Can I be reading this correctly? You don't like the lyrics to "War Pigs" (I think you might actually be the first Sabbath fan with this viewpoint but I'm assuming it's political or you're unabashedly "pro-military" ), but how does Gillan "ad libbing during non-lyrical sections" help you to overlook the lyrics? Btw, I like the Reading performance but I think some of their shows the following month were much stronger. Some of the German shows I've heard are astounding!
After listening to this, I tend to agree Gillan does a better job of covering the Ozzy material than Dio did. The versions of "Black Sabbath" and "War Pigs" with Gillan are vastly superior to RJD's (I love those heavy dissonant chords that Iommi plays during "Black Sabbath"). This is a good live recording and the production is quite clear, but I could definitely do without the keyboards on every song i.e. "Iron Man" with keyboards just doesn't work for me, sorry. As for the Born Again stuff, it sounds good for the most part, but "Zero the Hero" is just too plodding for my tastes here. It sounds almost wooden in its delivery. At bit more tempo and energy would have been nice. No worries with the "Smoke on the Water" cover as I saw it live and it worked okay and, as Akhorahil stated, was a nice tribute on Iommi's part to Gillan's past and, perhaps, a way to make him feel a bit more comfortable onstage with the new band. In any case, it works alright, though the solo isn't "Blackers" quality for sure, but whatever. "Paranoid" doesn't sound good here. Wow.
Maybe I like Gillan's delivery of the lyrics better too. I don't want to open a politics can of worms by discussing the lyrics too much. I'll just say that I think that Alice in Chains "Rooster," U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky," CCR "Fortunate Son," Metallica's "One," and Stryper's "Believe" are all more personal and stronger statements about war than "War Pigs." It is easier to generalize about war only ever being bad and that it only benefits certain people in society and more difficult to write and perform a song that discusses the bad or good effects of war in a more personal way. It probably isn't the worst song anyone has ever written about the topic, but there are many others that I prefer.
I have no idea, but it saddens me deeply to see that's what "Black Sabbath" had evolved into. The creators of Paranoid, Vol 4, Master of Reality, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, that amazing debut album...now relegated to playing everyman's metal behind a mess of shrieking hair tossing. Ugh.
I see where you coming from. Gillan wasn't a pretty sight in 1983 - really fat and bloated and his hair was a mess. And Hot Line is indeed a very generic metal tune and riff. But IMHO tracks like Disturbing the Priest, Zero the Hero and especially the wonderful Born Again were every bit as original and creative as Ozzy era classics. The last true grasp of Sabbath greatness until 13.
Citing Stryper's "Believe" (the lyrics and video sank so low as to be downright nationalistic in an attempt to sell the song) as a better statement on war than "War Pigs" should seriously send one to some type of "musical jail" for... I don 't know... at least a year.
This was from their lip synced appearance on "Rock Palace." It was a TV show which aired for a while around that time. Probably filmed in Hollywood.
I'd never heard it before. Just checked it out on YouTube. Honestly, there were only two things I didn't like about it. The first half, and the second half. I don't know how can seriously put that schlocky POS in the same sentence as War Pigs.
"Believe" and "War Pigs" are two sides of the same coin. You can start a war for good or bad. "War Pigs" implies that war is always bad. It is true that there are costs to all wars, including people losing their lives and people benefiting financially. Sabbath clearly focuses on these sacrifices as painful and unwanted. "Believe" focuses on the those who believe that a war is worth the costs. Sabbath is correct in that some start wars with bad intent just like Stryper is correct that some fight wars with a good intent.
"War Pigs" implies nothing quite that simple. Rather, it is written from the perspective of the poor and lower working classes. Those who are often asked to actually fight battles which are chosen by those in power and who do not fight. It also a commentary on the state of a certain aspect of mankind.
While trenchant commentary on the nature of war (pro and con), I'd rather we try and avoid the topic as it risks becoming something closer to being political in nature and that is clearly frowned upon on this forum. Let's stick to the music and the albums!
I absolutely LOVE Worcester and would listen to it any day over Reading. I think it's clearer, has better sound, and a better show. I've been listening to it since 1984 when I taped it off the radio.
Thanks, Peter. I suspect like some others, over the years was assembled a bounteous ensemble of radio taped, compact cassette-housed finery but sadly, that very time, in association with a pathological aversion to neatness has seen few survive to this point. The Reading show was one such home recording although I suspect the fidelity of 30-35 year old normal ferric, interspersed with occasional concessions to chrome formulations, captured as they were on distinctly 'young chap budget' gear would probably struggle to make first base in the less forgiving, generally existing quality of contemporary software stakes. However, as I have referenced elsewhere, some of the Tony Wilson produced, BBC Radio 1, outside broadcast, archive material, does seem to be burrowing its way back to daylight, e.g. the Dio at Donnington '83/87 shows which are, in the main, perty dang fine live 'uns, as far as the genre goes. I would like to bag some of these without having to replicate their associated 'Deluxe' counterparts, like the Born Again remaster since as per Anton, in reviewing this album for 'The Thread' I have recalibrated my opinion of its controversial sound (i.e. I completely 'get it' and approve.)
