LunarMile Update

LunarMile, the band fronted by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's daughter, Toni-Marie have completed their debut EP. The band sent along a short update about it, here's that text:

LunarMile are to release their debut EP, simply titled ‘LunarMile’, on Monday 12th June 2006.

The EP features the three tracks ‘4am’, ‘Get Over Yourself’ and ‘I Know’, all of which will also be available via iTunes. In addition, the CD format includes a bonus acoustic version of the track ‘Stay’. CDs will be available at the band’s gigs and online via www.lunarmile.com

We hope to have the finished product back by early June, so advance copies may be available to buy at the band’s gigs ahead of the 12th June release date – more on this as we know what’s happening! Check out the cover artwork at www.lunarmile.com

Make sure and visit the LunarMile website to get the latest tourdates for the band.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:50 AM

Gillan's Inn Contest Winners

Here are the answers to the Gillan's Inn contest which ended yesterday.

1) Q: What two Black Sabbath albums does Ian appear on?
A: Well, the obvious first one is Born Again (1983). However, the more obscure one is 1996's "The Sabbath Stones", which was the final Sab album released on IRS records. One track from Born Again appears there.

2) Q: What member of Iron Maiden used to be in Ian's band?
A: Janick Gers, who is now one of three guitarists in Iron Maiden.

3) Q: How many studio albums has Ian recorded with Deep Purple?
A: The total is eleven. They are: Deep Purple In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972), Who Do We Think We Are (1973), Perfect Strangers (1984), The House of Blue Light (1987), The Battle Rages On (1993), Purpendicular (1996), Abandon (1998), Bananas (2003), Rapture of the Deep (2005). Remember I did ask about "studio albums". Things like Made in Japan, and the Concerto album (not to mention compilations) wasn't what I was looking for here.

4) Q: What two non Black Sabbath songs did Sabbath play on the Born Again tour?
A: The common one was Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, which was played at every gig. The less common one was "Apache" by "The Shadows", which was only played at a couple of gigs.

Winners:

• Charalampos Kioupis (Athens, Greece)
• Clay Schuster (Fairbanks, AK)
• Eddy Roma (Amatitlan, Guatemala)
• Marsha Hillier (St Johns, NL - Canada, I think))
• Steven Gibson (Abington, PA)

If you won one of the other recent contests (Dio Live, Sabbath GH), I still did not mail out the prizes, I held on to them knowing the Ian Gillan one was underway, I wanted to send them all out at the same time. They should go out tomorrow.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:45 PM

Gillan's Inn Giveaway

Earlier today I posted the winners and answers for the Black Sabbath / Dio CD giveaway. This afternoon, I'm here to continue the trend with the new CD from Ian Gillan, "Gillan's Inn". In addition to the giveaway, I wanted to tell you a few things about it, too. But before we get to the contest, here's some order links for you (which I urge you to do):

• Amazon.com's page
• Amazon.co.uk's page
• iTunes

I have to say this is one of the more enjoyable releases in awhile. I don't know how into Ian's solo material you have been, but if you've never checked it out before (like me), then this is a good place to start. Read what I wrote about the disc in my review of it for Amazon.com:

Ian Gillan is someone I've known for a long time having sung on numerous Deep Purple albums, as well as his connection with Black Sabbath. However, I've never gotten any of his solo or "Gillan" albums. No particular reason, it's not like I had a dislike for them, I just never got any.

Last year (2005), I got word that Ian was putting out a new solo album entitled "Gillan's Inn". What's intersting about this is that it was created to honor his 40th anniversary as a recording artist, so the songs on here aren't just all new material. There's covers from his past. There's a few Deep Purple tracks on here, but what's most interesting to me as a Sabbath fan is the inclusion of the track "Trashed". This is from the Born Again album that Ian recorded with Black Sabbath - an album that gets largely ignored now. Tony Iommi came in and played guitar on this track, so it was nice to see it revisited.

The rest of the album is pretty cool too. Since it's Ian it sorta sounds like Purple (what with the same voice and all), but the music isn't as "Purply", despite the appearances of the rest of Purple's band members in places. No particular track stands out, it's pretty consistant to me.

This is one of those DualDiscs - which I've railed on in the past. However, this one is by far the best I've ever gotten. First off, all the previous DualDiscs didn't play in the CD players in my home theatre system, or in my truck, so that's a strike against them. This one did. I don't know why - you would THINK they would all be made the same way, but obviously not. Secondly, the content on the back of this disc is extremely good. Normally it's a couple of music video,s a 5.1 mix of the album, mabe a picture or two, and that's it. This one has all of that, and then it goes into discographies, lyrics, commentaries by Ian on the tracks, etc, etc, etc. This is by far the most superior DualDisc additional materials I've ever seen.

If you're a fan of Deep Purple or Black Sabbath, then you should definitely check this out. Very highly recommended.

