Sabbath's The Eternal Idol and Seventh Star getting reissued in October

From ClassicRock.com:

Quote :

There are two more Black Sabbath albums ready for reissue next month.

These are Seventh Star from 1986, with Glenn Hughes on vocals, and The Eternal Idol (87), with Tony Martin singing. Both are due out on October 25 and have been expanded.

In the case of The Eternal Idol, there are eight tracks recorded with vocalist ray Gillen, before he left. Martin them came on board and all Gillen’s work was scrapped, although never wiped.

Seventh Star was supposed to be guitarist Tony Iommi’s first solo album. However, he was persuaded to release it under the name of Black Sabbath, to increase its commercial potential.

I wish there were better details on what's being included but I love both of these albums so I'm up for anything. It would be really cool if all the Gillen tracks really were included. I just hope they aren't going to end up as imports for us North American fans. That can get pretty expensive!

Dig it.

Quote :

According to a posting on the BLACK SABBATH fan site Black-Sabbath.com, expanded reissues of SABBATH's "Seventh Star" (1986) and "Eternal Idol" (1987) albums — which featured Glenn Hughes (ex-DEEP PURPLE) and Tony Martin, respectively, on vocals — will be made available in the U.K. on October 25 via Sanctuary/Universal.

After just a handful of dates on the 1986 "Seventh Star" tour, Hughes was let go, and singer Ray Gillen was brought on board. Gillen finished the tour, and work began on the next SABBATH album, and it was mostly completed. Gillen left to form BADLANDS (with now-KISS drummer Eric Singer, who also previously played with SABBATH), and this left BLACK SABBATH with a mostly completed album, and no singer. Tony Martin was brought in and re-recorded all the vocals in two weeks. The album came out with Tony Martin, and the only remaining bit of the original Ray Gillen vocals was some laughter in the track "Nightmare".

The original Ray Gillen version of "The Eternal Idol" has been traded in bootleg circles for ages now.

The additional tracks on "The Eternal Idol" expanded reissue include "Some Kind Of Woman" and "Black Moon" (demo) on Disc 1. Disc 2 will comprise the entire Ray Gillen version of "The Eternal Idol" album!

"The Eternal Idol" expanded reissue track listing is:

Disc 1:

01. The Shining
02. Ancient Warrior
03. Hard Life To Love
04. Glory Ride
05. Born To Lose
06. Nightmare
07. Scarlet Pimpernel
08. Lost Forever
09. Eternal Idol
10. Black Moon (demo)
11. Some Kind Of Woman

Disc 2 (featuring Ray Gillen on vocals):

01. Glory Ride
02. Born To Lose
03. Lost Forever
04. Eternal Idol
05. The Shining
06. Hard Life To Love
07. Nightmare
08. Ancient Warrior

The first disc of the "Seventh Star" expanded reissue will include the album as well as the remixed version of "No Stranger to Love", which appears in the music video of the same. Disc 2 is a live concert recorded on June 2, 1986 and has Ray Gillen on vocals.

"Seventh Star" expanded reissue track listing:

Disc 1:

01. In For The Kill
02. No Stranger To Love
03. Turn To Stone
04. Sphinx (The Guardian)
05. Seventh Star
06. Danger Zone
07. Heart Like A Wheel
08. Angry Heart
09. In Memory
10. No Stranger To Love
11. No Stranger To Love (remix by Jeff Glixman)

Disc 2 - Recorded Live On June 2, 1986 (featuring Ray Gillen on vocals):

01. Mob Rules
02. Danger Zone
03. War Pigs
04. Seventh Star
05. Die Young
06. Black Sabbath
07. N.I.B.
08. Neon Knights
09. Paranoid

The only issue I can see with these re-releases is in relation to the quality of the Gillan recordings.

That's one detail which is missing from the press release.

If they are mere bootlegs then these will just be some overpriced albums.

Wow, these are mine!

Wow, I usually refuse to rebuy albums I already own but I will make an exception in the case of these two albums.

I have heard the Gillen stuff and it's soundboard on both the live and Eternal Idol demos...I'm sure it's been cleaned up with today's technology as well (I've heard 20 year old cassettes brought to life with good mastering software)...

