Album #1 Turns 40 on Saturday!

If you are reading this site, then you probably already know about this, but it bears repeating. This coming Saturday, the original Black Sabbath album turns 40 years old! Originally released in the UK on Friday February 13, 1970, this seminal album in Rock (not just metal, but rock in general) will reach a milestone. I'll have something about it, but I don't know what yet.

What I do know is that Mike Stark of wpmd.org will be celebrating the anniversary this coming Saturday on his Rock 50 show. Rock 50 as you probably know is the show that Bill Ward does a spot on once a month (and has for many a year now). Anyway, here's a short blurb that Mike sent over to me yesterday about it..

On February 13, 1970 Black Sabbath released their first album - the self-titled "Black Sabbath". This Saturday, February 13th, 40 years after it's release, "Rock 50" will celebrate with an hour long special featuring this groundbreaking album. The special will include the entire album and interviews with Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward. High noon, February 13, "Rock 50" with Mike Stark on WPMD.org

You'll want to check it out for sure.

More Deluxe Edition Releases - Dio Era

As you probably know, there were several remasters released in 2009 from Sanctuary/Universal records in the UK. These were based off the original UK set of album masters (as opposed to the US/Warner set which resulted in Black Box & Rules of Hell). The first three Sabbath albums were released in multi disc format with extras, demos, and alternate tracks. Volume 4 through Never Say Die were released in single disc, albeit remastered form. There are a lot of people who are into compression rates and things of that nature who say that the new Sanctuary/Universal remasters are way better than the ones in Black Box. I personally don't have that discerning an ear, and to me if you have to get out software to prove sound levels to make that point then you've missed the point of the music. But that issue aside, the new Sanctuary/Universal 2009 remasters were freakin fantastic. Unfortunately for fans in the US, we have to import them, as they are not released here. Still, they're really good recordings, and since the Black Box remasters were not released on their own, this is a great way to cherry pick and get the individual releases if you want to do it that way.

Late this week the word broke that more albums are going to be released in this Sanctuary remaster series. I've received press releases and artwork for "Heaven & Hell", "Mob Rules", & "Live Evil". These are the next three (official) releases by the band after Never Say Die (Dio's first go around). Below I'll have the artwork and the press releases for you to check out. A few choice tidbits about the releases, first..

• Heaven & Hell: Disc 2 is a collection of live versions from the album. It also includes the two "music videos" for Neon Knights & Die Young (both of which appeared on the MVI version of "The Dio Years" from Warner in 2007. A full listing is in the press release. Also, a "mono" version of Lady Evil? What's with that?
• Mob Rules Disc 1: Disc 1 contains two extra tracks. The first is a live version of Die Young, which appeared on a 12" single back in the day. The second is an "Alternate Version" of the track "The Mob Rules". This is likely the version from the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack, but I'm waiting on confirmation of that.
• Mob Rules Disc 2: Astute visitors will note that Disc 2 has the exact same track listing as the limited edition release from 2007, "Live at Hammersmith". I checked with Steve Hammonds of Universal, and he confirms that Disc 2 of Mob Rules here is the same release as Live at Hammersmith, going so far to say "we licensed it from the band", so if you didn't get a chance to get the Hammersmith release a couple of years ago, now you can get that recording - it's fantastic!
• Live Evil: Live Evil isn't really a "deluxe" edition as far as I can tell, as the track listing is the same. The lone note for this version in the press release is "Original Dio crowd interaction and audience noise restored". The 1996 Castle release crammed the whole thing on a single disc, and that was the last time the UK master set was used for this release. This would then make calling this a "deluxe" edition on CD, I suppose, but that's a real stretch. The version that appeared in the "Rules of Hell" box had two discs, and the full recording restored already, but again, that's a US/UK separate remaster issue again.

I think the highlight here is probably the inclusion of the "Live at Hammersmith" release as Disc 2 of Mob Rules. Some Hammersmith owners might feel right ripped off about that, given the "limited edition" release. I look at it this way. I think we all sort of realized that would get re-released somewhere at some point. I doubted that recording would never show up again. Plus the original Hammersmith release artwork and booklet and all that won't be here. This is probably the same deal like where "Live At Last" from 1980 was released as Disc 1 of "Past Lives" in 2002.

