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February 28, 2006

In Memory..... of a 20 year old Star

Thunder shattered the dawn
Raging with fury, the king has come
The power of terror will reign
There is no mercy in pleading

So begin the lyrics to "In for the Kill", the first track from the 1986 Black Sabbath album, "Seventh Star". Seventh Star just recently passed it's twentieth anniversary (it was released Jan 28, 1986). It's a rather misunderstood album, and one that if you've never checked out, you should.

After Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath following the Born Again tour around March 1984 or so, that left Black Sabbath in a quandary. They were back again to just Tony & Geezer, as Bev wasn't around anymore. They briefly toyed with Ron Keel & Dave Donato as vocalists (while bringing Bill Ward back again), but nothing substantial came out of those dalliances. After that, the band essentially broke up, and began what is considered by some fans to be the "dark years" of Black Sabbath. After Geezer also quit Sabbath to do his own thing, Tony Iommi was left alone. For awhile nothing happened. There was a brief reconciliation for the 1985 Live Aid concert with the original four, but the brief talk of carrying on from that point broke up, and Tony was left alone. Somewhere in here, Tony bought up the legal rights to the name Black Sabbath and became sole owner of that legacy (from a legal standpoint), something that remains to this day. At the time Tony did that, any future of the Sabbath name looked pretty bleak, and according to an interview at the time, he "didn't want the Sabbath name to die".

This is most definitely a period that most "Ozzy only" Sabbath fans consider Iommi solo time, assuming they even recognize it at all. And that's how this began, actually. Tony started work on a solo album at some point in 1985. At the time Tony was engaged to Lita Ford, and when he began the work, he used some musicians from Lita's band, those being Eric Singer & Gordon Copley. Eventually, Glenn Hughes was brought in to handle vocals, and Dave Spitz played bass, and longtime Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls handled keyboards. I'm not going to discuss the Fenholt story here, you can read about that elsewhere. As 1985 carried on, record company pressure forced Tony to formally name the band "Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi". From a musical construction standpoint, Seventh Star is "lighter" in feel than other Black Sabbath albums. It eventually came out in the US on January 28, 1986, and in the UK in February. But I'm not here to detail all the bits of Seventh's Star recording, just to recall some memories of it. :)

To this day it remains an album that most Sabbath fans tend to ignore, and it routinely rates at the bottom of fan polls of popular Sabbath albums. That's a shame. While I will admit up front it is by far NOT the best Black Sabbath album, it's not the worst. In fact, I have a seriously hard time calling ANY Black Sabbath album bad. Even the "lesser albums" have some stellar tracks, and in the case of Seventh Star, that is served by "Heart Like a Wheel". Heart is a spectacular track, one that deserves a lot more attention than it ever got. It was revived once, some of it was played on the Tyr tour a few years later with Tony Martin. But Heart isn't the only good track on here. In for the Kill is a good, fast song, and Seventh Star is a good powerful driving piece, as is Turn to Stone. And then there's No Stranger to Love. Stranger is what a lot of folks consider an anti-Sabbath song. You listen to that, and then something like "Wheels of Confusion" off of Volume 4, and go "is that really the same band?". Well, no it isn't, and to be honest, I love bands that take musical gambles. No Stranger is up there with the soft side of things, but it's not like that was the first time that had been done - there's plenty of slower songs in the Sabbath catalog up to this point, going all the way back to the original. I think that this album is now 20 years later, time has worked against it. Seventh Star's reputation is a "light" album that fans ignore, and I think that reputation alone keeps people from digging deeper and finding some great music here. Is it as killer as their early stuff? No - but that's my point. Not everything has to be some screaming loud riff that will melt the paint off the walls and make your ears bleed. If you approach Seventh Star with an open mind, and not with the attitude of "this will suck", then you might find a good album.

