of fire", etc.). The song is slow and ballad-y, and Tony Iommi's guitar playing is masterful in the lead solo.

The third track, "Psychophobia", is about David Koresh and the Waco compound inferno which engulfed the Branch Davidian cult. The lyrics discuss the megalomaniac ideas of Koresh and his messianic following. The song is very upbeat and loose.

The fourth song is "Virtual Death", a slow-moving, doom-filled track about the sense of failure in life. This deep album cut is not so memorable and seems to fill space on the record.

The fifth track, "Immaculate Deception", is a slight improvement. The lyrics revolve on the fickle nature of love and the sense of betrayal. The song is improved by fast rhythms before resuming to churning rhythms.

Black Sabbath 1994:

The next track, "Dying For Love", is a slow piece beginning with a guitar solo by Tony Iommi. The song's lyrics appear to be about lost love. Tony Martin's vocals are decent and epic, but the song feels rather standard.

"Back To Eden" tells the story of a group of idealistic individuals committed to perfecting one's life through the miracle of technology. This is a recurring theme with the band beginning with songs on 'Duhumanizer', that there was a downside to mechanical and scientific marvels meant to improve our lives.

A video was made for the next song, the standout track "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", based on the true story of a deranged nurse in Britain who murdered infants under her care at a local hospital. The villain character Annie Wilkes in Stephen King's 'Misery' novel may have been based on this.

"Cardinal Sin" was initially titled "Sin, Cardinal Sin", about the sordid crimes against children by Catholic clergy became a widespread scandal. It has an uptempo rhythm.

The final track, "Evil Eye", begins with a more sinister Sabbath-sounding riff. The lyrics deal with a common theme in the band's catalog, the danger of a woman with strange powers. The title seems based on the use of Dio's horns hand gesture to ward off "the evil eye".

Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler on the back cover of a live DVD 1994:

Like most post-Dio Sabbath albums, anything with Tony Martin was a mixed bag. So many albums under the name "Black Sabbath" clearly felt like Tony Iommi solo efforts. There was no question Tony Martin was an excellent vocalist, but at least with either Ozzy or Ronnie James Dio, there was a certain personality or style connected to their vocal abilities. Tony Martin lacked that. Black Sabbath succeeded for all this time because they were a unit. Perhaps a little on the dysfunctional side in their glory days, but they had made it work for them. Whoever Tony Iommi brought in at this point were hired guns. And people saw that, and while fans understood Black Sabbath as the inventors of metal, they had moved on for things heavier.

And in 1994, the year that even grunge effectively had died with the tragic suicide of Kurt Cobain, whatever was left of traditional metal had some making up to do, in a big way. For me, it was all about Megadeth, Maiden, and a few bands from the 80's who still made a difference to me. Even grunge for me, in Seattle where I worked, had stopped working. It was overhyped and less heavy. I knew there was something still hard and heavy down the road. And Black Sabbath WOULD deliver on their upcoming album in the coming year, though in a way I had not expected.

Tony Iommi and Tony Martin on a concert DVD 1994:

If there was a bad album in each era of Black Sabbath, one could easily point out the obvious low points: 'Technical Ecstasy' from the Ozzy era, 'Born Again' was its own low point with Ian Gillan, and while there were really no "bad" albums with Ronnie James Dio, 'Mob Rules' did not quite match the standards set by its predecessor 'Heaven And Hell' in spite of it containing many top tracks. 'Dehumanizer', however, was a commercial disappointment in a time when grunge and alternative displaced metal, and while it contained decent tracks, it was widely considered the nadir of the Dio era.

Which brings us to the low point of the Tony Martin era. Much had been working against him during his tenure with Black Sabbath in that, for one, he was not a "name" singer with the band. He could sing better than most, but he lacked the recognition of the previous singers. He was considered just another "replacement" singer in spite of his being with the band nearly longer than most vocalists. But, finally, we come to what is considered perhaps the biggest bomb of the entire Black Sabbath catalogue: 'Forbidden'.

