"So you children of the world, listen
to what I say
If you want a better place to live in spread the words today
Show the world that love is still alive you must be brave
Or you children of today are Children of the Grave."
Children of the Grave - Master of Reality 1971
 If
you wanna be totally correct when you write about Black Sabbath
these days you should just ignore all the albums they released
after Ozzy left. Sure, even I think that the first Sabbath
albums stand pretty much as milestones in music history. The
songs are very dark and they have influenced a lot of my favorite
bands. But now I want you to open your eyes to the Sabbath
that lived from 1980 and to the present day.
In the end of 1979 Tony Iommi had enough of the blizzard
that had been blowing in Ozzy’s nose for a very long
time and just fired him. Ozzy was (and still is) a great personality
and a lot of fans saw him as an irreplaceable frontman when
the little man with the big voice, Ronnie James Dio, got the
job as the new Sabbath singer.
Black Sabbath went to Florida and started the recordings
of Heaven and Hell, they had to move fast when the name was
still hot after Ozzy’s departure. Heaven and Hell became
a major success and I hold that album as one of the strongest
hard rock albums. The next one, Mob Rules, is also a very
good album.
The Mob Rules tour resulted in an live album with the suitable
title Live Evil and then the circus went off again.
 Ronnie
James Dio left the group when accused of putting the vocals
too high in the mix on the album. That is what the rumours
say, although I find it hard to believe that Ronnie sneaked
in the studio to mix with the tapes. His voice is stronger
than that. Anyway, Ronnie left and this is the time for the
most embarrassing period in Sabbath’s history. The next
man for the vocal job was no less than Ian Gillian, formerly
of Deep Purple. Gillian once said that he was the worst singer
Sabbath ever had and I have to agree. The album Born Again
doesn’t even work as a Frisbee.
By this time Tony Iommi sat and scratched his mustache and
was ready to release a solo album and that was fine by the
record company. Just before the release, the company changed
their mind and wanted to use the Black Sabbath name again.
They agreed on Seventh Star, Black Sabbath featuring Tony
Iommi (who by this time is the only original member left).
The vocals was done by Glenn Hughes and the album is full
of very heavy music and some outstanding guitar work. Too
bad that the tour became a total fiasco with a drunk Glen
Hughes on stage, they apparently finished that tour very early.
Next man up was Ray Gillen who hadn’t made a name just
yet. He mysteriously disappeared after the recordings and
his replacement was Tony "The Cat" Martin. The result
became the astonishing Eternal Idol album and the lineup was
to remain for a couple of years except for a bass player here
and there.
After the albums Headless Cross and TYR it became very important
to make some serious money again with the Ronnie James Dio
reunion. A damn fine and heavy album was recorded under the
name Dehumanizer. They also managed to get the worst cover
artwork in history for that album. The friendship didn’t
last one minute and Ronnie left at the end of the tour to
make room for Tony Martin again. They recorded Cross Purposes
and Forbidden (which became the most pale album since Born
Again).
It was now time to make some mega-serious money. The original
lineup was called in to show the baby bands who their father
was. The Ozzfest tour went great until Bill Ward had a minor
heart attack and had to leave the European tour. He was replaced
by Vinny Appice who played on the Mob Rules tour.
As a wind-up, you can easily say that the Black Sabbath catalog
from 1980 and forward is a collection of many great albums
with the guitar work of a master. Not bad by a man who lost
two of his fingertips. Tony Iommi is also the only member
who has played on all Black Sabbath albums.
The following albums have been released by Black Sabbath
after Ozzy was fired. The number indicates a personal rating
between 1-10.
 Heaven and
Hell (10)
The Mob Rules
(8)
Live Evil (8)
Born Again
(3)
The Seventh
Star (8)
The Eternal
Idol (8)
Headless Cross
(10)
TYR (8)
Dehuminizer (8)
Cross Purposes (8)
Forbidden (6)
Written by Jonathan Strandlund ([email protected])
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