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Notes
- This is the band's final album on IRS records,
and was created to fulfill Tony Iommi's contract with IRS.
- This album was never formally
released in the US/Canada.
- Vinny Appice's name is mispelled on the front cover of the CD (as
Vinnie).
- In the CD case is a short 2 page story on Black Sabbath (with some mistakes). It goes:
BLACK SABBATH
Often imitated - but never
surpassed - since it's inception nin 1969, Black Sabbath has become one
of the most influential bands in the field of contemporary rock music.
The original lineup of Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and
Bill Ward spawned classics like Paranoid, War Pigs, Iron Man, & many
others, which were to case a long, dark shadow over the development of a
wide diversity of subsequent groups, rom Pantera to Body Count.
Despite line up changes over the
years, Black Sabbath has continued to dominate the field of hard rock.
With band mainstay Tony Iommi universally acknowledged as the world's
leading guitarist in the genre, each successive Sabbath album has
contained work that has excited and intrigued his peers - as well as
inspiring millions of air guitar players to snatch up their tennis
racquets and post in front of the bedroom mirror! I.R.S's signing of
Sabbath towards the end of the 80's was the opening of a new phase for
the band, and The Sabbath Stones recalls some of the milestones of it's
most recent career.
Having teamed up with awesome
vocalist Tony Martin for 1987's The Eternal Idol album, Iommi recruited
powerhouse rhythm section Cozy Powell (drums) and Neil Murray (bass) to
record the band's IRS debut, the majestic, broad sweeping Headless
Cross, released in 1989 to much critical acclaim. (Ed Note: Wrong.
Headless Cross did not have Neil Murray on Bass. Neil didn't join until
after the album was already finished). The band followed through
consistently with the equally popular Tyr, which under the lyrical
direction of Tony Martin, largely abandoned it's traditional focus on
the occult to delve into the world of myth and legend.
Sabbath received a setback in
1991 Cozy suffered a serious riding accident which put him out of action
for several months, but in the interim Iommi recorded the 1983 lineup of
the band, (Ed Note: Wrong. This lineup broke up in late 1982) with
fellow founder Geezer Butler back on bass, vocalist Ronnie James Dio and
drummer Vinnie Appice. (Ed Note: Wrong. It's spelled Vinny) They
recorded one album together, 1992's Dehumanizer, from which TV Crimes
was released as a single, becoming a top 30 hit in the UK.
Moves to reunite Black Sabbath's
original lineup led to the departure of Dio and Appice and when the
reformation proved abortive, Iommi invited Tony Martin to rejoin the
band and, together with Bobby Rondinelli on drums and Butler on bass,
they recorded Cross Purposes in 1994. (Ed Note: Wrong. It was recorded
in 1993, and released in Jan 1994).
By 1995, with Neil Murray and
Cozy Powell both at a loose end following the end of a lengthy world
tour with Brian May, Iommi decided to put the powerful Headless
Cross/Tyr team back together again - but this time with a difference.
Instead of Iommi & Powell producing themselves, they handed over the
reins to long tim fan and Body Count member Ernie C, who gave their last
album for I.R.S., Forbidden, a forceful stripped down sound that bought
the band right up to date for the mid nineties.
In addition to a selection of
music from the albums recorded during their deal with I.R.S, The Sabbath
Stones also includes four bonus tracks for fans. Disturbing the Priest
is taken from Born Again, the 1983 album which saw the world's legendary
rock vocalist - Ian Gillan - and Heart Like a Wheel originally featured
on the blues Seventh Star, with Glenn Hughes on vocals. The Shining
marked Tony Martin's debut with the band on The Eternal Idol, and has
since become a perennial live favourite, while Loser Gets it All was
recorded during the Forbidden sessions and despite being a personal
favourite of Tony Iommi's, has previously only been released on the
Japanese pressing of that album.
The Sabbath Stones marks the end
of an era in the history of Black Sabbath, while a new chapter is just
about to open. Whatever the future brings, one thing is for certain: the
works of Black Sabbath will continue to be the benchmark by which hard
and heavy music is judged. |
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