Released in June 1995, much of the hype over its release was due to the fact that rapper Ice-T was going to make a cameo appearance on the opening track. Fans were incredulous as to whether the band was going to jump on the growing NU-metal bandwagon and become "Rap Sabbath". Aside from this, the material was barely passable on the new album. The cover was also rather standard and predictable.

The opening track which featured guest vocals by Ice-T was "The Illusion Of Power". The song is spoken from the point of view of a "strong" person who feels the need to destroy due to emotional weaknesses such as lack of love or fulfillment. Walls and barriers are constructed in the psyche to reduce vulnerability. Lyrically the song is not bad, but when Tony Martin begins to sing, one thinks, what in the world is this vocal melody?? The song features the familiar Black Sabbath trudging doom-metal riffs, nothing new here--but when Ice-T begins his very brief rap in the middle, was this Sabbath trying to clutch "relevance" by utilizing the vocals of one of the most controversial rappers and musicians of that decade? "Now we're up-to-date as a band!" It felt like a grab at riding trends.

The next song, "Get a Grip", is a commentary on television violence on the news, with politicians being powerless with their promises. Can we not have a little more control in our lives and in this world? This is another familiar theme with the band. A video with animation was made for this track. The song is not terrible, but nothing memorable either.

The third track, "Can't Get Close Enough", is a dark ballad about lost love, another common theme in Sabbath songs. The song then picks up with a standard tempo. Martin's vocals appear a little rawer on this track.

The fourth song, "Shaking Off the Chains" is another sort of "breakup" song about the need to sever ties from things holding one back in life and in relationships. The song has a marching "Heaven And Hell" feel, but the vocals are strangely sung, and Martin seems to try to sing like Dio. The melody feels awkward.

"I Won't Cry For You", the song at the halfway mark of the album, is another ballad with yet more lyrics about breakups. Not a bad song, but we're detecting a theme here on this album.

The album featured the members in caricature form on the cover, including one of Ice-T as a supposed "fifth member of Sabbath", the artwork seemed to imply. Maybe this was good for marketing?

Now that I have my internet restored after a long while, it is time to continue with our review of the 'Forbidden' album:

The next song on the record, "Guilty As Hell", is a decent track with raw, hard bluesy vocals by Tony Martin and a do-able riff from Tony Iommi (does anyone wonder what to do with members in a band sharing the same first name? KISS had to change members' names to avoid confusion, such as Paul Stanley, whose real first name is Stanley, while Ace Frehley's real first name is Paul. "Stanley" may not have sounded rock and roll enough). The lyrics, however, touch on a serious issue within the Black Sabbath camp: Original bassist Geezer Butler left the band over concerns regarding musical direction and disagreements as to the production of their previous album, as well as Geezer wanting to pursue a solo career. Veteran bassist Neil Murray of bands such as Whitesnake joined the band as a replacement. The song is about pointing fingers at each other for the estrangement.

The next track, "Sick And Tired", opens with a drum fill by Cozy Powell before launching into a swaying, bluesy rhythm. Tony Martin's vocals are good, but was the song really living up to the band's standards? Tony Iommi offered some stellar guitar leads in the middle of the piece. The lyrics continue in the familiar theme of broken love.

The following song, "Rusty Angels", is a more uptempo track sounding like many rock songs of the 80's. This is a better song than most on the album, and was played during their tour behind the album. The lyrics deal with the deceit of love and how a woman is not who they pretend to be, not the gift from heaven one is led to believe.

The title track, "Forbidden", tries to recapture the feel of "Headless Cross" with an epic sound. Not terrible, a fine track, but did it seem like we had been around this block a few times? The song is about being deprived of things in life, that certain things are "hands-off".

The final track on the album, "Kiss Of Death", opens with an acoustic guitar before launching into menacing power chords. Once again, a noble effort, but by this time it had just become a little too predictable. As well as with the lyrics about being "indestructible" from the woman who tries to bring their lead vocalist down. Tony Martin may have thought of himself as being strong and resilient, but the same could not be said about their career, at this point.