What will be interesting for me to see is what happens after this. Remaining on the master series for this series of Sanctuary releases is Born Again, Seventh Star, & Eternal Idol. After that, all the releases from Headless Cross (1989) through The Sabbath Stones (1996) are all from the former IRS label deal, of which the rights reside with Iommi at the moment, AFAIK. There are a ton of b sides, Japanese tracks from that era, and I would love (I mean stinkin LOVE) them to be picked up as proper remasters with all the extra tracks included. On a personal note, I confess to looking forward to those releases more than any others.

Anyway, after the jump is the press releases for these three deluxe editions being released April 5th along with artwork..

Continue reading "More Deluxe Edition Releases - Dio Era"

The Album Survivor Series

A few weeks back on the forums, I decided to revive an old game that was started initially some years ago by Sabbath forum member rossmosis. It's "Black Sabbath Survivor". Basically, we start with all the tracks, and you vote for your LEAST favorite. Each poll lasts a week, and at the end of the week, the song with the most votes is removed, and the rest are put up for another vote, until there's just two left, and we end up with what is voted on as the best song from the album.

Right before I posted this, we completed the poll for the original Black Sabbath album (which has it's 40th birthday in about two weeks). Anyway, started now is the Survivor poll for the Paranoid album. Why not get in on the voting? You just need an account on the forums here, which is free.

The first round of polling for the Paranoid album can be viewed here on our forums.

UPDATE FEB 4th: Round one of the Paranoid voting is done. Rat Salad was voted off. Voting for the next round has begun in this thread. Haven't voted? Join the forums - it's free! :)

Since the Black Sabbath album history just ended, here's how the polling went for that.

Round I: Evil Woman has been voted off.
Round II: A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village has been voted off.
Round III: Wicked World has been voted off.
Round IV: Behind the Wall of Sleep / WASP has been voted off.
Round V: Warning has been voted off.
Round VI: The Wizard has been voted off.
Round VII: Basically / N.I.B. has been voted off.

The song Black Sabbath has been voted as the most popular song off the original Black Sabbath album!

When Paranoid is done, I'm moving on to a Master of Reality survivor, and then Volume 4, etc, etc, etc, going through to Devil You Know. Then I'll hit the solo albums, so this project will take awhile. I'd love for more people to get in on it and vote, so hit the forums if you don't have an account and vote.

Black Sabbath to hit Guitar Hero 5

Caught today on one of my game news sites that the game Guitar Hero 5 will get some Black Sabbath songs as downloadable content. This is a first for Black Sabbath in that these will be original master recordings. Black Sabbath did have some songs in the past in the original Rock Band, but they were covers (N.I.B., Sweet Leaf, & War Pigs).

The new tracks will be the original band recordings. The songs that will be available are "After Forever", "Sweet Leaf", & "Into the Void". These tracks will be available for purchase on February 18th for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii platforms. I do not believe the Playstation 2 platform has downloadable content, but if you're still buying new games in 2010 for the PS2... Get with it, it's time to upgrade that thing!

Here is some info from the press release regarding price:

The 30 Seconds To Mars, Breaking Benjamin, Black Sabbath and Third Eye Blind track packs will be available on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for 440 Microsoft Points, on the PlayStation®Store for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system for $5.49 and for Wii™ for 550 Wii Points™. In addition, all songs in each track pack will be released as downloadable singles for Xbox 360 for 160 Microsoft Points, PlayStation 3 system for $1.99 and Wii for 200 Wii Points each. In addition to the in-game music store and the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360, Xbox 360 owners can expand their Guitar Hero music library using the all-new Guitar Hero VIP Pass Music Store, available exclusively on Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network.

On Xbox LIVE, the pack translates to $5.50 for the three songs, or $2 each. I'm a little unclear on the Wii Points translation, but given the prices on the 360 & PS3 are essentially the same, I assume the Wii points will be the same pricing.

