BLACK SABBATH - THE "REUNION"

Black Sabbath has just hit the stage at Lollapalooza. As I wrote in a piece for my day job, the irony here is rich.  In the '90s, Sharon Osbourne pitched Ozzy Osbourne to Lollapalooza (when it was a summer tour), and as legend has it, they laughed at her. So she went and founded Ozzfest. The Lollapalooza tour soon died out, and Ozzfest thrived for years.  Classic Sharon Osbourne. She doesn't mess around.

In Ozzfest's first year as a national tour, Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath, and played one set with them, and one with his solo group. Sabbath, however, only had 3 of their 4 members: it was Ozzy, guitarist/leader Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler, along with drummer Mike Bordin (of Faith No More, at the time he was Ozzy's drummer). Drummer Bill Ward wasn't invited.  I remember interviewing him that summer; he said he didn't know why he wasn't included. Two years later, the Sabs toured on Ozzfest again, and this time, Bill was there.

All these years later, Lollapalooza has reinvented itself as an annual weekend festival in Chicago, and this year, Sabbath headline along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White and the Black Keys. And again,  sadly, Bill won't be there - this time Sabbath are using Ozzy's current drummer, Tommy Clufetos.  I saw Tommy in Ozzy's band about a year and a half ago and I noted that he was a monster on drums. He's perfect for the band, if Bill can't be there.

I've followed the band, and their drama, a lot over the past few years.  As I've mentioned in the past, I wrote the liner notes for The Black Box, the box set that collects all their albums from the Ozzy era.  And I was interviewed for the Sabbath doc that aired on the Biography Channel. I guess all I can say is that Ozzy, Tony and Geezer with Tommy can do a great Sabbath set, but it's just sad that they can't make it work out with Bill.

Of all bands, Black Sabbath should realize that life is finite.  Ronnie James Dio, the guy who originally replaced Ozzy (and with whom Tony and Geezer toured and recorded with as Heaven & Hell in recent years) recently succumbed to cancer. Tony himself recently finished chemo and radiation therapy, and happily, things went well.   But these guys know: they don't have decades ahead of them to work things out.  I interviewed Geezer after Sabbath left the stage the year of the first Ozzfest, and I asked him how the reunion happened:  he just said they were "too old" for squabbling.  

In my interview with Geezer for the box set, he told me that if the band never played another gig, he'd be ok with it. They had done a few reunion tours (with Bill), and they were all friends again. If that was "it," he'd be cool with that.  As a fan, I felt the same way. I thought it was cool that Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill showed up together for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though they didn't perform (Metallica performed for them).  That would have been a perfect end to the story.  So, no matter how great they are tonight (they're currently trending on twitter, I'm guessing they're doing well), if this is it for them, their story ends on a sour note. So I hope that in 2013, they work this CRAP out with Bill and do a few last shows.

All of that said, none of this take away from their legacy: they are one of the best bands of all time, and one of the most influential.  I'm glad that at least the Lollapalooza people have finally caught up.

GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE - DOCUMENTARY REVIEW

I finally caught the Ozzy Osbourne documentary, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne. I imagine some people would be skeptical about how deep this doc would go, given that it is "presented" by Jack Osbourne, who is one of the producers (and Sharon Osbourne is the executive producer).

I think they did a good job: this isn't a fluff piece or a marketing tool.  Jack, his siblings and his half siblings have lots of justified issues with their rock star dad, and they all vent quite a bit (even Aimee, who famously declined to have any involvement with The Osbournes show on MTV).  While the film makes no bones about his incredible musical impact, it also doesn't flinch from his tragic flaws, and there are many. It was difficult to watch Sharon discuss some of their more violent moments (and there are pictures of her with the bruises to prove it).  It was heartbreaking to watch Jack and Ozzy (separately) discuss an argument that became a turning point for Ozzy.  Ozzy yelled at Jack, saying he's given him everything he ever asked for, and Jack countered with the point that he wanted a father. There are stories from the other children detailing the forgotten birthdays (in one scene, Ozzy struggles to remember what year his first child was born in), the drug and alcohol abuses and more. The story seems to end well: according to the narrative, Ozzy has been clean and sober for five years at the time of the filming. I really hope that that is true.  I can say that when I saw Ozzy in concert a year ago, he seemed to be in great shape and he sounded better than he had the last time I'd seen him, nearly a decade earlier.  As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I'd love to see him when he tours with Black Sabbath in 2012.