And I'm sorry, but I have a gripe. Complaining, in advance, about the potential "quality" of the Gillen recordings? Give me a frikkin' break! A few things:

- The Gillen tapes (live and demo) were recorded almost 25 damn years ago!
- They are not overdubbed studio recordings! They are live takes (even the demos are mostly live and not polished)
- The thing about giving fans official released versions of this kind of stuff is actually having it, in a cleaned up, nicely packaged, official form as opposed to copies of copies of copies of bootlegs...you should be thanking Sabbath instead of whining about your perception of "quality".

Whiny, crybaby music fans piss me off...we're all so spoiled with remasters and pro-tools polish that we complain about killer rarities like this.

<- Shawn of Fire

detuned wrote:

<- Shawn of Fire

Haha! More like:

I have to admit I am surprised Iommi is doing this, anyone have any insight why Iommi is doing this now? I am not complaining, I am just both happy and very surprised.

Nice! I was gonna pass until I saw the bonus discs.

Too bad he didn't include the Jeff Fenholt demos.

manny wrote:

I have to admit I am surprised Iommi is doing this, anyone have any insight why Iommi is doing this now? I am not complaining, I am just both happy and very surprised.

It most likely has to do with the legal battle over ownership of Black Sabbath's name. The dispute was settled out of court, however the terms of the settlement have not been made public.

My guess is that Iommi now has, at least, control over the post-Ozzy era releases and is able to re-release those albums as he sees fit. I believe that the past re-issues of Sabbath's 80s catalog were not authorised by Iommi or other band members although I may be mistaken. However, I do recall reading that the Sabbath albums re-released via Sanctuary were not in fact officially endorsed, and I also recall that former band members were very critical of the quality of those re-releases.

That prompted the Osbournes to later on re-release the 70s Sabbath albums via Rhino records. Those albums came in a box set and were also (properly) remastered. It is widely claimed that they are the best sounding Sabbath remasters. I happen to agree - the other CD reissues have nothing on the Rhino re-issues.

That makes sense Alex, I have read many interviews with Iommi that actually felt that Martin era was unfairly overlooked and blasted, and felt critics did not release to the albums.

Looks like Tony's really cleaning out the attic here...

Quote :

Black Sabbath are to release a box set on November 11 – and it will have every album the original band recorded.

Called Complete Albums Box Set (Limited Collector’s Edition), it will come with a 100-page discography and is in the shape of a black cross.

In case, you need reminding, here’s a list of the albums which will be in the box:

Black Sabbath

Paranoid

Master Of Reality

Volume 4

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Sabotage

Technical Ecstasy

Never Say Die

We Sold Our Souls

Seems kinda pointless to me after the Black Box set that was released a few years ago (2003), but who am I to judge? I used to have We Sold Our Souls, but ditched it when I got the box set. There wasn't anything exclusive on there that I remember was there? It was just a compilation album.

NOTE: The reissue programs in the States & the UK are completely different.

The Black Box was remastered from the original tapes which are owned by Warner Bros. and reside in the States.
All the UK reissues are produced from the Vertigo owned tapes, which are of lower quality.

I'm assuming this cross box is part of the current UK reissue series.

detuned wrote:

NOTE: The reissue programs in the States & the UK are completely different.

The Black Box was remastered from the original tapes which are owned by Warner Bros. and reside in the States.
All the UK reissues are produced from the Vertigo owned tapes, which are of lower quality.

I'm assuming this cross box is part of the current UK reissue series.

So what's that mean, this will be a UK-only exculsive release?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

detuned wrote:

NOTE: The reissue programs in the States & the UK are completely different.

The Black Box was remastered from the original tapes which are owned by Warner Bros. and reside in the States.
All the UK reissues are produced from the Vertigo owned tapes, which are of lower quality.

I'm assuming this cross box is part of the current UK reissue series.

So what's that mean, this will be a UK-only exculsive release?

Yes, it was announced in Metal Hammer (UK). It's just Vertigo's variation on the Black Box (which was not released in Europe).

"I see" said the blind man. Carry on then.

If you're interested in a really good sounding Sabbath boxset this is the one to get: http://www.black-sabbath.com/discog/blackbox.html

Personally, I'd be more interested in a post-Dio box set - Gillan, Hughes and all the Tony Martin albums + a ton of unreleased material (that in itself could make up another full boxset).

