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...

GUITAR WORLD'S 100 GREATEST (MY ADJUSTMENTS) (part 1)

Guitar World magazine's new issue features their list of the "100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs."  I think they put together a great list, with some great choices that, sadly, don't get played on what is known on "classic rock" radio, including Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock, Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock," Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain" and the #1 song, Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

As I often do, I create my own iPod mix to go along with the feature, with my own adjustments.   In some cases I switched one band's song with another (like with Led Zeppelin: I know "Stairway To Heaven" is, like, the most played song ever on classic rock radio or something, but I'm tired of it and I prefer "The Rain Song").  In other cases, I replaced some bands for others, creating my ideal classic rock lineup.  Not to be a snob, but on my planet, James Brown, The Stooges and The Clash are classic rock, whereas Kansas and Journey are not.  So, here's my list:

1. Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode" Yeah, it's such an obvious choice (I prefer "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"... read the lyrics and replace "eyed" with "skinned" and it's a pretty radical song for the era).  But it's such an important song.  Not just in rock and roll, but in American culture.

2. Led Zeppelin - "The Rain Song" As I mentioned above, GW used "Stairway To Heaven," but, as much as I enjoy J.R.R. Tolkien's lore, which inspired the lyrics, it's sort of an overplayed song. "The Rain Song" resonates with me much more.  "Upon us all a little rain must fall." This song is as much about John Paul Jones' string arrangements as Jimmy Page's guitar though. But still, it's powerful and beautiful.

3. Jimi Hendrix - "I Don't Live Today" replacing "Purple Haze." I love "Haze," but it's another one that "classic rock" radio has driven into the ground.  "I Don't Live Today" is just as rockin', and is from the same album, Are You Experienced?

4. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine" Overplayed? Hell yeah.  But when this jam came out in '87, you couldn't get enough of it.  Slash's riff was unbelievable, and he and Izzy Stradlin' were just such a great team. "Welcome To The Jungle" also made GW's list, but I kept Guns (and most other bands) to just one song.

5. Metallica - "For Whom The Bell Tolls" replacing "Enter Sandman." I love "Sandman," and I know it's where a lot of people discovered Metallica. I discovered them on a radio show called "Metal Shop," and "For Whom The Bell Tolls" was the song. I've never gotten tired of it. I have always loved James Hetfield's muscular rhythm playing.

THE MORALS OF METAL

Last night I made my return to The Busted Halo Show on SiriusXM's The Catholic Channel.  It was "Mellow" Matt's one year anniversary as the show's Board Operator, so I was invited to bring some of Matt's favorite music, heavy metal.  No problem.  Except that I had to have some kind of theme, beyond "Matt likes this music." A year and a half ago, I talked about Black Sabbath on Busted Halo, and I felt that went over well.  But I didn't want to repeat myself. 

Here's the thing about (some) heavy metal music.  It has a sense of consciousness, just like folk music, and a sense of outrage just like punk rock, but doesn't get much credit for either.  When I was a kid, though, I didn't really know much about punk rock and folk wasn't really appealing to me.  But there did seem to be a moral code to at least some records by Iron Maiden, Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth. That struck a chord with me back then, and it still does today. I don't mind songs about cars and girls, but I also enjoy and appreciate when a lyric goes deeper. That's what was going through my mind over the past week when I was deciding what songs to use.

So the theme I came up with was war, and the effects of war on the people forced to fight.  When I first talked about Sabbath on Busted Halo, I used "War Pigs," which decried the fact that wealthy people decide that we need to go to war, but it's generally the poor who have to actually go and fight.

This time, I decided to use another Sabbath song, "Hand Of Doom," which, like "War Pigs," is on the 1970 album Paranoid. I've always interpreted the song about guys who came back from Vietnam and the damage they brought with them.  "Hand of doom" is code for heroin; some soldiers either got hooked on smack while in Vietnam, others started using when they got home.  The song doesn't glorify or moralize anything.  Because of Tony Iommi's fearsome guitar playing, you get the message that "hand of doom" is scary and not something you want to mess with. When people accuse Sabbath of being Satanists, I suggest they listen to this song.  Geezer Butler (who wrote the lyrics) wasn't trying to tell you want to think, just presenting a reality, and Ozzy Osbourne sounding as haunted as he ever would, delivered the song perfectly. To me, there's a great sense of moral outrage in this song.  How could we send people to fight for our country, and let them linger as empty shells when they come back, poisoned by heroin?