I thought that a more well-rounded story would have included more of Sharon's involvement.  I realize that the story is about Ozzy, but like her or not, he most likely would not have had a solo career without her.  Her love, determination and toughness probably has as much to do with his post-Sabbath success as anything he's done.   Even the part where Ozzy talks about Ozzfest (which Sharon started when Lollapalooza wouldn't book Ozzy) is just a bonus feature. On the other hand, The Osbournes seems to be referred to as something that happened to the family, not something executive produced by Sharon. If the show gave a negative impression of Ozzy, or exploited his illnesses or weaknesses for laughs... well, there's no acknowledgement that maybe they shouldn't have been doing it.

The doc spends a bit of time on the story of Sabbath and on Ozzy's first guitarist, the late Randy Rhoads. Henry Rollins, Metallica's Robert Trujilio (Ozzy's former bassist) and even Sir Paul McCartney weigh in on Sabbath and Ozzy's impact.   Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Tony Iommi are all interviewed.  I think that a lot of the footage here could be re-used for a full-on Black Sabbath documentary, which could tell their story and show their impact.  Sort of like a combination of The Beatles Anthology and Rush Beyond The Lighted Stage. I realize that there are legal and emotional issues there, but what a great story that would be.

THE BLACK SABBATH REUNION: IT'S ON

As everyone knows by now, Black Sabbath announced that they're putting out their first new studio album with the original lineup - Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - since 1978's Never Say Die!  The album is going to be produced by Rick Rubin, who has been trying to get the band back together forever, and of course they are going to tour also.

Over the summer, I wrote about my thoughts on the rumors of a Sabbath reunion that were circulating at the time. I recalled something Geezer said in an interview I did with him for the liner notes of The Black Box.  He wasn't sure at that time if they'd ever work together again.  But he was happy that they reunited, that they'd done some incredible reunion shows, and most of all that they were friends again. He hoped that they'd work together again, but if they didn't, he was happy with the way things were ending. However, they did do a few more tours after that.   Then when Tony and Geezer reunited with the second version of Sabbath - with Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice - and called themselves Heaven & Hell, Ozzy went back to his solo career. But I was with Geezer: I was happy that Sabbath had reunited with their original lineup, done some great shows, and it seemed like the world acknowledged their influence.  They were all together at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (even though they didn't perform) and I thought that that was a great way to end the story.

The last time I saw Sabbath was on the Ozzfest in 2001, and it wasn't that great.  Tony, Geezer and Bill were awesome, but Ozzy's voice was dying before the first song was over. It bummed me out, and I didn't  go to see Sabbath or Ozzy after that for a long time.  But last year, I got tickets to an Ozzy concert (on his 62nd birthday!) and he was great, and his voice sounded powerful.  I have to say, I'm excited at the prospect of (maybe) seeing the band one more time.  I have to have faith here: if the band are rehearsing and they feel that they're good enough to live up to their legacy, I'm willing to check them out.  Also, I've been hearing that they may headline a tour that would include Judas Priest and Motorhead as well. Rob Halford always sounds great, and Lemmy is like the Willie Nelson of metal, Motorhead is always on the road, and never let anyone down.   I thought the early Ozzfests were cool, where they paired Ozzy or Sabbath with much younger bands - but right now, I think Sabbath/Priest/Motorhead is the right tour for all involved.

As for the record: I know Rick Rubin has tried to reunite Sabbath in the studio in the past, and I think he's also attempted to produce an Ozzy record as well, and it hasn't worked out.  Well, here's hoping it works out well this time.  I don't expect the band to make a classic on the level of Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabotage or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.  But hopefully they'll come up with some stuff as cool as Technical Ecstasy or (especially) Never Say Die.

