Black Sabbath : Geezer Butler thumbs up for primary school version of Iron Man

Marlin, Sabbath, Zervas, Doillon, Mitiku, Gelb and Simon head Best 50 Albums Of The Year 2013

Mike Marlin

 

ROCK

1. MIKE MARLIN: Grand Reveal

The former child prodigy, physics boffin and city whizzkid releases a deadpan delivery rock and roll album that’s lyrically astute, nodding to Lou Reed and David Bowie.

2. IAN McNABB: Eclectic Warrior

The Icicle Works frontman returns to the Neil Young-inspired guitar-spitting rock that was the signature of his hallmark Head Like A Rock album.

3. PURE LOVE: Anthems

Not the maudlin mess the name of the band and the album might suggest, but big hook-laden rock songs from Gallows frontman Frank Carter.

4. NEW MODEL ARMY: Between Dog And Wolf

New lease of life for the Bradford revolutionaries thanks to a left turn that sees them drag drums high up in the mix, tribal rhythm replacing rock riff.

5. AIRBOURNE: Black Dog Barking

They’ve always followed in the footsteps of Angus Young, and now Aussie rockers Airbourne come up with the best album that AC/DC never made.

6. THE WINERY DOGS: The Winery Dogs

Monster riffs, big bass, levee-breaking drums and gravel grunge vocals as prog rockers Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan re-invent classic rock.

7. DEEP PURPLE: Now What?

They could have called it quits after Jon Lord died. So it’s surprising that Purple’s return, with Don Airey as super-sub, is better than anyone expected.

8. DROPKICK MURPHYS: Signed And Sealed In Blood

Rabble-rousing American-Irish rock and reel that captures the energy of the Boston paddy punks’ shows. The boys are back and they’re looking for trouble.

9. SAMMY HAGAR: & Friends

Red rocker Sammy Hagar calls in a stellar cast including Joe Satriani, Neal Schon, Kid Rock and Heart’s Nancy Wilson for blues-rock fuelled studio fun.

10. TOM KEIFER: The Way Life Goes

The Cinderella frontman’s solo album eschews the band’s dated glam metal for an eclectic mix of rock and roll, stadium pop and radio ballads.

  

 Zervas & Pepper

POP

1. ZERVAS & PEPPER: Lifebringer

Welsh duo Paul Zervas and Kathryn Pepper capture the sound and the spirit of the Woodstock generation on an album that shamelessly takes its cues from late 1960s California.

2. TIERRA BLANCA: Shadowlands

Moody wild western rock and stroll surprise from Brit John McKeown, a Tex-Mex tapas of self-penned songs that recalls Tito & Tarantula.

3. GOLDFRAPP: Tales Of Us

Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory back to what they do best: ethereal ballads delivered in whispered vocals and wrapped up in cinematic strings.

4. DEAF HAVANA: Old Souls

Flag-waving festival rock with pop hooks from the surprise package at Reading. Widescreen road trip rock that marries Springsteen to The Killers.

5. JOHN FOGERTY: Wrote A Song For Everyone

Creedence legend re-invents his rock classics special guests ranging from Foo Fighters and Tom Morello to Bob Seger and Allen Toussaint.

6. DAVID BOWIE: The Next Day

His first album in ten years, some of it masterful, some of it muddled. But Bowie albums are never to be missed and overall it’s welcome back.

7. I AM KLOOT: Let It All In

Elbow’s Guy Garvey guests on his Mancunian mates’ new album – 10 songs in 36 minutes proving that less can, indeed, be more.

8. DAVE STEWART: Lucky Numbers

Eurythmic Dave Stewart’s set is rooted in classic 1960s British rhythm and blues shot through with Americana – recorded on a yacht in the South Pacific.

9. COUNTING CROWS: Echoes Of The Outlaw Roadshow

New live set is a barnstormer, collecting fan favourites and covers. A reworked Round Here and a mash-up of Rain King and Elbow’s Lippy Kid star.

10. GIN WIGMORE: Gravel & Wine

She hollers like a veteran rock and roller, and plays the blues as if she was born in the USA. Rootsy pop-rock from the New Zealand songbird.

Lou Doillon

SINGER-SONGWRITERS

1. LOU DOILLON: Places

Parisian songbird Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin, half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg, gets moody as her warm, part-sung, part-spoken vocal caresses sublime songs. The French Aimee Mann.