Next, I used Metallica's "Disposable Heroes" from one of the hugest albums of my high school years, 1986's Master Of Puppets. Metallica are taken for granted a bit now, as they are one of the biggest bands in the world, but back then they were very radical and underground.  This album was about the different things that control people's lives, mainly drugs and war. "Disposable Heroes" was about soldiers, and it struck me that at the time the album came out, America hadn't officially been involved in any wars, and hadn't been for quite a few years. As opposed to now, when you hear stories about soldiers from the various wars in the Middle East having problems re-acclimating to "normal" life. Metallica frontman and lyricist James Hetfield must have known some Vietnam vets, and made his own observations based on what he saw.  I'd love to ask him about this song.  In the lyrics, Hetfield doesn't have to point out that he cares about what these people were going through: the fact that he sings with such rage tells you all you need to know.  It's a subject that Springsteen has sung about, Hetfield and Metallica reaches a different audience. Maybe this song gave some people some ideas about the consequences of war. 

Finally, I used Alice In Chains' "Rooster," which Jerry Cantrell wrote about his father, a Vietnam vet, and all he went through when he returned home after the war.  The lines that resonate are "the bullets scream to me from somewhere" and also "they spit on me in my homeland." Jerry doesn't take a stance on war, but he shows from his first hand experience, what the after-effects are on people returning from war. It's a pretty heavy song.

When I was a kid, I felt that adults proclaimed heavy metal to be a depraved and angry form of music with no redeeming social value.  That was part of the appeal! But if you paid attention to the lyrics as I did (and I was not alone there), there was a lot you could get out of lyrics to songs like Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills," Anthrax's "Indians" and Megadeth's "Peace Sells." (I'll probably write about those three songs in a later post.) I love the fact that these bands were able to get across ideas without slamming you over the head (lyrically, at least). While getting you to bang your head.

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.

MORE THOUGHTS ON DIO

I'm kind of surprised by how sad I feel about the death of Ronnie James Dio. I can't act like I'm the biggest fan, and I hadn't listened to him at all for about two decades, up until he rejoined Black Sabbath (aka Heaven & Hell). 

I was moved by the tributes by his Sabbath/Heaven & Hell bandmates Tony Iommi, Vinny Appice and especially Geezer Butler. I say "especially" because Geezer, a lyricist, is a sensitive soul who expresses himself really well with the written word. Also, because I think he and Dio had problems at first: when Ozzy Osbourne was Sabbath's frontman, Geezer was the lyricist.  When Dio came, he wrote his own lyrics, and I think that may have led to tensions.

I was also moved by a tribute written by, of all people, Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield. Sheffield is a kitch-loving hipster (as far as I can tell) but also a very good writer.  Still, I was like, "Not now!" when I saw his name next to the headline "Farewell, Dio: You Got To Bleed For The Dancer."  It was actually a moving tribute that pointed out that Dio's song "Invisible" in which he empathized with gay teenagers, which was unusual, not to mention risky, for a straight heavy metal icon in the '80s. There's tons of great Dio tributes out there, but that one really stuck with me.

Even Ozzy Osbourne issued a brief statement.  Who knows, maybe this will hammer home the point that life is so finite, and inspire Ozzy and Tony to end their dumb lawsuit.  I'm not saying they need to reunite, they should just go back to being pals. But I'm glad that in Dio's final years, he got to play to huge crowds with Tony, Geezer and Vinny. We should all be able to go out doing what we love.

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.

TONY IOMMI TO RELEASE HIS MEMOIRS

Ozzy Osbourne's book, I Am Ozzy, comes out in a few days on January 25. Now news comes that Black Sabbath guitarist/founder/boss Tony Iommi will be releasing his memoirs, Iron Man, soon, according to Publisher's Weekly.  Tony with Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice, aka Black Sabbath MK 2, aka Heaven & Hell, have some dates booked for this summer, provided that Dio recovers well from his chemo (which, supposedly, he has been).

Ozzy did an interview in Rolling Stone where he expressed ambivalence about working with Sabbath again (not surprising, given that he and Tony are involved in an ugly lawsuit). I wish that they could get it together.  Actually, I don't care if they never perform again: I have been lucky enough to have seen the classic version of the band a few times. But as a huge fan (and writer of the liner notes on the definitely Sabbath box set, The Black Box), I'd just love to see them end this dumb lawsuit.

"BORN AGAIN"-ERA BLACK SABBATH TOGETHER AGAIN?

In the past twelve or thirteen years, Black Sabbath reunited with their original lineup -- Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward -- for a number of tours and even a few new songs. They've also reunited with the second lineup -- Iommi, Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice. -- under the name Heaven & Hell. Those were the two best versions of the band.

But now the excellent official Sabbath website, Black Sabbath Online, says that a reunion of the Born Again lineup may be in the works.  Well, not quite, but Tony Iommi may be working with Sabbath's third singer, Ian Gillan (more well known as the singer of the classic lineup of Deep Purple). They cite the Swedish Deep Purple fan site, Highway Star. Gillan says that they may start up some new project together.  I'm sure it wouldn't be a Sabbath thing -- in fact, the Gillan version of Sabbath wasn't supposed to be "Black Sabbath," but the record label put pressure on Iommi to call it that (and also, the band featured Geezer Butler and, at first, Bill Ward).