THE BLACK SABBATH REUNION RUMORS

A lot of people have been searching the internet about rumors of a Black Sabbath reunion.  In fact, traffic to a post about Sabbath that I wrote a year ago has spiked.  So I guess people are looking here for info.

The deal is that some UK journalist interviewed Tony Iommi, who didn't rule out a Sabbath reunion.  This guy apparently loosely interpreted that, and blew it up into a story about a new tour and album. Tony posted a comment about it at his website, and apologized to Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.  By the way, one thing that Tony definitely is doing is releasing his memoirs, Iron Man, which comes out in November.

A couple of years ago, I had the honor of writing liner notes for The Black Box, which compiled all of the albums from the Ozzy era. I interviewed all four members.  At the time, the band had done a few reunion tours, but they weren't sure if they'd do any more (they did a few more tours since then).  But Geezer told me that if the band never performed again, and never recorded another note, he was OK with it. He was glad they were all friends again, and that they had done some pretty incredible reunion shows. I have to say, I'm with Geezer on this one.

They did a lot of tours since reuniting in 1997, and haven't recorded much.  I think there's a reason for that: when Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Volume 4, Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are what you are measuring new music against, it's gonna be awfully hard to live up to that.  So what's the point? All good things must come to an end - and to me, the story of Sabbath ended on a great note. The guys are friends, they did do some great concerts, they all lived to see their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a huge fan of Sabbath, I'm cool with that.

On the other hand, Ozzy sounded great the last time I saw him in concert.  So maybe one more Sabbath tour...

TOMORROW NIGHT ON THE BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL: BLACK SABBATH!

Tomorrow night The Biography Channel will be airing a documentary on the almighty Black Sabbath! I was interviewed for the show (I have no idea how much they'll use from my interview), but I'd be interested in seeing it no matter what. It's just an hour long show, though, and I don't know how you would cover the original Ozzy Osbourne era in one hour - not to mention the later incarnations of the band.

Pretty strange that such a legendary band's story hasn't really been told on camera, and now, within the space of a month we get Biography Channel doc and also the DVD release of the Paranoid episode of the Classic Albums series. I've read that Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi's lawsuits against each other have been resolved. Hopefully in the wake of Ronnie James Dio's death, they can be "mates" again. I don't care if Black Sabbath never record again (Ozzy himself has said that if they can't do something as good as the music they made in the '70s, they shouldn't bother, and that would be hard to do). I am even OK with them not touring again. They did some killer performances after reuniting, I felt lucky to have my chance to have seen the band. I just hate the idea of them not being on speaking terms. I know a lot of other fans feel the same way.

NOW ON DVD: CLASSIC ALBUMS - BLACK SABBATH "PARANOID"

I've never seen any episodes of the "Classic Albums" documentary series, but when they did a doc on the Black Sabbath classic Paranoid, I had to check out the DVD. The album is one of the greatest albums of all time, no question, and deserving of being featured on the series.  But as long as Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were being interviewed, it's too bad that they didn't do a full on documentary on the band. Who knows, maybe someone will soon...

But the doc is definitely cool, although there weren't any real revelations.  All four Sabs are interviewed, as well as some journalists, some people who worked with Sabbath at the time, and Henry Rollins, who always has cool stuff to say.  Tony, Geezer and Bill show how they came up with some of their respective parts to their songs, which is fun. I'd love to see them do more Sabbath docs, and I'm looking forward to checking out some of their other DVDs.

CELEBRATE THE (BLACK) SABBATH THIS WEEKEND ON LIQUID METAL!

This weekend, No Expiration makes its return to the airwaves of the SIRIUS|XM Channel Liquid Metal. Liquid Metal, rightfully so, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of the debut album by the almighty Black Sabbath. I wrote a bunch of things for the black celebration, and the channel's commander, Jose, asked me to do them as voiceovers, which I happily did.  I don't really have a metal sounding voice, I think I sound maybe too "NPR"-ish, but Jose said it was cool.