Black Sabbath 1995:

In the summer of 1995, that July, I learned that Black Sabbath was doing a concert at Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington. I knew very little of this album 'Forbidden' they were touring behind, but I was eager to go because, well, it was Black Sabbath, even with Tony Iommi being the only original member, and also on the bill was the legends of loud, Motorhead, which promised to be an exciting event.

It was a well-attended event. It was so strange how a band would fill arenas such as the Seattle Center Coliseum and Seattle Center Arena back in their prime was playing a decent-sized theater in downtown Tacoma. But the audience looked like a crowd just hungry for a metal show, because by that time, metal hardly had an audience, at least according to the lame stream media, it was either what was left of grunge and the presence of rap dominating everything. Maybe people were there to see Motorhead, because didn't Black Sabbath feel more like a blip on the radar at this point?

The show was opened by Swedish gothic doom metal band Tiamat. They were slow and plodding, and the audience were hardly ready for them. At the time, Gothenburg, Sweden, was on its way to becoming the new center of metal by mid-decade, where the Swedish melodic death metal scene was about to take over the world, but Tiamat were not part of this subgenre. People were so disappointed by this band one guy said, "This was the mellowest band" he had ever heard.

Next up were Motorhead, which brought a raucous response from the crowd. They were in fact louder than loud, and it surprising how Lemmy sang, with the microphone up and his head tilted back to growl the vocals into it at full force. Which made sense because to have his neck at normal level would constrict his vocal abilities in this manner. For a band cited as one of the pioneers of what would become NWOBHM or thrash, their music was in fact rather traditional rock and roll, just played very loudly and extremely. They played such popular tracks as "Ace Of Spades", "I'm So Bad (Baby I Don't Care", and a new song, "Sacrifice". Very intense for a trio. So I made my bucket list to see the legends for once. It was surprising that I was able to hear after their set.

And then came on the headliners: The mighty Sabbath, who were in fact much stronger than the press were giving them, given the sneering metal had been given as of late. Black Sabbath's ever-shifting lineup helped metal little. But Tony Martin's vocals were very impressive, and while he lacked the "charisma" of either Ozzy or Dio, he was a very find frontman who had his own stage presence. The good thing about this concert was that they played some songs that were not heard in ages by the band, such as "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "The Mob Rules", "The Shining", "The Wizard", "Neon Knights", "War Pigs", "Black Sabbath", "Headless Cross", and new songs such as "Can't Get Close To You". "Children Of the Grave", which was one of the closing songs in past tours, was in fact the opener on this one. Tony Iommi would step to the front of the stage, shield his eyes from the overhead lights and see who was out there in the audience. Neil Murray was on bass, and often Cozy Powell would rise from the drum kit to bow before the audience. The set was in fact very inventive and had some amazing improvisational moments with Iommi's guitar fretwork. The audience was captivated by this. For all the hype over grunge and alternative in recent years, it was great to see actual metal fans dressed as metal fans. It was a rare event. However, when I left after the show, my hearing was so pummeled by the volume that I noticed I was lisping, or so it seemed. Was my hearing and speech now so messed up that neither my ears nor voice worked any more? It came back, but I think I have Motorhead to blame for that.

So this was my experience with the 'Forbidden' album The impact was marginal, but the tour behind the album was in fact phenomenal. But that was because people in the Pacific Northwest were starved for real music, hard and heavy. And we got it that night.

Still, it would be a while before we would see another Black Sabbath album.

Black Sabbath tour disc, 1995:

Before we continue with output by Black Sabbath following the 'Forbidden' album, let us retrace our steps to the beginnings of the band in the late 60's to look at significant developments in music which may or may not have had an impact on them and their lyrical and thematic direction.

