What Album Are You Listening to Right Now?

[stvn1974]

[shrex]

[stvn1974]

[Wes Blu-ray]

[BucketheadPikes]

Originally Posted by brettxwt

I love this album so much. Everytime I play it I think I like it a little bit more. Criminally underrated, IMO. In for the Kill is a phenomenal opening track! One of the strongest songs on the album and the sister track to Turn on the Night from Mob Rules. No Stranger to Love is probably the most alienating song on the album and one of the least Sabbath-y tracks they've ever recorded. Black Sabbath doing a 80s love power ballad? Blasphemy! However, I love it. Very raw and emotional. Powerful drumming from Eric Singer too that we'd come to expect when he played with Paul Stanley a few years later and Badlands and when he'd eventually join KISS in 1991.

Excerpt from Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Chapter 62, page 249: Seventh Star was released in January 1986. It was supposed to be a solo album. I certainly didn't want to release it as a Black Sabbath album, because I hadn't written it as a Black Sabbath album. I wanted the freedom for it to sound as it did and tour without calling the band Black Sabbath, also Glenn was uncomfortable about that. But when the question of the name came up, Don said to me: "The record company says that you owe them a Black Sabbath album, so they want this one." "Ah..." In the end it was billed as 'Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi.' Neither I nor Glenn was pleased with it, because we felt we weren't doing the record justice presenting it this way.

So as we can see, this album really isn't a Black Sabbath album at all. It's basically a Tony Iommi hard rock solo album. This above excerpt isn't my opinion, this is straight from the man himself.

Crazy stuff during this album though. Glenn came in & was difficult to work with. Tony says Glenn did ten times more coke than he did & would get all hyper with all kinds of ideas for songs, which drove Tony up the wall. Glenn had all kinds of 'hangers-on' coming to the studio that Tony says were just leeches & Glenn ended up selling all of his stuff. They went to Atlanta to finish the album & Tony brought a big stereo with him that he just purchased, for Glenn to play some of his albums on, the ones he had left. Glenn gave some coke dealer Tony's stereo & apparently Tony even seen the guy with his stereo!

The tour kicked off in Cleveland, but Glenn disappeared to Atlanta. Doug Goldstein, who would later manage Guns N' Roses, was hired by Tony to keep tabs on Glenn, & Doug had to go to Atlanta & bring Glenn back just in time for the show. They had to literally throw Glenn onstage. Afterward, Doug tried keeping tabs on Glenn, even tying a string from his toe to Glenn's door, but Glenn would still get the drug dealers in. The band's stage manager, John Downing, ended up punching Glenn in the face & breaking his nose.

As for the album & my opinion of it, I'm not a fan of it myself, some good leads by Tony & a few decent songs, but I really only listen to Headless Cross & Tyr when it comes to the 80's-90's stuff, & Dehumanizer of course. Glenn Hughes is hit or miss with me. I like him on some of the Trapeze stuff & some of his solo stuff, some of the Black Country Communion stuff etc...but not so much on this album. Hopefully you won't take my opinion of the album as a personal attack on you &/or your listening habits, & get all bent out of shape like someone else apparently has on here with me, over an opinion I expressed in another thread. I'm glad you like the album & find enjoyment from listening to it, more power to you!

Just as I posted on my message board, I judge the album, song or piece of music by how it sounds to me as I'm listening to it. I'm not thinking about who posted what, when & where, I'm concentrating on evaluating the music as it sounds to me, period.