Anyway, the celebration has started already: every hour on the top of the hour (and sometime during the hour) today through Sunday, you'll hear bits about the band's history and some of their music too. Some of those bits will be voiced by me.

Why me?  Other than the fact that I am a huge fan of the band, I had the honor and the privilege to write liner notes for The Black Box, a box set that collected all eight studio albums from the band's original lineup, which featured Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward. I never tire of the band's music and I am always awed by the power of their music. Celebrate the Sabbath this weekend!

TONIGHT ON THE CATHOLIC CHANNEL: BLACK SABBATH

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, about once a month I go on SIRIUS XM’s The Catholic Channel’s Busted Halo show to talk about music. Tune in at about 7:20 pm ET on SIRIUS channel 159 and XM channel 117. Thursday nights are “Faith & Culture Thursdays” and we usually talk about a certain artist. We’ve discussed Bruce Springsteen, U2, George Harrison and Bob Dylan in the past, and tonight we’ll be talking about Black Sabbath. Seriously!

Not being of the faith myself, I was a bit worried that this would seem blasphemous. The perception of Sabbath and frontman Ozzy Osbourne is a lot different than the reality. I have interviewed all four original members (we’re only talking about the original lineup) – Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – for The Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978, which I wrote the liner notes for (and I mention this at every opportunity, sorry about that). They used the scary imagery, not because they believed in black magic or whatever, but because as young guys, scary music was cool. I’m not trying to play these guys off as angels, but they weren’t Satan worshippers. In fact, they told me one story about a bunch of actual Satanists who were waiting to meet them at their hotel after a concert, and they all kind of rolled their eyes about it.

Geezer Butler wrote most of the lyrics, and actually came from a Catholic home. Songs like “After Forever” are actually very pro-God, it actually expresses sympathy for atheists and cynics. So, hopefully no listeners will be offended, it should be an interesting discussion.

BLACK SABBATH UPDATE: TONY IOMMI HEALING, BILL WARD COOKING

Of course, I'm sorry to say I have no news about the status of the lawsuit
Any longtime reader of No Expiration knows that I am a huge fan of the original Black Sabbath. As I will tell anyone within vocal range, I was asked to pen a liner notes essay for The Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978, which collects all of the studio albums by the band's original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. As such, I'm glad to report that, according to the BBC, Tony Iommi's recent surgery on his hand went well. He had been experiencing pain in his joints, the cartalidge had worn down. No matter what you think of Tony's music, the very fact that he even plays guitar is inspiring: two fingers from his fret hand were chopped off on his last day of work at a factory - he was quitting to become a professional musician. He thought he'd never play again. Until he heard a recording by Django Reinhardt, an incredible guitarist who only had two fingers on his fret hand. He created fake fingertips, played with very light strings (ironic, as he essentially used them to invent "heavy" metal) and became one of the most influential guitarists of all time. You can read more about this at Tony Iommi's website.

Moving on to Bill Ward, here's an interview with him from The Rock and Roll Cook, where he talks about being a vegetarian. He's not the only vegetarian in Sabbath: Geezer Butler is also a vegetarian, and even recently shot a video for PETA. between Tony Iommi and Ozzy (and Sharon) Osbourne. I hope they settle it soon though. For great Black Sabbath news by the way, check out this website run by a real fan, it's where I saw both of these links.

HOW BILL WARD SURVIVED THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

I don't know much about Clash Music magazine, but I love this feature on "suriviving the music industry." Last week, they talked to Tom Araya of Slayer about his experiences, and this week they talk to Bill Ward of Black Sabbath. For such an unconventional and badass drummer, he's such a sensitive guy, and it comes off in this piece.

