geezer butler

REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (deluxe edition)

I’m addicted to buying these deluxe editions, and I’ll be doing more Sabbath in the coming days! Check out more of my Sabbath deluxe reviews by clicking here!

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BLACK SABBATH – Black Sabbath (2009 deluxe edition)

I have been a little slow reviewing all my Sabbath deluxe editions. I got this one for Christmas, 2010. Bad LeBrain!

What can I say? The most iconic metal album of all time has been given the deluxe edition treatment, and deservedly so.

First of all, before I talk about the music, this edition just looks beautiful in its digipack. The scariest most haunting album cover of all time is printed crisply on cardboard and it looks amazing. Open it up to find photos of a hippy-dippy looking Black Sabbath, just a bunch of kids. The booklet inside has truly great liner notes and more photos of the young foursome. There is one photo of Oz playing keyboards in the studio — strange, none of his keys show up on this album. I’d love to know the story behind that photo.

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Musically, of course this album is incredible. Simple, sparse, raw, and haunting. This is the kind of music that can only be made by four guys psychically locked-in with each other, knowing what notes are coming next, anticipating them and reacting to them. Bill Ward’s drumming is thrifty and wonderful, perfectly off-time and magically working with Geezer Butler’s fluidic basslines. Geezer’s bass, in turn, is locked in with Iommi’s guitar, providing melodic accents while Tony plays the rock solid demonic riffs from hell. Meanwhile, Ozzy is on top of it all, a man possessed, his words ringing loud and powerfully along within the spaces of the songs. This is the kind of album that can only be created by four guys playing live in a room together. Modern “rock” (quotes intended) bands cannot do this kind of album.

Every song is, of course, a classic, from the opening thunder of “Black Sabbath” to the wallowing solos of “Warning” and the haunting “Sleeping Village”. “N.I.B.” has one of the catchiest bass intros of all time, amp hum buzzing away in the background as you can hear Geezer’s fingers pluck away. Truly, a classic album, all killer no filler.

And no wonder. The band was tight, playing these songs night after night after night until they had them down pat. I once read that Sabbath were doing 8 sets, 45 minutes each, in the bars each gig. That makes you a tight band, and the bonus disc proves this. Alternate takes of key tracks on the second disc prove that the band had these songs down to a fine science. Casual fans won’t even be able to pick up on the differences, they are so tight. The biggest difference is in the alternate take of “Evil Woman”. Flutes? Methinks Tony still had a bit too much Jethro Tull in his system!

There are also some instrumentals with the vocal tracks stripped off. These are interesting from an analytical point of view. The title track really allows you to hear the instruments playing against each other, Tony’s guitar puking mounds of distortion all over the tapes.

Lastly you get both “Wicked World” and “Evil Woman”. Depending on where you lived, one track was subbed for the other on the original album and the first CD issues. All later remasters of this album contained both songs, including this one.

Interestingly, the demos that Ozzy released on his own Ozzman Cometh compilation are not included here. Pick that album up as well for some very rough early versions of some of these tracks, with different lyrics as well.

5/5 stars. Every metal fan in the world needs this album, absolutely no excuses.

Part 136: Black Sabbath, July 22 1995 (REVIEW!)

Sadly, my concert review for this show no longer exists.  Ye olde floppy discs don’t exist anymore, and the site that once hosted the review (sabbathlive.com) no longest exists.  Therefore I’m forced to re-write this as a Record Store Tale.

RECORD STORE TALES PART 136:  Black Sabbath July 22 1995

July 22, 1995.  Tom, myself, and a few of the boys decided to go see Black Sabbath.  They were playing Lulu’s Roadhouse, the world’s longest bar, with Motorhead opening.  It felt like a step down for both bands, but the place was packed.

We arrived just before Lemmy hit the stage.  They ripped into a scorching set to promote their latest album, the high-octane Sacrifice.   I remember Lemmy introducing the title track:  “Don’t try to dance to this one or you’ll break both your fucking legs!”  At the end of their set, Motorhead promised to return (and they did a year later).

I remember Tom and I being blown away by Motorhead.  I didn’t own any — this show officially was what made me a fan.  I kicked myself for not really paying attention to them earlier, but better late than never eh?

Motorhead remain today one of the best bands I’ve seen.

But I was there to see Black Sabbath.  We moved closer to the front of the stage to be in position.  We chose a spot perfectly between where the two Tony’s would be, right up front.