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

If you're interested in a really good sounding Sabbath boxset this is the one to get: http://www.black-sabbath.com/discog/blackbox.html

Personally, I'd be more interested in a post-Dio box set - Gillan, Hughes and all the Tony Martin albums + a ton of unreleased material (that in itself could make up another full boxset).

I would be interested in that as well. Maybe like you said - with the suit over they can move forward.

If Iommi is putting out all these Sabbath releases my hunch is that he had a major breakthru in the law suit or rather I should say in the negotiated outcome since it never actually went to trial. I am happy that he finally has control of the name because it means the band's legacy is now in the hands of an artist as opposed to a business person and entity is the Ozzy Osbourne.

As much as I like Ozzy, without Iommi there would have been no Sabbath. That is pretty evident in the fact that Iommi carried on without Ozzy for several decades after his departure from the band.

Also it is rather overzealous of Ozzy to claim the Sabbath name since not only did he do no writing in the band but has also had considerable success with his 'solo' band. Of course if a person is legally entitled to something that should not matter but it's likely that Iommi's case was rather strong that the Osbournes agreed to mediate than go to court.

I'm saying Iommi's case because had he lost we wouldn't be seeing all these re-releases.

However, because a mediation is a private and not a public hearing we will never exactly know what took place and what each party got in the end (unless someone decides to disclose it but I doubt anyone is willing to pay the price of breaching confidentiality).

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

If Iommi is putting out all these Sabbath releases my hunch is that he had a major breakthru in the law suit or rather I should say in the negotiated outcome since it never actually went to trial. I am happy that he finally has control of the name because it means the band's legacy is now in the hands of an artist as opposed to a business person and entity is the Ozzy Osbourne.

As much as I like Ozzy, without Iommi there would have been no Sabbath. That is pretty evident in the fact that Iommi carried on without Ozzy for several decades after his departure from the band.

Also it is rather overzealous of Ozzy to claim the Sabbath name since not only did he do no writing in the band but has also had considerable success with his 'solo' band. Of course if a person is legally entitled to something that should not matter but it's likely that Iommi's case was rather strong that the Osbournes agreed to mediate than go to court.

I'm saying Iommi's case because had he lost we wouldn't be seeing all these re-releases.

However, because a mediation is a private and not a public hearing we will never exactly know what took place and what each party got in the end (unless someone decides to disclose it but I doubt anyone is willing to pay the price of breaching confidentiality).

I would imagine that another sabbath album featuring Ozzy is part of the settlement. I am happy to see the later material is getting released.

Iommi's lawsuit has nothing to do with this reissue program. This set of reissues is for the UK & Europe...available as imports over here.

The lawsuit was about Merchandising rights (t-shirts), the record labels involved (Warner/Vertigo) own the music.

ultmetal wrote:

Too bad he didn't include the Jeff Fenholt demos.

Those demos would be cool to have as an official release re-mastered if only for its historical significance and nothing else. The ones on youtube sound horrible.

detuned wrote:

Iommi's lawsuit has nothing to do with this reissue program. This set of reissues is for the UK & Europe...available as imports over here.

The lawsuit was about Merchandising rights (t-shirts), the record labels involved (Warner/Vertigo) own the music.

So in other words Ozzy did not care about artistic control, musical direction, the band's legacy and history, he just wanted a piece of the merchandising money, no wonder it was settled out of court quietly, Ozzy had no real interesting in the ownership of the name Black Sabbath just the money.

manny wrote:

So in other words Ozzy did not care about artistic control, musical direction, the band's legacy and history, he just wanted a piece of the merchandising money, no wonder it was settled out of court quietly, Ozzy had no real interesting in the ownership of the name Black Sabbath just the money.

Ozzy & Sharon wanted a piece of anything that had the words "Black Sabbath" on it (I'm surprised they don't sue for royalties on the Boris Karloff movie they took the name from).

Black Sabbath always shared the songwriting royalties equally, Ozzy got 25% royalties for all those songs that he DIDN'T write.

But when Iommi got the rights to the name, then all the t-shirt money, stickers, etc. went solely to Iommi.

It's all about money, doesn't have a damn thing to do with history, legacy or anything like that.