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November 11, 2003
BILL WARD CHARITY
"STRAWS" CDS AVAILABLE NOW.
Now available on billward.com, Bill
has Straws CDs available for purchase. If you
make a donation to one of the defined charities, you will receive a
"Straws" CD autographed by Bill.
Full details are
available on Bill's site, but for now you can read the press
release about it below, or you can download this RealAudio clip of
Bill talking about the charities and the CDs here.
For Immediate Release:
BILL WARD OF BLACK SABBATH TO ISSUE LIMITED EDITION "STRAWS"
CD-SINGLE ON VETERANS DAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT WWW.BILLWARD.COM
ALL PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT CHARITY
Bill Ward, drummer and founding member of Black Sabbath, has
announced that 1,000 Limited Edition CD-singles of "Straws" the song
he wrote and recorded to express his concerns regarding the war with
Iraq and the escalation of terrorism, will be available exclusively
on his web site, www.billward.com, beginning on Veterans Day,
November 11, 2003.
Each "Straws" CD-single is numbered and autographed by Ward, and all
proceeds will be donated to the charity of each purchaser's choice
from the following five organizations: the
Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund, the
Alice Faith Mittelman Foundation, the
Children Affected
by AIDS Foundation, the
National Veterans
Foundation, and the
Inner City Music Program (Bands not Gangs) Los Angeles.
A total of 2,200 copies of the Limited Edition "Straws" CD-singles
were produced in all, with Ward servicing 1,200 copies to
governmental heads of state throughout the world, humanitarian
organizations, peace support groups, media outlets and fellow
musicians. Among those who have received the special package are
President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and
members of the United States Congress. ###
A COUPLE OF SAB
INTERVIEWS
Got a link for you to check
out. It's two interviews with Black Sabbath.
One was with Ian Gillan on Aug 19, 1983, and the other is with Tony
Iommi in March of 1986.
Check em out
over at Atlantis Online.
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November 5, 2003
IT'S CONTEST TIME!
Today it's contest time.
Long time followers of my site have known that I've done several
giveaways over my site's existence. Well, today I'm bringing
you two giveaways. One is in my traditional format, and the
other isn't.
Giveaway #1:
First up is a giveaway for the
new Black Sabbath book by Garry Sharpe-Young which I've spoken about
a lot in the last couple of weeks. I've got three copies to
give away. This giveaway is one of my traditional trivia
contests. You need to answer the 5 questions correctly,
and the folks who answer all the questions right will be put in a
pool of folks who will be randomly selected to receive the book.
All of the questions are taken from information and stories in the
book. The five questions are:
- What was the original name
of the song "Seventh Star"? (The song, not the album)
- Bob Daisley & Eric Singer
were the rhythm section on the Eternal Idol album. What
other band did these two play in together?
- How many different members
of Rainbow also played in Black Sabbath and who are they?
- Which Black Sabbath song
was co-written by Eddie Van Halen?
- Black Sabbath was well
known for covering Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water on the Born
Again tour. They also played another cover song a few times
on that tour. What was it? (It was NOT ELO's "Evil
Woman" as legend goes).
Please
submit your answers for this giveaway to
booktrivia@black-sabbath.com with your name and address (if you
don't include your name and address, you're disqualified). Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
BOOKTRIVIA@BLACK-SABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Wednesday
November 19, 2003.
If you
don't want to try your hand at winning the contest, you can order
the book from Amazon's UK site by
clicking here.
Giveaway #2:
The second giveaway is a bit
more special. This time around I'm giving away copies of the
first three Black Sabbath albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, & Master
of Reality) ON VIYNL! That's right - viynl.
These are new copies, these are not ones that have been sitting
around colleting dust for ages. These copies come to me
through the kindness of Abraxas records. Here's some info
about Abraxas that they sent me to use..
About our company, there
is nothing much to say. Abraxas is one of the world's
leading companies in the vinyl market, with a catalogue of more
than 500 titles reissued on vinyl. Our biggest label is named Get
Back. This year we have entered a joint venture agreement with the
guys at Sanctuary Records to re-release the biggest part of their
catalogue on vinyl. The joint venture label is called Earmark and
the Black Sabbath reissues are part of this deal.
For more info on Abraxas, you
can email them at info@getback.it.
Anyway, on to the giveaway.
There will be ten winners. Each winner will receive a copy of
each of the first three albums on viynl. Because of the
special nature of this giveaway, and more than one item goes to a
winner, I've decided to do something different with this contest.
Normally I do a trivia contest, or just a mere email submission.
This time you'll need to use your writing skills. What
you will need to do is to tell me in a story what Black Sabbath
means to you. No specific topic, but how you got into
Black Sabbath might be cool, why you like them, why a particular
Sabbath album means something to you... that kind of thing.
The only requirements is that you have to write a minimum of 100
words. I don't have an upper limit, but don't send me
full fledged novels, either - I don't want to be reading through the
submissions until next summer. The reason for the word minimum
is I'm trying to avoid going through entries that are just "They
RULE dude!". :)
So basically, if you want to
be a winner of the first three Black Sabbath albums on vinyl, send
me a (minimum of 100 words) essay on what Black Sabbath means to
you. Send this essay to
vinylessay@black-sabbath.com.
Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
VINYLESSAY@BLACK-SABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Friday December
12th, 2003.
When the contest is over, I
will post the winning essays online - I will also hang onto them for
possible future use in an article I've been thinking about doing for
the site about fan's thoughts about the band.
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November 4, 2003
CROSS PURPOSES LIVE
RE-RELEASED?
Over the weekend, someone
pointed this out to me. Over on Amazon.com, they list a "Black
Sabbath - Cross Purposes" DVD as being released on November 25,
2003. As you may know, back on March 1, 1995 - a VHS/CD
box set was released, called "Cross Purposes". There was
a VHS video culled from the Cross Purposes tour, as well as a CD to
go with it. Most of the Sabbath output on the IRS label
(of which this was one) has generally been hard to find over the
last couple of years. However, this is the first time I've
seen that this is being actually re-released.
I have verified with Tony
Iommi's management company that this is indeed the same content that
was on the VHS videotape released back in 1995. I was told
this was put out "without the band's knowledge or involvement".
However, the content is at this time being released, so for those of
you who have always wondered about this concert video and could
never see it, you can check it out by
ordering this DVD (Region 1).
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 October
31, 2003
BLACK
SABBATH: NEVER SAY DIE BOOK
I have received my copy of the
Garry Sharpe Young Book on Sabbath's turbulent history between
1979-1997. It's nothing short of phenomenal. I was
hoping this period of the band (including the hyper confusing year
of 1987) would be covered well, and it is. This book lived up
to all my expectations of it. No one is ignored
(although Bill Ward for some bizarre reason didn't want to be
interviewed), and I guarantee you that unless you're Tony Iommi or
Geoff Nicholls, you WILL LEARN SOMETHING about Black Sabbath that you
never knew before. I most certainly did!
My thoughts and full review of
the book are available over on the books page
of my site - make sure to check it out.
This book does not appear to have US distribution at this time,
so you will need to order it from Amazon's UK site, which I link to
by clicking on the cover art shown here. If there is US
distribution set up in the future, I will make note of that on this
site.
CONTESTS TO BEGIN
NEXT WEEK
I'm going to have two
giveaways next week. One will be for the long delayed prints
of the first few Sabbath albums on viynl.
The other will be for a couple
of copies of the Garry Sharpe-Young book mentioned above.
Full details will come next
week, but one of them will not be like any giveaway I've done
before. Better get your creative writing caps on. :)
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October 4, 2003
BLACK
SABBATH: NEVER SAY DIE BOOK
I have a few notices about the
Garry Sharpe-Young book, "Black Sabbath: Never Say Die 1979-1997".
First off, I haven't gotten a copy yet, when I do, expect I'll have
a big review of it online. From what I've read of it already,
it looks phenomenal. There is already a chapter online
over at
the publisher's website, and I can now bring you a second
chapter of the book here to read. I've actually had it for a
week, but I was away on vacation, and didn't get a chance to put it
online until now. This is an exclusive granted to me (and Rob
Dwyer's site), so don't go thieving it for your own site, eh?
The chapter available here
covers from the breakup of the Mob Rules/Live Evil lineup of the
band through the hiring, tour, and departure of Ian Gillan and the
Born Again album. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable
about the band's history, and just this snippet showed me a few
things I wasn't aware of before. I can't wait to read the bits
about Eternal Idol. :)
Also, there is a review of the
book (I wasn't aware it was actually out yet) over at a Sabbath
Yahoo group. You can read the review online
here.
It talks about various chapters of the book, Jeff Fenholt, Ron Keel,
and a lot of other "fringe" parts of the band's history being
covered here. I can't wait to get this and give it a
read.
This book does not appear to have US distribution at this time,
so you will need to
order it from Amazon's UK site.
Don't forget to read
the site exclusive chapter of the book available here entitled
"Spinal Henge". It's a great read, and bodes very well
for the rest of the book being as good.
LOST SONG SURFACES
I've had a gob of emails about
this, but I try not to post wild rumours until I can verify that
things like this are real. As far as I can tell, it's real, so
here goes...