2. DAVID FORD: Charge

Ford’s best album to date adds variations in pace and mood to that distinctive vocal. How the ex-Easyworld frontman remains under the radar is a mystery.

3. PHILDEL: The Disappearance Of The Girl

The Brit songbird has soundtracked TV ads ranging from M&S to Apple, but her own album reveals she has an ethereal indie-pop voice to die for.

4. BILLY BRAGG: Tooth & Nail

Bragg has rarely sung better, and the gently reflective songs are country confessional rather than rock and roll rebellion. That’s getting older for you.

5. LINDI ORTEGA: Cigarettes & Truckstops

Although she’s just moved to Nashville, Ortega is equally at home on the Coachella and T In The Park stages. Country, rock and murder ballads.

6. DIDO: Girl Who Got Away

She’s been there, done it, got the T-shirt but Dido’s long-awaited return is every bit as winning as her debut. She’s the girl who came back.

7. GABRIELLE APLIN: English Rain

She topped the charts with Frankie’s The Power Of Love thanks to John Lewis. Now she bares her soul in a folk-pop set with world music cues.

8. JENN BOSTIC: Jealous

Lazily catalogued as country, Bostic gives the late Amy Winehouse a run for her her soul-pop money. Jealous Of The Angels was huge on youtube.

9. STEVE EARLE: The Low Highway

Roots rocker Steve Earle’s most upfront and rock radio-friendly set since 2004’s The Revolution Starts Now. He was great at Symphony Hall.

10. JOSHUA RADIN: Wax Wings

Bubbly folk, polished pop, memorable melody – and is that alt.country icon Ryan Adams I hear on guitar on Lovely Tonight? A high-flier.

Howe Gelb

FOLK & ROOTS

1. HOWE GELB: The Coincidentalist

Dusty desert Americana from the prolific troubadour, recorded with M. Ward and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley. Bonnie Prince Billy and KT Tunstall guest in a strong set without a weak link.

2. TOM RUSSELL: Aztec Jazz

The godfather of Americana has never been shy of re-invention and now revisits sublime signature songs live with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble.

3. CHRISTY MOORE: Where I Come From

Asked to select songs for a three-disc retrospective, Moore has chosen instead to rerecord 45 of them, updating the lyrics to reflect the changing times.

4. THE FALLOWS: Liars & Kings

The Coventry band’s clever tuneful folk-rock is a delight, with Cast The First Stone unlikely to be bettered anytime soon in its genre.

5. EMILY BARKER & THE RED HALO: Dear River

The Aussie songbird who calls Britain home has her folk roots peeping through polished pop production. Better than KT Tunstall and Amy MacDonald.

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi

METAL

1. BLACK SABBATH: 13

An event album. Sabbath’s reunion has seen them come full circle to the metal with which they first made their name, and exceeded even the band’s own expectations.

2. STONE SOUR: House of Gold & Bones Part 2

Corey Taylor’s metallers close the circle on the concept album begun last year with radio-friendly riffs nodding both to idols Sabbath and Metallica.

3. MOTORHEAD: Aftershock

Lemmy may have a pacemaker but driving rock guitar riffs, gruff vocals, speaker-busting bass and bombshell drums spell business as usual.

4. ALTER BRIDGE: Fortress

Myles Kennedy returns to the day job after his foray with Slash, and Alter Bridge’s fourth studio set accordingly proves their most radio-friendly yet.

5. AVENGED SEVENFOLD: Hail To The King

A7X have waded out into the mainstream until they’ve emerged dripping hard rock riffs, with nods to Metallica, Maiden, Sabbath and G’n’R.

Paul Simon

RETRO

1. PAUL SIMON: The Complete Albums Collection

Fourteen albums from his debut to the most recent outing in one hefty box set, adding up to an amazing 199 tracks in all. Arguably the greatest singer-songwriter of them all.

2. THE EAGLES: The Studio Albums 1972-1979

Six-album boxset from one of the world’s best and most enduring of bands. Looking forward to seeing them at the LG Arena in May next year!

3. DEL SHANNON: Essential Collection 1961-1991

Everything you ever wanted to hear from the late, great Del Shannon, including Runaway. I was proud to do some recording with him in the Seventies.

