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Sabbath - Born Again (1983) Review from the www.dinosaurrockguitar.com website Background OK, so it isn't Sabbath's classic Ozzy lineup. Some Sabbath "purists" never get beyond that. They look at the non-Ozzy versions of Sabbath and they say: "it isn't Sabbath." While I'd probably dispute that point of view, I can live with it. This album, on the other hand, I can't live without. It's not important whether you consider this Sabbath or not. Judge it on the music, NOT what the band is called. I love Sabbath with Ozzy, and I love Sabbath with Dio. Well, this album MAY be my favorite Sabbath album of all. The music stands on its own as an absolutely humungous piece of Dinosaur Metal!  So
let's go back and set the scene. It's 1983. Metal is King. Despite Randy
Rhoads' death, Ozzy's solo career is on the fast track. He's got Jake
E Lee and he's in the middle of Bark At The Moon. Ronnie James Dio and
Sabbath, after two fucking BRILLIANT studio releases and a double live
album, have parted company non-amicably. Ronnie and Vinnie Appice split
to start "DIO," and and Sabbath is in the market for a new lead
singer, preferably someone with coconut-sized balls who can handle the
legacy vocally and emotionally. Enter wonder-voice, Ian Gillan. The ex-Deep
Purple singer who's solo band "Gillan" is having only limited
success in Europe. The MK II Purple reunion that produced Perfect Strangers
is still a year off, and at the time, no one believed MK II would ever
reform. So Ian is looking for a gig to reestablish himself and is game
for this odd but intriguing marriage. Rock journalists quickly dubbed
it Black Purple or Deep Sabbath. Whatever else it was, it was so good,
it couldn't possibly last. Nothing
prepared me for Born Again's sonic assault. It actually was sensory overload
at first. It's disturbing musically and lyrically. It took me a while
to really "get" this album. I recognized all the parts, but
it was unlike anything I've heard before or since. The songs are fabulous.
On most albums, even great ones, there can be an "off track"
or a dud track. This album doesn't have an "off " millisecond!
Tony is riffing at top capacity. Geezer Butler's bass snarls up at you,
both menacing and melodic. Bill Ward adds his typically inventive beats
that drive the tracks. And then there's Ian Gillan. Ozzy's vocals in Sabbath were always sort of a powerful, but nasal, whiny sneer. Ronnie James Dio added THE classic metal voice, melodic, musical, powerful, dynamic from a whisper to a roar. And as I said, then there's Gillan. We all know him from Deep Purple. We all remember the Purple classics. The MARVELOUS pipes, the four octave range, the vocal gymnastics on Child in Time, those notes only he hits. But if you've only heard Gillan in Deep Purple, it's hard to convey how much more powerfully he sings on Born Again. He's FULL OUT on every song. The only term that comes close to describing it is "unfuckingbeliavblyINHUMAN." I mean, Holy SHIT!  I'm
a huge Purple fan, but nothing in Purple prepared me for Ian Gillan's
singing on this album. EVERY TRACK on Born Again has vocals that make
Child in Time pale by comparison. Gillan has never sung like he did on
Born Again before or since, and in my opinion, Born Again has the most
impressive Dinosaur Rock vocal performance ever captured. The only stuff
that's even close is some of Glenn Hughes' live performances, but they
are stylistically very different. This album
has the most evil "vibe" of any album I've ever heard (Sabbath
or other). It's very eerie, and Ian Gillan sounds like a demonic, shrieking
banshee, injecting everything from vocal snarls and twisted, evil laughter
to inhuman wails in impossible vocal registers. With Ozzy and Dio, the
devil in Sabbath's music always seem to be chasing you. With Gillan, it
sounds as if that devil has "caught you" and is delighting in