That was great, I enjoyed reading it. Good job! I'm having internet connection problems but I'll return and comment on both.
BLACK SABBATH [Featuring Tony Iommi] - Seventh Star (1986) Released Janurary 28, 1986 on Warner Bros. (US) and Vertigo (UK) Recorded in 1985 at Cheshire Studios, Atlanta Tracks: In For the Kill No Stranger to Love Turn to Stone Sphinx (The Guardian) Seventh Star Danger Zone Heart Like a Wheel Angry Heart In Memory Personnel: Tony Iommi: Guitar Geoff Nicholls: Keyboards Glenn Hughes: Vocals Dave Spitz: Bass Eric Singer: Drums Gordon Copley: Bass on "No Stranger to Love" Produced by Jeff Glixman Total running time: 34:55 Seventh Star is a deliberate departure sound wise from the past records and focuses on a more mainstream rock sound that incorporates blues stylings, arena rock, and, overall, a more melodic approach than the past records that Tony Iommi and his bandmates had created throughout the seventies and early eighties. Though labeled as a "Black Sabbath" record due to label and management pressures, the album was originally intended to be Iommi's first solo album, and, thus, the material was not written with it having that certain Black Sabbath sound in mind. At the end of the Born Again tour, vocalist Ian Gillan departed to join the reformed Deep Purple MkII line-up while tour drummer, Bev Bevan, decided he was done as well. This left bass player Geezer Butler and Iommi, once again, left to find another suitable vocalist for the band. Through auditions tapes the band found vocalist, David Donato, who they recorded a few demo tracks with and did some promo pictures with, but ultimately, Iommi and Butler decided he wasn't what the band was looking for, and was out. Drummer Bill Ward had once again approached the pair about rejoining the band, and did so briefly, however, once again he left and then Geezer Butler decided he had had enough and departed as well. With Butler's leaving, that left Iommi as the only original member in the band that had been founded in 1968 and had always had, at least two original members at all times, but that not the case anymore. Iommi initially decided to put together a solo record that would feature different vocalists on each track (much like his Iommi record that was released in 2000), but the guitarist kept running into contractual roadblocks with the singers he wanted to use, so ultimately he decided to scrap that idea. After another aborted attempt to use another unknown vocalist (and future television evangelist), Jeff Fenholt (with whom several demos were cut that would, ultimately, become songs on Seventh Star), Iommi decided to bring in former Trapeze and Deep Purple bass player and vocalist, Glenn Hughes (who had been on his initial wish list of vocalists), for a few tracks and decided he was so good that he would use him for the entire album. While Hughes had a great voice, he was, according to Iommi, a huge coke head and incredibly difficult to work with due to his substance abuse, but Iommi was indulging in substances himself, so he overlooked Hughes's annoying behavior for the sake of completing the album. Comprising the rest of the line-up would be Lita Ford's drummer, Eric Singer, and bass player, Dave "The Beast" Spitz, (brother of Dan, the lead guitarist for Anthrax) who had played in a NYC outfit called Americade before joining the Seventh Star sessions. Long time sideman keyboardist, Geoff Nicholls, who had played with the band since 1979, would complete the Seventh Star line-up, and Seventh Star would be the first record where he would be listed as an actual member of the band. With former Kansas and Gary Moore producer, Jeff Glixman, at the controls, the band laid down the initial tracks in Los Angeles and then Hughes and Iommi departed for Atlanta's Cheshire Studios to complete the album due to better studio rates. The cover of Seventh Star is rather unremarkable in that it is, understandably, just a picture of Tony Iommi by himself (the cover art was done for the album with it in mind that this would be an Iommi solo album, so when the decree came from down high that it was to be called a Black Sabbath record, there was no time to create new album art) and, outside of Sabotage (and, to an extent, Vol. 4) is the only Black Sabbath album to feature the band or an individual member on the cover of an album. There is some speculation that the cover art of Seventh Star is a tribute to 4th century St. Antony of Egypt who developed the first Christian monasticism. With Iommi pictured alone and isolated in a desert setting it (perhaps) seeks to convey an image like that of St. Antony and his self imposed exile for ascetic reasons to rid himself of the temptation from sin and to attain peace. And while a couple of the songs on Seventh Star hit upon Egypt in a topical and musical themed manner ("Sphinx (The Guardian)", "In Memory", and "Seventh Star"), this idea really seems to be more conjecture than anything else. In any event, the cover art is not really anything outstanding or noteworthy outside of this, admittedly, somewhat flimsy hypothesis. As mentioned above, many of Seventh Star's songs came from demos that had been conceived under the working title Star of India with singer Jeff Fenholt with the tracks having a different title and with different lyrics. The track names with Fenholt will be in parenthesis after the titles from Seventh Star. The songs: "In For the Kill" is a simplistic (if 7/8 time can be called simplistic) opening rocker that features Hughes's soaring vocals (and quality background vocals courtesy of himself). Drummer Eric Singer smashes out a pounding beat, but I'm not crazy about his drum sound on the record. So let's talk about the production of Seventh Star here: the drums sound paper thin and there is very little clarity with the cymbals. Bass guitarist, Dave Spitz, who does some interesting runs on this tune, is also woefully buried in the mix, but Seventh Star is an Iommi vehicle and it is certainly treated as such. Iommi and Hughes are the main players here and are highlighted as such. "In For the Kill" is pretty much arena rock at its finest and highlights Hughes's pipes to a good degree, but not much else. "No Stranger to Love" ("Take My Heart" - Star of India) is the power ballad of the album and features some David Gilmour like guitar at the beginning which then moves into a heavier verse section with Hughes imploring, passionate vocals. Nicholls keyboards are fairly prominent on this track as well. While I don't hate this song, I find the chorus lyrics to be laughable: "living on the streets, I'm no stranger to love, why can't you see I'm no stranger to love?" I mean, why can't you see he's no stranger to love?? Are you blind? Anyway, this is kind of a corny tune and there was a video made of it that featured future "Star Trek: The Next Generation" actress Denise Crosby as Iommi's love interest. According to Iommi, it was a very embarrassing video to make (per Iron Man). However, "No Stranger to Love" has a good, melodic solo from Iommi, so it's not a complete throwaway, but it's close. "Turn to Stone" was a tune originally worked up with singer Jeff Fenholt under a different title ("Eye of the Storm"- Star of India) and different lyrics, that's an effective rocker and probably resembles something that, conceivably, could have turned up on Born Again. It features a slicing guitar solo and, honestly, musically sounds like it could be an Accept tune as easily as a Black Sabbath song. Nevertheless, it moves with a good pace and features some interesting guitar effects from Iommi where it sounds like he's using a tremolo bar. "Sphinx (The Guardian)" is a short Geoff Nicholls instrumental that sounds like it could have been recorded as part of the soundtrack of the Roy Scheider film, "Sorcerer" as easily as it could fit on a Black Sabbath record. In other words, it sounds like Tangerine Dream a bit. I quite like the soundscape it conveys and it works as a good intro to "Seventh Star" which is a lumbering, gothic tinged rocker that is probably as close to a true Black Sabbath tune as any song on the record. In reality, the tune resembles a track by Blue Murder called "Valley of the Kings" quite a bit (but that album came later). The mid section has a very heavy Middle Eastern vibe to it courtesy of the keyboards and Iommi lays down a very melodic guitar solo that has much Robbie Blunt (Robert Plant's first guitarist) to it as it does Iommi's distinctive phrasing. Yet, I quite like the chorus of the song and the eerie, chanting like keyboard effects that hark back to, perhaps, "Children of the Sea" and work to create a sinister mood. The end portion almost sounds like Iommi pulled out his flute, but I can't be sure of that. ("Seventh Star" was another tune worked up, first, with vocalist, Jeff Fenholt, and was originally named "Star of India" and was the title track of that demo.) "Danger Zone", (another Jeff Fenholt demo idea called "Chance on Love" -- Star of India), starts out side two of Seventh Star and it's a tune that, thematically and sonically, resembles a Gary Moore tune stylistically. Iommi's phrasing sounds very similar to Moore chording wise and the middle section is very tasteful in terms of Iommi doing a short solo and then transitioning into a multi-tracked harmony part not unlike you might hear on a Thin Lizzy record. The song then returns for the verses to the Moore like guitar rhythm and the song goes to fade. It's a quality, melodic rocker. "Heart Like a Wheel" ("Love on the Line" - Star of India) is Iommi returning to his blues roots with a smokey, crunchy riff that resembles "Keep It Warm" a bit, but slowed down. The rhythm section is doing the standard 4/4 blues groove while Iommi lays down an inspired crunchy solo that takes up the majority of the song. Singer's gated snare sound is a bit distracting during this section, but Iommi really tears it up during this portion and adds some menacing chords to keep the mood dark and somber. "Heart Like a Wheel" is one of the better songs on Seventh Star and really displays Iommi's tasteful blues influenced soloing. I've always enjoyed it. "Angry Heart" is a short melodic rocker that reminds me way too much of Gary Moore's version of the Free tune "Wishing Well". The vocal delivery and phrasing is very (too) similar for my liking though I quite like Iommi's chording during Hughes's vocals where he sings, "and it's been this way since time began". Oddly there's really no distinct chorus for this song as the song keeps kind of rolling off the "Wishing Well" like riff and alternates with the above mentioned riff that then segues into the last tune, "In Memory" which is a softer, acoustic based tune with somber barre chords underneath and Singer's crashing drums. With Hughes's howling away, "it's still haunting me!" the song fades out to end. I suppose "Angry