I interviewed Bill Ward in 1997 when Black Sabbath went on their first "reunion" tour - without him. It was Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler with an incredible drummer, Mike "Puffy" Bordin, Ozzy's drummer and member of Faith No More. Mike Bordin is probably a better drummer and he did an amazing job. The show was one of the most powerful concerts that I have ever seen. But without Bill Ward (or without Geezer Butler, or without Ozzy Osbourne for that matter) it ain't Black Sabbath. Bill was so mad - and hurt - that they toured without him. I'm glad they figured things out and Bill Ward was onboard for subsuquent tours. I also interviewed Bill for the Black Sabbath box set, The Black Box which I wrote the liner notes for. Bill actually called me - at my house! It was amazing. My wife picked up the phone, and it's Bill Ward! It's a bummer that the original Black Sabbath may never play together again due to lawsuits between Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi. You can see how bummed Bill is in this Clash Music piece. I think maybe it's wize for Black Sabbath to stay retired - but it would be sad if this is the way things ended.

A DARK DAY FOR BLACK SABBATH

Yesterday, news came out that Ozzy Osbourne is suing Tony Iommi for the rights to the name "Black Sabbath," just as Tony kicks off a tour with Heaven & Hell (essentially the second version of Sabbath, which also includes Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice).

I kind of figured this came from Sharon Osbourne, obviously. I'm sure her relationship with Tony, even since the 1997 reunion, hasn't been smooth (it certainly wasn't in the years leading up to the reunion). Sharon runs Ozzfest, and most of the Sabbath tours since '97 have been Ozzfests. Tony has always been Sabbath's leader and I don't think he took kindly to his singer's wife (and former manager's daughter) taking the reins of his band. Tony is the legal owner of the Sabbath name, having bought the rights to it from Ozzy, Geezer and Bill back in 1985 (according to the best Sabbath site out there, Black-Sabbath.com -- why Sharon allowed that at the time, I have no idea).

I figured this stemmed from Tony's lawsuit against the Live Nation owned Signatures Network from last year. He was suing Signatures for selling Black Sabbath merchandise after the band's agreement with the company expired. He wanted three times the profits that they made from Sabbath's stuff, plus an immediate halt to selling Sabbath merchandise. The problem, I figured, was that Sharon deals with Live Nation for Ozzfest (which she didn't put on this year, I think the reason may actually have been spun as: her and Ozzy wanted to concentrate on their ridiculous variety show, but it was probably that they have been having problems booking great bands, and they've pretty much booked every cool band they could have gotten - where do you go after Metallica?). Plus, even though Ozzy has been concentrating on his solo career in recent years, there's probably still some resentment that Tony (and Geezer) is with Dio again -- although keep in mind that Tony could have called it Sabbath, but didn't. I imagine Tony may be able to counter with the fact that Ozzy cheapened both his and Sabbath's name via The Osbournes, hopefully he won't go there.

Ozzy posted his press release (with an explanation to fans) at his website, and he actually makes some good points. While Sabbath did have some success after Ozzy originally left the band (both with Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillian on vocals), through the late '80s and the early '90s, they were kind of a joke: it was just Tony Iommi and whomever he hired. People forgot what was so great about them: that changed in '97 when Ozzy rejoined. The weird thing is, in his press release, he says that the trademark should be owned by Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill equally. But according to news reports, Ozzy is trying to get a 50% stake (leaving the other 50% to be split among the other three guys), and a cut of the profits that Tony made from his post-Ozzy Sabbath tours (that's just bitter).

It sucks that this has gone as far as it has, I hope they resolve it soon. I had the privilege and honor of writing some of the liner notes to The Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath 1970 - 1978 box set, which included all of the Ozzy-era Sabbath albums remastered. It came out in 2004, in a break in the Sabbath action, but Geezer told me that if they never did anything together ever again, he was satisfied with the way it ended. The reunion happened, they played some mindblowing shows, and more importantly to him, they were all friends again. Since then, they've toured a bit more, and appeared together when they were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's a shame that this may end up being the last page in the book.

I wonder if Tony (or Geezer or Bill) participated in Wreckage Of My Past, the documentary on Ozzy that Jack Osbourne is working on (due in 2010): it looks like a very "sober" un-Osbournes like look at Oz's incredible career. Watch the trailer here.