your torment.Track By Track (vocal cues = ") Trashed (4:10) The album's opener is an up-pace, chugging rocker similar in feel to stuff like Neon Nights. It's based on an a fairly simple Iommi riff with a cool hook, further fueled by a fairly clever bass line. Gillan lets you know you're in for it from from the outset, beginning with some improvisational shrieking. The verse vocal is high, and fairly monotone. The chorus releases the tension nicely and Ian drops down to a more musical range. (ooh Mr. Miracle, you saved me from some pain) Then before the guitar solo, Gillan cuts loose again. At the end before the outro solo, Gillan rips again. "well bless my soul..." If you've never heard Born Again, before you wonder how he doesn't shred his vocal chords. If you have, you know he's just getting warmed up! Stonehenge (1:57) This track is a mood-setting instrumental introduction to the next track. Really eerie and evil sounding. Disturbing The Priest (5:48) Possibly the strongest track on the album. The intro has an unusual tempo and is based on a guitar part that bounces more evil-sounding chords off of 5th fret harmonics. Gillan enters, sounding like that laughing, demonic, shrieking banshee mentioned earlier. "Let's try getting to the sky, hang on or you're going to die..."Then the chorus comes in and Geezer's bass line steamrolls you like a panzer (Good life is contradiction, because of the crucifixion) Gillan wails the second half "If you're ready and have the need, I'll take your soul and plant my seed". The song then settles into the verse; a hypnotic heartbeat-like plod underlined by tortured souls moaning and creaking in the background, creating more eerie tension. The chorus comes in with loud guitar parts that releases the tension and ups the ante "We're Disturbing the Priest, won't you please come to our feast". The verses and chorus repeat, and the intro becomes the outtro. Through it all, Gillan keeps getting more an more unbelievable, delivering some insane harmonies before his vocal finale tears you to pieces "Oh Oh Disturbing the Priest, yeeeeeaaa haa Disturbing the Preeeeeeeist yeeeeeaaa", more demonic laughter, Fucking amazing! You've gotta hear it to believe it. The Dark (0:31) Another instrumental mood piece that leads into Zero the Hero. Zero The Hero (7:45) A hypnotic plod tour-de-force! A "text book example" of how to create and release tension in a song. A heavy, repetitive, relentless riff that is the very essence of a "Dinosaur driving a steam roller." Listen to them lay back on this song and let it drag rather than playing right on the beat. Even in the chorus where they release the tension (Zero the Hero), they don't rush. And if the riff's rhythm didn't create enough damn tension all by itself, there's a melodic Moog Taurus pedal part on top of the riff that chimes in with a dark, ascending pattern of notes that also builds tension. The drums throughout are killer, but listen to the drumbeat part that's under the Taurus pedal part. The pattern is so unique. On this track, Gillan belts out a pretty monotone vocal, but there's a ton of power behind it. Digital Bitch (3:35) Here's another more uptempo song. Gillan sings it fairly conventionally until he gets to the end of each verse and then he improvises some inhuman stuff. The bridge is quick, melodic, but vocally demanding "Maybe she could please me if I saw beneath her veil..." More insane improvisational screaming ensues over the end and Tony's outtro solo. Born Again (6:30) This song is what you might call a "power ballad" but with absolutely no commercial potential, even "back in the day." A slow, simple melodic progression. It's another Gillan masterpiece, and he delivers a performance along the lines of Purple's When a Blind Man Cries, but it's way more powerful. True singing here, more than screaming. Very melodic. Operatic. Tons of dynamics. The chorus is unreal, you think he can't sing any higher, and then he goes way the fuck up the scale. Hot Line (4:50) Just a mid-paced, balls-out riffer with great hooks, and choruses. Gillan takes every available opportunity to push his voice beyond what we commonly think of as "humanly possible." As usual on this album, the song gets wilder and better as it goes on "When will you show me a siiiiiign, when will you throw me a liiiiiiiiine, Oh! Put me on the Hot line". "Take me to the river baby, drink my wine..." Keep It Warm (5:34) Slower than Hot Line. Classic Tony-riff verse. Really melodic, especially on the nice big choruses. Listen to the brilliant bass lines under the choruses. Summary Well, there you have it. A big, fat, honking slab of Dinosaur Metal that's totally unique and a killer from beginning to end. One of the heaviest albums you'll ever hear and it gets better each time you hear it. Give it a chance. If you don't like it at first, give it another chance. Especially if you have an appreciation for Sabbath and Purple. By Dinosaur David B. Copyright ©2001 dinosaurrockguitar.com All rights reserved. |
