Black Sabbath: The Tony Martin/IRS Years Boxed Set 1987-95 (not 1991-92)

Forbidden era photo issued by label and agent for press and media, 1995. Later used for budget compilation.

After being out of print for nearly two decades, Black Sabbaths albums with Tony Martin will finally be reissue and in a boxed set. There was red tape for management and the solicitors to sort out, which held up the release the past few years, but these long overdue remasters will finally be available on 17 May from BMG. The Eternal Idol from 1987 may not be included as that was the last release from the old contract with Warner Bros in the US and Canada and Vertigo/Phonogram for international (the band would return to those labels at different points [Dio reunion on Reprise, final Ozzy one in 2013] with reunited other lineups). Glenn Hughes (who also recorded two non-Sabbath albums with Tony Iommi, which Seventh Star was supposed to be until the label forced a compromise) and the late Ray Gillen (later in Badlands) went to Phenomena, as had Martin once (we've done Ian Gillan), while ELOs Bev Bevan, who was part of the Born Again tour, had a cameo on Idol, thus he and Martin are the only non-original former members from the Birmingham, West Midlands area (even if Beven never was used in full capacity in Sabbath compared to most other past members).

This upcoming release however will likely focus on albums originally from Miles Copelands IRS Records, which no longer exists (although technically part of Universal, having been distributed by A&M, MCA and EMI/Capitol), yet Iommi is said to own the masters now, yet it took a long time to get this done, since it can take more of a wait to get them back than it did to put them out in the first place, as this comes up with other people too (story for another day). I managed to get copies of the studio albums more than once at doable prices, but oftentimes, they can be expensive like other rare albums (you know how it is). I'd like the LPs, as well as Cross Purposes Live, which may be the scarcest of the lot. There could even be unreleased material from the vaults to boot not even on bootlegs, but nothing newly recorded like with the Dio compilation that came out when he was still alive, which warranted the spinoff because only the Ozzy-led group can be Sabbath proper going forward, and that's over for good now, between health and interpersonal issues, but we won't cover any of that today.

Since EMIs sale over a decade ago, it was confusing to tell whether Warner or Universal had the rights to the catalogue. Dehumanizer, the last Dio album with the Sabbath name, was on IRS outside North America and never got deleted, and it appears Universal have that. As for the Martin period, both that and the brief return of the Mob Rules lineup had to compete with the hair bands then grunge if not Britpop, just as the founding members had to contend with punk and new wave in the mid-to-late '70s on top of their first lineup change (with onetime Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac member Dave Walker, then Ronnie James Dio in 1979 after Ozzy Osbourne left a second time).

I wouldn't count on The Sabbath Stones collection being in there either since that has tracks from every recorded vocalist but Osbourne (Gillen never appeared on an official original release, while Walker made it to Auntie). The Martin era has built a cult following of its own and will finally see the light of day once again since he said that he can't earn anything from it until it's back in the shops once more.

UPDATE: Anno Domini: 1989-1995 will be released 31 May 2024 by Rhino in the US and Canada and BMG/Virgin elsewhere (this new deal possibly to keep this period in the same boat as the rest of the catalogue before it). Eternal Idol was already reissued, Dehumanizer obviously doesn't belong and is also spoken for, and Cross Purposes Live will have to wait for another day. The IRS name was retired by founder Miles Copeland and Universal. Forbidden will have a new remix by Iommi.

Musify/Myzuka

Courtesy Round Hill Records

 By the cover art can be obtained from Round Hill Music / Zuma Rock Records., Fair use, Link

    It seems like sister pirate mp3 sites Myzuka.club and Musify.club have lost the plot. After uploading dozens of albums to both simultaneously (it's a package deal) for over a decade, it seems they don't want anymore from me. I uploaded two albums they don't have yet, The Messenger from Pallas and Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 by Bush (pictured). For the latter, I worked around it by going to an unofficial compilation by updating tracks that had a lower bit rate and adding ones not already there. I had downloaded the new official one legally from amazon since I got it free when I bought the CD from them around the time of Gavin Rossdales birthday and the bands most recent show in my area last fall. Pallas on the other hand are more limited by comparison. Had to go to another site for them. Can't afford Bandcamp too. To boot, band leader and manager Graeme Murray is also a barrister (albeit in criminal law rather than civil), so it may be karma for both bands; also considering neo-prog contemporaries' IQ and Jadis' Martin Orfords war or piracy. Since I can't access Pallas' new album on Musify or amazon at this stage, I had to put those mp3s on my Google drive to stream them from my phone. I would rather have the CD anyway, and I'll get it when it's available affordably. I may have invested heavily in Jadis and Denny Laine due to their catalogues' scarcity, but that's for another post.

