Born Again - Song By Song

[Zzzptm]

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.

I'll take this to another thread.

[Jack the Stripper]

Hotline is a good uptempo rocker with a catchy vocal melody. Love Tony’s off the cuff type soloing in odd places of the song. On the surface it appears just a simple traditional uptempo rock song but is structured a little different/unusual than a simple traditional structured rock song when you really take it in.

[Jack the Stripper]

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.

Hope you’re not including me in that. I’ve never said once in this thread or anywhere I hate Gillan’s voice.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The last song is Keep It Warm. One of the better songs IMO. A nice, slower, bluesy song, Ian's vocals are good, the bass is prominent but the best bit is the tempo change in the solo, I always look forward to that bit. I'm not sure what the fascination is with keeping the Rats warm.

[Typhon]

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.

Hope you’re not including me in that. I’ve never said once in this thread or anywhere I hate Gillan’s voice.

I didn't say I hate his voice either.  I just don't like scream singing.

[Charger]

Keep It Warm is hands down the worst song on the album.

A rather bland ballad type of a song that touches bit too close to that 80s power ballad type. Bit un-Sabbath like song. Granted this isn't nearly as bad as Changes or She's Gone atleast this has some punch in it and isn't quite such a cliche fest through out but it's not all that far ahead truth be told.

This is a song that might worked better as Gillan solo track with some added keyboards...but as it stands now it's a skip song.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I will rank the songs on Born Again as:

1. The Dark / Zero the Hero
2. Trashed
3. Hot Line
4. Keep it Warm
5. Stonehenge / Disturbing the Priest

7= Born Again
7= Digital Bitch

[Charger]

My ranking would go :

1. Stonehenge / Disturbing The Priest
2. The Dark / Zero The Hero
3. Trashed
4. Hot Line
5. Digital Bitch
6. Born Again
7. Keep It Warm

Overall rating would be

* * * ½

The bad, muddy mix brings this down more than just the two weak songs.

[Zzzptm]

On Keep It Warm, I'm between Charger and KDC. I loved this song when I was a kid, but the older I get, the less relevant it seems. Probably being in a stable marriage for over 30 years has something to do with that, I guess... musically, I like the pick up in the tempo for the solo and the fact that it's a song with a good singalong chorus doesn't hurt. But it ain't a Sabbath tune. It's a beer-drinker of a song.

I can imagine Motorhead or Motley Crue doing well with this song, it would fit fine in their overall repertoire. It would also work for Rainbow with Graham Bonnet or Whitesnake pre-Geffen Records USA commercialization. It could even be retooled as a blues-funk "Keep It Warm Pts 1&2" and be done just fine by The Isley Brothers. It just feels odd calling something like this a "Black Sabbath song".

I'm wondering if that was what Iommi was thinking as he watched the band wander off after the tour and wanted to do something on his own and *not* have to be carrying on as Black Sabbath, with all that brand entails and demands.

[Jack the Stripper]

Keep it Warm is a rather lacklustre and sappy affair and a disappointing way to finish the album. It’s not a terrible song but just seems a bit dull and out of place. Actually the whole of side 2 seems out of place and in stark contrast to the heavier doomier side 1.

All in all Born Again for its horrible sound and mix, it’s inconsistency, mostly awful lyrics and its steep drop off in quality song writing from the album it proceeded gets marked down considerably.

5.0/10

Best to worst songs

1.Stonehenge/Disturbing the Priest
2.Trashed
3.Born Again
4.The Dark/Zero the Hero
5.Hot Line
6.Keep it Warm

7.Digital Bitch

[Typhon]

The chorus of Keep It Warm sounds too much like a sing-a-long, thus preventing it from sounding like Black Sabbath music.  Iommi does a great job in the instrumental section (when doesn't he?), but that chorus is a real killjoy.  I'll pass.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

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Just out of curiosity are we skipping Seventh Star and heading off to Eternal Idol?... Well me, Charger and Zs, I'm guessing Typhon won't join us (happy to be proved wrong) and I'm not sure about Jack.

[Zzzptm]

============

Just out of curiosity are we skipping Seventh Star and heading off to Eternal Idol?... Well me, Charger and Zs, I'm guessing Typhon won't join us (happy to be proved wrong) and I'm not sure about Jack.

Perfectly content to go straight to EI and skip 7th Star.

[Charger]

Yup.

[Jack the Stripper]

I’d personally like to do Seventh Star. It says Black Sabbath on the cover and is a gateway album between Born Again and the Tony Martin albums. Charger can opt out if he likes as we already know how he feels about that album.