According to this month's
edition of Record Collector magazine, a two-track BLACK SABBATH
acetate 45 rpm record was recently discovered. On the A side is a
song called "When I Come Down", which is believed to have been
recorded at various Birmingham, England studios between March and
October 1969. The song, which is described as short but boasting
strong vocals and harmonica playing, begins with a bluesy,
pentatonic riff and although the guitar gets rather lost in the mix,
the overall feel approximates to a slower take on "Evil Woman",
while much of the rhythm is like "NIB", set up in half time to the
riff. The track was written by LOCOMOTIVE keyboardist Norman Haines,
although no keyboards appear on the track. On the B-side is a rough
demo of "The Wizard". It is not presently clear if this track will
ever show up on any kind of official release.
I've had a couple of emails
since yesterday asking if this was related to the delay of the Black
Box set. I can't speak to that issue, because I need to touch
base with my contact about the reason for the delay of the set, but
it would be nice, wouldn't it? Please don't interpret my
statements to mean that it WILL be there - I'm just thinking it
would be nice (remember, I'm a Sabbath fan, too).
CHANGES IS CHANGED
The old Black Sabbath
chestnut, "Changes" from the Volume 4 album has been covered by none
other than Ozzy's daughter Kelly. He first solo album
was released a year ago or so under the name "Shut Up!".
It's now been re-released under the name "Changes". It's
mostly the same album, but with some extra tracks on it, one of
which the Black Sabbath cover "Changes".
The bulk of the new recording
is done by Kelly with Ozzy as well on it. The lyrics are
somewhat reworked. A lot of them are the same, but a lot of
them are different as well. The new lyrical thrust of the song
is about Kelly & Ozzy's relationship with each other. I
have to admit, I was in the camp of folks who heard that this was
happening and said "WTF is this crap idea?" I have to
say having listened to it, it's surprisingly soulful, and Kelly does
a respectable job singing dad's old song.
You can check it out over at
www.kellyosbourne.com -
the song plays in the background of the website (you have to have a
Flash viewer to view the site and hear the song).
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September 24, 2003
BILL WARD ON RADIO AGAIN
- THIS TIME WITH A GUEST
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
nominee, Black Sabbath's Bill Ward will be returning to "Rock 50"
this Saturday, September 27, 11am to 1pm (Pacific Time) on WPMD.org.
(More details here).
Joining Bill, for his monthly radio session, will be Slipknot
percussionist Chris Fehn. Also, Bill will be joined by members of
The Bill Ward Band for some live acoustic music. This should prove
to be an amazing day of music and discussion from heavy metal's
original drummer.
"Rock 50" with Mike Stark is a music show, a talk show, a circus and
a therapy session, all rolled into one show. News, Politics, Sports
and Lifestyles, stirred into a mix of music that celebrates the 50
year history of rock music.
WPMD on the Internet and WPMD-AM 1700 originates from the campus of
Cerritos College, Norwalk, California, home of the best college
radio curriculum in Southern California. WPMD features an eclectic
programming mix of news, talk, sports and music, presented by
students, Cerritos College community members and radio
professionals.
 BLACK SABBATH BOOKS
There are two new Black
Sabbath books that you should be paying attention to.
Book #1:
First is "How Black was our
Sabbath: A View from the Crew" by David Tangye & Graham Wright.
This book is written from a road crew that followed Sabbath around
in the 1970's. In it, they tell stories (most of which
probably haven't been heard before) about the boys in the band back
in the day. I personally have not read it yet (because it's
not out yet), but I thought I should alert you to it's existance.
"How Black" has a website you can visit, it's
http://www.blacksabbath.co.uk - Check it out! You can also
pre-order the book from Amazon's UK site (it isn't avaialble here in
the States, it appears.
Book #2:
Also
coming this fall is a book by Garry Sharpe-Young called "Black
Sabbath: Never Say Die 1979-1997". This book is done by the
same guy who did the very cool "Unauthorized Ozzy Osbourne story"
book from a year ago or so. This new Sabbath book tells
the story of Black Sabbath from the time Ozzy "left" in 1979 to the
point where he returned in 1997. I have not read it yet,
but I intend to when it's released - I've always personally been
interested in these times, as I got into Black Sabbath in 1981, and
I love talking about portions of something that don't get a lot of
discussion normally - this book will be right up my alley.
There is a chapter of the book
online already over at the book's publisher's website (Cherry Red
Books) where you can read about the book, Geoff Nicholls & Quartz,
Ozzy's departure, and other items around that era.
Make sure
and read this today if you haven't done so already.
The author of the book has told me that he'll have a chapter
exclusive for this website shortly; when that info is available,
you'll have it here. :)
You can pre-order Garry
Sharpe-Young's book by clicking on the cover - according to the
Amazon UK site, it is slated to be released in September 2003 (which
only has a week left, so if that changes, I'll report back).
GEOFF NICHOLLS & CATS
 Turns
out longtime Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls is a big cat
person (for the record, so am I). The October issue of
Cat Fancy magazine has a piece
entitled "Cats Rock!" which is an article about various rock folks
and their cats.
Well, in this issue is
an article about Geoff Nicholls. In it, he talks about his two
cats, Wilma & Charlie, and how the kitties warmed their way into his
hearts. The article also makes mention that Geoff is to
release a CD of his own music soon (Yay!), as well as other rock
folks (like Freddie Mercury) being cat people. This issue of
the newsletter is on stands now.
Here's a short snippet
from the article (the picture of Geoff is also from the article, but
I didn't get a very good scan of it).
 "I
adopted Wilma from a cat center, where she'd been placed after her
original owners had died. She was about three years old.
She came straight up to me and wound herself around my legs, it was
irrestible. Now she rules the house."
"I was awoken one
blustery night by the sound of a wimpering meow. At first, I
thought it was Wilma, but she was curled comfortably at the bottm of
my bed. Then I thought a neighbor's cat had gotten locked in
the garage where I'd parked the car. I went outside to check.
It was really pouring and there at the top of the driveway was this
tiny little creature completely soaked. I don't think he was
more than a month old at the time. He ran into some bushes the
moment I approached. Eventually, I went to get some cat food
and when he started eating, I managed to pick him up and bring him
inside."
IOMMI IN GUITAR ONE
MAGAZINE
 Also
in the magazine front comes word that Guitar One has Tony Iommi
featured on the front cover of their November 2003 issue.
Here's a blurb about the issue..
"Check out the
November Guitar One magazine: The Metal Issue. It's a blow-out
celebration of metal, a full-on tribute to its founders, its
flamekeepers, and it's future heroes. Crashing the ball is none
other than Sabbath's Tony Iommi, one of metal's indestructible
heroes. Pick up The Metal Issue to find out more."
Pick up this magazine today at your newsstands!
 DIO
DVD WINNERS
Here are the winners
from the Dio DVD giveaway I recently ran.
- Gene Abrego
(Clearfield, UT)
- Charles Fleming
(Cocoa, FL)
- Ed Bode (Plainfield,
IL)
- Joe Hund (West
Chicago, IL)
- Michael Youwe (Lund,
Sweden)
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Region 1 DVD |
Region 2 DVD |
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September 16, 2003 -
Updated Sep 19
MUSIC FROM THE BLACK BOX
- 9 DISC SET UPDATE
Yesterday I was sent a
press release regarding the 9 Disc Black Sabbath set. We now
have some more solid information about the set. It's name is
"Black Box", the only "extra" song on the discs is Evil Woman, and
aw hell. Just read the press release. As of
yet, there is no cover art available. As for the contents of
the 9th disc (the DVD), check out the press release, the contents
are listed there). I can say this, these are culled
from the same remastering sessions that produced last year's Symptom
of the Universe 2 CD set. The sound fidelity on them was
absolutely spectacular, and kicked the 1996 Castle Remasters in the
head. I expect the same kind of audio experience from these.
I got word this
afternoon from the record label that they will be sending me an
advance copy so I can review them for the site. More on that
when I get the discs in.
This release date is for the US/Canada only. My contact at
Rhino has confirmed that it will not be released outside of
US/Canada.
UPDATE:
After speaking with Tony Iommi's management company, I can confirm
that the remaining Sabbath catalog is slated for similar treatment,
so this will not turn out to be totally an "Ozzy era only" thing.
But details and release dates are unknown at this point.
Sabbath's record deal with Warner expired after 1987's Eternal Idol
album, and they were with IRS through 1996. I would
expect that the couple of albums past 1996 (Reunion, Past Lives &
Symptom set) aren't likely to be touched, since they're all
relatively new anyway. However, this is good news for
fans of Sabbath's music without Ozzy in it. Again, no details
are available, but I'd love to hear really cleaned up versions of
the other albums - perhaps we might finally get the proper mix of
Born Again after all these years? :)
--- [ Press Release ]
---------------------------------------
NONE MORE HEAVY…
RHINO COLLECTS ALL EIGHT STUDIO ALBUMS FROM THE ORIGINAL BLACK
SABBATH—PLUS A BONUS DVD—IN THE AWE-INSPIRING BLACK BOX, DUE
NOVEMBER 4
LOS ANGELES —With BLACK
BOX: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL BLACK SABBATH (1970–1978), Black Sabbath
fans are getting no less than the complete, unadulterated catalog of
the ground-breaking rock band’s original line-up—Ozzy Osbourne, Tony
Iommi, Terry “Geezer” Butler, and Bill Ward.
BLACK BOX features the collected studio works from 1970-1978: Black
Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody
Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy, and Never Say Die!