I played this tape an awful lot that summer. I was working on an auto parts warehouse, and my walkman was pretty much occupied by my tape of Seventh Star for a very long time. Didn't listen to much else, as this was only the second new studio album Black Sabbath released after I started listening to them. I still have this tape in 2006, although it's condition isn't the greatest. :) At the time I remember being enthralled with the entire album, and especially in memory. Now I don't know what that song is truly about, but at the time my personal interpretation was that of Tony pining for what had been lost with Black Sabbath over the years - the original was gone, and "In Memory" was his tribute to "Classic Sabbath". That could be complete bullocks, but that's what I thought at the time as a kid listening to the album.

Going into the live arena, the Seventh Star tour was one that was fraught with problems. Depending on who you talk to, Glenn Hughes was either messed up on drugs, damaged his vocal chords by getting into a fight at the end of rehearsals, or just ate too many candy bars and was too overweight. Whatever the story, he was generally regarded as awful on the live dates and was fired after only five dates. A friend of mine actually saw them with Hughes in Detroit, and his rendition of War Pigs proved that he was having problems - he forgot the entire last verse of the song. There were other stories that he wasn't singing at all at points, and it was really Geoff Nicholls handling vocals (but I can't prove that). No matter how you look at it, the live dates on the Seventh Star tour with Glenn Hughes were not good. Enter Ray Gillen, who came from relative obscurity to be thrust into the limelight as Black Sabbath's singer. I personally saw Sabbath on this tour with Gillen on vocals, although at the time I thought I was seeing Glenn Hughes - I wasn't aware of the vocalist change at the time. What I was was fine - the tour ended without further personnel problems. The band went back into the studio to start work on what would eventually become The Eternal Idol in 1987, but that is an even more convoluted story, and one for another article.

Misc Stuff

Here's a few interesting bits about the Seventh Star album...

  • The music video for "No Stranger to Love" features Denise Crosby, granddaughter of music legend Bing Crosby. Denise was most notable for playing Tasha Yar on the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
  • This album has never formally been released on CD in the United States, it's only been available here as an import. There was a German print back in the mid 80's, as well as the 1996 Castle remaster, but never a US domestic release on CD.
  • The artwork for the cover has an interesting story. Thanks to Antony Aristovolou for sending this in..

    You probably know this, but since you haven't mentioned this on your site, (maybe you don't see the info as being too important), I thought, just in case you don't, I'd let you know that the back cover artwork on 'Seventh Star' is a copper-plate engraving print by the German painter and engraver Lucas Cranach the Elder. It is the appropriately titled 'The Torment of Saint Antony', and was made in 1506. St. Antony the Great, (otherwise known as St. Antony of Egypt), was a 4th century Egyptian, who first developed Christian monasticism, leading the ascetic life of a hermit in the desert, in his endeavour to rid himself of the temptation to sin and attain spiritual peace and oneness with God. It seems that Mr. Iommi himself was going through much torment by record company execs to call his solo project a Sabbath album, and also, maybe, due to more personal reasons. Seeing Iommi looking quite distressed on the album cover, standing in the middle of a desert, one cannot help but see striking parallels with the mental torment faced by Iommi's holy namesake in the deserts of Egypt. 'Sphinx (The Guardian)', and 'Seventh Star' seem to be Iommi's tribute to St. Antony and Egypt, where both he and his namesake await the end of this world, ("...let my spirit go, lead my burning soul to rest...a thousand chanting souls, waiting judgment from God's hand...the pyramids will fall...), and the coming of the new, (...the star will rise again, until destiny is done). I hope I have demonstrated that the relationship between the front cover photo of Iommi, the Cranach engraving on the back, and the two feature tunes on the album, are more than just co-incidental.

Someone else's perspective

A long time contributor to my site and mailing list has also written a piece on Seventh Star. Check out this article from Mark Cloer about his feelings on Seventh Star.

