Still Headless After All These Years - Before the TYRs!
Time For A Change
After the charity gig of 1988 at the Tops Spots Club, Tony Iommi basically pulls Sabbath off the road. Puts it up on blocks for much-needed repairs. He decided it was time to change things in the band, starting with his management and record label. After all that happened during the Eternal Idol period, his reasoning is well justified. And signed on with Ernest Chapman and Phil Banfield to manage him and Sabbath. (Which manages him to this day). Iommi switched over to IRS Records. Miles Copeland, the owner of IRS, placed the call to Iommi. Assured him that IRS would not pay Iommi to make their product. But to have Black Sabbath make its own product and release it as is. Iommi said it was refreshing to have a new label truly behind the Black Sabbath band. It doesn't make sense to overlook the fact that, label-wise, IRS was a step below the powerful Warner Bros. With only him and Geoff Nicholls firmly in place, the future isn't known. While this change was happening, Tony Martin moved along with his career. By all accounts, he was still a member of Black Sabbath. But Iommi wasn't set in stone on his role. Tony Martin landed the vocal spot for 1988's Forcefield II: The Talisman album. The second project of guitarist Ray Fenwick and drummer Cozy Powell. Cozy is of Rainbow and Gary Moore fame. Joining the album was Jan Akkerman of the band Focus. Martin was a lifelong fan of Focus, so he was thrilled to be working alongside him. This was the first meeting between Tony and Cozy. Which would prove useful on the next Black Sabbath album. This Forcefield album proves how talented and vocal range-spanning Tony Martin is. The album is top-notch, with some of his best vocals, PERIOD!!! Shows directly that he can handle melodic rock as well.
For a far more detailed history of the Tony Martin Years of Black Sabbath, please check out the book available at all major outlets.
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The Line Up Part 1
Iommi and his new team decide that Sabbath needs to get credited, well-known musicians to help rebuild the band. Iommi had tried each time the band needed a drummer to get Cozy Powell. Cozy was in Gary Moore's band at the time, but Cozy and Gary weren't seeing eye to eye. So, it was the right time to join Sabbath. Cozy was reported in the press to have 'left' Gary on short notice. Cozy and Gary set it straight that it was a mutual, friendly split. Powell stayed over at Iommi's house for the month of August. Coming up with the musical foundation of the next album. Tony Martin, as far as it's known, was still employed with the band. But Iommi had other vocalists in mind. As many have stated, Iommi always wanted to get Ozzy or Dio back in the band. Cozy later admitted he and Iommi did consider either Dio or David Coverdale. With Cozy really pushing for Coverdale. But as chance would have it, Cozy heard the first version of Black Moon. He took it back and felt a sense of relief. He felt Tony was the right man, and he had to assure Iommi of this fact. Re-informing that Tony Martin had promise. Not to forget that Eternal Idol got some of the best reviews the band had ever received. Geezer Butler (well, his wife anyway) tells Iommi that he wants to re-join Sabbath. So, with a bassist on board, Iommi-Martin-Powell begins writing for what will become 'Headless Cross'. November Cozy puts forward Laurance Cottle. A well-respected session player. Iommi hires Cottle to record the bass on the album. Waiting for the glorious call from Geezer.
Making The Album
Iommi and his new team decide that Sabbath needs to get credited, well-known musicians to help rebuild the band. Iommi had tried each time the band needed a drummer to get Cozy Powell. Cozy was in Gary Moore's band at the time, but Cozy and Gary weren't seeing eye to eye. So, it was the right time to join Sabbath. Cozy was reported in the press to have 'left' Gary on short notice. Cozy and Gary set it straight that it was a mutual, friendly split. Powell stayed over at Iommi's house for the month of August. Coming up with the musical foundation of the next album. Tony Martin, as far as it's known, was still employed with the band. But Iommi had other vocalists in mind. As many have stated, Iommi always wanted to get Ozzy or Dio back in the band. Cozy later admitted he and Iommi did consider either Dio or David Coverdale. With Cozy really pushing for Coverdale. But as chance would have it, Cozy heard the first version of Black Moon. He took it back and felt a sense of relief. He felt Tony was the right man, and he had to assure Iommi of this fact. Re-informing that Tony Martin had promise. Not to forget that Eternal Idol got some of the best reviews the band had ever received. Geezer Butler (well, his wife anyway) tells Iommi that he wants to re-join Sabbath. So, with a bassist on board, Iommi-Martin-Powell begins writing for what will become 'Headless Cross'. November Cozy puts forward Laurance Cottle. A well-respected session player. Iommi hires Cottle to record the bass on the album. Waiting for the glorious call from Geezer.
