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Notes
- There are music videos for Trashed and Zero the Hero.
- Bill Ward recorded the album, but did not tour. Bill was replaced on tour by
Bev Bevan of ELO fame.
- This album has never been
formally released on CD in the USA.
- There are rumours of anywhere
between 1 and 6 tracks recorded for this album but not used. Two
titles are "The Fallen" & "Death Warmed Up".
- On tour, Sabbath played Deep
Purple's "Smoke on the Water", and on a few gigs, the Shadows'
"Apache".
- The Stonehenge stage was the
direct inspiration for the Stonehenge gag in the movie "This
is Spinal Tap".
- There's a fan site dedicated
to the Born Again album and tour. You can check it out
here.
- The song Trashed was
re-recorded by Ian Gillan for his 2005 solo album "Gillan's Inn" which
is to commemorate his 40th anniversary as a recording artist.
More info on Gillan's Inn is available
here.
- Ian Gillan had this to say
about the Born Again sessions late in 2003 on his site.
"Some months ago I got this
Sound Audigy gismo box to transfer anything analogue to digital. so I
sat down with about 600 old cassettes and spent a couple of days
sorting them out.
Good news and bad news...I found loads of stuff that I'd completely
forgotten about; demos, out-takes, rough mixes, writing sessions,
interviews and all kinds of interesting material from the last twenty
years or so; all of it in good shape.
One of the priceless items I discovered was the monitor mix of Born
Again, the very tape that I have referred to from time to time. All
the songs were listed (the entire album) and hand written on the
insert, Manor Studios etc. Imagine my disappointment when I found only
three songs, Trashed, Digital Bitch and one other (I forget now, it's
been a while and I've not been home for six weeks) on the cassette.
Anyway I have a whole load of gems to sieve through one day for a
potential release, and who knows, maybe that cassette was in the wrong
box and the real one will turn up. I still have more to check.
Just one other thing, I must have been misquoted (now there's a
thing). I do not recall any extra tracks with vocals. I think there
were some instrumental ideas left over from the Born Again session,
and possibly (although I can't remember) some rough vocals which
should have been (but may not have been) erased. Anyway as far as I'm
concerned what it is, is what it is; a very special album.
Cheers, ig"
- Here is a five minute video
of Ian Gillan talking about the start of the Born Again tour.
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Artwork/Images
- Here is the cover art for the
1981 Depeche Mode single "New
Life". Looks awfully familiar, doesn't it? :)
In late September of 2004, I
received an email from Steve Joule, who designed the Born Again cover.
He cleared up the story as to the similarity of the cover art.
Here's what Steve had to say:
 OK
let's put this baby to rest once and for all. The Black Sabbath 'Born
Again' album sleeve was designed under extraordinary circumstances;
basically what had happened was that Sharon and Ozzy had split very
acrimoniously from her fathers (Don Arden) management and record
label. He subsequently decided that he would wreak his revenge by
making Black Sabbath (whom he managed) the best heavy metal band in
the world, which, of course they are but back then in the early '80's
they weren't quite the International megastars that they had been in
the '70's. His plans included recruiting Deep Purple vocalist Ian
Gillan, getting Bill Ward back in on drums and stealing as many of
Sharon and Ozzy's team as possible and as I was designing Ozzys
sleeves at the time I of course got asked to submit some rough
designs. As I didn't want to lose my gig with the Osbourne's I thought
the best thing to do would be to put some ridiculous and obvious
designs down on paper, submit them and then get the beers in with the
rejection fee, but oh no, life ain't that easy. In all I think there
were four rough ideas that were given to the management and band to
peruse (unfortunately I no longer have the roughs as I would love to
see just how bad the other three were as sadly my booze and drug
addled brain no longer remembers that far back), anyway one of the
ideas was of course the baby and the first image of a baby that I
found was from the front cover of a 1968 magazine called 'Mind Alive'
that my parents has bought me as a child in order to further my
education, so in reality I say blame my parents for the whole sorry
mess. I then took some black and white photocopies of the image (the
picture is credited to 'Rizzoli Press') that I overexposed, stuck the
horns, nails, fangs into the equation, used the most outrageous colour
combination that acid could buy, bastardised a bit of the Olde English
typeface and sat back, shook my head and chuckled. The story goes that
at the meeting Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler were present but no Ian
Gillan or Bill Ward. Tony loved it and Geezer, so I'm reliably
informed, looked at it and in his best Brummie accent said, "It's
shit. but it's fucking great!" Don not only loved it but had already
decided that a Born Again baby costume was to be made for a suitable
midget who was going to wear it and be part of the now infamous 'Born
Again Tour'. So suddenly I find myself having to do the bloody thing.
