Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Sonic Boom Kensington.
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
Let’s boogie!
The lineup is impressive enough: Joining Cozy are Don Airey on keyboards/moog and Jack Bruce on bass. Guitarists include Gary Moore, Bernie Marsden and Clem Clempson. So, that’s all good.
But Over The Top starts with the disco-sounding “Theme I” (written by George Martin of all people). There’s too much of Don’s dated sounding synth. That continues into the next track, “Killer” featuring Gary Moore. Don’s ray-gun keyboard are too much, although Gary is brilliant, and a highlight to the track.
Cozy expertly steps his way through every track, sounding like nobody but Cozy. But these cheesey keyboard anthems don’t lend themselves well to his style. Too much disco, too much funk, too much boogie and not enough rock. Jack Bruce is great, of course, very few can do what he does. His bass here is articulate and precise but for me, too much jazz fusion and not enough anchor!
Most of this is progressive-based rock, but the dated synth echoes too many things that nobody really liked anymore. The songs are not especially stiking, and Cozy doesn’t really go nuts until the final song, “Over The Top”. The producer behind this mess? None other than Martin Birch!
Best Song: “El Sid” which has some groove and stomp to it, the keys are toned down while Jack plays some beautifully stretchy basslines, and Bernie Marsden throws in one of those bluesy solos that you know and love from early Whitesnake. (Bernie wrote this one.) Second best is “Sweet Poison” which has moments that smoke.
I dig the cover art with Cozy jumping his drums with his bike! Sweet.
2/5 stars. I think it likely that if Cozy were with us, hey’d probably regret the keyboard-saturated sound today.
TRACK LIST:
Side One – “Theme I”, “Killer”, “Heidi Goes To Town”, “El Sid”
Side Two – “Sweet Poison”, “The Loner”, “Over The Top”
This is one of the last Sabbath albums I got, because it was pretty scarce in the mid-90’s. I paid about $25 for a US import, thanks to Orange Monkey Music in Kitchener, the only store that was able to get it. (They were not, however, able to get me Seventh Star, then only available from Japan.)
While Headless Cross is lopsided to keyboard-heavy melodic numbers, I consider it a really underrated album. I like it a lot better than the previous one, Tony Martin’s debut as Sabbath singer, The Eternal Idol. I can’t say I adore it as much as Born Again, my favourite album of all time by anybody. I can’t say I prefer it to Seventh Star, but it’s pretty close.
It’s a short one, a mere 7 tracks plus intro “The Gates of Hell”, but most of the songs are in the 5-6 minute range. The intro then segues into one of the most powerful Sabbath songs of the entire catalog: “Headless Cross” itself. Cozy Powell kicks this one in the nuts. If you love Cozy’s drumming, you will love “Headless Cross”. It pulsates before it explodes in the chorus with Tony’s youthful scream. In the 1980’s most bands needed a singer who could shatter glass and Tony M delivered. If that’s not your thing, then just walk away, because you won’t like the rest of this review.
Another riffy number shows up next, “Devil & Daughter”, which also showcases Tony Iommi’s underrated soloing. Martin scorches through the song with bravado and lung power to spare. Its only flaw is that Geoff Nicholls’ keys are mixed way too high, as they are on almost every song on Headless Cross.
“When Death Calls” is a slow burner that I witnessed Sabbath perform live in 1995 on the Forbidden tour. It has three distinct sections: the mellow verses featuring Lawrence Cottle’s chiming fretless bass, the heavy choruses, and the scorching “Don’t look in those sunken eyes…” section. This one section, as far as I’m concerned, makes the song. Take it out and you don’t have enough to keep it interesting. And best of all, who shows up to play the guitar solo? Does he sound familiar to you?
I should hope so. It’s Iommi’s mate Brian May! A heavier Brian May than you were hearing at that period of the 1980’s, and his solo totally makes the song that much more special. By the time Martin proclaims that there’s no tomorrow, “just an evil shadow” at the end, you’re probably exhausted from rocking so hard.
And that’s side one, a decidedly dark affair. The mood brightens a little on side two. The hard rock song “Kill In The Spirit World” boasts song damn strong verses before it melds with a spooky chorus. Then Tony nails it with a hauntingly bluesy solo. I’m sure this song was derided by skeptics at the time for its pop tendencies; meanwhile Dio got away with songs like “Mystery”. I think there was definitely a double standard in how fans treated Sabbath in the late 80’s. Their albums were a lot better than given credit.