One Chicago band from the late 60's, a psychedelic prog-rock band named Coven, released an album titled 'Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls'. The band was known for their 1971 hit 'One Tin Soldier' which was included in the soundtrack for the movie 'Billy Jack', released the album in 1969 complete with Satanic and occultic themes, preceding the debut album by several months in the summer before. Interestingly, the band featured a guitarist named Michael Gregory "Oz" Osbourne, and the album contained such tracks as, amazingly, "Black Sabbath", as well as "White Witch Of Rose Hall", "Pact With Lucifer", "Wicked Woman", "Dignitaries Of Hell", and "Satanic Mass".

Due to the hysteria following the infamous Charles Manson murders, the album was pulled from the market. However, in more recent years, the album was a favorite by members of Nirvana, who would listen to it while on tour. And another interesting fact is that this band was noted for introducing the practice of the "horns" gesture later popularized by Geezer Butler and then Ronnie James Dio in the early 1980's.

Themes of the occult and arcane topics were prevalent in rock in the late 60's. Black Sabbath were successful in popularizing this to a greater extent in the early 70's.

Let us examine the songs that made Black Sabbath that they were.

We will look at the first official single by the band, released in 1969 before the release of their debut album in early 1970. The song was a cover by Minneapolis band Crow, titled "Evil Woman Don't Play Your Games With Me", a bluesy number that did not exactly set the world on fire. It was not even included on Black Sabbath's debut album. "Wicked World" was the B-side to the single.

This song was consistent with the height of the British electric blues scene from which heavy metal emerged in the late 60's.

"Evil Woman (Don't You Play Your Games With Me)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8lXuSDVNU

And such humble beginnings from the guitarist who invented heavy metal: Here is a clip when Tony Iommi was briefly a member of Jethro Tull in The Rolling Stones' 'Rock & Roll Circus' which was filmed in December 1968. It is harder to tell which is more bizarre: Tony Iommi wearing a wide-brimmed hat while playing a left-handed Fender Stratocaster (he had yet to switch to his trademark left-handed Gibson SG), or frontman Ian Anderson cocking his leg while maniacally playing the flute in "A Song For Jeffrey".

However, The Rolling Stones were disappointed by their own performance on the musical extravaganza which bore their name, citing jet lag which hampered their playing, and the film would not be seen for years. Tony Iommi left Jethro Tull to return to the nascent Black Sabbath. He and Anderson would remain friends throughout the years. Iommi, who replaced original guitarist Mick Abrahams, would himself be replaced by guitarist Martin Barre.

Can anyone see Tony Iommi playing guitar in a blues-based prog-rock band in the late 60's? This is in fact what he did for a short while.

By the way, does anyone know that one thing Tony Iommi shared with Ian Anderson is that both of them play the flute?

"A Song For Jeffrey":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJD_bjoOsmI

Ian Anderson and Tony Iommi in "Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus":

The first official video for "Black Sabbath", the self-titled debut song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lVdMbUx1_k

"Mars: The Bringer Of War", on which the title song "Black Sabbath" was based, from Gustav Holst's 'The Planets':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXOanvv4plU

"The Wizard":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWeRNU4mqjw

"Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" by Blue Oyster Cult from their 1972 debut, which suspiciously sounded like the structure of "The Wizard" by Black Sabbath:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqQixaBQ0Dg

"Wasp/Behind the Wall Of Sleep" with the drum outro which segues into "Bassically" (Geezer Butler's bass solo) and "N.I.B":

The jump-blues opening enters a doom-y call-and-response feature common in blues songs: guitar riff "answered" with Ozzy's vocals, with the riff repeated, vocal line, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO-VoFJw6Y0

"N.I.B" live in Paris 1970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiY2JsGXrtM

"Wicked World": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDdmwEJTKTE

"A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfxAFo-dQHY

One part of "Warning" is reminiscent of "Spoonful" by Cream with Eric Clapton.
Cream with bassist Jack Bruce was a huge influence on Geezer Butler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEl0ZhKm-lo

The cover to the debut Black Sabbath album is iconic and impressive because it has the psychedelic, hazy vibe where everything is pink while the witch on the cover is greenish. Perfect for the late '60's when it was taken.