Guitar Hero 5 is available for several gaming platforms, I have links to the game below if you don't have it, and would like to look into getting it. The full press release is also available to read here.

Mailing List

It's been a few months since I sent out the mailing list. 2009 has been bad for me, and many things fell by the wayside as my life was turned upside down due to the loss of my job. The mailing list was one of them.

I looked today at restarting it, and I discovered quite annoyingly that the data files for the mailing list are lost. That means I need to restart the thing from scratch with a subscriber base of ZERO! I really do NOT want to do that, as that's over 3,000 addresses lost. :(

I may have to though, my goal was to restart it on January 1st. If I can't put the data back together by then, that's what I'm going to have to do. I'll post about any updates I have on that.

Darnit.

UPDATE: The list has been restarted and a real issue has been sent out, so feel free to join up!

Mail Problems

If you have tried sending me an email, and got this error:

Technical details of permanent failure: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 553 553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.7.1) (state 14).

I know about it. I'm having technical problems with the email for this domain. Hope to have it sorted out shortly. Sorry for the problems.

UPDATE: This continues, and also affects mail sent to @billward.com & @rangerfans.com - other domains that are on the same physical server.

UPDATE 2: billward.com seems to be fixed. The other two are still in process.

UPDATE 3: All three appear to be fixed again. The new MX records are getting out there, so you should be OK to send email again. I know its working as I'm getting spam again. :)

Ronnie James Dio health update

A quick update was posted by Wendy Dio on Thursday. This is what she had to say..

Here is an update from Wendy Dio on Ronnie's battle with stomach cancer:

Well, it has been a very exhausting month - after all the neverending tests in Los Angeles, we flew to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and as soon as we arrived, we got a call from the MD Anderson Hospital that they had an appointment for us with the doctor we originally wanted, so we then flew to Houston to the clinic, and of course MORE tests, but Ronnie finished receiving his first chemo treatment on Wednesday, and all is going very well.

I would like to thank Tony Martell from the T.J. Martell Foundation, Dr. Stuart Aaronson from Mount Sinai, Lindsay Brown and Mike Carden from Eagle Records, and our very own Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, for all your help in getting us into MD Anderson, and also our friends Geezer and Gloria Butler, who flew to Houston to be with Ronnie while he had his chemo.

Ronnie and I are totally overwhelmed by the amount of well wishes that we have received from friends and fans - we are reading them all. Some make us laugh, some make us cry, but all of them are so filled with love that it gives us so much support and makes Ronnie even more determined to fight this battle and win. Thank you all for the positive energy and prayers.

--Wendy Dio

Get Well Cards

I've had a few queries about this, so I inquired into it. People have been asking me where they can send get well cards for Ronnie James Dio. I asked at his wife's office, and was told that Wendy requests that cards and items like that be sent through the official fan club address, which you can reach here:

Dio Fan Club
12400 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 624
Studio City, CA 91604

So if you have a get well card or something like that to send to Ronnie, that's where you can send it! :)

Additionally, if you'd like to shoot an email to him, I'm going to collect them at getwellronnie@black-sabbath.com. After a short time, I'll print them out and pass 'em over to Ronnie & Wendy.

Please note - if you're talking about making some digital card or something in Photoshop, please print that and mail it yourself. I'll print simple emails, but I'm not a photo printing service. :)

God bless.

Ian Gillan writing with Tony Iommi again?

Ran across this link tonight over at the Deep Purple fan site "The Highway Star". According to the article they mentioned, Ian Gillan is writing with Tony Iommi again. Now the article mentions that it's possibly for some new charity band they're talking about. Here's what is Black Sabbath related from the article.

Q: Shouldn't you do something more with the guys in Black Sabbath?

A: It was strange that you should metnion it because I was in Armenia with Tony Iommi last week and stopped at his house on the way to Manchester to finish writing a son that we started on. Itis a charity band we are thinking of putting together in the future. Tony and a few other musicians that we do not know what yet. But this takes time and sometimes none of it in the end.