Another hard rock song follows: “Call of the Wild”. It’s not as good as “Kill In The Spirit World”, but it has a good pulse and it’s pretty decent. Reportedly this song was to be called “Hero” until Ozzy released one with the same title a few months prior. The lyrics are pretty lame:
In this last macabre hour, witches cry
And turn to dust before the moon
Many spirits are lost forever but one survives
To call the tune of Lucifer
There’s one pretty-much universal criticism of Headless Cross, and that’s the lyrics. The above is a glaring example of Martin specifically trying to write “Satanic” lyrics, something he admitted to. It feels contrived because it was, and in fact it loaned Sabbath less credibility than when Ronnie was singing about neon knights, and Ian was singing about getting trashed.
“Black Moon” is next, actually a re-recorded B-side from The Eternal Idol. As such, it’s not that remarkable. The riff is cool, as Tony wrings out something bluesy while Cozy pounds out a passable groove.
The album closes with the haunting, acoustic “Night Wing”. This is where Cottle’s fretless bass really plays a role. I love fretless and this song has some strong sections with great bass. It’s odd to hear fretless bass on a Sabbath album, but I like different. Tony’s guitar solo is a scorcher, as he seemingly loses control and then reels it back in. And then as if to make a point, he composes a simple but appropriate acoustic solo. And then another electric one.
You know, looking back, 1989, it was the era of the guitar hero. And nothing wrong with that. I love Van Halen, I love Satriani, Vai, Morse, all those guys. But it truly is a shame that in the 80’s, the guitar kids ignored Tony Iommi. A guitar hero — nay! legend! — was playing better than ever and the kids didn’t buy Headless Cross.
‘Tis a shame.
Lawrence Cottle was a studio cat, and arguably never an official member of Black Sabbath, but Joe Siegler’s got him listed and that’s good enough for me. You could hardly see him in the music video for “Headless Cross” as he is always in the background, blurry. But Sabbath fans were soon in for a treat that many did not appreciate: the arrival of Neil Murray on bass. Neil and Cozy had become a formidable rhythm section in Whitesnake, and now they were back together, the two guys who did Slide It In (the US version anyway).
The Black Sabbath lineup of Iommi/Martin/Powell/Murray/Nicholls bears the dubious distinction of being the third-longest lived behind the classic Ozzy and Dio (with Appice) lineups. They did three tours and two albums (Tyr and Forbidden). The hiring of these musicians was hoped to bring the credibility back. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
As mentioned, this lineup recorded the next album, Tyr, before breaking up in the face of the first reunion with Ronnie James Dio, and it was this lineup that I saw in 1995, thus far the only time I’ve seen the band.
If Headless Cross were remixed today, to just tone down the keyboards a tad, I think it would help a lot. But I do like this album. Sabbath had written some great songs (all songs are credited to the band), and Tony Martin was at the absolute peak of his voice.
GLENN TIPTON – Baptizm Of Fire (1997, 2006 reissue)
One cool thing about working in a record store: I actually bought this album 3 times. Essentially, I bought it once and the other two times were upgrades! When it first came out in 1997, I ordered in three copies — one for myself, and one each for my regular customers Len and Shane. Then another regular, Conrad, traded in the Japanese version. I upgraded mine, trading it in and paying the slight difference. Then in 2006 when the remastered edition came out (with the addition of the bonus track “New Breed”), I traded up once more, this time getting some money back for my Japanese printing. All for an album I don’t even like that much!
In fact, if this album came out today, without my staff discounts, most likely I would have skipped it. Back then though, things were very different. Priest was seemingly on ice since 1991. There wasn’t a new Priest album to look forward to. Halford’s most recent solo material (Fight’s A Small Deadly Space) had failed to excite me the way his debut album had. Now it was now up to Glenn to carry the Priest flag for me, and I eagerly ordered three copies of his debut solo CD from our distributor, for me and my customers.
The problem with Baptizm of Fire is, sadly, Glenn’s voice. Glenn’s always sung backup vocals with Priest, but as a lead…sorry. I don’t think so. Sounding like an out-of-breath Dave Mustaine, Glenn definitely gives it his all, which just isn’t enough. Not for metal this powerful. You need a soaring vocal to give you a melody to sing along to, not to whisper.
The songs are good enough though. I really liked “Fuel Me Up”, “Hard Core”, and “Extinct”. Back then, mainstream magazines like Rolling Stone treated rockers like Tipton as dinosaurs, better off extinct! Well today, things have changed and they are considered living legends. Such was the 90’s! Tiptop furiously refutes the claim that he was a dinosaur in “Extinct”, one of the best songs on Baptizm Of Fire.