It's hard to believe that this is the 20th anniversary of "Seventh Star", man time flies. I vividly remember rushing to my favorite record store on the day of its release and snagging a cassette. I had known for weeks that a new Sabbath album was coming because of a "Coming Soon" board in the store but had no idea who the singer was. I knew Gillan was gone but had no idea who had replaced him, no internet in those days! I remember a debate with a buddy of mine on that matter. He insisted Ozzy had rejoined because of the "Live Aid" gig but I didn't see that happening. The guy at the record store merely said "All I know is that it's not Ozzy, Dio or Ian Gillan. I hear it's a well know singer but don't know who it is." When I was handed the cassette I was a bit confused by the "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi" moniker. "Huh? What the hell is that about? Is Tony doing the singing???" When I tore the wrapper off the tape and looked at the credits inside I was shocked to see that Tony and Geoff were the only ones left and that the new singer was Glenn Hughes. And who were these Spitz, Copely and Singer dudes? "Holy crap!" I thought. I ran out to the old Cutlass and threw the tape into the tape deck {remember those?}. I must admit, I wasn't too impressed with the opening track "In For The Kill". It just didn't do it for me and remains my least favorite track on the album although I don't hate it. Next up was "No Stranger To Love". Ok, that was not what I expected at all. Good ballad type song but after "Born Again" who expected to hear that? The rest of the songs were all smokin' and I was in awe of Glenn's vocal performance. I was liking most everything I heard but was absolutely blown away by "Angry Heart"/"In Memory". That was the most amazing song I had ever heard and to this day it remains my all time favorite song. It gives me chills today just like it did 20 years ago and I'm constantly amazed that that song is rarely mentioned. I never could understand why it wasn't released as a single, it could have put Sabbath back on the map. It has one of the most simple but infectious riffs and the way it drifts from the heaviness of "Angry Heart" to the sullen tranquilty of "In Memory" is sheer brilliance.

I consider "Seventh Star" to be the best work Glenn Hughes has ever done. He kept his "soul" in check and delivered a masterful performance. He might not have been able to cut it live, for whatever reason, but in the studio he was flawless, as was the rest of the "new" Sabbath. I'd have loved to have had a followup to "Seventh Star" but it all worked out because we soon got Tony Martin. I'd have liked to have seen Gillen stick around for awhile too because for whatever Glenn lacked live, Ray delivered it in spades. Anyway, I'm getting off track. I think "Seventh Star" holds up really well and doesn't sound at all dated. It sounds fresh after 2 decades and that is what makes an album great. I know some disregard this album and there remains a lot of debate over whether it's "Sabbath" or not. It's a shame that it's never gotten the respect due it because some people get too wrapped up in names and titles. Yes, it was different and not your typical Sabbath release but it smokes nonetheless. It's amazing how some of the most turmoil filled times in Sabbath's history produced some of the most stellar albums. Think of all the crap that was going on during the times of "Heaven & Hell", "Seventh Star" & "Eternal Idol" and think about how great the finished products turned out. Simply amazing and Iommi & Co. deserve some serious respect for that!

To Sum Up

As you can guess from the discussion above, I like this album. I also like the Forbidden album, but that's another story. I tend to like albums that get overlooked in a band's history and catalogue. I think if you take the time to give it a shot, you'll find something good that you may have overlooked in the past. This was the first in a trilogy of albums that Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes made together. Fortunately, Glenn got over whatever problems he had live in 1986, and is now one of the best live vocalists around - he can still bring it live, which most guys of this era cannot. In addition to Seventh Star, make sure and check out "The 1996 Dep Sessions" (2004), and "Fused" (2005), both from Iommi/Hughes. There's also more to read about Seventh Star via the links below, so make sure and check it all out.

If you own Seventh Star already, break it out, and give it a listen now that it's turned 20 years old, and if you don't have a copy, buy one. Do you agree with me? Am I talking out my ass? Say something about it in this thread in my forums.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:38 PM


February 24, 2006

Where the hell have you been, Siegler?

