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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => All Other Eras => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on January 22, 2021, 09:20:13 AM
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Ok, so there seems to be interest in doing this album. I don't mind the album, but it just isn't Sabbath, having said that it was released as Sabbath, and I accept that. I like Hughes as a singer but this wasn't his finest 35 minutes.
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The opener is In For The Kill, a fast uptemp intro which is now the typical way to start a Sabbath album since Sabotage. It's a nice riff from Tony and the solo's fine. Hughes is ok on this one but really the vocal melody is quite poor and seems forced.
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I'm going with 2004 Remaster versions of the songs so at least there's better production than I had on my original vinyl.
When I searched it up on the YouTube, "You Kill Me", the opener from Glenn's album The Way It Is also came up in the search. So I thought I'd compare the two.
In for the Kill is like Hole in the Sky meets Turn up the Night, with mixed results. I like the fast. I like the solo. It's a good opening, performed competently. But it loses its way, I think because a fast repetitive song doesn't engage the same way a slow repetitive song can. It's too fast for slow nodding with the melody, which we *can* do with tunes like Hole in the Sky, Sweet Leaf, Kashmir, and so forth. It's excessive, compared to product coming out from Megadeth and Metallica around the same time. Excessive, as in, we didn't really need this. It doesn't really add much to the metal scene, and Iommi really isn't a thrash/speed player, like this song seems to be trying to push him.
I'm not going to blame the producer, Jeff Glixman, because he did both Eternal Idol and Saxon's The Power and the Glory, which I both love. So is it Warner Brothers and Don Arden that are to blame for obvious commercial pushes like this, for trying to make Iommi something that he's not, and something that he didn't want to be at the time?
I could make an argument for myself that this album with Born Again would make for a nice split, with 4 tracks from each per side. This would be one of my picks for the Glenn Hughes side.
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Seventh Star is an album that took me a long time to come around to. Back in the day it didn’t take me long to dismiss it out of hand as just a generic hard rock album with AOR touches and an overbearing singer. it didn’t much sound like Black Sabbath at all when it came out and given Tony was the only original standing member it made it all the more hard to accept. I also wasn’t a Glenn Hughes fan either going back to what I thought was his overbearing, unwanted and unnecessary vocals on those Deep Purple albums of the 70’s.
A lot was happening in metal in 1986, it was a such a vibrant and exciting time with new younger bands with new sounds popping up everywhere and Seventh Star just didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. Not even in the glam metal scene. It was more a harder rocking version of Boston meets Foreigner. But as time went on and we got deeper into the 90’s and metal was in a lull or state of flux even, I started going back and rediscovering albums from the past I’d previously dismissed or hated on and this album for some reason resonated with me, to the point, I really quite enjoy now(when in the right mood). I’ve also done a complete 180 on Glenn Hughes as a singer. Even when I started to come around to the album in the 90’s I still wasn’t enamoured with his vocals, but I think it was probably the Fused album that finally made me embrace and fully appreciate him as the amazing vocalist he is. Love that Fused album.
Anyway, onto the first track from Seventh Star In For the Kill. An uptempo rocker with a fast alternate picking riff heavily complemented with some great drumming from Eric Singer. The vocals are strong but come in a little early for mine, I prefer the song to settle into its groove first. But where the song really takes off is Tony’s solo. I think it’s such a brilliant and memorable solo as are a lot of his solos on this album. This track It’s certainly not in the league of fast openers Neon Knights, Turn Up The Night or even Trashed but still a good fast opener.
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The second track is No Stranger To Love, a song that is so 1980s you can almost smell the hair spray! Tony's guitar is great, Glenn's vocals are fine... but they just don't add up to a good song, it doesn't work for me. Quite possibly the most unSabbath song on the album, or ever! If it had been done by Whitesnake I would have like it a lot more. ;)
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No Stranger To Love is a bit of a nothing song really. Starts of very similar to Die Young with the keys and Tony’s mellow soloing but then just plods along without ever taking off or having a peak moment.Vocals and guitar work are great but having such a slow plodding track just 2 songs in just doesn’t work very well after such an energetic opening.