The original Japanese bonus track, “Himalaya” is included on the remaster, a tribute to the Japanese people according to the liner notes on that version of the CD. Well, Glenn, I am really sorry to be the one to break this to you. Japan is nowhere near the Himalayas. I’m not sure I get it. The other bonus track is included, “New Breed” is of unknown origin but I assume from the album sessions.
In fact so much was recorded that there’s a companion album available: Edge of the World, consisting of tracks recorded with the late John Entwistle and Cozy Powell. More outtakes, they were released under the name Tipton, Enwistle & Powell.
Glenn generated some pre-release hype by loading up this album with guests. Besides the aformentioned Entwistle and Powell, there’s also the devastating Billy Sheehan, Rob Trujillo, Neil Murray on bass! Cozy Powell on drums! Don Airey on keys! And Ugly Kid Joe drummer, the excellent Shannon Larkin! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the performances.
Production-wise, this is a little over-processed sounding, a bit like the soon to come Jugulator album by Judas Priest. Tipton had a hand in producing both.
I’m sorry Glenn. I really wanted to love your solo album, but today it sits on a shelf, seldomly played. Sorry man.
2/5 stars
“Hard Core” – 4:39
“Paint It Black” – 2:56 (yup…Stones cover…and not that good)
“Enter the Storm” – 5:56
“Fuel Me Up” – 3:02
“Extinct” – 5:33
“Baptizm of Fire” (Instrumental) – 5:16 (one of the best tracks if not the best!)
“The Healer” – 4:56
“Cruise Control” – 4:08
“Kill or Be Killed” – 3:21
“Voodoo Brother” – 5:36
“Left for Dead” – 3:45
“Himalaya” (Bonus track on Japanese and remastered editions)
TONY MARTIN – Scream (2005 Marquee Inc., Japanese edition with bonus track)
Some of you might not know the name Tony Martin. Yet you should — he spent more time fronting Black Sabbath than anyone except Ozzy Osbourne. He sang on five studio albums and one live. His powerful voice, which was constantly compared to Dio’s, was behind such singles as “Headless Cross” and “The Shining”.
Scream is only Tony’s second solo album, but it’s bloody fantastic. This fits the bill for people who miss where Black Sabbath were going before Martin departed for the first time in 1991, to make room for Dio’s return. The riffs are there, and on a couple you’d swear Iommi wrote them. This is intentional — Martin collaborated with ex-Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (1980-1995) and included music and performances by late Sabbath drummer Cozy Powell.
There are many standout tracks on Scream. The opener, “Raising Hell”, is a speedy Sabbath-esque number similar to “Eye Witness” from Cross Purposes. Not coincidentally, this is the track with Nicholls and Powell, a demo for the album that would have followed Tyr. It’s a standout if you like that period of Sabbath. Which I do.
Fuck yeah! I LOVE that period of Sabbath!
There are blazing guitar solos, organ solos and hell, even a bloody violin solo, and it sounds downright wicked. Martin himself played it, as he did most instruments on this album. The rest were handled by his son, Joe Harford! I’m guessing it was Harford who plays the tasty slide guitar solos too. I loves me some slide guitar in my metal! You don’t hear it enough in metal.
Best song: “I’m Gonna Live Forever”, an anthem that I would say makes the album worth buying on its own.
Another standout: “Wherever You Go”, somewhat Zeppelin-esque circa III, but also reminiscient of a Sabbath track like “Odin’s Court”. Indeed, you will definitely hear Zeppelin creeping in during “Field of Lies”…
Worst songs: Sadly, I can’t say as I much liked the rap metal song, the Japanese-exlusive “Unbearable”. It’s basically about how getting no respect is making his life unbearable. It’s heavy and angry, has some good guitars, and sounds pretty genuine. I guess it can’t be easy being the 8th (I think) lead vocalist in Black Sabbath. I also dislike “The Kids Of Today (Don’t Understand the Blues)”. Basically about what the title says. It has a synth riff in the verses that is kind of at odds with the title, but maybe that’s the point.
Aside from the two songs that didn’t click with me, Scream comes off as an honest, classy traditional metal album. It strikes me as a bold attempt to carry the Sabbath flag, during a period when Black Sabbath were not recording. (Sabbath later got back together with Dio under the name Heaven & Hell, and made one final crushing studio album.) The songs stand up on their own, with powerful, memorable riffs. The vocal melodies and indeed the vocal performances are Martin at his best. This is just a straight great metal album, for those who like it the way they used to make it.
mikeladano.com 