I wrote this for the issue of my site's newsletter that went out today.

Here we are on Friday, February 24th, 2006. The last issue of the newsletter was sent out on December 23rd, 2005. That's two months since the last issue. So where have I been?

Nowhere, actually. To be honest, right after the Christmas break, I lost all my desire to work on the Sabbath site. I was burnt out. For a few days in early January, I actually contemplated stopping doing it, and taking it all down. I was close. However, I thought after all the time I've put into it that I'd table that, and think about it a bit. So I ignored the site for the most part, and definitely didn't read my Sabbath email. When I came to think about it again in mid February, I decided that my despair was brought on by the fact that I needed a break. I've been doing this site for over 10 years now, and it's all me. While I've had contributors along the way for sure, the lion's share of the work for the site and newsletter is all me. And for awhile there I didn't want to do it anymore.

However, in the last 36-48 hours I found it again. Spoke with a few people, and found my desire to want to carry on again. So here we are. A new newsletter, and several updates to my web site in the last few days. I have not gotten through all the email, though - there's rather a lot of it. I'll make my way through it in the next week or so. I also have an update from Rob Dwyer over at sabbathlive.com for my tourdates section, so I need to do that.

One thing that helped me was talking to an old friend of mine, and to this mailing list, Nick VanDyk. Those of you from the old days of this list might remember Nick. Ages ago, we found out that several people on this list are actual musicians and an attempt was made to make a fan's tribute album. Work was actually done, some songs were recorded. The angle was going to be a Sabbath tribute album with NO Ozzy era songs on it. Anyway, Nick and I lost track of each other over the years, and when I started in on my email pile, I found one from Disney and Nick where he works now. What's amusing about that is my predecessor in doing the mailing list also worked at Disney at the time, and the early issues of the list were actually mailed out through Disney's email server. That would be Michael Sullivan for those of you who remember him.

Anyway, Nick and I chatted for an hour about Sabbath on the phone today, and in that chat, I found the fire again. I sort of was heading that way before I talked to Nick, but that chat really rejuvenated my desire to want to do all this again. I also want to thank Rob Dwyer, who I chatted with as well about my burnout. It was Rob who sorta pushed me down the road again. Not by anything in particular he did, but the fact that he himself went down the burnout road with sabbathlive made him understanding of where I was in my head.

But the conversation with Nick really recharged me, and for that I'm thankful. For those of you from the old days of this list who remember Nick, you might want to check this out. Turns out Nick has gone pro with his music, and has a full fledged band. It's called "Redemption", and has former members of Fates Warning & Prymary.

Their homepage is here: http://www.ivorygate.com/redemption.

Listen to four full songs from them here.

And finally, here's a link to buy their "Fullness of Time" CD:

So to sum up, I'm back. Needed a break. I don't think there's going to be incredible updates from this point forward, but that's more a case of Black Sabbath being inactive again for the foressable future.

If you enjoy my site and the newsletter, don't forget to thank Nick & Rob, as they probably saved the site from going away. You can do that by checking out Nick's band and supporting Rob over at sabbathlive.com.

And for no reason at all in regards to any of this, a shout out to my wife and baby, who are far more important than any of this. I love both of you.

Stay Headless!

Joe Siegler, Webmaster
http://www.black-sabbath.com
siegler@black-sabbath.com

Posted by Joe Siegler at 6:01 PM



Tony Martin & Neil Murray on new Empire Album

Those of you who follow Tony Martin's career will be interested in this one. As you know, Tony has been one of the more active Sabbath members in terms of recording and releasing. Outside of his own second solo album Scream which was released last year, he's kept going elsewhere. His latest is the new Empire album, entitled "The Raven Ride". It's due out in the Spring of 2006, and while I don't have a lot of details on it yet, I do have some stuff to bring you on it. One is this picture of the Empire band from 2006. The other Black Sabbath connection besides Tony Martin is Neil Murray who plays bass. The drummer is Andre Hilgers who played in Axxis & Silent Force.

