Born Again - Song By Song

[Typhon]

Digital Bitch is an energetic tune which I find enjoyable.  Once again, Gillan does not cross the line with the screaming and the guitar play is wonderful.  I don't quite understand why people get so hung up on the lyrics.  After all, lyrics are the least important part of a song.  Not that they aren't important, just the least important.  I mean why not claim every instrumental is bad, because there are no lyrics.   

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The title track Born Again follows, and along with Digital Bitch we hit the low point of the album. This is such a dirge, I feel it is music to cut your wrists to! Seriously not much to like about this one, it's worse than the cover!   But we have two good songs to finish, so that's something to look forward to.

[Charger]

Born Again does battle it out with Never Say Die on the worst title track of Sabbath's catalogue.

The slow tempo, Tony's odd guitar sound and Ian's rather tired sounding signing doesn't elevate the song at all.

There really are very few positive sides about this song and it is along with Keep It Warm the only two songs that are must skips every time I listen to the album.

Digital Bitch is an energetic tune which I find enjoyable.  Once again, Gillan does not cross the line with the screaming and the guitar play is wonderful.  I don't quite understand why people get so hung up on the lyrics.  After all, lyrics are the least important part of a song.  Not that they aren't important, just the least important.  I mean why not claim every instrumental is bad, because there are no lyrics.   

Thanks bud! Now I don't feel quite so lonely in my liking of DB anymore...

[Typhon]

Being not much of a fan of these slow ballads, it's no surprise that I don't care for Born Again.  I don't hate it, but since it is the cover title, I expected more of a heavy and doomy tune, given what is on the cover.  I might add that I have no complaints about the cover.

[Zzzptm]

The album is a real mixed bag - Born Again is a track that I like, as I think Gillan actually put some effort into the lyrics and there's enough dynamic variation to set parts of the song apart from the others. It goes to show that about half the album is pretty good, but which half is going to vary significantly from person to person.

[Jack the Stripper]

I guess I’m in the minority with the title track. I actually really dig it. Gillan pours his heart out on this song and delivers a great vocal performance, although I’m still not really sure what the songs about while Tony delivers an emotive solo in the vein of Lonely is the Word, but doesn't quite reach the same heights of that song.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Last but one we have Hot Line. I've always quite liked this song, nice uptempo rocker, nice riff and solo, thumping bass and although Ian throws in a few too many screams for my liking, it doesn't irritate me too much, and otherwise the vocals are fine.

[Typhon]

Hot Line has everything I like in a good hard rock song.  Great rhythm, a heavy and catchy beat, nice solo section.  This could have been my favorite song on this album.  I say "could have been" were it not for one huge problem.  Gillan ruins the song with his agitating and unnecessary screaming.  What a waste of a good tune. 

[Charger]

Hot Line is one of my favourites. I remember way back in the day when Joe was still active on the other site we always shared our love for this song...

Such a great riff from Tony, one of his finest fast song riffs actually. Bill Ward is struggling here though but then again he was struggling through out the album. Geezer is right on the money as well.

Ian is belting out some crazy good vocals again. This I think is the most Purple Sabbath song of the album...granted Ritchie would have never come up with a riff this fast and heavy but still...there is a good bit of Purple vibe in this one combined with some of Gillan's solo work.

All in all a great track.

Edit:
Reading this thread it becomes more and more evident why me and zzz are the only Deep Purple fans in here...everyone else seems to hate Ian Gillan's vocals. 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
When he avoids the unnecessary screams he actually has a great voice, probably why Zero is my favourite track on the album... no screams!

[Zzzptm]

I like Hot Line, as well. It was great to see live. That one's a keeper.

Except for where Gillan sounds like he's gargling razor blades. Ouch.

I know that he had a vocal chord operation between this album and HOBL, can't remember if it was before or after PS. But it's why he sounds different in his later work and screams way less than before.

Glenn Hughes's screaming solution, on the other hand, was to quit doing coke.

[Jack the Stripper]

Edit:
Reading this thread it becomes more and more evident why me and zzz are the only Deep Purple fans in here...everyone else seems to hate Ian Gillan's vocals. 

That’s quite wrong. I’m a big fan of 70’s DP and even some of their 80’s & 90’s stuff and much like Sabbath & Zeppelin, every individual member brought their own immense & unique abilities to make them a special band. In saying that, I’m probably more a Blackmore fan than anything else. I love 70’s Rainbow more than 70’s Purple.

I just don’t like what Purple have become these days. Only a shadow of their former selfs.

[Typhon]

^^^
When he avoids the unnecessary screams he actually has a great voice, probably why Zero is my favourite track on the album... no screams!

True that.   

[Zzzptm]

What JtS says is true. One can be a DP fan and not like Steve Morse. There are DP fans that only like Mk1 albums, and call out the rest as crowd-pleasing junk that abandons their prog roots.

When we look at Born Again, we are looking at an intersection of Sabbath and the front man of the most well-known incarnation of Deep Purple, Ian Gillan. It's on the level of Axl Rose subbing as vocalist for AC/DC. Big personality, no question that there's talent, interesting combination... but... at the end of the day, Gillan ain't Ozzy. He ain't Dio, either. He's Big Ian, and he does what he does the way that he does it.

In concert, Iommi, Geezer, and Bev Bevan did a great job on Smoke on the Water. That song totally worked in the Sabbath style. Gillan did very well with songs like Neon Knights and especially Rock 'n' Roll Doctor, but missed the mark with War Pigs. Dio-era tunes, in general, were better for his style than Ozzy-era tunes. But none were as good for him as Gillan-era tunes, Smoke on the Water and Hot Line being the best of those tunes.

On the Who Cares CD, we get 3/5ths of DP Mk2 playing with Tony Iommi and they do a great job with Trashed - shows how good professionals with loads of experience can gel and get stuff done.

[Charger]

One can be a DP fan and not like Steve Morse.

Yeah but one can hardly be a DP fan and hate Ian Gillan's voice though...well I suppose if they only like Evans, Coverdale and Turner it would be possible.