-- [ End of Review ] -----

Something I forgot to put in my review in the commentaries section, Ian goes into the story about how he joined up with Black Sabbath after meeting Tony & Geezer at a bar. I cannot stress strongly enough how well put together the DualDisc extras are on this set - it's by far the best set of extras like this I have ever seen - by anyone. Here's the official list of the DualDisc extras from the Gillan's Inn website:

• Complete album in 5.1 surround sound and stereo.
• Smoke on the Water choose your own mix with your choice of Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, Jeff Healey and more.
• Making of Gillan’s Inn video featuring in-the-studio footage of Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Joe Satriani, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Lee, and Jeff Healey.
• Bootleg basement-amateur, audience shot footage lifted from unauthorized bootleg DVD's. Tracks include "Speed King" and "When A Blind Man Cries" by Deep Purple (with Joe Satriani on guitar) from Flanders Expo, Gent, Belgium on June 18, 1994.
• Discography.
• Hand written song lyrics by Ian Gillan.
• Track commentary by Ian Gillan.
• Liner notes written by Jeff Miers, Music Critic for The Buffalo News.
• Witness Protection Program - a selection of never before seen photo’s featuring the bonus track "Can I get a Witness".
• Special DVD Launcher ROM features that enable fans to access another version of "Smoke On The Water" featuring Steve Morris.
• Pre-ripped AAC and WMA files for the unrestricted uploading of personal surround mixes to portable devices from computer ROM drives.

And as an added bonus in this giveaway, the CD insert has been autographed by Ian, too - so this isn't my usual contest, you'll get Ian's autograph with your copy, too. A special thanks goes out to Nate over at Immergent who has helped out by supplying me with the copies for the contest.

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

1. What two Black Sabbath albums does Ian appear on?
2. What member of Iron Maiden used to be in Ian's band?
3. How many studio albums has Ian recorded with Deep Purple?
4. What two non Black Sabbath songs did Sabbath play on the Born Again tour?

You need to send your answers for the questions and your name and address to either gillansinn@black-sabbath.com (make sure and remove the NOSPAM when sending in). There's a few important things here. First the email must go to ONLY this address. Second, you have to include your name and address. If you don't do these things, your submission won't be considered. These are simple requests - I'm quite frankly stunned at the number of people who ignore these requests and send anyway. If you do ignore thse simple requests, your submission goes in the bin. I have enough going on in my life w/o sorting through people's incorrectly submitted emails. The contest will run through Wednesday the 10th of May at noon (my time, which is the Central Time Zone in the US). You don't have to be in the US to be eligible to win.

Thanks again to Nate, and if you don't win the contest, I urge you to buy a copy. Albums like this need all the attention they can get in a world dominated by things like Britney Spears, boy bands, and Christina Aguilera. Ugh. Shame a great album like this won't get the sales it deserves, so help out and buy a copy.

Finally, there's a dedicated website available for Gillan's Inn over at (shocker) http://www.gillansinn.com/. You can listen to song samples, view video clips, basically get a good feel for the album. Whether you buy it or not (and hopefully you do), check out the website. It's great stuff.

• Amazon.com's page
• Amazon.co.uk's page
• iTunes

Video Trailer for Gillan's Inn

Ecard for Gillan's Inn

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:37 PM

Contest Winners

Here are the answers to the Black Sabbath & Dio contests from a couple of weeks ago, along with the winners, who will have their CDs mailed out in the next couple of days:

Black Sabbath Greatest Hits giveaway:

1) Q: What was the name of the new track Sabbath played live during Ozzfest 2001?
A: That was "Scary Dreams", which came from the recording sessions done in 2001 for the new studio Sabbath album which has still not shown up.

2) Q: What was the original name of the "Volume 4" album before the record label made them change it?
A: It was Snowblind, their song about cocaine.

3) Q: What was the original name of the "Paranoid" album before the record label made them change it?
A: War Pigs was the original title of that album.

4) Q: Who was Ozzy's first replacement as lead vocalist in Black Sabbath?
A: Dave Walker, who did appear on TV once in Jan 1978 with Sabbath.

Winners:

• David Ian Benbow (Sale Moor Cheshire, England)
• Felix Eltes (Kungsbacka, Sweden)
• Michael Edwards (McAlisterville, PA)
• Ricky Woods (New Hyde Park, NY)
• John Roner (Dortmund, Germany)

Dio Holy Diver Live Giveaway:

1) Q: What is the name of the "character" that is on several Dio album covers?
A: Murray

2) Q: What is Ronnie Dio's real surname?
A: Ronnie's "real" name is Ronald James Padavona, although I was only looking for Padavona.

