Without meaning to, it looks like I've worked real hard to make sure this is as disparate a combination of music as possible this week. This happens to emphasize the point I've tried to make in the past: it's not always the most obscure music that I point out, but it's often that I highlight something that some of us, because of our allegiances to certain styles we hold near and dear, overlook because we simply write them off as out of our scope of interests. Yes, I really do like all of these things equally.
Black Sabbath - The Dio Years: I have a confession to make. Metal fan that I have always been, I'm not particularly a Black Sabbath fan. I know, I know - you're all black-listing me right now. See, the thing is, I'm not a particularly big Ozzy fan. I tried, really, I did. I owned a lot of Ozzy stuff back in the day, listened to him a lot, even went to a concert, but ultimately just didn't wind up worshiping at the throne of Ozzy and, therefore, Sabbath. That's not entirely true - I didn't completely write the band off. In what is one of my bizarrely open-minded moves, I really loved the Tony Martin-fronted version of the band, especially Headless Cross. And while I was aware of the Dio-fronted version of the band, I just never got around to checking them out. I moved on from being a metal die-hard for a while to other things, but in recent years have been slowly re-integrating a lot of older metal back into my collection. And now, finally, after all this time, the Dio Sabbath is finding a home there, too, via this collection and, I'm sure, eventually the remastered versions of the albums the tracks come from.
So, what we've got here is five tracks from Heaven & Hell, four from Mob Rules, three from Dehumanizer, one from Live Evil, and three brand new songs that Dio wrote for his own project but decided to let the reunited Sabbath use (of course, we all know they're on the road as "Heaven & Hell" so as not to step on the toes of the reunited Ozzy-era Sabbath.)
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Nice Review....
I will definitely have to check out that jazz(?) trio. I was turned around from my allegiances,as you know, by Michael Manring with Thonk, his chemistry w/Ken Bonfield and his part in the project Attention Deficit. Which turned me on to the stuff from Magna Carta Records.
I haven't blacklisted you,Tom because I agree & understand completely. I will personally say,to this day, that the DIO-era Sabbath was far more interesting than Ozzy's AND that if you haven't listened to Dehumanizer then you can't call yourself a MetalHead!!
2 - Tom Johnson
Somehow I had a feeling you, Brian, might have something to say about my Sabbath confession. ;-)
The Motian/Frisell/Lovano trio is much more hard-core jazz, really more avant-garde than just straight-ahead jazz. It's not for those who are looking for something with a beat or even any particular melody. It is, however, an absolutely beautiful album - perhaps their best in ages.
As for Dehumanizer, it was one of the albums I had "back in the day" and I'm now contemplating whether to pick it up or just wait for the inevitable expanded remaster from Rhino - because we know those have to be coming sometime soon, probably by the end of summer or early fall (probably before the inevitable Heaven & Hell tour CD/DVD set, timed just right for Christmas.) Since it's given such short shrift here, I might just pick it up now . . .
3 - Mark Saleski
brian, i think you'll dig that trio. Motian is a crazy-great drummer in ways that are really tough to put down in words (though i have tried!). probably the most melodic drummer out there.
woa...i haven't listened to Thonk in years. might have to remedy that soon.