The cover photograph was shot at Mapledurham Watermill, situated on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, by photographer Keith McMillan (credited as Keef), who was in charge of the overall design. Standing in front of the watermill is a figure dressed in a black cloak, portrayed by model Louisa Livingstone, whose identity was not widely known until 2020. "I'm sure (McMillan) said it was for Black Sabbath, but I don't know if that meant anything much to me at the time," Livingstone recalled, adding that it had been "freezing cold" during the shoot. "I had to get up at about 4 o'clock in the morning. Keith was rushing around with dry ice, throwing it into the water. It didn't seem to be working very well, so he ended up using a smoke machine," said the model.

According to McMillan, Livingstone was wearing nothing underneath the black cloak, and some experimentation was done involving some "slightly more risqué" photographs taken at the session. "We decided none of that worked," McMillan said. "Any kind of sexuality took away from the more foreboding mood. But she was a terrific model. She had amazing courage and understanding of what I was trying to do."

The original cover had a fold-out sleeve which featured a lurid poem written by Roger Brown, which was superimposed on an inverted cross. This was done with neither the band's prior knowledge nor consent, and upon noticing the artwork and poem, the band were horrified and upset. All of a sudden people identifying themselves as satanists and Wiccans began appearing at their shows. The band even declined to perform at a Wiccan gathering at Stonehenge. This was the reason why the band wore crosses Ozzy's father designed, to counter the idea and image that the band were "satanists" or "on the dark side". It was a pendant for protection.

Louisa Livingston has made a career performing electronica music.

Early live version of "War Pigs" titled "Walpurgis", summer 1970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNBRRotLunQ

"War Pigs" studio version with lyrics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6QHfZwTSw

"War Pigs" live in Paris 1970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3b6SGoN6dA

"War Pigs" by Faith No More live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhIMf61NeB8

"Paranoid":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qanF-91aJo

"Planet Caravan":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvrOzYtnLMA

"Planet Caravan" by Pantera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWChhdIgT6Q

STOP THE PRESSES!! We have uncovered UNRELEASED BLACK SABBATH TRACKS!!

"The Rebel", which appears to be recorded very early in the band's blues rock phase in the late 60's, around 1969:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmoG28-YeHs

"Sometimes I'm Happy" is another early unreleased song, with this live version performed live in 1975:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx3haXQ5weA

Here is an untitled instrumental with a partial title called "A Crumpled Knight Vows" in 1975. This was more of a pre-song live jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqY0HPLPOPY

Here is a more recent song that was played during Ozzfest 2001 when Black Sabbath were about to begin work on their first album with the classic lineup since 1978. Unfortunately, this new album over twenty years ago never came to fruition. This song is "Scary Dreams":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=735w63a53nc

Here is another early track from 1969, "When I Came Down":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T92o9_MWofI

Getting back to the Black from nearly a year ago, we now continue with our retrospective on the career of the Sab Four:

So where we last left off, in 2001, there were finally hopes that Black Sabbath were about to record a new album with the original lineup. Rick Rubin was on board as producer. But those hopes were dashed when once more Ozzy was called away to finish songs on his own album.

Tony Iommi commented,
"It's quite different recording now. We've all done so much in between. In [the early] days there was no mobile phone ringing every five seconds. When we first started, we had nothing. We all worked for the same thing. Now everybody has done so many other things. It's great fun and we all have a good chat, but it's just different, trying to put an album together."

It just came to an end…" Iommi added. "It's a shame because [the songs] were really good."

Black Sabbath on the cover of 'Guitar World' July 2001:

For the next few years, the Black Sabbath camp remained relatively quiet. Ozzy began his much-celebrated reality sitcom 'The Osbournes' on MTV, and it was not until 2004 that the band went back to headline Ozzfest '04.

