Tony Martin's Scream Update & Giveaway

Tony Martin, who was the vocalist on six Black Sabbath albums (5 studio, 1 live) has a new solo album out. It's called "Scream", and if you haven't already gotten a copy then you should. It's out in Europe now, and is due to be out in the US right about now as well. It's been awhile since Tony has had his own solo album - the last was in 1992. He's been on numerous projects since his tenure in Sabbath came to an end in 1996. He's been involved in M3 Classic Whitesnake, Empire, Rondinelli, Dario Mollo's Cage project, & Aldo Giuntini's project. He's actually been the most prolific, except for mabye Ronnie James Dio.

Anyway, Scream is out, and it's fabulous! When I first wrote about it a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't totally warmed to the album, but now I have. This thing is pretty solid from front to back. It's an awful lot heavier than his previous solo album attempt was. There's lots of brilliance on the album. Some of the highlights are "Raising Hell" (with the late Cozy Powell on drums), "Bitter Sweet" (with GZR guitarist Pedro Howse), "I'm Gonna Live Forever", "Surely Love is Dead", and "Field of Lies". But that's not all. To me, the best track on the album is the title track, "Scream". It's just powerful, great riffs, and it has a killer violin solo in the middle. Yeah - violin solo. Sounds odd, but man does it work bigtime. Additionally, Bitter Sweet really sounds like a Black Sabbath track. There's only one track I don't much care for, that being "Wherever You Go", it's the slow/soft track of the group, and after the heaviness of the rest of the album, it sort of feels out of place to me. But that's it. The rest of the album is damn great.

If you were a fan of Tony's time in Black Sabbath, or even if you weren't, you owe it to your ears to check out this album. As I said earlier, it's out in the UK, and US release date info says it came out yesterday (Nov 29th), but as of the moment, I can't find an online retailer that has it in stock. Be that as it may, here's some ordering links for you.

When I find the time, I'll do a track by track review of the album, but understand that doesn't mean I'm not enthusiastic about it. I just don't have the time at the moment for a detailed track by track review. :) There has been another review posted of the album over at rockdetector. Check that out here.

Additionally, someone from my forums saw Tony Martin's live band in Moscow a couple of weeks ago and posted a review of the concert, as well as having sent in 21 pictures he took at the show. Make sure and check that out, especially the pictures, as they're really good quality. I also have additional information about the album on my own discography page for Scream, plus an interview I did with Tony back in 2002 for this site here. All good. All worth your time to check out.

I'm also here with this update to give away two free copies of Scream that I've gotten from the publisher in Germany. I'll be doing one of my usual giveaways here, but for those who don't know the rules, here goes.

As per my contests in the past, you'll need to answer a few trivia questions about Tony Martin. If you get them all right, you'll be put into a drawing for a copy of Scream. Here are the questions you need to answer:

1. Which Black Sabbath song did Tony cover on his first solo album?
   
2. What other former Black Sabbath members are on Tony's new album, Scream?
   
3. What band was Tony Martin most known for when he was chosen as Sabbath's vocalist in 1987?
   
4. What other bands was Tony in with Cozy Powell besides Sabbath?
   

But don't wait on the giveaway. Go buy a copy. If you do win, you can give a second copy to a friend. This album needs all the support it can get.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:41 PM

Tony Iommi to host a weekly radio show

Here's some text from Tony's official website:

Tony Iommi joins Planet Rock next month to present Black Sunday on the nation’s favourite classic rock radio station.

Beginning on 18 December at 7pm, the launch of the two-hour programme coincides with Tony’s induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame, confirming his status as one of rock’s most influential and enduring talents. Each week, Tony will be joined by colleagues and friends from all walks of life who indulge in a common passion for rock music. He will also share his experiences from over 30 years at the top table of rock’s aristocracy, and reveal the stories behind Black Sabbath’s most famous songs. Tony will also invite unsigned bands to send in their demos and will play his pick on air. Speaking about his new show on Planet Rock, Tony said: ‘It’s brilliant to have the chance to do this. It’s something very different for me and I’m really looking forward to it.’ Trevor White, Executive Producer at Planet Rock added: ‘To have Tony join the Planet Rock team is a highlight of my career. I‘ve been a fan since I was 15 years old and saw Black Sabbath at Watford’s top rank suite. There are only a handful of artists who have genuinely influenced rock music since it’s inception and Tony is one of them.’ Tony joins fellow rocker Rick Wakeman on Planet Rock, which is at the forefront of the rock revival in the UK. Planet Rock is available on DAB digital radio across the UK, 861 Sky, ntl 880, telewest 924 and at www.planetrock.co.uk.

Listeners can send requests for their favourite tracks to Tony at tony.iommi@planetrock.com.

Demos from unsigned bands should go to: Tony Iommi, Planet Rock, 7 Swallow Place, London, W1B 2AG.

This now makes two Sabs who have radio shows. Bill Ward does (and has been doing for a couple of years now) a monthly radio show called Rock 50 in a college radio station in California. There's more information about this show over at Bill's website.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:49 AM

Black Sabbath to be inducted into US Hall of Fame

See subject. I don't have much else to say about that at this time, read my remarks on the UK Hall of Fame as to why.