I was also offered a ridiculous amount of money (about twice as much
as I was being paid for an Ozzy sleeve design) if I could deliver
finished artwork for front, back and inner sleeve by a certain date.
As the dreaded day drew nearer and nearer I kept putting off doing it
again and again until finally the day before I sprang into action with
the help of a neighbour, (Steve 'Fingers' Barrett) a bottle of Jack
Daniels and the filthiest speed that money could buy on the streets of
South East London and we bashed the whole thing out in a night,
including hand lettering all the lyrics, delivered it the next day
where upon I received my financial reward. But that wasn't the end of
it oh no, when Gillan finally got to see a finished sleeve he hated it
with a vengeance and hence the now famous quote "I looked at the cover
and puked!" Not wanting to sound bitchy but over the years I've said
the same thing about most of Gillan's album sleeves. He also allegedly
threw a box of 25 copies of the album out of his window. Gillan might
have hated it but Max Cavelera (Sepultura, Soulfly) and Glen Benton
(Deicide) have both gone on record saying that it is their favourite
album sleeve.
Another story that I've heard told about the sleeve, and this might
just be evil, malicious gossip, but as soon as the first set of
printers proofs were delivered to the Jet offices one was put on a
bike and sent to Sharon to piss her off as she was in hospital having
her and Ozzys first born Aimee and ever since the baby on the cover
has been known as Aimee, fact or lie. you decide. And there you have
it I can honestly put my hand on me old John Thomas and say that
Depeche Mode played no part in it's creation, infact the first time
that I saw the Depeche sleeve was when a friend of mine emailed the
black-sabbath.com address to me and I took a look. And that my friend
is the story of the Black Sabbath 'Born Again' sleeve as told by Steve
'Krusher' Joule. Thank you and good night!
- Here are four pictures taken from the Born Again Tour
program:
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Stonehenge
Instrumental
Disturbing
the Priest
Let's try getting to the sky, hang on or you're going to die
Sour life can turn sweet, it's laying at your feet
Sweet child with an innocent smile watches closely all the while
Don't be fooled when he cries, keep looking at the eyes
Good life is contradiction because of the crucifixion
If you're ready and have the need, I will take your soul and plant my seed
You just gotta listen to the night at the ending of the day
You just gotta listen to the night as safety slips away
Moving out of sight are the things you need to see to feel
And as they slip away becoming so unreal unreal
You just gotta listen to the night as you're going up the stairs
You just gotta listen to the night and don't forget to say your prayers
And as you lose control to the eyes in dark disguise
And icy fingers send electric lies
We're disturbing the priest, won't you please come to our feast
Do we mind disturbing the priest, not at all, not at all, not in the least
Ahhhh, Do we mind disturbing the priest
Aahhhh, not at all, not at all, not in the least
The force of the devil is the darkness the priest has to face
The force of the night will destroy him but will not disgrace
To get into his mind and to his soul you gotta set alight
The flames of doubt so deep inside inside
The devil and the priest can't exist if one goes away
It's just like the battle of the sun and the moon and night and day
The force of the devil, that's we're all told to fear
Watch out for religion when he gets too near too near
We're disturbing the priest, won't you please come to our feast
Do we mind disturbing the priest, not at all, not at all, not in the least
Good life is contradiction because of the crucifixion
If you're ready and have the need, I will take your soul and plant my seed
Aahhhh, ahhhh, ah ha ha ha haaa!
Let's try getting to the sky, hang on or you're going to die
Sour life can turn sweet, it's laying at your feet
Sweet child with an innocent smile watches closely all the while
Don't be fooled when he cries, keep looking at the eyes
Oh, disturbing the priest!
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The Dark
Instrumental
Zero the
Hero
Accept the fact that you're second rate, life is easy for you
It's all served up on a gold plated plate
And we don't even have to talk to you
Your face is normal, that's the way you're bred
And that's the way you're going to stay
Your head is firmly nailed to your TV channel
But someone else's finger's on the control panel
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother
Zero the Hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Impossibility impissibolity mother
Really a Hero
You sit there watch it all burn down
It's easy and breezy for you
You play your life to a different sound
No edge no edge you got no knife have you
Your life is a six-lane highway to nowhere
You're going so fast you're never ever gonna get down there
Where the heroes sit by the river
With a magic in their music as they eat raw liver
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother
Zero the Hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Impossibility impissibolity mother
Really a Hero
You stand there captain we all look, you really are mediocre
You are the champion in the Acme form book
But I think you're just a joker
Your facedown life ain't so much of a pity
But the luv-a-duckin' way you're walkin' around the city
With your balls and your head full of nothing
It's easy for you sucker but you really need stuffing
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother
Zero the Hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother
Zero the Hero
Impossibility impissibolity mother
Really a Hero
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