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No Stranger to Love is EXCELLENT when it's Glenn Hughes doing it as more of a straight rock tune instead of having to hang metal all over it. It's a ballad, yes, but Glenn does a great job with ballads without being REO Speedwagon or Journey about them.
On this album, I'm with Jack in that it spends the energy from the first track and doesn't give us much return on that expenditure. I'm with KDC in that it totally should have been done without "Black Sabbath" hanging off of it.
But I do have a soft spot for the tune when it rolls up on my Glenn Hughes collection. :)
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Next up we have Turn To Stone, one of the highlights on the album in my mind. An uptempo rocker, it has a really good drum intro, and the riff is another good one from Tony, Glenn is good here too, in fact a great all round performance from everyone. It could have done with another verse and maybe should have been the opening song too, it would have been up there with Sabbath's best.
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Turn To Stone is one of the best tracks on the album. Great drum intro that’s relentless throughout the whole song and never lets up. The riff is more Iommi like than most others on this album and the solo absolutely rips. Hughes also kills it on this track. Great rocking song.
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Side One concludes with Sphinx (The Guardian) / Seventh Star.
While Sphinx is atmospheric and actually flows nicely into Seventh Star, as with all these short ambient peices it's kinda unecessary.
Seventh Star though is another high point on the album. A slower, mellow, laid back song, with good vocals from Glenn and another good riff and solo from Tony. A nice atmosphere to it as well, but I think if it was much longer than it's 5:20, it might have outstayed its welcome.
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To be honest, I'd forgotten about Turn to Stone. But, yes, it's a fun track to jam to. Eric Singer is in 100% beast mode on the skins. If I could change anything, it would be to crank up Glenn's vocals higher in the mix.
Seventh Star... It's like Tony Iommi's answer to Dio's "Last in Line". I like the basic direction of the song, but I think it actually does overstay its welcome. The middle instrumental section gets too indulgent and then the loooooooooooooong fade out part... this is a song that could have been tightened up to make room for one more quick track on side one.
As I was typing this up, the song finished and there was a link to a YouTube vid on the making of Seventh Star, so I'll share it here, as there's some interesting info in it, like there were supposed to be 3 songs with Hughes, 3 with Robert Plant, and 3 with Rob Halford. That Robert Plant bit registered with me because there was a very mid-80s Robert Plant solo guitar effect at the end of the middle instrumental, like the guitar tone from "Big Log". That, plus the overall Kashmir-like drone of the song, made me wonder if this was one that was supposed to go with Robert Plant.
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^ Video is VERY pixel-y, sorry for that, but there's a great quote from Iommi about how this wasn't a Black Sabbath album. It was a solo project that became a Black Sabbath album. So there ya go!
There's probably way better versions of all the footage somewhere else on YouTube, I'm sure, but that was a nice 12 minutes or so to give more story to the album we're going through.
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Sphinx(The Guardian) is just a short atmospheric piece that works nicely into the title track Seventh Star which I think is one of the better songs on the album. The riff has a bit of that slow Sabbathy sludgy feel to it backed by a pounding beat. Glenn serves the track well singing some ancient Egyptian themed lyrics, and again Tony delivers on the solo. Cool song.
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We start side two with Danger Zone, a bit of a mixed bag really, the riff is adequate and the solo is good, it has though, one of Glenn's more irritating vocal performances. It has a very 80s feel to me and doesn't hold up so well. Not dreadful but one of the weaker tracks on the album.
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Very apt description, KDC. It's a song that plays over the closing credits for a big-haired action movie staring Kurt Russell and Demi Moore with Terence Stamp as Dr. Evilplot.
The fact that I was having more fun casting a cheesy 80s movie that was never made than listening to the song says it all.
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WHAT!!! Sweet old Terence Stamp as Dr Evilplot!!! No way, more like the uncle who rescues everyone before he falls into the nuclear reactor!
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Terence Stamp played General Zod! He can do baddies! Pfeh on you for making him play the rescuing uncle!
(He wasn't my first choice, but Klaus Kinski was busy doing a crappy movie in the Philippines, that actor is so busy because he never says no to a script...)