The crowd was getting a little drunk and restless.  A fight started…well, I hesitate to really call it a fight,  it was over before it started.  We all turned around to see this big huge dude headbutt this little tiny Kurt Cobain looking guy.  Knocked him out cold.  Then the big guy realized everybody was watching and hastily made an exit.

Then, Black Sabbath:  Tony Iommi, Tony Martin, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, and Geoff Nicholls.  What we didn’t know was that Cozy only had seven more gigs after this one.  Then he would be replaced by another Sabbath vet, Bobby Rondinelli.  And of course little did I know that I’d never see Cozy live again in any band:  He was killed in a car accident 3 years later.

They hit the stage to the classic Martin-era opener, “Children of the Grave”.  Sabbath’s set was sprinkled with tunes from the Ozzy era (“War Pigs”, “Iron Man”, “Paranoid”, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, “Black Sabbath”) and the Dio era (“Heaven and Hell”, “Mob Rules”) and many of his own tracks.  They played three from the lacklustre new record, but at least three of the better songs:  an awesomely dramatic “Kiss Of Death”, the explosive “Can’t Get Close Enough”, and the filler song “Get A Grip”.

It was just before “Get A Grip” that the stagediving began.  Tom vacated the stage area right away.  “Get a grip is right!” he said to me.  “I’m out of here.”  Two songs later I followed him.  This drunk girl started grinding me from behind, so I took the first chance to slip away and catch up with Tom.

The one song I really came to see was “The Shining”, one of the best Martin-era tunes, and his first single with the band.  Sabbath delivered.  They also played two from Headless Cross including “When Death Calls”.  Neil Murray played the chiming bass intro to this song that I’d never heard before.  It was the only unfamiliar song.  I resolved to get Headless Cross as soon as possible.  (It took two months for Orange Monkey Music in Waterloo to get it from Europe.)

Vague memories:

Tony Martin was a so-so frontman.  Much of the time, he would spread his arms Christ-like and shake his thinning hair.  He talked a lot and I remember he had small, beady but friendly looking eyes.  He did the best he could.  He sang his ass off, although he had lost a fair chunk of his range.

I remember Iommi ditched his SG for an unfamiliar red guitar during the overdriven “Can’t Get Close Enough”.

I could barely see Cozy, which is my biggest regret.

I was pleased that Sabbath played a well-rounded set with new stuff.

Little did I know that the end was near.  Not only was Cozy soon to be out, but promoters cancelled much of the end of the tour.  Sabbath headed over to Japan, threw “Changes” into the set (OMG!) but were done by the end of the year.  For the first time in a long time, Sabbath were put on ice while Tony (Iommi) worked on a solo album with Glenn Hughes.

Meanwhile, the lawyers were conspiring to create a new/old Sabbath lineup.  By 1997, Ozzy was back, and the band now featuring founding members Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and new drummer Mike Bordin of Faith No More.

I’m glad  to have seen Sabbath with Martin.  He did five albums, and I like three of them.  I think he did the best he could under difficult circumstances.  He’s a talented guy, so it’s great to have seen this lineup especially since Cozy would be gone so soon!

REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer (deluxe edition)

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BLACK SABBATH – Dehumanizer (2011 deluxe edition)

After a chaotic decade of lineup changes, solo-but-not-solo albums, record label switcharoos, and a few aborted attempts to reconcile with Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi finally did something that we fans had been wishing for:  He recovened the classic Mob Rules lineup of the band, featuring fellow cohorts in rock Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler, Vinnie Appice, and unofficial keyboardist Geoff Nicholls.

The results were staggering: Dehumanizer, the best Black Sabbath since Born Again at least, and Sabotage at best. It is incredibly heavy even for Black Sabbath, topped only by the same lineup’s The Devil You Know in 2009. Yet heaviness alone would not make any album a classic. Dehumanizer is marked by outstanding production (by Mack of Queen fame), newfound seriousness in the lyrical department, and a certain rhythmic thrift courtesy of Appice. To me, Dehumanizer is among the best of all Sabbath albums, and that includes Ozzy’s. For that vintage guitar sound, Iommi resurrected his old Gibson SG that he used back in the Paranoid days. That’s why it sounds like a monster puking distortion out of the speakers.

A track like “Computer God” relies on Appice’s relentless hammering, until Iommi’s riff subdues you into a pulp. None of these songs are immediate. The sludge of “After All (The Dead)” crawls along, but slowly burrows its way into your memory. My personal favourite song is “I”, which…man, I won’t even try to describe it, except to say that it’s awesome.