Heart" and "In Memory" could be looked upon as a suite of sorts as they compliment each other nicely. Seventh Star is a good album that showcases Iommi handing blues influenced numbers, power ballads, melodic, heavy rock songs, and gothic tinged slow burners like the title track. What Seventh Star really does is display Iommi's ability to play different styles of music (albeit all heavy rock), with some real agility and diversity in his playing. Glenn Hughes, who can sound utterly histrionic and over the top on other recordings, puts on a good performance on Seventh Star and rarely goes into the shrill, off the rails mode that has made many of the releases his appears on so cringeworthy. That said, in truth, Seventh Star, to my ears, sounds a lot like a Gary Moore record and that's understandable due to the use of former Moore producer, Glixman, and the presence of Hughes who had, himself, worked with Moore on the album Run for Cover just a year before Seventh Star. There is a big stylistic similarity in many of tunes, vocal wise, and in terms of arrangements, of Moore's work around the same time period. While I would profess that Seventh Star is a good album and if it was left to stand alone as what it was meant to be, it would have been received much better than it was by fans and critics alike. Labeling it as a "Black Sabbath" record was a big mistake in my opinion, in that (1) it set the album up to fail with the hardcore fan base who absolutely would not accept an album with Iommi as the only original member of the band, and (2) it set up the precedent that from here on out Black Sabbath could be justifiably called as such with just Iommi in the band. Though the guitarist has stated many times that he was not comfortable calling Seventh Star a Black Sabbath album and was forced to do so by management and the label to help shift units, he certainly didn't have a problem with it calling the succeeding output he recorded as Black Sabbath albums though he remained the only original member. (1994's Cross Purposes, where bass player Geezer Butler rejoined the band, would be the only album with an additional original member until 1998's Reunion, in fact). So, while I say the music on Seventh Star is a success and performed well, the album itself, ultimately, must be seen as a failure for setting a precedent of phony Black Sabbath albums that would follow it. Make no mistake in what I say: the band and name was Tony Iommi's and he had every right to use it (as he chose to do), but I think the music and the legacy of the band would have been better served if he called the project and subsequent ones, a different name. While Black Sabbath had gone through numerous line-up changes after the firing of singer, Ozzy Osbourne, in 1979, to my mind, the band had at least retained its identity by having both Iommi and Butler in the band. That was the band I was introduced to as thirteen year old fan, and as long as that nucleus was intact, it was Black Sabbath to me be it Dio, Gillan, or whomever else on vocals and whatever drummer, but once Butler departed, to me, Black Sabbath was no longer a band. But that's just my perspective on the matter and others may differ in their opinion, of course. Seventh Star was sold to me by the same record clerk, Kevin Ponthier, that had presented Born Again to me as "Black Sabbath being back!". His pitch was much the same to me with this one. I can remember looking at it and thinking, "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi??" What hell was that about? It didn't ring right with me, but I bought it anyway. Initially, I didn't like the record very much, but it's grown on me over the years. At the time I bought it, it flat didn't sound like a Black Sabbath record to me at all. In fact, it sounded like a watered down hard rock record (which is kind of what it is), but with age and tolerance I have learned to appreciate this record a lot though I still recognize the misrepresentation of what the album is (as I noted above). I had a chance to see this tour and contemplated getting tickets, but ultimately decided I wasn't that interested in seeing a Black Sabbath line-up that was, essentially, a bunch of nobodies and Tony Iommi. This was, unfortunately for the band, the prevailing attitude for most fans as the tour failed in the US and had to be rebooted with a Europe tour instead later in the year of 1986. Vocalist Glenn Hughes would only last five gigs for the tour of Seventh Star before his drug use and erratic behavior caused him to be replaced by, then, unknown vocalist, Ray Gillen, who would take over for him. In fact, Hughes had been so flaky during the first shows of the tour, that Gillen had to be brought in as what could be seen as an 'understudy' role as insurance in case Hughes crashed and couldn't perform. Ultimately, of course, Hughes did crash, and Gillen stepped in to replace him, but the loss of Hughes caused the US leg of the tour to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The band, however, did continue on with the European leg of the tour and Gillen would go on to perform on the next record, The Eternal Idol, but there would, of course, be problems there as well, but that's for the next review.
Excellent review Godshifter. Thanks for indicating that Dave Spitz was Dan's brother, I always wondered about that. I have my 1996 Castle CD in my " playlist" now so I can give this a listen sometime soon.