    It's too easy to download or stream these days. Vinyl is back (like it never left, but again, for another day). It's like trading in something at the shop. Even if it's something they don't have and not on every corner, they still may not want it. I'm not going to waste time, money or data trying to upload them again. I tried contacting them, but have not heard back. Anyone looking for either of these albums on those site are on their own. File-sharing networks (Warez) like the old Napster, Limewire, BitTorrent, Kazaa and the Pirate Bay aren't as common anymore and can still cause damage to your devices. I actually don't upload or download as much as I used to nowadays. I don't even stream much TV. As for those sites, if I upload one more album and they don't do a thing, they'll never get another from me again. No one makes one ruble from it anyhow, which proves a point. Most of my old files have been wiped or disappeared over the years. Some are off of CDs I still have, but I can't rip them like I used to. Better to cut my losses and lossy files and just move on. (UPDATE: The Pallas one was uploaded by another person already, yet is not recognised in the bands discography.)

Denny Laine 1944 - 2023

AI photo of Denny Laine in recent memory

 The music world is in shock over the death of Denny Laine after suffering from pneumonia for the past few months. It's another reminder that much of that generation is getting fewer by the day. It also brings up the fact that most of his solo catalogue is still out of print. I've brought this up when he was alive, and with others who are also gone now where some have theirs reissues and some not yet. It's too soon right now for his family to even consider that at this stage. Also, the rights lay with several different companies, mostly small labels. Most albums and CDs can have hefty prices and now that Laine is deceased, they will likely go up more. I managed to get 1988's Lonely Road at a doable price. I even settled for a US LP of Holly Days for pennies before we learned of his illness. His widow Elizabeth (like John and Lisa Wetton, they were only married a short time) said there was even a new album recorded that could be released in the new year when the time is right. I managed to get a reissue (there are too many, usually tagging Paul McCartneys name on) of Japanese Tears called In Flight signed in 2016 at BeatleCuse: The Deux Over in Syracuse (Beatles tribute concert, one of two he did that year).

Even Jim Diamonds catalogue remains unavailable several years after his passing, yet he's not as well known compared to Laine. Even some limited editions would be enough since having copies made en masse may not be feasible in this economy. Some reissues disappear when interest wanes on both major and indie labels. Streaming services are taking off programmes to cut costs, so it doesn't always bode well for niche artists like this. The demand has to be there before the work can be done as the Facebook group I help run has diehards asking for lesser known people in an age trying to compete with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Laines work reminds us of a simpler time. There are also several compilations of the original Moody Blues available, sometimes combining with the later era (Mike Pinder is the last surviving founding member). I may now spend the next ten months trying to get everything. It'd be great if I won this competition for a $5,000 gift card for amazon.com so I could get the pricier ones from third party sellers that are there, while I'd have to win lottery tickets or even try my luck at local shops for other titles (they could be gone by the time I get there if there was ever anything left).

Downloading is never enough and Denny would turn in his new grave if we did that (from pirate sites, of course). We should suggest to the original or reissue labels that these albums need to come back and streaming them, even on a legal service is too easy and earns twopence for the estate. Get all this sorted by what would have been his 80th birthday on 29th October (now in the same boat as Peter Green).

Goodbye, Denny. It took a long time to forge your own path and I tried to catch up for thirty years. Hope you and the other original Moodies, Jimmy (McColluch) and Linda can play together now. RIP.

Anita Baker

Anita Baker at the Lincoln 2.0 Festival, 2009

 Haven't posted here in six months' time, having focused on the sister blogs and my life, but the time has come to write about an artist I remember from growing up that I don't listen to or hear from often, this time being soul legend Anita Baker. Four years ago, she was able to get back her masters from Warner Music Group, where was signed to Elektra Records (transferred to sister label Atlantic in the mid-'90s when for AC/DC and Yes, it was the other way around until the parent company spun off of Time Warner in 2004 and the former moved to Sony and A&R queen Sylvia Rhone to Universal). While the dispute was a couple years ago, it took six months to settle. Warner has divested other artists this past decade since buying Parlophone from EMI. The past three years saw artists and songwriters selling their rights. Baker is setting a new precedent by getting them back. I asked the crystal ball which label would put out the remasters, and it would be Craft, the reissue label at Concord, one of the largest independents in the world, which also acquired Natalie Cole, REM, Jewel, Violent Femmes and Collective Soul from WMG. Nothing officially confirmed, of course, so more as this develops.

Tina Turner Early Solo Albums

Tina Turner acoustic performance in Manchester, 2009

 Tina Turner has entered the next life at 83.  She leaves behind a legacy of music and survival.  Many assume her 1984 breakthrough album Private Dancer is her first after leaving the ex (as stated in 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do with It? for dramatic purposes), but she released four solo albums before that, most have never been on CD.  They are Tina Turns the Country On, Acid Queen (which she played in The Whos Tommy), Rough and Love Explosion.  These have been released by United Artists, EMI, and/or Ariola Records.  EMI bought UA by 1979.  In 1983, Turner had Australian manager Roger Davies (who also manages Cher and Olivia Newton-Johns estate) spearheading her comeback and got her signed to then-EMI subsidiary Capitol (she later transferred to then-sister labels Virgin and Parlophone) after a few years playing clubs around Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.  It was like she never left.