As for In For The Kill being the sister track to Turn Up The Night, I don't see or hear it. I think a more accurate assessment is that Turn Up The Night is the sister track to Neon Knights. \,,/_(-,-)_\,,/

[Member-136960]

[BladeRunner2007]

[Wes Blu-ray]

[RadicalThrasher]

[BladeRunner2007]

[evilive]

Wormrot

[RedSabbath]

Originally Posted by BucketheadPikes

Look, what BHP said, quoting from Iommi's book, which by the way I own and it's a great read, pretty much sums up the awkward feeling of the album at the time. You gotta remember, this was the follow-up to Sabbath's most epic & evil album ever, Born Again. I was right there back in January of 1986 with my cassette copy, being just a junior in high school at the time. All my group loved Born Again. In fact, friends who didn't really care for Sabbath, still loved Born Again. I remember everyone was in agreement that Seventh Star was horrible, but only that way because of what it followed. I, the Sabbath fanatic to the end, tried to explain that the title alone "Featuring Tony Iommi" should say something, and the fact that he was the only original member from Born Again, it has to be a solo album or something. And eventually I found out I was right.

Is it a Sabbath album? No, but in history due to the name, it is. But does it suck? The answer is "Hell No"! It is a great album straight from the glam-metal 80's. Drummer Eric Singer is incredible on it and Glenn Hughes did prove he was more than Deep Purple's bass player with incredible soaring and emotional vocals. Not to mention some of Iommi's best solo work and an unique sound for each which he never quite repeated. A lot of great tracks, especially "Angry Heart/In Memory" that gets you by the metal heartstrings. And yes BHP, while "Headless Cross" is definitely more of a group effort, Seventh Star to me is a better album.

And as for Glenn, despite his 80's problems, he did rejoin Tony for two more studio albums, Fused and The 96 DEP Sessions, both of which are incredible follow-ups to Star. Yes, this is the Sabbath album with the "*" (asterisk), but that doesn't change the fact it's a great recording.

[RedSabbath]

Originally Posted by BucketheadPikes

....As for the album & my opinion of it, I'm not a fan of it myself, some good leads by Tony & a few decent songs, but I really only listen to Headless Cross & Tyr when it comes to the 80's-90's stuff, & Dehumanizer of course. Glenn Hughes is hit or miss with me.....Hopefully you won't take my opinion of the album as a personal attack on you &/or your listening habits, & get all bent out of shape like someone else apparently has on here with me, over an opinion I expressed in another thread. I'm glad you like the album & find enjoyment from listening to it, more power to you!

Yeah, of course. No one should be afraid to post their opinions, no matter how they may differ from the other. Everyone should have that way of posting.

Originally Posted by BucketheadPikes

As for In For The Kill being the sister track to Turn Up The Night, I don't see or hear it. I think a more accurate assessment is that Turn Up The Night is the sister track to Neon Knights. \,,/_(-,-)_\,,/

You're probably more "on the nose" BHP. In fact if you line-up Heaven & Hell with Mob Rules, you'll see a familiar pattern, fast song, epic song, title track, ballad, etc. They are very alike records, it's just that Mob Rules is more epic in sound.

But to be fair, "In For The Kill" definitely comes from the family of "Neon Knights" songwriting within the Sabbath family too.

[BucketheadPikes]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by RedSabbath

Look, what BHP said, quoting from Iommi's book, which by the way I own and it's a great read, pretty much sums up the awkward feeling of the album at the time. You gotta remember, this was the follow-up to Sabbath's most epic & evil album ever, Born Again. I was right there back in January of 1986 with my cassette copy, being just a junior in high school at the time. All my group loved Born Again. In fact, friends who didn't really care for Sabbath, still loved Born Again. I remember everyone was in agreement that Seventh Star was horrible, but only that way because of what it followed. I, the Sabbath fanatic to the end, tried to explain that the title alone "Featuring Tony Iommi" should say something, and the fact that he was the only original member from Born Again, it has to be a solo album or something. And eventually I found out I was right.

Is it a Sabbath album? No, but in history due to the name, it is. But does it suck? The answer is "Hell No"! It is a great album straight from the glam-metal 80's. Drummer Eric Singer is incredible on it and Glenn Hughes did prove he was more than Deep Purple's bass player with incredible soaring and emotional vocals. Not to mention some of Iommi's best solo work and an unique sound for each which he never quite repeated. A lot of great tracks, especially "Angry Heart/In Memory" that gets you by the metal heartstrings. And yes BHP, while "Headless Cross" is definitely more of a group effort, Seventh Star to me is a better album.