Furthermore, the band’s lone non-LP studio track, “Evil Woman,” is
also included. Available at all regular retail outlets and at
www.rhino.com, BLACK BOX: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL BLACK SABBATH
(1970-1978) carries a suggested retail price of $99.98 and is in
stores November 4 on Warner Bros./Rhino.
Assembled under the supervision of the band members themselves and
executive producer Sharon Osbourne, these remastered recordings are
the definitive editions. But if the lovingly packaged original
artwork and stunning sonics weren’t enough—BLACK BOX: THE COMPLETE
ORIGINAL BLACK SABBATH (1970-1978) will include an exclusive bonus
DVD of vintage Sabbath live performances (“Iron Man,” “Paranoid,”
and “Blue Suede Shoes”) and a rare promotional clip for “Black
Sabbath.” The collection also includes an 80-page book filled with
an array of exciting photos, a timeline of the group’s history, a
complete reprint of all album lyrics, detailed essays from writers
Chris Welch (1970-1972: Lords Of This World) and Brian Ives
(1973-1978: A Hard Road), and testimonials from such stars as Rob
Zombie, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Zakk Wylde, to name but a
few.
First formed in Birmingham, England in the late 1960s, Black
Sabbath’s doom-laden sound pioneered a new kind of heavy rock music,
a sound that would later influence hundreds of other bands. Many
consider Black Sabbath to be the godfathers of heavy metal, but
Sabbath were capable of surprising their fans with songs that showed
other facets of their skills besides darkness and monstrous
decibels. Thirty years after their initial impact, guitarists are
still stunned by Tony Iommi’s jaw-dropping riffs, Geezer Butler’s
fantastical lyrics and swooping bass-lines, and Bill Ward’s
thunderous drums. And, of course, in Ozzy Osbourne the band had one
of the most magnetic and unpredictable front men ever in rock, with
a maniacal voice like few others before or since. Together, they
were the original and still definitive lineup of Black Sabbath.
BLACK BOX is their legacy. It’s all here. This is truly
heavier-than-thou stuff—bring a forklift with you, just in case.
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August 29, 2003
BILL WARD UPDATE
I totally neglected to
mention this the other day when I had my big update, but Bill Ward's
web site now has online ordering for selected merchandise items.
You can purchase his second CD "When the Bough Breaks" (with correct
album cover art), as well as a couple of posters. Head on over
to the Bill Ward Official Site
and check out the merchandise page.
In other Bill Ward news,
there was a great interview with Bill published recently, and in it
he talks about the current state of Black Sabbath. This is
what Bill has to say about the state of Black Sabbath:
After the last tour
everything fell apart again. The original idea I thought we were
going to do was write a new album and we had many, many cassettes of
songs and rehearsals we were working on. It’s all away safe right
now. Things just seemed to fall apart. Originally I was going to
take a month off, then play some more with Tony (Iommi, Sabbath’s
guitarist) in the UK, riffs and things like that. But it just
petered out and just after that time period ‘The Osbournes’ came out
in America and of course it was massive. So I guess that’s where
things are now. I still don’t know whether Sabbath will tour or do
an album again. Which is a shame as there was some really good stuff
that was being compiled. Who knows, things can turn round!
Bill has a lot more to
say about several things, so
check out the interview here. And make sure to check
out his site for merchandise.
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August 27, 2003
SEVERAL THINGS
As has been noticed
lately, I haven't updated much. That's because there's not a
whole lot to talk about. The news has been pretty quiet this
summer. Don't know if that's good news or bad news.
Anyway, what follows are some bits and pieces that have come my way
since the last posting..
9 DISC BLACK SABBATH SET
COMING THIS FALL
The long rumoured 9 Disc
Black Sabbath box set looks like it's being released this fall.
After speaking with one of my contacts yesterday, he informed me
that a box set containing new remasters of the Ozzy era Black
Sabbath albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume
4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy, & Never Say
Die) are to be released on October 28th. There will be a 9th
disc - a DVD to go along with it.
Now, when I asked about
content on the discs (meaning extras and the like), he did not know.
Although my gut feeling is that he did know, and didn't want to say.
That seems more likely when I say that I've been told that the cover
art and the DVD content has not been finalized. With a
tentative date of Oct 28th looming, the fact that the package has
not fully been decided upon tells me that the date of Oct 28th will
probably be missed. But we shall see. I did ask
about the track "Blow on a Jug"''s appearance on Sabotage. We
both agree that it's not likely it will be on this set, because of
the fact that it didn't appear on the original Warner Brothers
versions of the album, and that's the source for these remasters
(it's the same remastering work that was done for last year's
"Symptom of the Universe" 2 CD set. The 1996 Castle Remaster
does have Blow on a Jug, but since it's remaster source is the same,
it could explain why BOAJ is not on the Warner original. My
contact did state that he doesn't' know for sure, but it doesn't
seem likely, given the master source. He also wasn't sure
about the inclusion of both Wicked World & Evil Woman on the first
album, but given the inclusion of Evil Woman on the Symptom set last
year, I think it probably will be there.
Also, he tells me the
tentative name of the set is "Black Box". Some might remember
one of the rumoured names of Sabbath's 1998's Reunion album was
"Music from the Black Box". But that's of no real consequence,
just something silly I remembered when writing this. :)
I'll have more on this package when I get details.
WIN
A DIO DVD!
Last month,
Dio finally put out a concert video on DVD. The footage was
culled from a gig on the Killing the Dragon Tour in NY on Friday
December 13, 2002. Entitled "Evil or Divine", it's got a great
5.1 digital surround sound mix, and you can win a free copy!
I've got 5 copies to give away, and all you have to do (it's simple)
is to send an email to
diodvd@black-sabbath.com with your name and address (if you
don't include your name and address, you're disqualified). I
just did a Dio trivia contest, so I figured this time, I'd just do a
mail-in. :)
Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
DIODVD@BLACKSABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Tuesday September
2,
2003.
Note that
this is a Region 1 DVD, which means North American/NTSC format.
If you live in Europe, you won't be able to play this unless you
have NTSC equipment.
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Region 1 DVD |
Region 2 DVD |
BILL WARD BACK ON THE
RADIO
Saturday, August 30,
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward will, once again, be the "in studio"
co-host with Mike Stark for "Rock
50," heard exclusively on WPMD Radio,
Cerritos College from 11am to 1pm Pacific Time.
Bill returns after an emotional July show that was dedicated to the
memory of Black Sabbath's road manager - Bobby Thomson. Don't miss
another very special program from this heavy metal original.
WPMD on the Internet and WPMD-AM 1700 originates from the campus of
Cerritos College, Norwalk, California, home of the best college
radio curriculum in Southern California. WPMD features an eclectic
programming mix of news, talk, sports and music, presented by
students, Cerritos College community members and radio
professionals.
 OZZY SINGS AT A CUBS
GAME
Somewhere,
Harry Caray was looking for an extra long, extra tall, extra
cold beverage this week, because on Sunday, a man sang what
music experts have identified as a rendition of "Take Me Out
to the Ball Game" that made Caray sound like Frank Sinatra.
That man was Ozzy Osbourne. And on Sunday, August 17th, the
Cubs handed him the opportunity to sing Harry's favorite song during
the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field. Only over the
next minute did we all discover this was like handing Evel
Knievel the keys to your Bentley.
Call Ozzy Osbourne, center, Mr. Cub from now on.
The song that followed was so unrecognizable that the Chicago
Tribune actually felt obliged to print a transcript of it the
next day, just so witnesses could verify they'd heard what
they heard. Here goes:
Chicago sportscaster Chip Caray: "All right, Chicago. Here comes
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne."
Ozzy: "All right, Chicago. I want to hear a real crazy crowd start
singing.
Are you ready? Are you ready? I can't hear you. Are you ready?
"One. Two. Three.
"Let's go out to the ballgame. Let's go out to the bluhhhhhn.
"Take me a ee-yan eeya (humming) the field.
"I don't care if I ahh-uhn ack.
"Da da da da duh da da da eam. Duh ee, da da da da dahhh.
"For a fee, two, three strikes you're out at the old ballgame.
Yeahhhhhh."
Sharon: "Now let's get some runs."
Ozzy: "Yeah. Let's get some runs."
(Thanks to
Mitch Van Beekum from ozzyhead.com
for this report - his text was awesome, I didn't see the point in
reinventing the wheel).
A STRANGE JOURNEY
Within the last 3 days or so, I've gotten about half
a dozen emails about a rumour that Steve Perry, the former lead
singer of Journey was to be the new singer in Black Sabbath.
Here's the text I was sent...
In a move that has some fans excited, and many
dismayed, Sharon Osbourne has released Black Sabbath from the deal
she had made with Tony Iommi. The old deal, which enabled the
reunited Black Sabbath to tour and record again, with only Ozzy as
the front man, is now null and void. Black Sabbath is now free of
the "Ozzy only" clause of its contract. This in the wake of
negotiations between between former Journey vocalist Steve Perry,
the Osbourne camp, and Iommi. Although the Osbournes will retain
more than a bit of the purse from the "new" super group, which will
feature Steve Perry as Black Sabbath's new lead vocalist, Iommi is
determined to move forward. When reached for comment, Geezer Butler
and Bill Ward original members of Black Sabbath released this
statement: "It's been a strange and rocky road being in this band,
but this might be the weirdest thing to happen to us yet. This
truely is the Black Sabbath." Tony Iommi, founder and lead guitarist
of Black Sabbath made this comment, " In the fine tradition of lead
vocalists to front Black Sabbath, Steve Perry now joins the ranks of
Ronnie James Dio, Tony Martin, and Ozzy Osbourne. We could think of
no other way to put one of our records back on the charts, other
than soliciting Steve to be the front man for the band who put the
heavy into metal." Although Steve Perry's camp as made little
comment on this new stage of Perry's career, Perry himself made this
small statement, "I have been known as the VOICE, now I guess I'll
be the Iron Man as well."
