Hooray, Black Sabbath are getting back together! Oh wait, no they're not. Huh?

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

BLACK SABBATH: Previously Unreleased RONNIE JAMES DIO-Era Song Surfaces Online

Awesome!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

From the latest Rhino newsletter....

https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-sto.../black-sabbath

We're heeding the call for more Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath. Until now, no boxed set has focused on Sabbath’s time with Martin, the band’s second-longest-serving singer. Due May 10th as 4LP and 4CD sets, ANNO DOMINI 1989-1995 brings four albums back into print after an extended absence. The collection features newly remastered versions of HEADLESS CROSS (1989), TYR (1990), and CROSS PURPOSES (1994), plus a new version of FORBIDDEN (1995) that guitarist Tony Iommi remixed specially for the set.

Several albums make their vinyl debut in the LP version of ANNO DOMINI, while the CD version contains three exclusive bonus tracks: the B-side “Cloak & Dagger” and the Japan-only releases “What’s The Use” and “Loser Gets It All.” The sets also contain a booklet featuring photos, artwork, and liner notes by Hugh Gilmour, a Headless Cross poster, and a replica concert book from the “Headless Cross Tour.”

[Vincent Dawn Jr Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vincent Dawn Jr]

Ozzy-era Sabbath is one of my three favorite bands of all times (the other two being Iggy & the Stooges and Led Zeppelin). It took me quite a while to even give Dio-era Sabbath, which I've come to love, a fair chance. One of my best buddies still won't give anything released after Never Say Die a listen. In the early 00's, I was almost excommunicated from my group of friends for liking Born Again, ha ha!

I've yet to hear much of this Tony Martin-era stuff beyond a song or two on Youtube. I don't recall anyone I knew at the time they were released being interested in them. We were still discovering the old Ozzy albums and learning the riffs to stuff like "Paranoid" and "Lord of This World." It seems like people nowadays are reassessing these albums.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

I remember Headless Cross, my friend's mother confiscated his tape of it because she thought it was satanic. The title track is decent.

[James Reed Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close James Reed]

I actually like Tony Martin's singing, and most of the songs here. "Tyr" is a great album, though.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

I may be crazy, but the prospect of Forbidden being remixed by Iommi does NOT excite me.

After watching a bunch of documentaries about Sabbath after Ozzy’s departure, I just can’t shake the impression that Tony Iommi is kind of a dummy. The story about him finding out that the manager who’d fucked Sabbath sideways back in the 70s nearly causing Tony to go bankrupt by stiffing every hotel and venue crew on the tour he was dumb enough to use them for as management again cracked me up.

That bad idea also torpedoed the closest thing to an original lineup reunion minus Ozzy that could have been.

[Dark Horse 77 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dark Horse 77]

I may be crazy, but the prospect of Forbidden being remixed by Iommi does NOT excite me.

After watching a bunch of documentaries about Sabbath after Ozzy’s departure, I just can’t shake the impression that Tony Iommi is kind of a dummy. The story about him finding out that the manager who’d fucked Sabbath sideways back in the 70s nearly causing Tony to go bankrupt by stiffing every hotel and venue crew on the tour he was dumb enough to use them for as management again cracked me up.

That bad idea also torpedoed the closest thing to an original lineup reunion minus Ozzy that could have been.

Don't forget that Iommi was a major cokehead for about 25 years. That definitely can mess with one's judgement...but yeah I remember reading that about the manager he rehired a decade later. As the Zappa song goes..."Cocaine Decisions."

[Vincent Dawn Jr Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vincent Dawn Jr]

I may be crazy, but the prospect of Forbidden being remixed by Iommi does NOT excite me.

After watching a bunch of documentaries about Sabbath after Ozzy’s departure, I just can’t shake the impression that Tony Iommi is kind of a dummy. The story about him finding out that the manager who’d fucked Sabbath sideways back in the 70s nearly causing Tony to go bankrupt by stiffing every hotel and venue crew on the tour he was dumb enough to use them for as management again cracked me up.

That bad idea also torpedoed the closest thing to an original lineup reunion minus Ozzy that could have been.

I'd say "naive" and "careless" are far better words to describe Iommi's attitude back then. "Coked-to-the-gills" would be another, just as Dark Horse 77 pointed out.