Q: Born Again is a grossly underestimated disc.

A: Thanks, I think so, too. I like it. It was a one time thing, sometimes pop up such as works and I'm glad I did it.

If the grammar seems off, that's because the page is in Swedish, and I ran it through Google's auto translator. See for yourself. Anyway, you can get the point of it.

It appears that they're writing a song for some charity piece. Whether or not it truly means a "band" is up to interpretation. That could be something that is lost in the auto translate. Someone who can actually speak Swedish, can you send me an email on the original source article - let me know if that is the proper meaning of the translation.

This isn't the last time the two of them got together. A couple of years ago, Ian Gillan put out an album called "Gillan's Inn" which was put out to celebrate his 40th anniversary in the biz. It was a cover album of his own past work, and Born Again was touched on there. Tony Iommi played guitar on the cover of Trashed that is on the album. Check out this sampler below of Gillan's Inn. If you've never checked out the album before, give it a listen. At least check out the sample of Trashed. :)

Ronnie James Dio health update

I just received this short press release from Wendy Dio on the status of her husband, Ronnie..

"Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.

Thanks to all the friends and fans around the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up.

Long Live Rock and Roll, Long Live Ronnie James Dio"

I'll have more when I hear it.

Ronnie James Dio in hospital

This text comes from the RJD website..

"The European tour has been cancelled after Ronnie was taken ill. "Ronnie has been hospitalized and we are waiting for further news," explains Ronnie's wife/manager, Wendy Dio.

No further information is available at this time, but we wish Ronnie a speedy and complete recovery."

I got an email from Wendy saying they were at the hospital for tests, but they did not elaborate as to WHY he was at the hospital. Ronnie's no spring chicken anymore, he's 67 (as far as I know), and if it's something really bad that required him to cancel a tour to deal with - it can't be good. Ronnie never cancels anything.

If I get an update (like WHY), I'll post it, but given Ronnie keeps his personal life close to the vest, I'd be surprised if we get a real WHY. Either way, I say to keep them in your prayers.

Tony Iommi & Eddie Van Halen

1978 Tour Mates come together for the 30th anniversary of Guitar World Magazine cover.. Check it out:

Return to Bass

As those of you who follow my site know, I like to pay attention to more than just the well known stuff in Black Sabbath's history. That means more than the Ozzy & Dio eras. I'm partial to the Tony Martin era, and Tony's solo band has been the only way that era of Black Sabbath can live on these days. They had a tour jacked up in the US this past summer, which is a shame, as I've never seen the Tony Martin solo band live. However, his solo band has been mostly consistent during it's time. The keyboardist you know, that being Geoff Nicholls. However, also on bass is Jamie Mallender. Jamie had some stuff to say about the tour problems a few months ago, but after he got over that, he got into the studio and recorded an album called "Return to Bass", and that's what I'm here about today. I'm letting you know you should go check it out. If you click on the cover art here, you'll be taken to a page for it where you can buy the CD or download MP3's. Here's a bit of what Jamie had to say for himself about the album...

"As many of you Sabbath fans will already know, I should have been doing 3 months of touring the USA, Canada and Brazil Tony Martin this summer. But for reasons I can't discuss, it didn't happen. The last night we had in the UK before embarking upon our tour, all but the Brazil section was cancelled. It worked out that they couldn't take me to Brazil either - just to make matters worse. When I got home I was very down, and I didn't know what else to do, so I just got out my bass and started playing. Very quickly I wrote and recorded "The Bass Player Answers Back," channeling all my anger and disapointment into it. That meant I needed just 1 more track to complete my album - "Return To Bass." Last week I recorded "Theme From nowhere," and then mixed the finished album. The tracklisting is:-

1. Layla's Funk
2. The Bass Player Answers Back
3. Theme From Nowhere
4. The Amazing Adventures Of An Interstellar Glam Hippy
5. Planet Happiness (A Tribute To The Cardigan)
6. The Guilt
7. Return To Bass
8. Kidney Bean
9. Captain Blake vs The Lion

Jamie is also reachable on Facebook, Myspace, & Twitter, too. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The album is now available for download on iTunes, too. Check it out there.