First off, I checked with Sharon's office, and they
laughed at the rumour. Second, Tony Iommi owns the legal
rights to Black Sabbath. I've said this before, but if he
wanted to put out a band with himself of guitar, myself on bass,
Christina Aguilera on vocals, and George W. Bush on drums, then it's
his legal right to do so. I'm not aware of any "Ozzy only"
clause, besides it conflicts with Tony owning Sabbath, anyway.
Second, Steve fuckin' Perry? Are you kidding
me? You know, even knowing what I know about the Sabbath
contractual situation (which isn't much, but I know some of it), I
was buying this story up until they started talking about Steve
Perry. Before that, I was thinking WTF, but the comments about
"putting our albums back on the charts".. Well, Sabbath hasn't
MADE an album since 1995. They first need an album to be on
the charts. :)
Thirdly, I'm surprised people were suckered in by
this. Probably the same people that believed Kerrang's old
joke in the mid 80's about Tom Jones being the new Sabbath singer.
THIS GETS CLASSIFIED AS A JOKE - there's nothing in
here that even makes me want to remotely believe this.
UPDATE: I just got forwarded an email from
the person who runs the Yahoo Groups Journey Digest. Her name
is Michelle, and this is what she had to say about this..
Hi, through the wonders of the Internet the "AP
Press Release" by Russ Blomstedt that got posted to your list was
forwarded to a friend of mine who then forwarded it to me. I have to
admit I about fell out of my chair laughing since it had appeared on
the Journey Digest Yahoo Group a few days before. One of our list
members was having a little satirical fun at the expense of a few of
our list members who'd spent two weeks arguing over the silliest
things.
I happened to take a look at your list archives and was highly
amused -- your membership response was even funnier than ours!
Anyway, I thought I'd let ya know that it was a satirical piece from
one of our regular jokers.
Michelle
Journey Digest moderator
We can now formally lay this to rest as a prank.
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July
8, 2003
OZZY WANTS TO GO HOME
I just ran across an old
copy of the Philadelphia Daily News newspaper from August 31, 1992
in which the writer talks about some bands' first appearances in
Philadelphia. The article talks about the Rolling Stones, Bob
Dylan, as well as Black Sabbath (Sabbath's also was their first
appearance in the US). It's a short article, but it
refers to a quote of Ozzy saying "I hate America, and I want to go
home".
Check out a scan of the
article here.
OZZY RE-RECORDING
"CHANGES"
Several folks have
alerted me to this news story which is making the rounds at the
moment. Ozzy Osbourne apparently has re-recorded the
classic Sabbath tune "Changes" (from Volume 4) with his daughter
Kelly - it's to be on his next record, apparently. When that
will show up, who knows - or more to the point, what it will sound
like (!). More details when I find out about them.
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July
5, 2003
DIO DVD NEWS
I just got word that the
old Dio concert footage from the Sacred Heart tour (which was a
great tour - I saw it back when it happened) is going to be
re-released on DVD later this year. I've contacted Warner
Records for further information, but in the meantime, this is what I
have on it:
DIO 'SACRED' FOOTAGE TO BE ON DVD Warner Strategic Marketing
will be reissuing the DIO "Sacred Heart" concert video from 86 on
DVD later this year. It will also feature bonus footage including
interviews with current band members RONNIE JAMES DIO, CRAIG GOLDY,
SIMON WRIGHT and JIMMY BAIN. The band will discuss the "Sacred
Heart" tour (for the members that were there) as well as the recent
Stand Up and Shout: DIo Anthology CD release and the new album.
UPDATE JULY 7TH - I just got
word that the release of this is unconfirmed. The record label
has told me that a final release of this has not formally been
decided upon yet. It may still happen, but I now have to file
this under "rumour" until I get more solid word on it's release.
CONTEST GIVEAWAY
I have a very exciting
giveaway to tease y'all with. Earmark records & Abraxas records
have contacted me about giving away copies of some special reprints
they've done. They re-printed the first three Black Sabbath
albums on vinyl and have sent me copies to give away.
Once I figure out how I'm going to run the giveaway, I'll be posting
more info on it.
NO NEWS ON OLD TAPES
I've gotten a few emails
recently asking about what's going on with those tapes that were
reported to have been discovered recently which may have been Earth
recordings, and early demos of the first couple of Sabbath albums.
Well, I have no news to report. I had inquired about them to a
few of my contacts, and I was told by all involved "No News".
Oh well.
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 June
19, 2003
DIO GIVEAWAY WINNERS
The latest contest is
over, and the winners have been picked. The winners
received a copy of the latest Dio disc - the two CD compilation
"Stand Up & Shout: The Dio Anthology". The four
questions are shown below, followed by the answers (and the source
of the answers):
- Which album was the first
one that Ronnie James Dio called himself that instead of just
"Ronnie Dio"?
- What was the last song
written for Sabbath's Heaven & Hell album?
- What band did Ronnie James
Dio first record with?
- What band played backup for
Dio for the two live tracks on the limited version of Killing the
Dragon? (It wasn't Dio's own band - the tracks were Rainbow in the
Dark & Fever Dreams).
Answers:
- It was Elf's "Trying to
Burn the Sun". According to Ronnie, it was Ritchie
Blackmore's idea to use his middle name in his stage moniker.
(Source: Tapio Kiehanen's
Dio pages)
- Neon Knights. (Source
of this is both the liner notes of the Anthology, as well as the
Black Sabbath Story Volume II video.)
- Ronnie & the Red Caps.
While the band had two names before that (The Vegas Kings, &
Ronnie & The Rumblers), it was the Red Caps that first
released something that Dio sang on. It was also in 1958!
You do the math. :) (Source: Tapio's Dio pages again).
- Deep Purple. (Source:
Killing the Dragon SE CD)
The six winners picked
were:
- Rom Ehalt
- Dave Kuntz
- Lori London
- Art Edelman
- Pekka Wainio
- Eric Knight
Thanks to all that entered,
and I should have a new contest coming up soon. If you
didn't win, you can check out info on the album by clicking on the
cover art above, or if you'd like to purchase it, click on the buy
link below.
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June 3, 2003
NEW SABBATH BOX SET?
In the last 24 hours, I've
gotten four emails from folks asking if I knew anything about a 9 CD
Black Sabbath box set to be released in October of 2003. I can
say that I do not know anything. I've contacted some folks at
record labels I know and have asked for information. If I find
out anything, I'll report back - but for now, I can't say this even
exists, much less what might be on it.
DIO GUITARIST SITUATION
Forget what you saw below
about Warren DeMartini. That's out. Craig Goldie is back
as Dio guitarist. :) This actually happened
a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't had the time to update the site
with this news. Here's an update from blabbermouth.net
about it..
CRAIG GOLDY Rejoins DIO!
- May 24, 2003
Guitarist Craig Goldy will rejoin DIO for the group's summer
European festival shows and the six-week North American tour with
IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD.
RATT guitarist Warren DeMartini, who was previously announced to
have joined DIO as the band's new touring guitarist, is said to have
pulled out of the gig for "personal" reasons.
Goldy, a member of DIO between 1986 and 1988 and then again in
1999-2001 during the making of the "Magica" album and the subsequent
world tour, is believed to be a temporary replacement for Doug
Aldrich, who has spent the past few months touring with the reunited
WHITESNAKE. Goldy's last stint in DIO ended in late 2001 due to
pressures resulting from his full-time job managing a limo company.
Craig's first gig back with the band will take place on June 27 at
the Bang Your Head Festival in Germany. DIO's North American tour
with IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD is set to kick off on July 21 at
Centrum Centre in Worcester, Massachusetts.
ANSELMO/IOMMI ALBUM
DEAD?
Another piece that has gone
by during the few weeks I haven't updated was some news that it
looks like the Anselmo / Iommi CD might be dead. Check
this out:
PANTERA frontman Philip
Anselmo stopped by the studios of Sirius Radio in New York City on
Tuesday, May 20 and spoke to "Hard Attack" host Don Kaye about the
current status of all of his musical projects, including PANTERA,
DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL and his much-rumored collaboration with
BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi.
On the status of his collaboration with BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony
Iommi:
Philip Anselmo: "I hate to say it, but I think Tony maybe gave up on
me, because. When he asked me [to do a record with him], I hate to
say it, but he couldn't have asked at a worse time in my life -
personally, musically. whatever. There were a million things that
Philip Anselmo needed to get accomplished, and they were
time-consuming things, and they're wrapping up, and they're coming
to a close as we speak now, but believe me, to jam with Tony Iommi,
the time that I did before, was just so magical. The guy is just a
charming, charming personality, and he is wide open [to ideas], and
basically he said [to me], 'What are we gonna do, Phil?' And I'm
like, 'Alright, let's try this.' We just. It came very natural
jamming with him, it felt great, and I think he felt that as well,
and that's why he kept approaching me during one of the Ozzfests,
or. I can't remember where. No, he'd call me, he would call me.