I kind of remember the album from when it came out: I liked the song "Trashed."  But oddly, I got re-turned on to the album when I read the excellent 33 1/3 series book on Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality (an Ozzy-era album).  In that book (totally a work of fiction about how a boy's life was affected by the album, it had nothing to do with the actual making of the album), the narrator talked about how great Born Again was, so I bought it on iTunes. I think it is pretty powerful, not as good as the Ozzy-era stuff (or Gillan's best stuff with Purple), but still pretty powerful.

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.

BLACK SABBATH: LAWSUITS, REISSUES, FILM AND A COOL GEEZER VIDEO

The news with Black Sabbath hasn't been great lately: Ozzy Osbourne is suing Tony Iommi, because Tony owns the band name and Ozzy (and probably Sharon) don't like that. This is probably about to escalate, because Tony is working with a guy named Mike Fleiss on a "Black Sabbath" horror film franchise. (Fleiss has worked on the Hostel films). Tony also is going to need major surgery on his hand - years of playing has damaged it and he needs to get it fixed before it's too late.

In better news, Warner Brothers in the UK has released a deluxe edition of Sabbath's classic debut album, which, according to the great Black Sab fan site www.black-sabbath.com, is worth the money.

That same site - which I am a big fan of - also called attention to this video that Geezer Butler did for PETA.

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.

CRAZY LAME

I caught the first few minutes of The Osbournes' variety show. Really bad. I've heard that Ozzy Osbourne has criticized much of it already. I can't hate on him and the family for trying something different, but I don't think that this one had a chance of being cool. And the worst part is, while Ozzy is doing goofy skits, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are about to release a new album with Ronnie James Dio as Heaven & Hell.

"WE WISH YOU A METAL XMAS"

Let it be known that a metal Christmas album is coming out soon. It has a lot of hair metal dudes on it, but the cool thing about the album is a cover of Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph" featuring Lemmy, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Dave Grohl. Now that's a frakkin' supergroup.

Also on the album: Alice Cooper singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," Ronnie James Dio (with Tony Iommi) doing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and Doug Pinnick of King's X singing "Little Drummer Boy."

AN OPEN LETTER TO TONY IOMMI AND GEEZER BUTLER

Dear Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler:

Hey, how's your summer going? I'm glad to hear that your "other" band, Heaven & Hell (the Black Sabbath mk. 2 lineup - which includes Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice) - is doing so well. I know you guys are going on a righteous tour with Judas Priest and Motorhead. You've got a box set of the Dio era Sabbath stuff coming out, and an album of new material. Great!

But after this Heaven & Hell thing winds down, I was hoping that you guys could convince your original and greatest frontman, Ozzy Osbourne, to get back together with you guys. Did you hear his last album, Black Rain? It was actually quite good. I know a new Sabbath album is probably out of the question: how could a new album compare to your body of work (although I bet if you try hard, you could match the underrated Technical Ecstacy or Never Say Die!). Maybe just record a few new tunes like you did with Dio for the Sabbath compilation The Dio Years. And then go on tour. I used to hope you guys would play some more obscure songs. Now, I'd just like to see Ozzy get back out there.

You've heard about his family's upcoming variety show, right? 'Nuff said. I'm not talking smack about the family: Jack has made a great recovery/comeback from what I hear. And, whatever may have gone down between you guys and Sharon , well, I doubt Oz would still be alive, not to mention as successful as he is, without her. I got a kick out of their reality show. At first. But I gotta admit - at the risk of Sharon reading this and wanting to k&*% my f$%^*&% a## and feed me my b*&^s, I'm not feeling good about this. I guess it's going down no matter what. I'd just like to remind people why Ozzy is so great - it's because of his body of work, not his stunts or hijinks. And most of the great body of work was with you guys.

Think it over? Please? Thanks!

BLACK SABBATH, ER, HEAVEN AND HELL BOX SET

The second version of Black Sabbath - which features singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinnie Appice and which now goes by "Heaven & Hell" - is about to get the box set treatment. Much like the original band's Black Box which came out in 2004 - and which yours truly had the honor of working on - this box will just contain remastered versions of their albums: 1980's Heaven & Hell, 1981's Mob Rules, 1982's live album Live Evil, and thier 1992 reunion album, Dehumanizer.

It's pretty amazing that this version of the band has proven so popular. The reunion was supposed to just be to record two new songs for The Dio Years collection, which led to a tour, which led to a live album, and now they are on the "Metal Masters" tour with Judas Priest, and apparently they are working on a "Heaven & Hell" studio album set for release in early 2009.

On one hand, I'm glad Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have found something to do outside of Sabbath while Ozzy Osbourne is off doing his own career. On the other, I hope Sabbath does one last thing, I hope they don't get overshadowed by Heaven & Hell. I wonder what Ozzy - and Sharon - think about all this Heaven & Hell stuff.