The liner notes reveal that the band had to convince Dio to drop the rainbows and dragons from the lyrics, and the album is that much more powerful for it. This carried on through to some of Ronnie’s solo albums as well. It is a shame that this newfound seriousness did not strike a chord with the grunge scenesters of the time.

This deluxe edition is pretty much as good as they get. It collects every B-side side and associated track for Dehumanizer, as well as one previously unreleased one. On the bonus disc you will find three non-album versions of “Master of Insanity”, “Letters From Earth”, and “Time Machine” (the version from Wayne’s World). “Letters From Earth” is an early version with slightly different lyrics and riffs. This had been on a B-side before.

You also get five live tracks, all from single B-sides. This was a real coup for me, as I didn’t even know these existed before. I missed out on those singles. As far as live songs go, they could be better. “Die Young” is a mere two minutes long (you can hear that it was about to merge into “Too Late” before the fade). Geoff Nicholl’s keyboards are mixed in too loudly. “Master of Insanity” is previously unreleased, and although unlisted it is actually a medley with “After All (The Dead)”. I’m glad that this brief era of Sabbath has been documented with some live songs, and Dio was in peak form back then.

For some reason, I couldn’t get this from the Canadian Amazon site. I had to order it in from the States. Weird.

5/5 stars. A crucial slab of Sabbath that has now been given the appropriate treatment, same as Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules. Complete your collection.

Party On! Excellent!

REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (deluxe edition)

 

This is the third time I have bought Master of Reality on CD.  I’m addicted to buying these deluxe editions.   Check out more of my Sabbath deluxe reviews by clicking here!

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BLACK SABBATH – Master of Reality (2010 deluxe edition)

Black Sabbath really began to grow on Master of Reality. Wheras their first wax and Paranoid seem largely cut from the same cloth, Master exhibits some new flare. Acoustic guitar, flute, adventurous arrangements…this was the first step on a road that would later lead to the masterpiece Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

You already know the big songs: “Into the Void”, “Sweet Leaf”, “Children of the Grave”. These songs all combine crushing riffs, stark vocals, and the quintessential Black Sabbath sound that only these four guys could produce. Something about Bill Ward’s slightly off timekeeping and Geezer Butler’s trademark slinky bass drives these songs on a hellbent path.

You can’t go wrong with the rest of the album either, not a weak song in the bunch. “After Forever” combines a couple riffs together into a mutant beast of hard rock. “Lord of This World” is brutal. “Solitude” is hauntingly beautiful, a masterpiece that neither Sabbath nor Ozzy would equal later.  In my opinion.

This deluxe edition combines the original album with a bonus disc containing demos and instrumentals. There are alternate lyrics as well. I like the instrumental versions because you get the hear the band stripped down, and the interplay of the instruments. These guys truly were psychically locked in. (Geezer and Tony have always said so.) Casual fans won’t need this bonus disc, as there is a lot of repeat, but diehards like myself love having these previously unheard versions.

Last of all is a completely unreleased song, also unknown to me previously, called “Weevil Woman”. The great thing about this song is that it is not a throw-away. It is up to the Sabbath standard, and almost as good as anything on the album itself. Collectors rejoice, the inclusion of this one song makes this purchase compulsory. It’s a no-brainer.

My only complaint? My old Castle remaster of this album had an embossed cover, replicating the original vinyl. It’s a shame something similar wasn’t done with this. Embossing the cover would have replicated the original vinyl artwork so much better, as the original album had the album title only embossed so you can barely see it, it was not coloured at all.

Liner notes and inner artwork are, of course, great.

5/5 stars.

Oh! And one last thing. Bill Ward’s non-involvement with the Black Sabbath reunion means it is NOT a Black Sabbath reunion. It is simply a new lineup. Not happy with this!

REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Born Again (deluxe edition)

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BLACK SABBATH – Born Again (1983, 2011 deluxe edition)

Born Again is my favourite album of all time. #1. Numero uno.

It wasn’t always that way. When I first owned it (on cassette) I really only enjoyed two songs, “Trashed” and “Zero The Hero”. But I was persistent. Soon other songs started to emerge from the muddy morass that is this album: “Born Again”, “Keep It Warm”, “Disturbing The Priest”. Now, years after first hearing this album, it is an indispensible part of my collection and my musical background. I don’t know exactly why I love it so much. It’s an ugly duckling of an album, uglier even than its cover.