4. THE WHO: Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival

One of Britain’s greatest-ever rock bands, caught at their peak, whilst topping the bill at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. Sensational.

5. CHICAGO: The Studio Albums 1969-1978

Ten-album boxset from debut Chicago Transit Authority in 1969 to Hot Streets in 1978. Over 150 tracks by one of my all-time favourite bands.

Emilia Mitiku

JAZZ / BLUES

1. EMILIA MITIKU: I Belong To You

She ended the nineties with worldwide hit Big Big World but now she’s subtly smouldering through a bluesy set informed by the greats – Etta, Ella, Eartha and Billie.

2. BETH HART & JOE BONAMASSA: Seesaw

The musical marriage of Stateside blues belter Beth Hart and guitar giant Joe Bonamassa is surely made in rock and roll heaven.

3. HUGH LAURIE: Didn’t It Rain

Gentler, soulful and more spine-tingling than debut Let Us Talk, Laurie brings the virtuoso voices of Gaby Moreno and Jean McClain along for the ride.

4. POPA CHUBBY: Universal Breakdown Blues

Unlikely figure for a guitar hero, his publicity shots suggesting R&B bling, but Popa Chubby plays down and dirty blues-rock with attitude.

5. DANNY BRYANT: Hurricane

Blues-rock guitar albums can be self-indulgent snoozes, but Bryant lets his tormented soul seep out on a set of surprisingly strong songs.

Black Sabbath : LG Arena Birmingham 2013 review & setlist

There he stood, dressed in black, a grim grin spreading across his face. Flanked by giant photographs of Pope Benedict XVI, Ozzy Osbourne blessed the faithful, and perhaps thanked his own lucky stars.

Because Black Sabbath, Brummie inventors of heavy metal, were finally back home where they belong, shrugging off their collective 227 years and the serious health problems that have dogged their later lives.

More than 15,000 turned out to worship at the altar of the rock guitar riff as founders Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler – with babe-in-arms Tommy Clufetos standing in for Bill Ward – rolled back time.

They’d been at ease with each other at the soundcheck, laughing and joking, but there’d been an underlying tension. “Playing our hometown with all our family and friends out there will be nerve-racking,” admitted Iommi.

“We’ve not felt this nervous at any other gig on the tour.”

They needn’t have worried. Sharon Osbourne, watching from the wings, told them so before they went on. And you don’t mess with Sharon. The X Factor judge, as she will tell you, is rarely wrong.

From the moment the men in black hit stage and launched into War Pigs – recorded all of 43 years ago – the LG Arena erupted. Fans, some of whom had queued since 7.30am to get the best places at the front, embraced their own.

“Let’s go fucking wild!” yelled Ozzy as they followed with Into The Void, telling the Birmingham crowd: “I’ve missed you.”

His voice may be not what it once was but, hell, it didn’t matter. Not here. Not back home.

Under The Sun, with video footage of money-grabbing evangelists, anti-Sabbath protesters in America’s Bible Belt, lesbian nuns and those pictures of the Pope, continued the history lesson. Snowblind, with an Ozzy health warning, was next.

Not that this was a nostalgia exercise. Sabbath sound as powerful and as vital as they have ever done. New song Age Of Reason boasted Iommi’s best guitar yet as Clufetos pounded the drums as hard as the late John Bonham.

“We want to take you back to the very beginning,” Ozzy told the fans. “Can you believe we’ve been going 45 fucking years?”

Cue Black Sabbath, the track that opened their debut album. As the band hit an irresistible groove midway through the song, their frontman poured a bucket of water over a hapless security steward.

“I’m back in fucking Birmingham!” yelled Ozzy, by way of explanation.

Behind The Wall Of Sleep, N.I.B – ushered in by a busy Butler bass solo – End Of The Beginning... they just kept coming. Fairies Wear Boots, with its seductively sinister video, turned full tilt boogie.

Drum solos usually mark the moment you head to the bar or take a comfort break but Clufetos’ Rat Salad showpiece was jaw-dropping. Technically tight but brutally brilliant, the US drummer brought the house down.

Iron Man and God Is Dead? got the moshpit moving. Dirty Women, with its B-movie video backing, isn’t one of the band’s best but surprisingly served up Iommi’s best solo of the night. Children Of The Grave was a climactic closer.

