Black Sabbath – Born Again (Deluxe Edition)

publisher

buy

Sanctuary Records
Produced by Robin Black & Black Sabbath

Yet another Black Sabbath entry in the ongoing Deluxe Edition series, and in keeping with all the other non-Ozzy albums in the range, the bonus material added here in addition to the remastered original album is highly worthwhile.

Very controversial at the time, and very short-lived, this line-up of Black Sabbath followed the dismissal of vocal legend Ronnie James Dio, and instead included Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan alongside the classic trio of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward (who left the band after recording the drum parts, replaced by Bev Bevan for the tour) and together they produced this album, which although it featured some classic-sounding Iommi guitar, was a very different record for the band to make, with much less accessible song structures. It has been overlooked for some time, but often proves to be a closet favourite of some Sabbath fans. Tracks like Disturbing The Priest, Zero The Hero and Trashed deserved to be regarded amongst the band’s best work.

Here the original album occupies the first disc, and all of the bonus material appears on a second. The most interesting track is the previously unreleased recording session outtake The Fallen, which has appeared on several bootleg versions of the album, but never on an official release. It’s unmastered, so the sound quality isn’t as good as the rest of the studio album, but fans of the sound Sabbath achieved with Gillan should enjoy its fast-paced riff, classic Gillan vocal and more conventional structure. An unnecessarily extended Stonehenge comes next (more than twice the length of the original while adding very little) and the oft-bootlegged Reading Festival performance from 1983 makes up the rest of the disc.

Recorded and broadcast on BBC radio, various recordings of the show have been circulating for years, but finally its possible to hear the performance in its original quality. Shows with Gillan have become most noteworthy for their inclusion of Purple standard Smoke On The Water (prompting things like ‘Purple Sabbath’ from the best punmeisters of the time), but the band were in fact surprisingly tight and had much more to offer than the novelty value of a Purple cover.

The Reading performance has long been regarded as the best available recording of this line-up, so fans will be very pleased that it’s finally available in such good sonic clarity. Any Sabbath fans who ever liked Born Again should consider re-buying in this case, and any who haven’t checked it out before should do so.

“ a closet favourite of some Sabbath fans ”

Tracklist:
CD1 – Trashed / Stonehenge / Disturbing The Priest / The Dark / Zero The Hero / Digital Bitch / Born Again / Hot Line / Keep It Warm
CD2 – The Fallen / Stonehenge (Extended Version) / Hot Line / War Pigs / Black Sabbath / The Dark / Zero The Hero / Digital Bitch / Iron Man / Smoke On The Water / Paranoid

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Heavy Metal, Re-release, Black Sabbath