Making The Album
Which was recorded from August to November of 1988. Here, Tony Martin really first caught an eye on how fast Iommi came up with riffs. He said that the band would go through boxes of older Iommi riffs, and he would write new ones faster than they could listen to the tapes. So the tapes went back into the box, and they would work on the new ones. Cottle recorded the bass lines not with the band but on his own. Playing to the tapes sent to him. His parts were the last to be produced for the album. "Cozy was a one-or-two take guy," as told by Tony Martin. "Sometimes he would need three or four, but not often". Compared to a lot of the albums, this was made with the least bit of hassle. Iommi And Powell lead the band as album producers and primary song writers. Tony Martin is the primary lyricist, with great keyboards added in by Geoff Nicholls. The album was made smoothly, and by all accounts, the band was very happy with everything. Everybody is getting along, and the album was enjoyable to make. Iommi's friend Brian May from Queen has a guest spot as the guitar solo on 'When Death Calls'. Headless Cross is named after the town Martin lives in. Devil And Daughter is the most radio-friendly of tracks.
The Line Up Part 2
Sabbath waited until April 1989 for Geezer to join. At that time, they even made the music video for Headless Cross. With Cottle mainly in the background. Geezer, instead of joining Sabbath, actually ends up joining Ozzy Osbourne's solo band. So they are looking for a new bass player. The album gets its release on April 26th, 1989. On April 27th, Cozy and Iommi were at the London club 'The Hippodrome'. Doing an album signing session for the fans. Neil Murray goes to say hi to his friend Cozy. Neil, at this time, was most known for playing with Whitesnake. Cozy introduced him to Tony Iommi, who was sitting right there. In the course of the conversation, Neil is asked if he'd like to audition. Needless to say, he passed the audition. He officially joined the following week.
The Album's Response
Headless Cross is released with great critic reviews and sells very well in European countries, Russia, and so on. At the time, it was the highest-selling album they had ever had in Germany. This album and line-up does put Sabbath back on its feet. And begins to win back Sabbath fans. Often hailed as the band's best, past the Heaven And Hell album. As with most of the non-Ozzy releases, American sales weren't stellar. The album spent eight weeks on the Billboard chart. Peaked at number 115. Even though the video for Headless Cross gets a decent amount of TV time. Especially on MTV's Headbangers Ball. The FM edited version of Headless Cross barely reached listeners ears. The second single, Devil and Daughter, gets even less radio play. Iommi has since said that IRS Records didn't promote the album as much as they promised. And fans in certain areas couldn't find the album in nearby record stores. Now I've talked to other Sabbath fans who say the same thing.
Headless Cross is released with great critic reviews and sells very well in European countries, Russia, and so on. At the time, it was the highest-selling album they had ever had in Germany. This album and line-up does put Sabbath back on its feet. And begins to win back Sabbath fans. Often hailed as the band's best, past the Heaven And Hell album. As with most of the non-Ozzy releases, American sales weren't stellar. The album spent eight weeks on the Billboard chart. Peaked at number 115. Even though the video for Headless Cross gets a decent amount of TV time. Especially on MTV's Headbangers Ball. The FM edited version of Headless Cross barely reached listeners ears. The second single, Devil and Daughter, gets even less radio play. Iommi has since said that IRS Records didn't promote the album as much as they promised. And fans in certain areas couldn't find the album in nearby record stores. Now I've talked to other Sabbath fans who say the same thing.
Headless Cross - UK
Headless Cross is about a part of a town south of Sabbath's native Birmingham, England. Headless Cross in Redditch, England. The black plague hit the town really hard centuries earlier. The people believed that a cross would ward of the plague. Needless to say it didn't. The name Headless Cross is derived from the word Smeethehedly. Hedley's Cross is the actual name but over hears it was commonly miss said as Headless Cross.
Headless In Russia
Sabbath played 14 shows at the Olympski Hall in Moscow from 11-19-1989 to 11-28-1989. Also, there are 12 more shows in Leningrad. On the weekends, Sabbath plays an afternoon and evening show. Sabbath had all their equipment set up for the weekend shows. Without having to break it down every night, Iommi and management decided to record two shows for a VHS release. November 25 was the exact film date. So for this incredible Sabbath line-up, there are some professionally recorded shows. These film reels were stolen! It all began after arguments went on over what the Russians could keep for TV broadcast. Things weren't settled before the shows were filmed. The Soviet army stole the reels about an hour after the shows were over. It was illegal, as you would imagine. But Sabbath couldn't do anything about it. Guards and army soldiers stopped anyone from getting to the film trucks or camera crews. Legal actions took place later on from IRS and Iommi's management. In 1990, Iommi spoke of the fact that they were close to getting an agreement to get those reels back. Debates have gone on ever since either Iommi was able to regain these reels. But recently, Iommi expressed that they don't have the tapes. It was pondered over if they could be on the Headless Cross deluxe editions. The copies we have in trade have an unknown source. Clearly, the source has been harmed. White lines appear often, and the sound is muffled. The first wide release of these shows came from the 2002 Langley DVD Masters.
Believe it or not the band that ended this tour actually went in to the studio to record a new album.