“One more song,” chanted the crowd. “It’s Christmas,” responded Ozzy. “Shall we come back and do it again?” raising hopes that this weekend’s double header may not, after all, be their last hometown gigs.

Encore Paranoid, its razor riff cutting through confetti cannons, and the release of giant balloons, ended a memorable two-hour homecoming.

After the gig Sabbath celebrated with friends including ELO’s Bev Bevan, funnyman Jasper Carrott, Blues legend Trevor Francis, sixties star Dave Berry, family and a pet pooch flown in from LA.

“It’s been a great night,” said Iommi. “We were all pretty nervy about being back in Brum. We wanted it to be special for the fans. D’you think they liked it?”

Silly question. They do it all again at Birmingham’s NIA tomorrow night.

********************************************

SETLIST

War Pigs

Into The Void

Under The Sun

Snowblind

Age Of Reason

Black Sabbath

Behind The Wall Of Sleep

N.I.B

End Of The Beginning

Fairies Wear Boots

Rat Salad

Iron Man

God Is Dead?

Dirty Women

Children Of The Grave

Paranoid

Black Sabbath : 13 review and video

They’re back. Black Monday marks the return of Black Sabbath.

Titled simply 13, it is the first studio album to boast the classic line-up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler since 1978’s Never Say Die, after which Ozzy walked out.

Only drummer Bill Ward is absent, after refusing to take part amid contractual wrangles, his place taken by Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk.

At the production helm is Rick Rubin, a man with a habit of getting the best out of artists who haven’t been hitting highspots in the later stages of their careers, Neil Diamond and the late Johnny Cash among them.

“I have to admit that it’s not what I expected,” says guitarist Iommi, who lives in Lapworth these days. “In a good way, that is. I could never have imagined that the album would turn out so well, but it has.

“I think it sits comfortably with our first three albums – Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master Of Reality. We wanted it to sound like the way we played in our early days, back to basics, and we recorded pretty much all of it almost live as a band.

“We didn’t want to go through the usual trip of recording the drums, the guitars and the vocals separately. So we played together.”

Word is that this is intended as a farewell, and that the line-up will not record again after a world tour which stops off at Birmingham’s LG Arena on December 20 and again at the city’s National Indoor Arena on December 22. Don’t be so sure...

Here’s the track-by-track verdict:

End Of The Beginning

Sabbath’s return is announced by an explosive power chord leading into a four-note mirror image riff as Ozzy pleads: “Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?”

It’s a classic Sabbath plod for close on three minutes until a faster rock and roll riff kicks in, topped by a tightly controlled guitar solo one minute spitting more bullets than a Kalashnikov, the next sparingly melodic.

“All right, OK,” chants Ozzy as the song winds down, a surefire stadium response ploy. It’s old school Sabbath but dressed in crisp contemporary production rather than the muddy mixes of old.

God Is Dead

The album’s longest track, at almost nine minutes, boasts a similar reverse riff to the opener but is a more doomy, gloomy affair.

“Is God alive or is God dead?” sings Ozzy before rambling on about “rivers of evil through the dying land” and warning that “sinners will be damned” somehow stretching the last word into three Brummie syllables.

It’s inspired by the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Centre, not that you’d necessarily know it.

Again, there are time changes aplenty, including a kickass stop-start boogie which gets the adrenaline flowing round about the three-quarter mark, and a near-progressive riff at the close that is destined to defeat Guitar Hero wannabes.

Loser

Easily accessible and radio-friendly, Loser ups the pace, driven by Geezer Butler’s bass and Brad Wilk’s tight drumming. Classic Sabbath hallmarks are still in evidence but it’s the album’s most lightweight contender.

Just when you think you’ve got it figured as a good highway song, Tony Iommi pulls the rug from under your feet with a tricky riff and searing solo.

Zeitgeist

Remember Planet Caravan from the Paranoid album back in 1970? Well, here it is again. Sort of.

Opening with Ozzy’s manic laughter, it’s all acoustic guitar and bongo percussion given a psychedelic twist. Think the sort of songs Led Zeppelin offered on their third album but without the blues roots.

Iommi’s flanged guitar adds to the period piece, until he breaks into some Wes Montgomery-style jazz licks. If you listen again to early Sabbath, there’s a surprising amount of jazz amid the monolithic metal.