3) Q: What metal band's concept album does Ronnie guest on in 2006?
A: Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime II

4) Q: What year and what band was Ronnie's first recording released?
A: That would be Ronnie & the Redcaps in 1958. (Source)

Winners:

• Jorge Ascunce (Atlanta, GA)
• Richard Johnson (Villa Rica, GA)
• Ryan Snyder (Linwood, MA)
• Wojciech Krol (Frampol, Poland)
• Scott Rice (Roanoke, VA)

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:46 PM

Recording with Dave Donato surfaces

Back in 1984 after Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath to go reform Deep Purple, that left Black Sabbath in a quandry. Tony & Geezer were back at square one basically with no singer, and no drummer, as Bev Bevan was only on board for the Born Again tour. So Bill Ward was coaxed back again, and the search began for another vocalist.

At this point in the band's history, I was an active fan, so I read a bunch in magazines and whatnot - and while I've never claimed to know everything, I'd like to think I know a lot. There was several names tossed around as vocalist replacements at this time - even going so far as to mention David Coverdale and Robert Plant (!). Anyway, some names were more solid back then, those being Ron Keel & Dave Donato. Now Ron Keel by his own admission was't around long - I have a piece on him in my timeline page on this site. However, Dave Donato is a different story.

All these years, I've always been under the impression that Dave Donato was one of these guys who was only around for a couple of weeks. The story has always gone "Dave was picked, was around for a photo op, gave a terrible interview in Kerrang where he acted completely egotistic and was fired". That's what I've believed for the longest time. However, Garry Sharpe Young put out a book sometime ago called "Black Sabbath: Never Say Die" which is being repackaged with another book now. Anyway, this book goes into extreme detail on the "non Ozzy years" of the band, and talks to several folks who have never really talked about their time in Sabbath much if at all. Dave Donato is one. According to Garry's book, Dave was involved with the band for about 6 months. Demos were done, but have never surfaced - until now (see below).

I'm probably going to need to rethink some of my timeline page regarding Donato, but in the meantime, Garry has also put a chapter of the book online for you to read now. It's the David Donato Chapter, and you can check it out here - it's totally fascinating reading. Also, here's what Garry says about the demo that is now available:

"I was kindly sent a ton of audio material whilst putting this book together, some fascinating unheard stuff. Because of the pervading interest in those pre-'Seventh Star' mystery years, I've asked David for his permission to air a portion of this track. Sabbath fans will take about two seconds to recognize it. This is a rehearsal (complete with original tape hiss) recorded in 1985, but the song was later used on an album, with totally different lyrics and melody, much later on. I'm not putting up the other demo songs, approximately half a dozen tracks, because those have not been used yet and, you never know, Tony Iommi might still have a use for those riffs! By the way, please don't ask -- none of this is for trade or sale in any form. It gives a valuable pointer to what Sabbath might possibly have sounded like. The chapter I've put online comes after Ron Keel's audition tape was rejected and before Jeff Fenholt got his shot. It makes for fascinating reading."

Over at this page at Myspace.com, there's a streaming only version of one of the Dave Donato samples from these sessions. This is a major new piece of music, as the general public has never heard any of this material before. The song appears to be titled "No Way Out". However, when you listen to it, the music is what was later known as "The Shining". Tony has said before that the Shining riff was around since the Born Again days, so this is proof of that statement.

While I personally have not read the new book, I have read the book that most of this stuff comes from in regards to the non Ozzy era, the "Black Sabbath: Never Say Die 1979-1997". It's extremely detailed, and should be required reading for all fans. You can check out my review of the book here. Additionally, back when that book came out, I was granted permission to publish a chapter of the book online, this one about Dio's departure and Ian Gillan's entrance into the band for Born Again. You can read that chapter of the book here.

But check out the recording at myspace. It's a rather cool piece of Sabbath history that's never been heard before since the 21 years or so since it was recorded.

UPDATE May 2007: It appears the audio track has been taken down.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:50 PM

Iron Man best Metal Song of all Time

According to VH1, Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" has been voted best metal song of all time. However, their list is incorrect, as they say the song came out in 1971, it didn't; it was 1970. Here's VH1's Top 10 list of metal songs.

01. BLACK SABBATH - "Iron Man" (1971)
02. GUNS N' ROSES - "Welcome to the Jungle" (1987)
03. METALLICA - "Master of Puppets" (1986)
04. AC/DC - "Back in Black" (1980)
05. JUDAS PRIEST - "You've Got Another Thing Coming" (1982)
06. KISS - 'Detroit Rock City" (1976)
07. IRON MAIDEN - "The Number of the Beast" (1982)
08. SLAYER - 'Raining Blood" (1986)
09. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Crazy Train" (1980)
10. MOTÖRHEAD - "Ace Of Spades" (1980)

Personally as a Sabbath fan, I think all 10 songs should be Black Sabbath. :) I also wonder how high it would place if they used the 2002 re-recording of Crazy Train. ;) More info is available here.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:48 PM