BLACK SABBATH wasn't on some of the later Ozzfests. He would call
me. I never wanted to bother him, so I didn't bug and call him and
all this stuff - I would wait for him to call me - but he was doing
it quite often, to see when we could get together. And damned be it
all, I had no clear answer for him, because there was so much going
on that. Yes, of course, I would have loved to drop everything and
just to wherever and jam with Tony, but that would have been
irresponsible in itself, and it [was] absolutely way, way, way more
important that I stayed home - I can see that now. But I want the
Iommi thing, because we work absolutely well together, and if he
wants to do a full album, or what-not, this time around, I am more
than happy to do that one thing, but it's gonna have to fit into the
schedule, it really is." (Download audio clip of Anselmo's response
here)
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May 14, 2003
 EMPIRE
CD
A short note - I neglected
to mention the release of the Trading Souls album from the band
Empire led by Rolf Munkes. This is of interest to
Sabbath fans due to the inclusion of former Sabbath band members
Tony Martin, Neil Murray, & Don Airey (currently in Deep Purple).
I just today found out that it is to be released in the United
States on May 20th (although it's been out in Europe since April
21st apparently). I have a few links of info for you on this:
-
Order CD from Amazon.com
-
Empire Home Site
-
Story about CD with sound clips
If you're a fan of the Tony
Martin era of Black Sabbath, you should definitely check this out
(if you can get your hands on it). For some reason, while the
home site for Empire says that it came out April 21st, I oddly
enough cannot find the CD available for order on Amazon's UK site.
Odd indeed.
DIO ANTHOLOGY NOW
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
 I
noticed today that the Dio Anthology CD is available for pre-order
through Amazon.com now. It's due to be released on May 27th,
and has a very wide ranging list of tracks (see news story a little
below this). Anyway, you can click on the graphic to the right
to pre-order your copy.
I'm also waiting on word
from the record label regarding a giveaway I hope to have for this -
when I have more info, I'll post it.
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May 2, 2003
DIO CHANGES GUITARISTS AGAIN
A short note I picked up
this week about Dio's ever changing lead guitarist position...
I haven't seen anything official about this on Ronnie James Dio's
site or something like that, but if this turns out to be false, I'll
retract the statement.
From blabbermouth.net:
RATT Guitarist Joins DIO! - Apr. 30, 2003
RATT guitarist Warren DeMartini has officially joined DIO as the
band's new touring guitarist. Warren replaces Doug Aldrich, who has
spent the past few months touring with the reunited WHITESNAKE.
DeMartini's first appearance with DIO will take place as part of the
group's upcoming North American tour with IRON MAIDEN and
MOT=D6RHEAD, which is set to kick off in late July.
During an online chat conducted in February, Aldrich alluded to a
possible scheduling conflict between his upcoming WHITESNAKE touring
activities and the touring/songwriting sessions with DIO,
potentially jeopardizing his status in the latter band.
"Ronnie [James Dio] is at the moment working on the story for the
next record and I was hoping to write with him for that record at
some point, but these [WHITESNAKE European] dates just came up and I
don't know what is going to happen with that [right now]," Aldrich
said.
"I am not sure exactly what the future holds with DIO at the moment,
but I love working with Ronnie and the band, and I hope to work with
him again when schedule permits," he added.
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April 11, 2003
DIO BEST OF CD PACKAGE
INFORMATION
UPDATE: I found out this album is only to be released in the
US & Canada - it is not scheduled for release in Europe and
elsewhere. I also added some tidbits about the package a
little further down (plus added cover art).
Ronnie James Dio's
recording career had already been going for about 13 years when Elf
was formed in 1970 (you do the math). Since then he's sung for
Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own outfit, Dio. Over these
years, a great number of awesome tracks have been recorded, and this
new package "Stand Up & Shout: The Dio Anthology". The package
has a total of 29 songs on a 2 CD set, and it will be available on
May 27th, 2003. The package doesn't include the
three most recent Dio studio albums (Angry Machines, Magica, &
Killing the Dragon - most likely because all the rest were on Warner
Bros - and this package is coming out on Warner's Rhino label), but
gives a good cross section of Dio material. In fact, I can
bring you a full track listing here:
Disc 1 [TT = 76:24]
- Hoochie Koochie Lady
- Elf [5:32]
- I'm Coming Back For
You - Elf [3:27]
- Carolina County Ball
- Elf [4:45]
- Man On The Silver
Mountain - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow [4:37]
- Starstruck - Rainbow
[4:06]
- Long Live Rock 'N'
Roll - Rainbow [4:20]
- Neon Knights - Black
Sabbath [3:49]
- Children Of The Sea -
Black Sabbath [5:30]
- Heaven And Hell -
Black Sabbath [6:56]
- Turn Up The Night -
Black Sabbath [3:42]
- The Sign Of The
Southern Cross - Black Sabbath [7:46]
- The Mob Rules - Black
Sabbath [3:14]
- Computer God - Black
Sabbath [6:10]
- Voodoo (Live, 1982) -
Black Sabbath [6:07]
- Sacred Heart (Live,
1985) [6:23]
Disc 2 [TT = 75:13]
- Stand Up And Shout
[3:15]
- Holy Diver [5:54]
- Don't Talk To
Strangers [4:53]
- Straight Through The
Heart [4:32]
- Rainbow In The Dark
[4:15]
- We Rock [4:35]
- The Last In Line
[5:48]
- Egypt (The Chains Are
On) [7:02]
- King Of Rock And Roll
[3:49]
- Hungry For Heaven
[4:10]
- Dream Evil [4:26]
- All The Fools Sailed
Away [7:10]
- Lock Up The Wolves
[8:30]
- Strange Highways
[6:54]
Here's some more tidbits about the package from a sell sheet I
was sent from Rhino Records.
- Over 2.5 hours of remastered music
- Track by track commentary from Ronnie James Dio included in
liner notes.
- Cover art by Wes Benscoter
Of course, with any of
these type of compilations, there's always tracks that folks would
rather have on there (I'd prefer Wild One instead of the title track
from Lock Up the Wolves, and had Invisible from the first Dio disc,
etc.), but overall we've got a great cross section of Dio material,
and the inclusion of the old Elf material makes this a nice way to
listen to the progression of Dio's music. I'm hoping to
have a giveaway for this when the package is released. I
should know more about that soon. Here's a press release for
the package:
LOOK
OUT!
WARNER BROS./RHINO TO RELEASE ULTIMATE METAL COLLECTION STAND UP AND
SHOUT: THE DIO ANTHOLOGY
29 Tracks on Two-Disc Set in Stores May 27, 2003
LOS ANGELES—It’s time to
raise those horns in the air and pay tribute to the man—and the
band—who made it sound so very, very cool to be very, very evil.
STAND UP AND SHOUT: THE DIO ANTHOLOGY is here! Featuring two discs’
worth of classic tracks spanning his entire career, STAND UP AND
SHOUT is the only anthology to include songs from Ronnie James Dio’s
eras with Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Elf and, of course, Dio. It just
doesn’t get any better than this!
Or does it? STAND UP AND
SHOUT arrives augmented with dozens of photographs by rock’s best
photographers, a liner essay by noted rock scribe Lonn Friend, as
well as Dio’s own detailed track-by-track notes and remembrances.
With two and a half of definitive heavy metal, this is one
collection that simply, well, rules! STAND UP AND SHOUT will be
available at retail outlets and www.rhino.com for a suggested list
price of $24.98.
Growing up in Cortland,
NY, Ronald Padavona, the man who became one of hard rock’s all-time
most distinctive voices, began his career with a series of
high-school garage and doo-wop groups. By the time Ronnie James Dio
formed Elf in 1970, he’d already had 13 years of experience playing
rock ’n’ roll. Elf was signed to Epic in 1972, and their debut album
was produced by Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and Ian Paice. As Deep
Purple’s opening act, Ronnie came to know Ritchie Blackmore, and
later formed Rainbow with the guitar master.
For four years Rainbow
built a reputation as one of the world’s most popular hard rock
bands. Dio became known for his soaring vocals and lyrics brimming
with fantastic mythical visions. However, musical differences
between Blackmore and Dio led to Dio’s leaving after only a handful
of albums to join the legendary Black Sabbath, then reeling from
bitter in-fighting that resulted in the departure of founding singer
Ozzy Osbourne. Dio’s energy rekindled the Sabbath spirit, resulting
in the epochal Heaven And Hell album in 1980. The mighty Mob Rules
follows in 1981, but his initial alliance with Black Sabbath was
doomed to be short-lived; after the concert recording Live Evil, Dio
split to form the first incarnation of a band that will forever bear
his name.
DIO! Songs of demonic
peril and seduction! DIO! Visions of theatrical concerts with lasers
and dragons! (The Sacred Heart tour was voted “Outstanding Stage
Set” by Performance Magazine and “Most Creative Stage Set” by
Pollstar.) DIO! Tenacious D could only dream of such glory.
Now, 20 years after the
release of the first Dio LP, Holy Diver, it’s time to take stock of
the man’s illustrious career. Ronnie James Dio has helped create
some of the best-loved tracks still heard today on rock radio: “Man
On The Silver Mountain,” “Long Live Rock ’N’ Roll,” “Neon Knights,”
“Heaven And Hell,” “Stand Up And Shout,” “Holy Diver,” “Rainbow In
The Dark,” “The Last In Line,” and “Dream Evil.” All of the hits are
here, but the best part about STAND UP AND SHOUT: THE DIO ANTHOLOGY
is that it also includes album tracks and live cuts to present the
fullest possible picture of Dio and his work.