Wait, what thread is this? :D
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It's ok we're just bulking out the thread because it's a little sparse at the moment!
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You’s must be thinking of that cheesy 80’s song by Kenny Loggins because Danger Zone from Seventh Star is awesome. Has a great groove and great melody to it. Very catchy song and have always liked it a lot. Could've done with a better solo as the one Tony plays is the weakest on the album and doesn’t fit the song all that well. That’s the only knock I have on it. Awesome song.
You guys are weirder than I thought.
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No, I was listening to the Iommi-Hughes number. It never resonated with me, still doesn't. I have problems with the whole of side two of this album...
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Now we come to long track Heart Like A Wheel. I don't mind the song but I need to be in the mood to really like it. A blues number which maybe doesn't quite hit the mark, but Tony's guitar work is fine and Glenn sings it well. Ultimately, it is less than the sum of its parts, they did the blusey stuff much better on subsequent albums.
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The original on the album is competently done, but the drums are just way too metal for the blues sound that the track deserves. As a result, I don't get a connection with the song because it doesn't know what it wants to be. It's competently done, but that's that.
It's also about a minute to 90 seconds too long.
I went to hunt up a live version of the song and found Glenn and Tony doing it in 1996:
Zero pressure to be doing metal-up-your-ass work, Tony can let go and cut loose, this is magic to listen to. Glenn is more dynamic in his vocals and the whole thing comes together much better in my ears. 6 minutes in, and I was ready for still more. So go figure that... 6 minutes and I want more on the live version, but it's too long for the studio version from the label-dictated album of the 80s.
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Heart Like A Wheel is a heavy blues song with a sludgy doomy undercurrent. Tony’s soloing is sublime on this track, I could listen to him solo like this all day long, whilst Glenn delivers his most emotive & soulful performance on the album. I have nothing to fault about this song.
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Next up is Angry Heart. I rather enjoy this song despite a couple of issues. A nice chugging riff from Tony, a mostly good vocal performance from Glenn... but where's the solo? where's the extra verse which would make the song a lot longer... and better! ;)
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Angry Heart / In Memory I treat as one song, and again I've got a song on my hands that's competently done, but which fails to inspire a reaction, good or bad. It's lukewarm to me on this album.
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Angry Heart is just a good solid song to close out the album but like a lot of songs on this album isn't anything remarkable or particularly memorable to make it stand out, in saying that, it’s a song that has always stuck with me for its striking resemblance with Gary Moore’s Wishing Well. It’s not a rip off or anything but the vocals and main riff in Angry Heart have just always reminded me off it.
And just to finish off, In Memory is just a short dirging type song that could almost just be part of one song with Angry Heart it flows that well with it, however, I think its a tribute to Tony’s father or something from memory? Good heart felt vocals from Glenn.
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Of course that's a cover the Free song, but Moore's version is a little heavier.
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As others have done In Memory already I'll complete the album now. I find it a little throwaway, too short to be a genuine emotional tour de force, but played well and sung well but ultimately it falls a little short.
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My ranking of the songs are:
1. Turn To Stone
2. Sphynx / Seventh Star
3. Angry Heart
4= In For The Kill
4= Danger Zone
4= Heart Like A Wheel
7= In Memory
7= No Stranger To Love
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My song rankings
1. Turn To Stone
1. Danger Zone
2. Sphinx/Seventh Star
2. Heart Like A Wheel
3. In For The Kill
4. Angry Heart
5. No Stranger To Love
6. In Memory
Overall Rating 6/10
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It's really not all that bad... I think it's overall more listenable end-to-end than Born Again or Technical Ecstasy or NSD.
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^^^I agree it’s more listenable than Born Again, hence me giving it and extra rating point.
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I'd add that finding these songs outside of Seventh Star is often a real treat, as they're no longer being constrained by Warner Brothers management or Don Arden.
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Doing these albums like this has made a difference, this was an album vying for the bottom spot on the list of Sabbath albums, but it's certainly better than TE and BA and probably F too and maybe HC, but I'll need to re-assess once we have done them.
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I agree, it was well worth revisiting. Time for Eternal Idol!