In 1983, Don Arden (father of Sharon Osbourne) recommended that Black Sabbath tap Ian Gillan (ex-Deep Purple) as new lead vocalist replacing Ronnie James Dio. Gillan had just folded his self-titled band (the excellent Gillan) to rejoin Deep Purple, but the reunion failed to happen. Drummer Bill Ward, at this point an alcoholic and still reeling from the death of his father, but still managed to come back long enough to record this album. (Soon, he was out again and replaced by ELO’s Bev Bevan, whose picture is also included inside.) Gillan said he was expecting this to be some new supergroup, under a new name, and was surprised when it became the next version of Black Sabbath.

“Trashed”, a fast smoker, kicks you in the nuts right from the beginning, with Ian Gillan’s colourful storytelling. “It really was a meeting, the bottle took a beating, the ladies of the Manor, watched me climb into my car…” No question what this song is about – drinking, ladies, and fast cars.  Narrowly escaping death, the drinking driver in question proclaims at the end, “Oooh, Mr. Miracle, save me from some pain. Oooh, Mr. Miracle, I won’t get trashed again.”

An atmospheric instrumental called “Stonehenge” (a dark watery piece) seques straight into the biggest asskicker of the whole album. “Disturbing The Priest”, the most evil sounding song on any Sabbath album, is actually anything but. Lyrically it’s just about recording the album next door to a church and waking up the neighbors! You can’t tell that from Gillan’s hellish screams or Geezer Butler’s fluid, lyrical bassline.

Another brief instrumental (“The Dark”) acts as in intro to “Zero The Hero”, the epic single, the most evil video the band ever made, and the riff that Slash (allegedly) ripped off for a little tune called “Paradise City”. Gillan sings his patented “English-as-a-second-language” style of lyrics: “Sit by the river with the magic in the music as we eat raw liver.” Raw liver?  What the hell? Musically, this song is the definition of heavy metal.

Side 2 of the original LP begins with another fast scorcher, but still a much more straightforward song than anything on side one. “Digital Bitch” smokes from start to finish. Angry, vicious and brutal, this is a rock song for metal heads. “Keep away from the digital bitch!” warns Gillan.  Iommi’s riffery is tops.

“Born Again” is, I guess, a fucked up blues, filtered through Tony Iommi’s echoey underwater guitar sounds. If I had to compare it to another song, it would be Deep Purple’s “Wasted Sunsets”, for mood and vibe. Yet this is a much darker beast, highlighted by a metal chorus replete with screams.

Another fast rocker, “Hot Line”, is up next which the band used to play live. Very similar to “Digital Bitch” in style.

The final track is “Keep It Warm”, a midtempo song with rich vocals by Gillan, and more of that Engligh-as-a-second-language lyricism. “Keep it warm, rat, don’t forget pretty pretty one that your man is coming home.” Rat?

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So: if this record is loaded with such amazing riffage and tunes, why was it so unpopular? Why did it almost destroy Black Sabbath as a band? Why did it rate so low, everywhere? The answer is simple to me — the production sucks. Rumour has it that Geezer Butler snuck into the studio and turned the bass up so high that it couldn’t be fixed in the mix. As a result, this is a muddy, bass-heavy album with non-existent cymbals or even treble. Bill Ward’s drum sound is similar to the sound of hammering on a sheet of 1/8″ thick steel. Even his drum style has changed — in the 70’s he was much looser, then he got stiff and this was the first album where he sounds so stiff and relentless.

Yet, as a package, to me it works. I love this album and the sound is part of that. From the cover art, to the look of the band, to the songs & videos, this is a picture of pure rock and roll evil! Sabbath is usually at their best when plying the darkest waters, and Born Again is indeed the darkest of the dark. I think this CD remaster goes a long way towards making the album enjoyable. (The liner notes are also excellent.)

After this tour, Gillan left for Purple (for real this time), and the band hired yet another singer — David Donato who later turned up with Mark St. John (Kiss) in a band called White Tiger. Donato joined the original members for a photo shoot, but this new lineup produced no music, and Sabbath disbanded. Tony Iommi began work on a with another ex-Purple singer, Glenn Hughes (notice a pattern here?)…but that is another totally confusing and convoluted story!

Gillan maintains to this day that he was “the worst singer that Sabbath ever had,” while Ozzy thinks this is the best Sabbath album since he left the band. But, much like Another Perfect Day by Motorhead, it is a different sounding album that has a strong cult following.

You decide!

AND NOW! Onto the bonus disc.