It’s truly the next-best
thing to being front-row center at the arena!
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April 8, 2003
BLACK SABBATH EARLY
RECORDINGS "UNEARTHED"
UPDATE 4/10: It appears that
calling these recordings "Earth" is not correct. They do
exist, but some further research since I posted this story tells me
that this is not from the "Earth" portion of Black Sabbath's
history. I hope to have some more details in the next few
days.
Bad title pun aside <g>,
a news story that has been making the rounds recently has turned up
which tells of early recordings by Black Sabbath. Here's the news story...
The first recordings
made by Black Sabbath, cut in 1969, when the band was still known as
Earth, have been uncovered in a sound archive, RC can exclusively
reveal. The multi-track tapes comprise both the eponymous debut
album and its follow up, Paranoid, in both mixed and raw form. The
tapes also include several previously-unreleased tracks, which
should be featured in a future archive-based release. In addition,
songs that surfaced on Sabbath's third album, Master Of Reality,
were apparently laid down at the same time as well, mostly on
multi-track stereo tapes."
- Record Collector Magazine, March Issue
This has been going
around on the net for a couple of weeks now, but I didn't want to
say anything until I got my own confirmation of the information.
I spoke with one of my two contacts at Tony Iommi's management
company, and was told this...
Just to get back to
you on that Record Collector query; we have looked in to this and
can confirm that the tapes do exist. They are from the earliest
incarnation of Sabbath but as yet we have no track listings etc. If
we get any further info....one of us will drop you a line to keep
you posted.
So it appears that these
recordings are real. What is on them, or where they may turn
up is as of yet unknown. As was stated above, when there's
more info, I'll pass it on.
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March
28, 2003
BLACK SABBATH BOOK DUE
A new book on Black
Sabbath is due soon. This book is about the history of the
band from 1979-1997, and is entitled "Black Sabbath: Never Say Die!
1979-1997". Written by Garry Sharpe-Young, this book will shed
some light on the lesser known portions of the band's history.
Judging from the book he put out last year on the history of the
Ozzy Osbourne band, this shold be an outstanding book. Once I
have some concrete details on it, I'll pass them along. In the
meantime, here's a news blurb I got from Garry about it...
The book 'Black
Sabbath: Never Say Die! 1979-1997' is now at the publishers. As soon
as we receive a firm publication date I'll get it out to you.
This book has been an absolute pleasure to write. Many of those I
spoke to seemed thankful that someone, at long last, was documenting
this vital period of Sabbath history in an accurate manner. All told
I'm estimating about 400 pages including 50 plus exclusive, never
seen before photographs from private sources. Some of these photos
are unbelievable, capturing moments from previously mysterious times
in the band. Pictures onstage, backstage and in the studio.
As with my Ozzy book,
the Sabbath history is traced in great detail told, in the main, by
the band members themselves. A huge catalogue of mysteries was
solved during the detective work for this book believe me!
Each album, tour,
line-up and near line-ups are documented thoroughly. As far as
possible I have tried to get the exact details of the recording and
song-writing processes for each album. Who wrote what and who
recorded what. The stories behind the songs, how and why the albums
got both their titles and their artwork, which singers were
suggested for the frontman role, which singers didn't make it
through auditions. There is a plethora of song titles you won't
recognise and some surprises on the band members front too.
Interviewed
exclusively for the book and at great length (quite a few of these
discussions took a number of weeks) are Geoff Nicholls, Tony Martin,
Neil Murray, Ian Gillan, Bobby Rondinelli, David Donato, Ronnie
James Dio, Glenn Hughes, Eric Singer, David Spitz, Bob Daisley, Jo
Burt, Rob Halford, Terry Chimes, Jeff Fenholt, Vinnie Appice and
others. All of these people really opened up to me and the detail
just poured out... I also had the great pleasure of conducting
numerous interviews with the late and very great Cozy Powell and
spoke to Ray Gillen just before his last ever gig with Sabbath at
Nottingham Concert Hall. Ray's interview is printed in full. Both
Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler were also interviewed at various times
over the years. On top of this I spoke to many Sabbath support acts
including Alvin Lee.
I have done my very
best to satisfy the curiousity of Sabbath fans with this book,
answering a lot of the questions I have seen asked over the years.
I shall leave you
with this thought. Writing this book has proven to me beyond all
doubt that Tony Iommi is the man! My admiration for his talent and
sheer tenacity increased immeasurably during the process.
By the way, we've had a lot of emails from the USA about buying the
'Ozzy Osbourne -Story Of The Ozzy Osbourne band' book. It is
available in the USA. For some reason it's not showing on Amazon yet
but is being distributed by Cleopatra Records.
 BLACK
SABBATH SCREENSAVER
Got an email today about
a Black Sabbath screensaver that was made by Sabbath fan John
Niendorf. There is a screen capture to the right here, and it
shows you Sabbath cover art while playing a tune. It's pretty
decent.
If you want to check it
out, you can download a copy from his site by clicking on the image
to your right.
If you know of any more
Sabbath downloads like this, drop me a line, I'll give 'em a plug.
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March
26, 2003
BLACK SABBATH MAILING
LIST
The mailing list has a
new home - again. <sigh>
I've moved to Yahoo
Groups - which I didn't initially want to do, but the prospect of
keeping the list free is what led me to go there. Accordingly,
the signup page has been altered with new instructions on how to
sign up and unsubscribe. I've sent out some test messages over
the last week, plus one "regular" issue. If you haven't
gotten them, visit the signup page, and
try signing up again with the instructions provided.
When I moved from the old provider to the new one, about 600 emails
were dropped due to various error messages when attempting to send
emails. That sounds like a lot, but in all the time I was with
the last host, NO email addresses got bounced, so this is probably
the new system weeding out all the built up error msgs that never
got dealt with. :)
Anyway, list submissions
are still sent to
list@black-sabbath.com and the unsubscribe/signup info is on
the signup page. You can also
visit the back issues archive here:
http://www.black-sabbath.com/backissues
One other thing about
Yahoo Groups. You do not need to join Yahoo to sign up for the
list, and in fact, I have most of the features of Yahoo groups
turned off because I have my own website, I don't need their "group"
structure - I'm just using them to mail out the list, and nothing
more.
WINNERS OF THE ORAL
HISTORY SABBATH BOOK
Short and sweet - here
are the answers and the winners to the most recent contest.
Answers
- What former Fleetwood
Mac member was briefly a member in Black Sabbath?
(Answer: Dave Walker)
- What was the (first) name of
Ozzy's first wife? (Answer: Thelma)
- What long running British Science
Fiction show was the inspiration for a song on Geezer Butler's
second solo album (Black Science)? (Answer: The series
Doctor Who was the inspiration for "Among the Cybermen").
Winners
- Douglas Rowe (Metairie, LA USA)
- Peter Short (St. John NB Canada)
- Jeff Sturges (Portland, OR USA)
Congrats to the winners - and look for some more giveaways soon.
:)
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March
25, 2003
TONY MARTIN WEBSITE
Last August, I published
an interview with Tony Martin, in which he answered numerous
questions from fans and the like. You can
check out that interview here. In it, Tony talks about his website
opening soon. Well, this morning, I got an email telling me
that it had opened. You can check it out at
www.tonymartin.net - it's
available now.
Astute net fans will
remember that Tony Martin used to have a website some years ago (ran
by Daniela Pilic), but that site has been down for quite awhile, and
it's nice to have a new Tony Martin website up and running again.
Check it out!
LINK TO ME
For the longest time
I've had folks ask if I have an ad banner that people could use when
linking to me. Well, I finally decided to make one. See
the banner below. Copy this file to your server (please don't
link directly from here) and you can use that. Also, as
you can see, I'm not the greatest artist around, so if anyone wants
to help out by making up some ad banners, let me know. Thanks!
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March
19, 2003
 YET
ANOTHER CONTEST
And the giveaways keep
rolling on... :)
This time we're giving
away three copies of the Mike Stark book "Black Sabbath: An Oral
History", which chronicles the history of the band from the start up
until the 1997 Ozzfest "reunion" shows. It's got a bunch of
cool things about it, you can read my write-up about it on
my books page. Here's a couple of
trivia questions that you need to answer right to be in the
running...
- What former Fleetwood
Mac member was briefly a member in Black Sabbath?
- What was the (first) name of
Ozzy's first wife?
- What long running British Science
Fiction show was the inspiration for a song on Geezer Butler's
second solo album (Black Science)?
Please send your
answers to
oralhistory@black-sabbath.com
- Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
ORALHISTORY@BLACKSABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Wednesday March
26,
2003.
NEVER SAY DIE DVD
WINNERS
I also picked the winners
for the previous giveaway today, too. First, here are the
answers to the questions...
- Who was the primary
opening act for the US Never Say Die Tour? (Answer: Van
Halen)
- Bill Ward sung the
final track on the Never Say Die album. What is the one
other Black Sabbath song Bill Ward sung? (Answer: It's
Alright from the Technical Ecstasy album. Again, Bill did
NOT sing Solitude - that was Ozzy. Furthermore, I wasn't
counting Blow on a Jug either - as that's primarily "sung" by
Ozzy).