I got Boris Private Dancer, Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair as they were on the list.  Yet these lost albums may have been unavailable because they may have reminded Turner of that difficult time understandably (the third one is obvious).  They could be reissued as two CDs since two albums can fit onto one CD as both official and unofficial reissues alike have done that to save money.  BMG (which used to own Ariola) bought her catalogue a couple years ago as part of a buying spree of her peers' work started by onetime colleague Bob Dylan not long before that.  It would likely be up to them, Davies and Turners estate and family if these albums ever get remastered as it's just too soon right now.

UPDATE: All four will be re-released on vinyl and CD on 15 November 2024 by Rhino/Parlophone.

Aerosmith (1973) 50th Anniversary

Courtesy Legacy Recordings/Sony Music Entertainment

By The cover art can be obtained from Columbia / SME / Capitol / UMe., Fair use, Link

 Aerosmith are about to be on their final tour (my sister might go), but without drummer Joey Kramer, who retired from the road in 2020. It's now fifty years on since their first album, and frontman Steven Tyler purposely changed his voice since they were all a right bundle of nerves being new to the studio in early days. Lead single "Dream On", which wasn't a hit until after Toys in the Attic was released, will show you (I recently discovered a cover version with the late Ronnie James Dio and Yngwie Malmsteen on amazon Music from one of those budget compilations). With AI being more than what sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov had ever imagined, it can be used to change ones voice (ex-pat Canadians Drake and the Weeknd being at the centre of AI-gate). What could be done is make Tylers voice sound like it did from 1974-80, and even enhance the others' playing due to their inexperience with a producer in those days (I'm not wholly familiar with the bands work myself). If A&R legend John David Kalodner (who had  appeared in drag in a couple of their videos in cameos and even on The Simpsons in 1991), who signed them, Peter Gabriel, Asia, and possibly Elton John (in the US and Canada) to Geffen still worked with them, he might not have allowed this, but he's a pensioner now. Aerosmith themselves would also have to approve, of course. There could be a remaster with a remix of the original album and a new one with the AI vocals. It could be done, as no one has announced an official release of anyones work with such manoeuvres just yet. It's being considered and already being done for new material. Until then, we all can just "Dream On". More as this develops.

UPDATE (14/2/26): The début album will be reissued on 20 March 2026 by Capitol/UMe, now sister to Geffen of all things. No AI, of course, but digitally remixed and remastered, previously unreleased live recording from Pauls Mall fifty-three years ago to the day of the release to boot and some outtakes. Almost like how future producer Jack Douglas later worked with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Double Fantasy, which was one of Geffens first releases, spurred by Paul McCartneys live version of "Coming Up", #1 on Billboard, and released on Columbia in the US and Canada, only for both former colleagues to go back to Capitol themselves (Lennon posthumously), while Aerosmith covered "Come Together" in something (no pun intended) that shall remain nameless (you know the story, as John would've said). CBS distributed Geffen internationally from 1982-85. The Offspring moved their Columbia albums to Universal themselves, but these things happen, you know. Aerosmiths other albums from 1974-82 if not 1985-93 or 1997-2012 could transfer, but that has yet to be confirmed. The Capitol deal was signed several months ago, and the band have just worked with Yungblud, who moved around UMG himself, on a new EP.

Black Sabbath: Born Again - 40 Years On

Courtesy Warner Records/BMG (non US/Canada)

By The cover art can be obtained from Vertigo / Warner Bros. (US/Canada)., Fair use, Link

 It's been forty years time since Black Sabbath released one of the most distinct and controversial albums, and one of the few without Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, or Tony Martin.  After Dio and Vinny Appices departure in 1982, most of the original lineup sans Osbourne hired Ian Gillan late of Deep Purple and his own band to take over on vocals, but he was from another world than them and to this days, there remains mixed reaction to this album.  Producer Robin Cable Black previously worked with Genesis, Elton John and Queen.  Bev Bevan from fellow Brummies ELO (they shared management with Sabbath then) did drums on tour, and for one track, a misunderstanding on set measurements inspired a famous scene in This is Spin̈al Tap.  After the tour, Gillan was on-again off-again with Purple, while there would be a revolving door of lineups at Sabbath until 1997s Reunion.

The original Ampex master tapes were unavailable for over three decades, but they were found a couple years ago, according to Tony Iommi, and here's hoping that a remaster is available by October for the anniversary on double vinyl and CD from Rhino in North America and BMG for international.  The second disc would be of outtakes and/or live tracks.  We're still waiting for Martins era of the band on IRS Records to be reissued however, and it can take just as long, if not longer, to remix and remaster as it did to record it in the first place, as well as sorting through the red tape as it were.  There had been a deLuxe Edition in 2011, but it was from other tapes, so now the album can be given justice.  The LP can replicate the custom UK labels and sleeve with updated information (the Western Hemisphere had standard ones),  Right now, I'd be lucky to come across the original import LP in the shop again.