And as for Glenn, despite his 80's problems, he did rejoin Tony for two more studio albums, Fused and The 96 DEP Sessions, both of which are incredible follow-ups to Star. Yes, this is the Sabbath album with the "*" (asterisk), but that doesn't change the fact it's a great recording.

Great points RS, & your willingness to discuss/debate & present your points &/or counterpoints in a constructive manner, & you also expressing your respect for my opinion as well, is much appreciated. Thank you for being a respectful communicator. You know how I feel about Born Again. It took time to go grow on me, didn't really 'get it' at first. I do like it more now than I ever did, but still feel it's down on the scale a bit for me, & that Master of Reality is actually heavier, with much better songs. I remember my friends having the same reaction as me to BA, not the same reaction as you & your friends, so, there ya go on that one, same with Seventh Star.

Who said Seventh Star sucks? I haven't read that posted by anyone, & I know that I didn't state that either, nor did I imply it. I said I'm not a fan of the album, & then I actually commended Tony's solos & stated that the album has what I consider to be some decent songs. If anyone equates my statements to me saying the album "sucks," you're mistaken & you're putting your own meaning into my words. Bottom line for me is that I never thought of it as a BS album & never will & I'll take Tony's own factual words about it originally being a solo album, not wanting to release it as a BS album, not intending to write it as a BS album & the only reason it's titled a BS album is because some WB suit & tie, along with Don Arden, forced him to do it, in the hopes that sales would be good, esp. considering the dropped-like-a-brick freefall of Born Again on the charts, from #4 on the UK charts, to #99 in a mere 7 weeks! By the time Seventh Star charted though, U.S. interest in Black Sabbath had already started to wane, & that's a fact.

This can't be repeated enough; we all simply just like what we like, & don't like what we don't like, & some stuff we're simply just indifferent to. It's nothing personal with anyone else, it's personal with oneself.

[BucketheadPikes]

Originally Posted by RedSabbath

...You're probably more "on the nose" BHP. In fact if you line-up Heaven & Hell with Mob Rules, you'll see a familiar pattern, fast song, epic song, title track, ballad, etc. They are very alike records, it's just that Mob Rules is more epic in sound.

But to be fair, "In For The Kill" definitely comes from the family of "Neon Knights" songwriting within the Sabbath family too.

I think that Mob Rules is a bit 'deeper' of an album than H & H & deserves it's own distinction, instead being thought of as the "son of" H & H, just how I feel. In For The Kill leans a bit more NWOBHM rocker than the other 2 songs though.

[RedSabbath]

Yeah, as a lifelong, all-era, Sabbath fan, I can't really compare say Master Of Reality to say Born Again (even though the entire musician portion of each album is the same. For me, it's groups of albums I can comfortably compare against, like:

*Black Sabbath thru Never Say Die
*Heaven And Hell thru Mob Rules and Dehumanizer
*Born Again thru TYR
*Cross Purposes and Forbidden
*13 and The Devil You Know (it's a Sabbath album damn it!)

This might not make sense, but it's like anything in life, with age things change. I'd hate to go head-to-head with the 18 or say 21 year old version of myself. I'd probably lose. But then again, my experiences would outweigh them, but my creativity may not.

Uh......anyway, I had quite a haul of "new-to-me" CD's I bought this past weekend, and I'd like to talk about them when I get some more time.

..oh, so weird last night I was blaring Born Again in my car on the way home. Haven't done that in awhile.....

[Wes Blu-ray]

[BucketheadPikes]

[brettxwt]

Yeah, I know the history of Seventh Star. Even though it wasn't intended to be a Black Sabbath album and is really only one in name only, it was still released as a Black Sabbath album and I view it as such. It's hardly a knock because it's such a great album. Different, maybe, and definitely unlike anything else the band have released, but it rocks just as hard

[Darth Marcus]