And here are the
winners...
- Jorge Ribeiro Neto
(Sao Paulo, Brazil)
- Oliver Garus
(Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada)
- Kevin Barnes
(Stratham, NH)
- Michael Burock
(United Kingdom)
- Christopher Cox
(Colorado Springs, CO)
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March
11, 2003
TONY
MARTIN & NEIL MURRAY TOGETHER AGAIN
Since Tony Martin and Black
Sabbath parted ways back in the mid 90's, Sabbath has put out two
live and one compilation album. Tony Martin, however - has
sung on a good number of albums (right at the moment, I don't have a
count, but I can think of about 4 or so - there is probably more).
This time, Tony has turned up on a new disc called Trading Souls, by
a band called "Empire". Here's a list of who is on the
album - several names should be notable to Black Sabbath & Ozzy
fans..
- Rolf Munkees - Guitar
- Tony Martin - Vocals
- Neil Murray - Bass
- Gerald Kloos - Drums
- Anders Johansson -
Drums (on two tracks)
- Don Airey - Keyboards
I have not heard this
yet - but Rolf contacted me a week ago or so and said he would drop
me a copy in the post, so when I get it and give it a listen, I'll
have some comments on it. In the meantime, you can read more
about the album by visiting the Empire website at
http://www.empire-rock.com.
The album is scheduled to be released in Europe on April 21st on the
Lion Music label. I've not heard about info on a US release -
nor can I find a pre-order link online yet. When I do, I'll
update this story. In the meantime, here's a track
listing for the album:
- One In A Million
- Pay Back Time
- Teenage Deadhead
- Big World, Little Man
- You
- Perfect Singularity
- Wherever You Go
- Did You Ever Love Me
- Comin' Home
- Back In The Light
NEW DIO COMPILATION DUE
Set for release this coming
May is a Dio compilation called "Stand Up & Shout: The Dio
Anthology". It's going to cover (most of) his career, with
tunes from Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, & Dio. Don't have a
track listing or anything like that yet - I just found out about
this yesterday, and I've contacted the record label (Rhino) for info
about it - when I get some updates, I'll have info about it here.
In the meantime, you can
check out this
news tidbit about it over at the Official Dio website.
TONY MARTIN INTERVIEW
This isn't a new interview,
but someone sent me a link to a Tony Martin interview he did about a
various collection of subjects - and talks a lot about the Bailey's
Comet tour he was involved in during 1992. I have a
local copy here. Tony
speaks on Black Sabbath and why he thinks his version of Sabbath
didn't "work out".
BLACK SABBATH IN THE
HALL OF FAME FINALLY!
Well, not really. :)
One of the bands inducted into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year is the Clash. One of
the former members of the Clash is
Terry Chimes who played with Sabbath for a bit in late 1987 to
early 1988. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the first
person to have played in Black Sabbath to enter into the Hall of
Fame for any reason.
SEE A CONCERT, BUY THE
DVD
This isn't Black Sabbath
related, but I thought it was a cool story, so I'm passing it along.
It's about a movement to make live concert CD's available 5 minutes
after the show is over - so you could purchase the show you just
attended. Check out the news story
here (it originally
appeared online
here).
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 March
10, 2003
WIN A NEVER SAY DIE
CONCERT DVD
Our latest contest has been
started! This time we have five copies of the Black Sabbath
concert DVD, "Black Sabbath - Never Say Die". This is the 1978
Never Say Die concert footage - check a few entries down for more
details on the DVD. Here's a few questions you need to
answer correctly to be put in the drawing for the DVD..
- Who was the primary
opening act for the US Never Say Die Tour?
- Bill Ward sung the
final track on the Never Say Die album. What is the one
other Black Sabbath song Bill Ward sung?
PLEASE NOTE THAT
THESE DVD'S ARE REGION 1 ONLY. That means they cannot
be played on a DVD player that is not a Region 1 (or a region free
player). If you're from Europe or Asia or anywhere else
besides North America, you most likely will not be able to play
this.
Please send your
answers to
dvd@black-sabbath.com
- Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
DVD@BLACKSABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Monday March 17,
2003.
Thanks to the folks over at
Sanctuary
Records for helping out by donating the copies I have here for
giveaway. If you want, you can purchase the DVD by using
the links below:
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Region 1 DVD |
Region 2 DVD |
WINNERS OF THE OZZY BOOK
I've picked the winners of
the previous giveaway for the free Ozzy Biography Book.
Here's the answers I was looking for, as well as the winners:
- What former member of
UFO played briefly with Ozzy's band? (Answer: Pete Way)
- What members of Black
Sabbath (besides Ozzy) played in the Ozzy band? (Answer: Bob
Daisley, Geezer Butler, Neil Murray, Don Airey, & Mike Bordin)
- While Tommy Aldridge
& Rudy Sarzo are pictured on the original version of Diary of a
Madman as having played on it, they didn't. What other album
did the pair join a band to replace a rhythm section that had just
been let go? (Answer: 1987's "Whitesnake" album)
Winners:
- Jim Watson (Bulger,
PA USA)
- Kevin Stankiewicz
(Millville, NJ USA)
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February 27, 2003
 WIN
A FREE OZZY BIOGRAPHY BOOK
Our latest contest has been
started! This time we have two copies of the Ozzy Osbourne
book "Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of the Ozzy Osbourne Band".
This is a very detailed book on the history of the Ozzy Osbourne
solo band - including some info I had never been aware of before
(like Randy Rhoads wasn't his actual first solo band guitarist).
Anyway, the book is full of tidbits, and in the usual trivia
question format I run these things in, I've gone through the book
and pulled out a few tidbits to use as questions. The answers
to these are in the book (as well as elsewhere on the net), so here
they are:
- What former member of
UFO played briefly with Ozzy's band?
- What members of Black
Sabbath (besides Ozzy) played in the Ozzy band? (HINT: I'm
looking for five people here, and Rick Wakemen is not one of
them).
- While Tommy Aldridge
& Rudy Sarzo are pictured on the original version of Diary of a
Madman as having played on it, they didn't. What other album
did the pair join a band to replace a rhythm section that had just
been let go? (HINT: It's not an Ozzy album)
Please send your
answers to ozzybook@black-sabbath.com
- Please note that ANY EMAILS SENT ANYWHERE ELSE THAN
OZZYBOOK@BLACKSABBATH.COM WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST, AND
WILL BE DELETED. The contest will run till Friday, March 7,
2003.
Thanks to the folks over at
Rockdetector for helping out with the books - and a big apology goes
out to them - I should have had this contest online much sooner -
sorry about that, guys!
You can order the book
through the link below - but it's from Amazon's UK store - it's not
stocked in the US at this time. You can also read my
review of this book on my books page.
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February 24, 2003
NEVER SAY DIE DVD COVER
ART
The
Never Say Die DVD is set to be released shortly. I just
got alerted by my contact at Sanctuary Records that they're sending
me a few copies to use as giveaways - the DVD is set to street here
in the US on March 4th. Here's some info about the DVD
from the Sanctuary Web Site:
Recorded live in 1978,
Never Say Die is a defining moment in Black Sabbath’s history. This
unique concert is one of Sabbath’s final performances with the
original classic line-up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler
and Bill Ward. After a brief break from the band in 1977, frontman
Ozzy returns here in triumphant form performing classic songs
including "Never Say Die," "Black Sabbath," and "Paranoid."
I've also asked about
"extras", and have been told there really aren't any extras to speak
of, but there are Dolby Digital 5.1 & Stereo Surround Sound options
on it. And of course, some killer concert footage.
I've also been told the cover art is the same for both the Region 1
& Region 2 DVD's.
The track listing is below:
-
Symptom Of The Universe
-
War Pigs
-
Snowblind
- Never Say Die
- Black Sabbath
- Dirty Women
- Rock and Roll Doctor
- Electric Funeral
- Children of the Grave
- Paranoid
You can pre-order the DVD
through these links (which helps support this site), and Amazon will
ship it to you.
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Region 1 DVD |
Region 2 DVD |
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February 20, 2003
MAJOR TOUR DATES UPDATE
A project that I've been
working on for awhile now has been completed. Posted today is
a major update to my tourdates section. With the help of
Robert Dwyer of sabbathlive.com - I've updated an enhanced all of
the tour date pages I have from 1970-1995. Robert's site is
probably the best source of live Sabbath information on the net, and
putting his info together with what I had here already for tour info
seemed like a good combination, so it's done.
The format is mostly the
same, but has been enhanced with things like album releases,
significant gig notations, and more complete venue info, and all
kinds of things like that. I've retained all my "tour
memorabilia" things like ticket stubs, tour adverts and the like,
but the main thrust here is the tour date info, of which the bulk of
the work has been done by Robert. Major kudos goes out to him
for sharing the info and helping out in exporting it from his
database into my format.
Make sure and check out my tourdates
section. And while you're there, if you know of a tour
date that isn't there, submit it! I don't claim to be the 100%
accurate be-all end-all source of tour date info. If
something's wrong, I want to know about it. Also, if you have
a tour advert, a ticket stub or something like that, I want to hear
from you with it. Check
out the tourdates section for more details on how to submit.
And of course, we can't
finish this story without a plug for Robert's site. Go visit
sabbathlive.com - Robert
has tons of info there beyond just simple tour dates. It's a
wealth of info, and worth your time to read!
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February 19, 2003
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY TONY IOMMI!