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First up is “The Fallen”, a heavy fast rocker with a great riff. It is a riff unlike most Iommi riffs but it’s a solid one. The song has been heavily bootlegged before, but the deluxe edition is its first official release. Interesting but not essential is an extended version of “Stonehenge”, the watery intro to “Disturbing the Priest”. Next is the live set at Reading. This is the first official release of anything featuring the Sabbath lineup of Gillan/Iommi/Butler and Bev Bevan. I have a bootleg of the Montreal show (Black and Purple), which is awful. Gillan’s voice was all over the map on that one, maybe his monitors were off or maybe he was hoarse, but he sucked that night. This Reading show is much better! You have to remember that Ian Gillan, of all the Black Sabbath singers, put his own spin on these songs. He didn’t always sing the words as they were written, and his voice is so idiosyncratic that it’s hard to put Made In Japan out of mind. That’s not a bad thing to me, I love Ian Gillan. It may not be to everybody’s taste.

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Strongest on the live stuff were “Digital Bitch” and “Hotline”. “Zero The Hero” is sloppy, but drummer Bevan is solid. In fact it is Bevan with whom I am most frequently impressed here. Aside from some “percussion” sessions on the Eternal Idol album, this is the first official release of any Sabbath music with Bev Bevan on drums, and certainly the largest chunk of Sabbath music available with his performances.

The crowd goes absolutely nuts for “Smoke On The Water”, more so than any Sabbath song before it. It’s weird hearing any band that’s not Deep Purple sing the story about Montreaux, but I think they had no choice. They really did have to play it or the crowds would have rioted. Sabbath play a blocky heavy metal version of the song.

Disappointingly, there is no Dio-era material. On the Montreal bootleg, Gillan sang “Heaven and Hell” (gloriously screwing up the words) and “Neon Knights”.

Still, this is an absolutely great reissue. Wonderful packaging and liner notes, finally answering the rumours about that album cover.

5/5 stars! This will always be my favourite Sab platter. Plus it tends to scare the neighbors.

REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell (deluxe edition)

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BLACK SABBATH – Heaven and Hell (2011 deluxe edition)

Of the Sabbath reissues, Heaven and Hell has proven to be one of the most anticipated, but also one of the most skimpy. Anticipated, because in addition to the usual B-sides, this one also includes some previously unreleased live tracks. Skimpy, because the bonus disc only has a minimal seven songs on it.

Even the most diehard of Ozzy fanatics usually begrudgingly concede that Heaven and Hell is a damn fine album. Powerfully heavy, but clean, slick and to the point, Heaven and Hell is the only Black Sabbath album to feature the lineup of Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals, and original members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. As such it has a different vibe from Mob Rules, due to Bill’s swing and thrift. Nobody can swing like Bill Ward, and I believe that Vinny Appice would agree with me. There is nary a weak song on the whole album (although “Lady Evil” comes close as far as I’m concerned). There are no less than two crucial singles, in “Neon Knights” and “Die Young”, both trademark Dio speed rockers. There is also, of course, the epic title track. A riff so famous that it rivals such classics as “Iron Man” and “Paranoid”. Let us not forget that when Tony Iommi appeared at the Freddie Mercury tribite concert back in 1992, it was “Heaven and Hell” that Brian May chose to introduce Iommi with, not “Iron Man” or “Paranoid”!

Really, Heaven and Hell is a perfect Sabbath album, perhaps the only truly perfect Sabbath album besides the crucial first six with Ozzy. While I love Born Again (my favourite album of all time by anybody) even I must admit that its production values make the record an ugly duckling. No such problem here. Martin Birch has expertly recorded the band. His production is not the wall of sludge of early Sabbath.  It is a clearer, leaner beast, but no less mean.  The teeth are sharp indeed.  (This is before Birch allegedly succumbed to cocaine on Mob Rules.)

The bonus disc begins with the two live B-sides, “Children of the Sea” and “Heaven and Hell” itself, both (in my opinion) superior to the later live versions due to the presence of Bill Ward. “Heaven and Hell” is clipped off at the end however, I believe this is the version from the 7″ single, not the 12″. (But fear not, the full 12″ version is later!) Then there’s a 7″ mono version of “Lady Evil”, the only song I didn’t need to hear twice. Although I have to admit I had no idea they were still making mono records in 1980.

Finally there are the previously unreleased live songs! All the best tunes, recorded live in 1980 with Bill Ward on drums, and in this batch of songs is also the 12″ version of “Heaven and Hell”, the full 12 minute version that I have on the “Die Young” single. This has all the solos and Ronnie’s singalong vocals.

So there you have it. Not as much running time as Mob Rules, but Mob Rules also didn’t include anything that wasn’t unreleased.

5/5 stars. A landmark album, and this is the version to own. Oh, and the remastering sounds great!