The band's co-headliners were Judas Priest, who also made a triumphant return with Rob Halford once again assuming vocal duties and recording a new album in the process. Ozzy (in neck brace due to his motor injuries), Sharon, Rob,
Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing are shown here:

The next year, Ozzfest 2005 was met with controversy and uproar when co-headliners Iron Maiden were pelted with eggs, sound problems, and set disruptions during their set in San Bernadino, California. When Sharon Osbourne stepped up and announced her opinions over inflammatory comments Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson had made from the stage, the audience reacted with a vengeance against her.

The trouble had started when Dickinson allegedly scoffed 'The Osbournes' and Ozzy's use of a teleprompter in order to sing. Sharon thought his comments and behavior were "out of line" and decided to make a few reprisals on their last night of the tour by enlisting certain troublemakers to cause problems to the band's set.

As for the headliners Black Sabbath, Ozzy was suffering from his own vocal issues and had to cut the set short, which was disappointing.

Black Sabbath is shown here at Ozzfest 2005 here in my home town of Auburn, Washington at White River Ampitheater. While Maiden gave a stunning performance, Sabbath's set was hampered by Ozzy's voice giving out during the performance of "Dirty Women" where he ran off stage to drink throat medication.

It was strangely ironic that Ozzfest would attempt to bring concertgoers to their financially struggling festival by having one of the biggest metal bands of all time which stood in direct competition to Ozzy's own popularity. Judas Priest were fellow Brummies (Birmingham-ites) with Sabbath from back home in England and were returning to popularity after nearly a decade and a half without Halford. (Their volume at Ozzfest '04 was oddly lower than the volume for Sabbath.) But Iron Maiden was one band to be reckoned with in terms of worldwide popularity.

Was Dickinson right in his lambasting of 'The Osbournes' from the stage? Was Sharon justified in her retaliation against Maiden in front of so many? Did everyone's desire for a good time need to be ruined? There was another consideration as to why Dickinson made the comments he did: Jealousy, perhaps? The band may have had a tepid response too much for Dickinson.
He may have said them more to provoke the crowd into becoming more lively than they were already. Still, the opinion remained that Sharon Osbourne was spiteful and vindictive toward anyone who rubbed her the wrong way. And her low opinion of Bruce Dickinson had never changed.

But Dickinson's comments pointed to a very real concern about the success of Ozzy and his non-music projects: He was more about being a TV star, along with his family than about a musical figure. Many people were going to see the festival more for 'The Osbournes Dad' than for his accomplishments in rock and metal. And were Black Sabbath now simply being recruited every few years as a "nostalgia act" to showcase Ozzy?

Still, Black Sabbath pulled off a fine set in spite of Ozzy's vocal problems. Tony Iommi carried the rest of "Dirty Women" off very well.

Ozzfest '05 in Auburn, Washington:

In May 11, 2006, Black Sabbath received a long-awaited distinction: They were finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

It was almost a dubious distinction because the band's name would appear on the list of inductees for years ever since they became eligible, and would be turned down every single time. It came to a point where Ozzy and the rest of the band issued a letter where they asked the Hall Of Fame to simply remove their name from the list. Why dangle the promise in front of them only to snatch it away?

But when the band were finally inducted, they were brought on by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield of Metallica, who credited Black Sabbath for the existence of their band.

Black Sabbath Rock And Roll Holl Of Fame speech:

We were about to look at critics' ratings of each Sabbath album, but instead we will continue to look at further releases by the band in recent years.

In 2007, a new compilation was released: 'Black Sabbath: The Dio Years' in April of that year. For the first time in years, the lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, and Vinnie Appice met once more and began collaborating on three new songs for an album featuring tracks from the years that the veteran vocalist fronted the band.

While Dio and the founding members of the band dealt with friction ages before, the singer was very much up for beginning work on new material.

One song released for radio airplay was the new track, "The Devil Cried":

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Another new track, the doomy sounding "Shadow Of the Wind", was also featured on the album:

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"Ear In the Wall": E4ZZTeiOrRo&ab_channel=BlackSabbath-Topic