Short
message - today is Tony Iommi's birthday - he's 55 today. :)
BLACK
& BLUE DVD IS DEAD
Unfortunately, the Black & Blue DVD that was to be issued last year
is no longer going to be released. When I contacted the
company a few days ago after hearing rumours that it had been
"withdrawn", they replied with this statement:
As it
stands I would say it is cancelled - whether this is permanent or
not I am afraid I am not able to say - we would obviously still like
to release the programme, however at present it does not look like
this is going to be possible
That's a
shame, as I know lots of folks (myself included) would have liked to
have seen this. It's already out on VHS, and has been for ages
- I'm curious what the problems are in putting it out on DVD.
BLACK
SABBATH & OZZFEST
I'd been
getting several emails over the last month or so telling me that
Black Sabbath will be headlining Ozzfest 2003. I had contacted
both Sharon's office, as well as Blue Flame (Tony Iommi's management
company), and they both denied Sabbath was on Ozzfest.
Yesterday, the formal announcement came - Sabbath isn't playing
Ozzfest.
What's
going on with the long delayed new studio album by Black Sabbath?
Who knows - but there was a small snippet of info in
a news story yesterday about the Ozzfest announcement.
He (Ozzy) said a Black Sabbath
reunion was not on the cards, though he and England-based guitarist
Tony Iommi have been collaborating long-distance on songwriting.
IT'S BEEN EIGHT
YEARS since the last Black Sabbath studio album. We're
WAY overdue. I'm starting to wonder if Tony should just put
back the band as it existed in 1996 after the end of the Forbidden
tour. It wasn't as popular, but at least we got regular music.
These delays are getting frustrating - speaking strictly as a fan.
For further information on
Ozzfest (including tourdates and whatnot) please visit the Ozzfest
site by clicking on the logo below.
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February 13, 2003
BLACK
SABBATH DVD NEWS
I've
gotten a few emails about this, so I figured I'd better get it
online (actually, I've known for a few weeks, but I haven't had the
time to update the site - too busy at work). Anyway, 20 years
ago or so when I was in high school, I worked at a video store, and
back then we had a tape available called "A Decade of Black Sabbath:
1968-1978". It was an hour long (give or take) concert from
the Hammersmith Odeon on the Never Say Die Tour. It's LONG
been out of print, and the footage has been used a few times since,
although the only time I can recall right now is on the Sabbath
Story Volume II videos (Snowblind, & Symptom of the Universe).
Anyway, the entire concert hasn't been available for ages.
Well, it is now. Using the links below, you can pre-order the
DVD. It's currently slated to street on March 4, 2003 (March
3rd in Europe). However, we know what happened with the Black
& Blue DVD, so hopefully this will actually make it out. :)
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Region 1 DVD |
Region 2 DVD |
Speaking
of the long delayed "Black
& Blue" DVD... It's still delayed - I've heard no further
information regarding it's release, unfortunately.
Finally,
there's a title called "Tony
Iommi: Inside Black Sabbath" that Amazon.com has available for
purchase. I've gotten several emails about it, but I have no
clue what this is, or what's on it. If anyone has bought this,
can you tell me what it's about? I've placed an inquiry to
Tony Iommi's management folks about it - if I get a response with
some info, I'll relay it.
UPDATE: I got a
response from Iommi's management team about this video. Here's
what they told me..
"It is
a poor quality interview, filmed in 1991 for a local UK TV station,
not intended to be issued as a home video/DVD. Because it is just a
short interview and to make it appear a better buy they have added
old live footage from previous Sabbath video's and 43 minutes of
other bands."
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January 30, 2003
GOOD
READING
Today
seems to be the day for good Sabbath related articles to read
online. We have three of them.
First
off, let's lead with a great news article about Bill Ward done by
the St. Petersburg Times website entitled "Bill
Ward: Ozzy he's not". It talks about Bill's internet
release of Straws, his views on war, and other cool things you don't
normally hear from your average rock star. Check it out.
Second is
a great link from knac.com which contains a chapter from the
forthcoming book "None More Black: The Story of Black Sabbath
1980-present". This is a book that talks about a much
neglected period of the band (basically anything after the 70's era
with Ozzy). The particular chapter linked to here talks
about the story of the band playing Live Aid in Philadelphia in
1985.
Check it out here.
Finally
we have another from knac.com which is
a great
interview with Ronnie James Dio by Bill Kirby. This is
actually Part II of the interview (Part
I was online awhile back). This too is a wonderful read,
Ronnie talks about a very wide range of subjects here from how he
writes music, to his own perceptions of Dio the band, amongst other
things. These two Dio interviews are some of the best things
I've ever read. You must read them.
Check all
these things out today, but don't do it at work - you'll be reading
for awhile (unless you're a speed reader). :)
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January 14, 2003
ANOTHER OZZY GREATEST HITS ALBUM
I just
got word of a new Ozzy Greatest Hits album to be released this year
called "Ozzy Essential" (could be "Ozzy's Essentials" - I'm unclear
as to the exact wording). Anyway, it's a double CD and covers
all of his albums (except Ultimate Sin, which he has deleted, and
seems to want to pretend never happened for some reason). The
full track listing is available on
the discography page I have
set up for it.
I don't
have any more news on it at this time, but when I do, I'll pass it
on.
UPDATE: The album's name is "The Essential Ozzy Osbourne",
and is now available for pre-order on
the discography page for it
here. It's going to be released Feb 11th, is a double CD, and
the versions of the songs from Blizzard & Diary are the re-recorded
versions. Cover art is also available on the discog
page, as well.
GEEZER
BUTLER UPDATE.. SORT OF
One of
the questions I get asked a lot is what Geezer Butler is up to.
A few weeks ago I had written to Gloria Butler (Geezer's wife and
manager), and asked what was going on. Today I got a response
back saying she was sorry she hadn't gotten back sooner, but that
she expects to have a news update on what Geezer has been up to "in
a couple of weeks". So hopefully there will be some news
available soon on that.
THE
MAILING LIST
No, I
haven't discontinued the mailing list. I've just been real
busy putting together my work after the holidays and am just now
catching up. I should have a new issue out in the next couple
of days.
RONNIE
JAMES DIO BOX SET?
I was
sent this quick news blurb in the last couple of days - I'm
attempting to verify whether it's true or not. If it is true,
it certainly could be very interesting...
Rhino
Records is planning on releasing a box set spanning Ronnie James
Dio's entire career from ELF, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own
band DIO. No word as of yet as to any rare studio tracks being
released.
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January 8, 2003
I'M
BACK
Happy new
year to everyone - as most people were, I was bogged down with the
holidays and am plowing through a pile of email that's built up
since my last update to the site. A few things have been going
on - nothing terribly major, but still, I'll summarize them below.
As you
see, the news page is much smaller - that's because I've broken off
the 2002 news onto it's own page - see the "index" at the bottom of
this page for older news. Make sure and check out the
2002 news page, as there's some good
stuff there in the last couple of months, in case you missed it.
Also, I
have some new giveaways to get to, I'll have one ready the next
update.
SABBATH STORY GIVEAWAY
I picked
the winners of the Sabbath Story DVD contest during the holidays,
but haven't yet sent out the winners. The answers to the
trivia questions were:
- Which Star Trek
actress is in a Black Sabbath music video? (Answer:
Denise Crosby
played Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and
was in the music video for No Stranger to
Love)
- Who was the first
singer to replace Ozzy in Black Sabbath? (Answer: Dave Walker.
Check the timeline page for
details).
- Which Black Sabbath
songs (performed by Black Sabbath) have appeared on movie soundtracks and what were they?
(Answer: Well, I was only looking for three. I should have
researched this question better, I did not use it as a qualifier
for the giveaway because my question was flawed. The only
three I was looking for were E5150 & Mob Rules from Heavy Metal &
Time Machine from Wayne's World. Other folks sent me ones
from Almost Famous, and there was one in Detroit Rock City, too
amongst others).
- How many
official Black Sabbath albums did Bill Ward appear on?
(15. Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4,
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, We Sold Our Soul.., Technical
Ecstasy, Never Say Die, Heaven & Hell, Born Again, The Sabbath
Stones, Reunion, Past Lives, Symptom of the Universe: The Original
Black Sabbath 1970-1978. All listed in
my Sabbath discography).
The winners were:
- Christopher Hart -
Wheeling, WV USA
- Brian Conley - Buffalo,
NY USA
- Alec Kuntz - Tokyo, Japan
IOMMI/ANSELMO
ALBUM CANCELLED?
Had
several folks send me this text over my layoff about the Iommi/Anselmo
album being cancelled..
Unconfirmed reports have surfaced that the proposed pairing between
BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi and PANTERA/DOWN frontman Phil
Anselmo on Iommi's next solo CD has either been indefinitely
postponed or cancelled. No further information is available at this
time.
I did
some inquiries, and was told that this is false. I still
cannot get a confirmation that it's actually happening, but from
what I can gather, this quoted news pieces is not valid, and that
project will still happen.
BOBBY
RONDINELLI INTERVIEW
Well,
this interview isn't new, but it's an interview I was just informed
of by the site's author with Bobby Rondinelli, it was published on
March of 2002, but I hadn't seen it before, so I'm betting some
other folks haven't either. Check it out
here.
In it, Bobby talks about the new Rondinelli disc, Black Sabbath, and
Ray Gillen.
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