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first gig for this lineup of the band. The sound is a bit muffled, distant
and at places very distorted. Geezer gets buried in the mix and is almost
impossible to hear. Gillans ramblings between the songs is much clearer
woundwise compared to the songs. Guitar and vocals are the most dominant
on this recording but the overall sound picks up a bit during War Pigs. Gillan sings quite good throughout and Iommi is also in good form. The impression I get is that the band is feeling their way through this their first concert. Gillan gives the audience some good screams during War Pigs. The sound is terrible during the first minute of Supernaut but picks up. My guess is that the person who recorded the show moved to a better position. Drumsolo is edited. Iommi misses his cue during the intro to Disturbing The Priest. Edit at the beginning of Digital Bitch. A shame as this is a powerful version. Edit also at the beginning of Black Sabbath. Some amazing screams from Gillan at the end of this song and a good solo from Iommi. During Zero The Hero Iommi playes a different solo than on the original recording. After about one minute into Iommis solo spot there's again an edit and we are straight into a heavy version of Iron Man with some powerful vocals. After an understandable nervous start of the concert where the band played it safe feeling their way through the first songs they starts to warm up and really getting into it during War Pigs. Quite an impressive show for being the first of the tour and the highlights are some good guitarplaying from Iommi and impressive vocals from Gillan. Is there an unedited and complete recording somewhere? |
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DRAMMENSHALLEN,
DRAMMEN, NORWAY
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good soundquality. Solid version of Children Of The Grave. Good vocals
from Gillan in a heavy verion of Hot Line. Gillans delivers some wonderful
screams during War Pigs and I must say that I really like his interpretation
of this classical Sabbath song. Born Again is much improved campared to
the the first night in Norway. Is this maybe the best version? Keep It
Warm gets it's first public outing. The song stays pretty close to the
studio version. Gillan probably forgot the words because he is on repeat
during the final minutes. Singing the same line over and over again. :) Powerful version of Black Sabbath with Gillan screaming the word Higher for the first time. Something that he later repeated on most shows. Great stuff! Iommis guitar is out of tune just before the solo and he then messes up both the solo and the ending of the song. The intro to Zero The Hero is also messed up but then the song picks up and there is some great vocals and screams from Gillan. Iommi playes a long solo. Fast and heavy version of Digital Bitch. And at the end we are treated with solid versions of Smoke and Paranoid. At the end of Paranoid when they play a bit from Heaven And Hell Iommi playes the riff wrong. A great show with performances of seven songs from the then unreleased album. Recommended! |
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JOHANNESHOVS
ISSTADION, STOCKHOLM, SWEDENOLYMPEN,
LUND, SWEDEN |
| Hoarse
vocals from Gillan and he really struggles during the two first songs.
It gets a bit better after that but his powerful screams are totally gone
this night. But as he always have done and probably always will do he
doesn't surrender and tries to scream even more... That folks is Gillan
The Hero ;-) Good version of Born Again and it's interesting to hear Nicholls using a flute sound on his keyboards during the verses. Maybe it's during this song that Iommi playes the flute he's credited for on the studio album? The vocals is getting better during Supernaut, the keyboards are high in the mix. The concerts picks up in quality after Born Again. Gillan is still struggling but the audience is really enthusiastic. Zero The Hero and Black Sabbath are good versions. During his solo spot Iommi playes a really good solo and after that we are treated with a fast version of Digital Bitch. The sound and especially the bass starts so sound really distorted during Iron Man but it's still a good version and the Gillan is sounding better than earlier in the show. |
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Gillan The Hero - a tribute to Born Again