Some Free Tunes

Today I was browsing the free music section over at Amazon.com's store, and ran across an album that got my attention. It was a sampler from Eagle Records music. While there's no directly relevant music on it (read Black Sabbath), there are some related tunes you should check out. They are:

• Rapture of the Deep - Deep Purple
• Holy Diver (Live) - Dio
• Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister
• Kill the King - Rainbow

So there's some decent stuff - and you can pick it up for free by clicking on the cover art shown here. It's all free, and you get 'em via DRM free 256kbps mp3 files. What do you have to lose? Click over. :)

Various Things

Well, several things have happened since the last time I updated. I'm still deep in unemployment, unfortunately, and that's kind of sapped my desire to the work on the site. In turn, that's taken a hit on me, as ad revenue is down, and I really need that now, more than ever. So click on a few links, would ya? :) And if you use Adblock on my site, turn it off for here, please. I don't run obtrusive ads, they're placed well, and they don't fly in your face, I'd appreciate the help.

iTunes Sale: If you haven't bought "The Devil You Know" yet, you can now get it at a good discount. iTunes now has a metal page in their store, and as part of that sale, they have two Black Sabbath albums on sale for $7.99. We're talking about "The Devil You Know" ($7.99), and "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years" ($7.00). Check 'em out if you don't already have them!

Bill Ward on Music Biz: Bill Ward has given an interesting interview about the early days and the music biz. As you probably know, their business relationships in the early days can be described as uh, difficult - the point of being the source of at least one song on the Sabotage album. Anyway, Bill lays out some steps for young musicians. They are:

1) You Don't Have to Be Cool
2) You Don't Have to be Fit
3) Cherish Your Band
4) Read your Contracts
5) Power to the People
6) Have a Laugh

Bill gets into details on all of them, so check out the full article for all of this.

Tony's Hand Surgery Coming Along Nicely: There was an article up on the BBC Website (and other places I saw) about Tony Iommi's hand being "on the mend". Originally, he was going to have surgery, but then opted for a stem cell treatment, which as I understand it was a less invasive procedure. There's no word as to when he'd be able to fully get back into playing. The article says he can play now, but that's not the same thing as "no restrictions", especially as he still talks about "taking it easy". The BBC article also has some quotes from other guitarists about Tony. They are Janick Gers & Brian May. Check out the full article here.

Bill Ward - The Heavy Metal Vegan: As you may or may not know both Geezer Butler & Bill Ward are vegans. Geezer has done spots for PETA, and while Bill doesn't do that kind of thing too much, I did just run across a cool article about Bill's diet called "Bill Ward - The Heavy Metal Vegan Pt 1". It talks about his food choices, what he makes, and what it's like being a vegan where he lives. There's also a recipe available for "Bill Ward's Enchilada Pie". It actually looks good, I might have to try making it myself. This is part of a larger site (which is newly launched) called "The Rock & Roll Cook".

Dio Band Playing Live: The Dio band will be going out and playing live in November and December around Europe. You can get a list of tour dates here. They're an American band, it'd be nice if they came back here - they haven't toured here since the Master of the Moon tour in 2004. On this tour, Doug Aldrich is temporarily rejoining the band as Craig Goldy is playing with another band when these gigs came up. However, the band is supposed to be playing a new song from the two Magica sequel albums. That song is "Electra". Don't know anything else about it other than that. If you want to read more about the Dio band, check out this article, which also talks about a possible new album and tour from Elf?!?!?!

Discounted Heaven & Hell Stuff

Now that the Heaven & Hell tour is over, and we await whatever happens after Tony's surgery, now's the time to get in on some deals.

The Rhino website is having a 50% off sale on some Heaven & Hell merchandise. I'm told the sale is only running for a week, so if you're interested, head on over and check it out here:

http://www.rhino.com/store/merch/blacksabbath/