BLACK SABBATH VS. HEAVEN & HELL?

A few weeks ago, Ozzy Osbourne did a press conference promoting his upcoming tour, and he mentioned that he would - as far as he knew - be headlining Ozzfest in the summer of 2008; this past summer, he played on just a few of the gigs. He also mentioned wanting to (maybe) finally do a reunion album with Black Sabbath.

I know that the Sabs - Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - have toyed with working together again in the studio. The results have been OK: two studio tracks on the live Reunion album, plus a pretty cool -but quiet - song called "Scary Dreams" that they were playing live for a while. A song called "Who's Fooling Who," on Tony's solo debut featured Ozzy and Bill, and Ozzy and Tony did a collaborative track with The Wu-Tang Clan that was, well, OK.

The reality is, it's hard for a band to come together after decades apart, and come up with material that approaches thier earlier stuff. I don't think that The Stooges achieved it with thier reunion album (although The New York Dolls' reunion album was quite good). It's just really hard to imagine them coming close to their early material. But since they seem to be getting along well ever since they reunited 10(!) years ago, they've toured a lot.

I saw their first reunion tour, which was really a 75% reunion. It was Ozzy, Tony and Geezer with Ozzy's drummer, Mike Bordin (formerly of Faith No More) at the first Ozzfest tour in 1997. It was one of those reunions that no one thought would happen: it almost happened in 1992, after the band played at Ozzy's two "final" gigs, but then plans totally fell apart. But, in 1997, they pulled together for Ozzfest - and it was awesome. I was at the Giants Stadium show, I couldn't believe how great it was. Ozzy actually did a solo set followed by the Sabbath set. I met him backstage after the gig, and he looked pretty "knackered" as the Brits say, but, man, the Sabbath set was incredible. And Mike Bordin did an incredible job.

Two years later, Sabbath did Ozzfest again, this time with Bill, and on this tour, Ozzy didn't do solo sets, so it was a pretty powerful performance. Of course, they've done Ozzfest a few times since then.

But earlier this year, Tony and Geezer reunited with Ronnie James Dio (who replaced Ozzy in Sabbath) and Vinny Appice (who replaced Bill), and called themselves Heaven & Hell. I've always thought that it was pretty remarkable that Sabbath, back in the day, were able to evolve and survive the departure of a frontman like Ozzy, and a lot of that should be credited to Dio. Personally, I'm not nearly a huge fan of any of the post-Ozzy Sabbath lineups, but the Dio one was impressive. I always thought that it was kind of a different band, especially as Dio took over as the lyricist as well (Geezer wrote most of the lyrics during the Ozzy era). But I was happy for Tony and Geezer when the Heaven & Hell thing happened: it gives them something to do when Ozzy is out doing his solo thing, and gives them a chance to play some of the music from their past that they don't get to do with Ozzy.

But now, Geezer and Tony are saying that they're going to do a studio album with Heaven & Hell. Good for them, I guess. I kind of wanted to see the original Sabbath one more time: it's hard to imagine it happening again if they do a new Heaven & Hell album, and then promote it with another tour. Ozzy, Tony and Bill will all be 60 next year; Geezer is a year younger. Are they going to do a Black Sabbath tour at age 63?

If the original Black Sabbath never ride again, maybe it's OK. I spoke to Geezer about this a while ago: he said, after doing a few reunion tours, he was happy if that was it (and they've toured a few times since that conversation). He felt that it was important that all four guys were friends again, and they got to tour together again, after all those years apart.

I guess that there's a chance that Sabbath's final appearance may well end up being their (overly late) induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They decided not to perform, just to show up. Of course, Metallica performed for them, which I thought was fitting. If that's the last page in the Sabbath book, it's a good ending for four guys who traveled, as they put it, "A Hard Road." I'm glad they lived to enjoy the spoils of thier work, and to see how many millions of people they influenced, and how many lives they affected.