Black Sabbath; Is This True?

No, but this is.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/08/-no-black-sabbath-reunion-tony-iommi.html

Damn...

I read the other day that Iommi's agent said his client never denied a reunion. This must all be a publicity stunt.

Tony Martin on the Bill Ward situation:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/former_black_sabbath_frontman_on_bill_ward_firing_if_its_about_money_then_what_the_f--k.html

Neat interview.

Interesting stuff man, Bill Ward is still a bad ass in my opinion.

I waited till I got my Best Buy edition of '13' to listen to it with the exception of 1 or 2 songs and halfway through it's slower than I thought it'd be but that's not  bad thing. It's great to hear Iommi play some Blues and Jazz again and great to see Geezer writing lyrics, he's always been a great lyricist. I knew that Brad Wilk (B.W. and four letters each like Bill Ward? Nice...) would do a good job but the drums are too low in the mix and the tone is weak for a backdrop as heavy as Iommi/Butler are but nevertheless I like this album...

'13' picks up the pace about 6 songs in, I really dig the album but I prefer the Best Buy bonus content.

I don't really "prefer" the bonus content and I'm kind of glad those songs are separated from the rest of the album.  The main album fits together stylistically, I think tracks like Methademic and Naivete In Black while definitely strong enough to be included are a little too post-70s sounding to really fit with the rest of the record. 

The album gets better everytime I listen to it.  The first couple spins I enjoyed it but felt a little non-plussed, but then each successive time I played it something else jumped out at me.  I now think it's a  damn fine album.

A couple caveats:  I agree that the drums are a little too low in the mix and a little too polished sounding, they would benefit for a rawer approach and more room sound.  

The CD is horribly compressed, the LP sounds FANTASTIC by comparison.  The LP has twice (!) the dynamic range of the CD.

I agree with your overall assessment and non-plussed is a great way to put things but it's true that the main album fits together stylistically. I'm gonna wait till tomorrow to spin it again.

It'd be great to see '13' snag the #1 spot, especially in this age of declining sales and the crap that's popular nowadays.

Would Wilk get a platinum or gold record once it's certified as such?

Akeldama wrote:

It'd be great to see '13' snag the #1 spot, especially in this age of declining sales and the crap that's popular nowadays.

Would Wilk get a platinum or gold record once it's certified as such?

No. He is listed as a session drummer, that is a strictly salaried position with no sharing of royalties.

After a second listen I enjoyed '13' a lot more. The drumming is still low in the mix but sounds better with headphones. I just wish the snare sounded heavier. The highlight for me are the lyrics especially 'God Is Dead?' and 'Dear Father'. I like the twists at the end of both but especially on the former where the writer (Geezer) is convinced that God isn't dead because of the judgement he sees upon the earth. Great twisted twist!

The drums sound a little better on the LP simply because they aren't compressed until every hit sounds identical like the CD mastering.  But I agree, there are really 2 problems.  1. the drums are too low in the mix.  2. I don't like the overall drum sound they chose, it's just EQd too heavily.  Aside from that the production sounds quite good. 

I think you'll discover that with repeated plays the individual songs start to stand out more.

I still don't feel that The End Of The Beginning should have started the album.  I think they should have used God Is Dead as the album opener and maybe use End Of The Beginning as the album closer. Those songs are similar in arrangement so they should naturally have been separated in final sequencing but for whatever reason they put them back to back.

I agree with your last paragraph 100% I don't wanna jam '13' too much b/c I don't wanna burn myself out on it like I did 'Super Collider'.

I'm making a Black Sabbath ballads playlist and I nee some help, here's what I have so far:

I Won't Cry For You
Solitude
Over And Over
Born Again
Planet Caravan
You Won't Change Me
No Stranger To Love
Too Late
Changes
Dying For Love
The Sign Of The Southern Cross
She's Gone
Fluff
Children Of The Sea

I'm thinking also Country Girl.

Feels Good To Me (TYR)

Damn, I forgot that one!

Air Dance

Black Sabbath-Eros In Black (my playlist of Sab ballads; any additions are appreciated).

1. Air Dance
2. Born Again
3. Changes
4. Children Of The Sea
5. Country Girl
6. Dying For Love
7. Feels Good To Me
8. Fluff
9. I Won't Cry For You
10. Laguna Sunrise
11. No Stranger To Love
12. Over And Over
13. Planet Caravan
14. She's Gone
15. The Sign Of The Southern Cross
16. Solitude
17. Too Late
18. You Won't Change Me

Dude....

Laguna Sunrise

I meant to put that one. Damn, this I turning out to be a killer playlist IMO. I'm gonna jam the hell out of it.

Not sure how much I would listen to a "ballads only" playlist, regardless of the artist involved. I mean, I love ballads, I truly do, but I like to hear them broken up with more uptempo material instead of hearing a bunch of them back to back.

You get some decent variety with Sabbath though because of all the different eras and lineups involved.

Ballads are a funny thing for me, I either really love them or really hate them. I hate cheesy ones and ones that say things that aren't humanly possible like moving heaven and earth if a certain girl was mine. I hate that shit.