The Empire project is of course headed by Rolf Munkees who plays guitar as well as keyboards on the new project. Here's a few websites for you to check out regarding Empire:

Empire's last album was entitled Trading Souls (in 2003), and also featured Martin & Murray on it. It also had Don Airey as well (Sabbath, Purple). You can still buy Trading Souls on Amazon.com. If you liked the Martin era of Black Sabbath, you should check it out. Even if you didn't, you should still check it out.

Below some early pre-release press on 'The Raven Ride'. Once I get more information, I'll be sure to pass it along. But for now, make sure and check out the free mp3 sample download from the new album linked to in the press text.

Empire - new album The Raven Ride!

Guitarist Rolf Munkes is one of the busiest guys in the German metal scene right now. After two very much high-profiled releases with his band Empire, he now with The Raven Ride delivers his ultimate masterpiece which also features Tony Martin and Neil Murray. Enjoy a preview of the title track here (1:31 min).

Vocals Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath); Guitars & Keyboards Rolf Munkes (Majesty); Bass Neil Murray (ex-Whitesnake, Black Sabbath u.a.); Drums Andre Hilgers (Silent Force, Axxis). To be released in May.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 4:09 PM



Iommi & Bevan's Belch?

I was looking around for some info on Bev Bevan a little while ago, and ran across this link. It talks about a side project that Tony Iommi was in with Bev Bevan simply called "Belch!". Here's the relevant bits:

Bev has also admitted to being a partner-in-crime with Jasper Carrott and Tony Iommi in their side-project rock band Belch!!

Now I'm not naieve enough to think I know everything, but I know an awful lot about Black Sabbath, and I'd never heard this before, so I immediately contacted some of Iommi's people and inquired about that. Here's the response I got back:

'Belch' was some years ago now, they created it as a joke, hence the name. Jasper Carrott is a good friend of Tony and Bev's, he's a very successful UK comedian. It must be 10 years or so that they last got together, the band played rock covers.

So it appears this isn't a current side project, and even if it was, it doesn't appear to have been anything serious - but it does have an amusing title. :)

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:21 PM


February 23, 2006

Black Sabbath Greatest Hits to be released March 14th

Regular CD Regular CD

On March 14th, there will be a new Black Sabbath release. The title of this one is "Greatest Hits (1970-1978)". As far as I can tell, it appears to be a single disc version of the 2 CD Greatest Hits package from a few years back, "Symptom of the Universe". If that's the case, then the recordings are the same quality that appear in Black Box - which means they'll be excellent. Here's the track listing for this release:

  • Black Sabbath
  • N.I.B.
  • The Wizard
  • War Pigs
  • Paranoid
  • Iron Man
  • Sweet Leaf
  • Children of the Grave
  • Changes
  • Snowblind
  • Supernaut
  • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
  • Hole in the Sky
  • Rock 'N' Roll Doctor
  • Never Say Die
  • Dirty Women

I have not received a promotional copy of this, so I have no idea what the packaging looks like, or if there's anything unique in the liner notes or anything like that. Once I get a copy, I'll have a more up to date story than this short one. This is available for pre-order though, so if there's anyone you know who wants to be introduced to Sabbath, this single disc is probably a good idea. At the top of this page are some links for you to pre-order the disc from. You can also get more information about the album by clicking on the cover art above.