You all can stop emailing me about it, I am aware of it happening. :)

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:28 AM

Black Sabbath Inducted into UK Hall of Fame

Black Sabbath (Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, Bill) was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame last night amongst other rock legends such as Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bob Dylan, and more. A show about the ceremony will be broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 tonight, Thursday 17th November 2005, and in the USA on VH1 on Saturday 26th November. Black Sabbath played one song, "Paranoid" (a stunning choice there). They were joined onstage by Slash on guitar, and Ozzy of course dropped trou. Like we need to see Ozzy's mid 50's bum. :)

Bill Ward had this to say about the induction over on his website:

'Wow, I¹m shocked,' was my first reaction. Then, 'This feels pretty good. What a nice surprise, Black Sabbath being honoured in the U.K.' Yes, I think that¹s a really cool thing to happen for us. Thanks U.K. Hall of Fame.

He's the only one of the four to actually have a personal statement on their websites about this. I've also kept quiet about this story, because my opinion is one that most people probably won't have, and that is "Who cares?" A few years ago Ozzy came out and told the main Hall of Fame (the US one) to don't bother with Black Sabbath, to "take their name off the list". Quite frankly, I agree with that. It's one subject I get a lot of feedback over on the website. "When will Sabbath be inducted?" or "Please run my petition..." (my regulars should know how I feel about THAT). Anyway, I ask you people. Why? What does it honestly matter? Black Sabbath has their name on a plaque hanging on a wall in Cleveland, Ohio is supposedly some mecca worthy of all the attention this subject gets? Really? WHY? I fail to understand why people give a crap at all about Hall of Fame inductions. So Sabbath isn't in. What does that really mean? Does it make you enjoy the music less? Does it make Iommi's guitar work less powerful? I don't care if they EVER get into the HOF, and neither should you - it's way WAY up there on the "who cares" chart? I'm sure for the Sabs themselves it's an honor, and that's cool. But it really shouldn't matter at all.

There's a mini site online over at the UK's Channel 4 Website about the induction, go check it out. I find it amusing that they have an Ozzy solo band picture in the Black Sabbath photo gallery (and an obscure one at that, it has Carmine Appice in it), as well as a picture of Tony Iommi with Jethro Tull too. On the plus side, they have a Born Again promo picture in there and they mention the Heaven & Hell album. :) Speaking of pictures, enjoy the pic of the guys together at the ceremonies, as I personally think it's the last time they'll be together for awhile (that's a gut feeling, I have no facts to base that on).

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:34 PM

Winners of the Deep Purple Giveaway

The Deep Purple Rapture of the Deep contest I was running is now over, and I'm here to report the winners. I didn't actually have the CD's in hand until today, and I wanted to wait to announce the winners until then. First off, here are the questions and answers to the trivia contest:

Q: Which former Black Sabbath members are on Rapture of the Deep?
A: Ian Gillan (1983's Born Again) and Don Airey (1978's Never Say Die!). There's some discussion as to whether Don was ever considered a full member of the band, as he was basically just a session man for that album, and never toured. However, he appeared on an album, that's good enough for me.

Q: Which Deep Purple song did Black Sabbath play live in 1983?
A: That would be Smoke on the Water during the Born Again tour 83-84, because of Ian Gillan being in the band.

Q: What is the most recent project that involved both Ian Gillan & Tony Iommi on the same album? Hint: It's not out yet.
A: That would be the forthcoming "Gillan's Inn" project which will Mark Ian's 40th anniversary in music. Tony Iommi plays guitar on a remake of Trashed, which also features Ian Paice and Roger Glover as the rhythm section.

Q: Who briefly played guitar for Deep Purple inbetween Ritchie Blackmore's departure & Steve Morse's arrival?
A: After Ritchie left for good at the back end of the 'Battle Rages On' tour, they were contractually obligated to play some shows, and got Joe Satriani to play guitar for them. Joe was never intended to stay as a permanent member - although I would have loved to have seen this lineup live, as it sounded like it was cool to see.

Q: What is the air speed velocity of an unladened swallow?
A: This was a gag question. I was feeling silly when I wrote the questions, added this in. For those who don't recognize it, it's a line from the (most awesome) movie "Monty Python & the Holy Grail". I had a decent number of people who replied with the proper line from the movie "What do you mean, African or European?". Most people ignored it, but one guy actually tried to find the answer to it. That honor goes to Mr Ted Jacobus, who who gave me a legitimate answer to that - or so he thought. :)

Anyway, the CD's will go out to the winners on Monday, as today's one of those holidays here in the US where there's no mail. :) Those winners are:

1) Dave Kuntz of Covington, WA
2) Jeremy Hamilton of Defiance, OH
3) Jouni Huhtinen of Turku Finland
4) Mike Quinn of Overland, MO
5) Robert Stillman of Plainfield, IL

Thanks to Rob over at Eagle Records for providing me with the copies for the giveaway. Thanks to all that have entered, and if you didn't win, you should go buy a copy (It's list is much cheaper than most CD's, and is selling for a respectable price). This is a great album!

Next up, I'm trying to secure copies of Tony Martin's "Scream" for my next giveaway. More on that later if I can get the copies.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:10 PM