Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol/Seventh Star Deluxe Editions

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Universal Music
Produced by Jeff Glixman / Vic Coppersmith-Heaven & Chris Tsangarides

The reissue series that has seen some of the Black Sabbath albums previously available on Castle Communications has been a very hit-and-miss affair, with some of the new editions being a complete waste of time and money, while others are worthy upgrades.

These two releases from 1986 and 1987 respectively fall into the latter category, each adding worthwhile bonus tracks and second CDs of much sought-after material. Where some of the Ozzy Osbourne-fronted albums added nothing more than instrumental or alternate versions of the album tracks which barely differed from the originals, if at all. Only the first three Osbourne albums have so far been re-issued in this way. They were followed by the first three albums with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, one of which was a live album that had no bonus material at all added to it, the other two had various b-sides and live recordings added representing different degrees of value.

Here, for the first time on a Black Sabbath entry in Universal’s wide-ranging deluxe editions series, all of the bonus material is not only new and exclusive, but worth re-buying the albums for. Both albums are expanded to two discs, and in each case the second disc forms a complete album by itself, plus one or two bonus tracks on the original albums on disc one as well.

Seventh Star is an album in the Black Sabbath catalogue which carries with it a lot of history. After the departure of Ian Gillan following the disastrous Born Again tour the other members of Black Sabbath also quit, leaving Tony Iommi on his own. He therefore intended his next album to be a solo effort, with different singers on each track (this idea came to fruition in 2000 with this eponymous debut solo album Iommi), and starting recording demos with the help of first Dave Donato and then Jeff Fenholt on vocals, before he was to set about inviting singers to complete the final versions. When Iommi invited Glenn Hughes, then of Deep Purple, to sing on the album he decided the material sounded so good with Hughes singing that he would complete the whole album with him. The label then refused to allow Iommi to release it as a solo album, so it was released under the compromise banner “Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi”. It has long since been regarded simply as a Black Sabbath album.

Hughes, who barely toured with Sabbath, was soon replaced by Blue Murder singer Ray Gillen, and it is one of the shows with Gillen from 1986 which makes up the second disc of the deluxe edition of Seventh Star. Recorded on June 2 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, the quality is not outstanding, but it is a rare (only bootlegs of the recording have previously been available) and interesting addition to the Black Sabbath collection, containing the only released live versions of tracks like Seventh Star and Danger Zone, and documenting a very brief period in Sabbath’s history. The original album on disc one retains the alternate version of No Stranger To Love, which was included on the previous Castle Communications re-release.

The big winner is The Eternal Idol. The first of four albums to feature Tony Martin on vocals it was seen as a rebirth for Sabbath and along with Headless Cross and Tyr it represents a period which many now look back on as a real highlight. But Martin was actually brought in at the very end of the production of the album, and it was in fact originally written and recorded with Ray Gillen. Long since forgotten and occasionally bootlegged, the Gillen version of the album is now included here as the second disc. At times the fact that these are demos with a different singer could be forgotten too. The quality is excellent apart from a little unpolished fuzz (and the original album could never claim any best production awards as it was) and Gillen’s voice is superb, very obviously laying down the template for Martin to record his vocals on the finished versions. The original album on disc one benefits from two single b-sides, released for the first time on CD, which were both tracks Martin offered the band when he joined. One, Black Moon, would later be re-recorded for inclusion on the Headless Cross album.

So one is slightly better than the other in terms of quality bonus material, but for real Sabbath fans who enjoy all eras of the band’s career, for a change, it is well worth buying these new versions even if they already own the standard CDs. It helps that they were released at a single CD price, meaning fans could justify the expenditure as paying simply for the second disc.

“ worth re-buying the albums for ”

Seventh Star Tracklist:
CD1 – 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… / No Stranger To Love (Alternative Version)
CD2 – Mob Rules / Danger Zone / War Pigs / Seventh Star / Die Young / Black Sabbath / N.I.B. / Neon Knights / Paranoid

The Eternal Idol Tracklist:
CD1 – The Shining / Ancient Warrior / Hard Life To Live / Glory Ride / Born To Lose / Nightmare / Scarlet Pimpernel / Lost Forever / Eternal Idol / Black Moon / Strange Kind of Woman
CD2 – Glory Ride / Born To Lose / Lost Forever / The Shining / Hard Life To Live / Nightmare / Ancient Warrior

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Heavy Metal, Re-release, Black Sabbath