I would think that the newcomer to Sabbath is the target audience here, because if it isn't, I don't know who the target for this is. Sabbath has a boatload of "Greatest Hits" albums. There's several unofficial ones, plus this one, this one, this one, & the Black Box Set which are all official, not to mention this one, which is pretty close (in my opinion) to being official too. (Official meaning band sponsored and not some record label only thing that the band had no input into). That's a lot of Greatest Hits albums, guys.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:45 PM



Holy Diver Live to be released April 16th

Coming in April is a new double disc live album from Dio entitled "Holy Diver Live". OK, Dio's last release before this one was also a live album, but this will definitely be worthwhile. Why? This was recorded on his "An Evening with Dio" tour last year. What's that? Well, he played the entire Holy Diver album live, which is something he's never done before. Then he played a setlist of tracks from the rest of his days, and it added up to a concert that I really wished he would have played here in the US where I am. Anyway, there is a live double CD coming out (on April 18th, 2006. There will also be a DVD released too of the concert. I saw Dio on the Master of the Moon tour, and he had a great setlist - Disc 2 of this package shows you that somewhat. Ronnie has a huge catalog of music to draw from, and unlike some bands, they don't shy away from their entire musical legacy - Ronnie embraces it. That should be supported.

There aren't any pre-order links yet, should have something in a couple of weeks for that. In the meantime, there's some artwork here, but I do not have confirmation that it's the final artwork - it may change, so if you're another website copying this, make sure to say it may not be final art. :) Here's the track listing for the discs:

Disc 1:

  • Stand Up & Shout
  • Holy Diver
  • Gypsy
  • Caught in the Middle
  • Don't Talk to Strangers
  • Straight Through the Heart
  • Invisible
  • Rainbow In the Dark
  • Shame on the Night

Disc 2:

  • Tarot Woman
  • Sign of the Southern Cross
  • One Night in the City
  • Gates of Babylon
  • Heaven & Hell
  • Man on the Silver Mountain
  • Long Live Rock & Roll
  • We Rock

Here's some promotional text from the record label (Eagle Rock's Spitfire division) about the release:

Captured live in front of a sold-out London crowd, Ronnie James Dio delivers a truly memorable performance on this truly memorable night. Dio has been hailed as one of the finest voices in heavy metal for over 30 years now and for good reason. Due to his stints in Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and as a solo artist, Dio is one of the few people in the history of music that can honestly say they have played on three classic albums, each under a different moniker. "Holy Diver Live" features the classic "Holy Diver" album in its entirety, from start to finish, recorded live for the very first time. It also features, among others, Heaven & Hell, Sign of the Southern Cross, & Mob Rules from his Black Sabbath days. It also has Tarot Woman, Man on the Silver Mountain, & Long Live Rock & Roll from the Rainbow days, and We Rock from his solo career.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:23 PM


February 21, 2006

Bill Ward to be a Daddy

I know I just covered this in an update below, but I wanted to take a moment to point out this news...

Bill Ward is going to be a father (again). He's having a boy. This will be his fourth child, he has two sons and one daughter already. Congratulations to Bill and his wife on the news!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:57 PM



Bill Ward & Black Sabbath Update

Bill has sent in the the 12th edition of his Audio Diary series. This long delayed newest edition (the first in 2006), totaling 29:35 in length is available right now. Here's some of what Bill had to say in this edition - there's a few small tidbits specifically about Black Sabbath.

  • Some friends of his who have died recently.
  • The upcoming US Hall of Fame induction for Black Sabbath. According to Bill, Black Sabbath will not be playing at the ceremony. Furthermore, Bill has no information on anything else happening with Black Sabbath in 2006, either.
  • Bill's gonna be a daddy again (having a son), his fourth child.
  • Some Beyond Aston updates - he's been making a real effort since January to get it completed. Also, you can still download (legally, for free) the song "The Dark Half Hour" from that album.
  • As if Beyond Aston wasn't enough, there's some details about other music he's written that isn't on Beyond Aston that he will use for his next few albums. Bill also goes into some detail comparing the music from Beyond Aston to When the Bough Breaks.
  • Sends props to Slipknot and System of the Down for their Grammy Awards
  • Lots of talk about his Rock 50 radio show including some details as to what some of the tracks he'll be playing on upcoming shows are.

There's plenty more to hear as well, so make sure to check it all out. Head over to Bill's site at http://www.billward.com for all the details.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:55 PM