Ozzy Osbourne – No Rest for the Wicked – 1989 For the most part this record was co-produced by one of my favorite producers, Roy Thomas Baker, he of The Cars, Queen and The Darkness among many many others.Ozzy also has a new guitarist, kicking Jake Lee to the curb Continue Reading
Purple Sabbath
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Headless Cross
Black Sabbath – Headless Cross – 1989 Building on the success of the surprise hit, The Eternal Idol, Iommi and Martin (and Brian May on a guest solo on “When Death Calls”!!!) come back harder, stronger and even more impressively on Headless Cross.It’s as though they decided not to try Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol
Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol – 1987 I do not like this new vocalist. Tony Martin sounds like a cross between Rob Halford and David Coverdale, incorporating the worst of both singers. Maybe he’ll grow on me. I dunno. The opening track, The Shining is certainly the most epic Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Dio – Dream Evil
Dio – Dream Evil – 1987 At this point I have to say: Whatever metal has transformed into, it’s not pretty, it’s not fun, it’s kind of boring. It’s the same thing over and over and over again. No wonder it was killed so easily by, well, musicians who wrote Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Whitesnake – Whitesnake
Whitesnake – Whitesnake – 1987 This is it for this part of the Listening Post. By this I mean that this corollary, this offshoot branch of the Purple Sabbath saga is ending here. There are many more Whitesnake records but my intention was never to follow them to their conclusion, Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Deep Purple – The House of Blue Light
Deep Purple – The House of Blue Light – 1987 Workmanlike, at best, this second record by the Mark II version of Deep Purple is actually my favorite of their post “Smoke on the Water” records. It’s no Fireball and it’s definitely no Machine Head but the band is in Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Ozzy Osbourne – The Ultimate Sin
Ozzy Osbourne – The Ultimate Sin – 1986 I swear to god, “Secret Loser” sounds like Ratt’s “Round and Round”. And that’s the problem with mid-80s metal. By now all these bands are starting to sound like each other. I don’t know whose fault it is, I put the blame Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Black Sabbath – Seventh Star (featuring Tony Iommi)
Black Sabbath – Seventh Star – 1986 Okay, so this isn’t really a Black Sabbath album. It IS, but it isn’t. It was meant to be Tony Iommi’s solo record. Look at that cover. Black Sabbath FEATURING Tony Iommi?What? Iommi INVENTED Black Sabbath. He was one of the four originals Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Dio – Sacred Heart
Dio – Sacred Heart – 1985 Amping up his attempt at commercial viability, RJ Dio’s last album with Vivan Campbell is a mixed bag. Every metal cliche is present from declaring himself a King of Rock and Roll to super fast licks to cliche’s abounding during the era of Spinal Continue Reading
Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Whitesnake – Slide It In
Whitesnake – Slide It In – 1984 Is this Kiss? The title track could have fallen off Dynasty. Or been interchangeable with any Paul Stanley rockers from the early 80s. Who knows? Maybe Kiss started copying Whitesnake. I doubt it, though. Everything that made Saints a great record is still Continue Reading