Age Of Reason

Stadium rock drumbeats herald another huge riff on the album’s best track. “Always felt there would be trouble,” sighs Ozzy, perhaps mindful of Iommi’s lymphoma diagnosis, Bill Ward’s departure and his own addiction.

Musically the most ambitious outing here, there are tricksy time turnarounds, and Wilks adds drum fills all over the place much in the way that Ward once wandered. There’s a tighter middle section that smacks of his day job in Rage Against The Machine.

It’s a song Sabbath fans Metallica would love to cover, old school but shiny new at the same time. Iommi tops it off with a clean, stylish solo set against the murmurings of a heavenly choir.

Live Forever

Phew! What a scorcher! Opening like Iron Man, this motors along like a runaway Eddie Stobart truck before slowing down for Ozzy’s anguished “I don’t want to live forever but I don’t want to die!”

The troubled frontman has rarely sung better in recent years, and is in far better form than on his ill-advised outing with Slash a couple of years back. It’s short but sweet – by Sabbath standards – at under five minutes.

You could imagine this having been released around the time the Sabs stormed the charts with Paranoid, and Deep Purple replied with Black Night.

Damaged Soul

Sabbath board the TARDIS and make an unashamed trip in time right back to their beginnings.

It’s a slow, slow riff shot through with the blues, even adding blues harp to the nostalgia. It’s also the first track to escape the polished production process, more organic than the rest.

“Satan is waiting for the righteous to fall,” whines Ozzy and there’s an Iommi solo so natural, warts and all, that it sounds it was done in one take, just like the old days. Diehards will love it, newcomers may be unconvinced.

Dear Father

The album closes with a chilling tale of child abuse, seemingly condemnation of the sex scandals that have dogged the Catholic church.

“You preyed upon my flesh then prayed for my soul,” seethes Ozzy.

But, and here’s the surprise, it’s actually the most melodic song on the album, with an unlikely hook that might have emerged from The Beatles’ classic White Album sessions.

That wouldn’t be enough, of course, so there’s another runaway riff in the mid-section of the song, which finally closes to the sound of thunder and rail amid which a church bell mournfully tolls.

Back to where the Black Sabbath story started in 1970. Full circle, goodnight.

Black Sabbath: Tony Iommi's Eurovision Song Video

We already told you how Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi had written the Aremenian entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Now here it is, in all its mainstream glory.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the entry for Armenia, Lonely Planet performed by Dorians.

Meanwhile, the UK will be represented by Bonnie Tyler.

Yes, Bonnie Tyler.

You have been warned ...

Black Sabbath : new album 13, new drummer Brad Wilk

OKAY crossword fans.

Black Sabbath drummer ... two words.

B--- W---

Yep, that’s right.

Brad Wilk.

The Rage Against The Machine drummer has been shipped in to replace Bill Ward on the new Sabbath album, which will be titled simply 13.

News of the switch was released on the 13^th of January, as in 13.1.13.

And it’s unlucky for Bill who, you’ll recall, was locked in a bitter dispute with former bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne when he was left out of the big reunion.

No doubt more legal letters will be flying.

But the good news is that Tony is back on track, still battling cancer but reportedly writing some of his best music ever.

Sabbath have recorded the new album primarily in Los Angeles and were joined at the sessions by drummer Brad, one of the best in the business.

And if you thought that his work with RATM doesn’t particularly suit Sabbath’s more bruising Brummie riffs, then listen again to the three albums he made as part of supergroup Audioslave.

Wonder if the Sabs might do a cover of Cochise when they hit the road?

Produced by seven-time Grammy winner Rick Rubin – who has a track record of reviving careers – 13 will be released on Vertigo.

That’s a nice touch because it was on the label that Sabbath first made an album, and remained with then until 1978’s Never Say Die.

Since they started, by the way, the Sabs have shifted more 70 million albums together.



In advance of the album’s release, Tony & Co will head to New Zealand, Australia and Japan for live performances, with more to be announced. Don’t be surprised to see them at a major UK festival.

The dates so far are:

April 20 & 22 – Vector Arena, Auckland

April 25 – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia

April 27: AllPhones Arena, Sydney, Australia

April 29 & May 1: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia

May 4: Perth Arena, 
Perth, Australia

May 12: Ozzfest, Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, Japan

Black Sabbath "Paranoid" Live in Birmingham video - May 19, 2012

Were you there?