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Thread: "Best" Black Sabbath 1980 - 1995?

  1. #1

    "Best" Black Sabbath 1980 - 1995?

    I'm almost totally unfamilar with that time frame of their career. I used to have Dehumanizer on cassette ages ago & only remember 1 track. I'm looking for consistent, hooky riffing. I'm betting I'll be happy with Mob Rules &/or Heaven and Hell.

    Opinions?

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    Yeah you definitely need Heaven and Hell and The Mob Rules at least. I personally love Born Again as well with Ian Gillan on vocals, although you'll either love it or hate it-it divides most fans. After that, it gets kind of tricky. Have you heard "13" yet? It's a really strong comeback from the original lineup sans drummer Bill Ward. I find something of interest in every Sabbath album, including the mostly maligned Tony Martin era but I think if I was going to direct you to one of those albums, I'd recommend "Tyr".

  3. #3
    Eternal Idol is a good album.
    And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.

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    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules.
    Ian

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    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    I'm not really much into Black Sabbath but I did like "Tyr."

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    For the Dio years “Heaven And Hell” is essential Sabbath in my opinion and in fact it is still my all time favorite Sabbath studio album. “Mob Rules” is not as good, but the re-master that came out a few years ago has a live bonus disc that to my ears is better than the official live album from that era “Live Evil”. “Mob Rules” is worth picking up for the live disc alone.

    From the Tony Martin era I would also recommend “TYR” as others have. It is a bit over the top Norse mythology bombast, but I think it is cool as hell and contains some great songs. A few steps down would be “Headless Cross” and “Cross Purposes” both of which I like, but not as good as “TYR”. I don’t have any of the other Tony Martin era discs so can’t comment on them.

    “Born Again” with Ian Gillian on vocals gets a lot of mixed reviews. Personally it really grew on me over the years and I would recommend it. The remastered version sounds a lot better than the original (which was very muddy sounding), and it also contains a live bonus disc of Sabbath in concert with Gillian on vocals which are certainly interesting.

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    After Born Again they are spotty as far as albums go, but each one has a few choice nuggets. Tyr is probably the most consistent of the bunch. Sorta ahead of its time isn't it? Seems to have that modern prog metal vibe to it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NogbadTheBad View Post
    Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules.
    Ditto

    I bought Mob Rules before H&H and loved it. Then I got H&H and wasn't blown away but eventually it had me by the throat. H&H is worth the price of admission for: Children Of The Sea, Lady Evil, Heaven & Hell, Lonely Is The Word. I really don't know if I can rate the Dio albums higher than the usual, Ozzy era classics, but man those two Dio albums are ferocious. Yes, technically Ronnie is a better singer than Ozzy, but Sabbath really was a different band with Dio. GREAT, but a different band. They sound a little more slick/modern during the Dio era. But you'd have to expect that Sabbath had to change in the 80s. I'm not really interested in going beyond Mob Rules (yes I have "13") but I'll probably get Dehumanizer eventually. I've yet to get Technical Ecstacy or Never Say Die but will get 'em eventually.

    Glad you started this thread. I didn't feel like resurrecting the old "I Just Bought......" thread but I'm still enjoying talking about this band. It's been an All Sabbath year for me since about April.

  9. #9
    I guess I'm a fanatic, but Forbidden is only Sabbath album from the 1980-95 period that I would avoid. The rest are all good to great in my opinion. H&H and Mob Rules are classics, and all of the Martin-era albums except Forbidden are solid.

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    I know it's not technically Sabbath and not their best, but I like this song.

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    "The Seventh Star" is a very good album and would probably have more accolades if it wasn't for the Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi tag. Iommi should have had his way with that one and released it as a solo album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    I guess I'm a fanatic, but Forbidden is only Sabbath album from the 1980-95 period that I would avoid. The rest are all good to great in my opinion. H&H and Mob Rules are classics, and all of the Martin-era albums except Forbidden are solid.
    And even Forbidden has a couple of cool tracks. In some ways, I like it better than "Cross Purposes" though I'm probably in the minority on that one.

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    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    OK, I just discovered "Eternal Idol," and it seems to me that Tony Martin had more Dio-itis on that album than he had on "Tyr." But I have to be honest... I love it. "The Shining" is a fun song, and I actually like the support role Geoff Nicholls' keys have. I'll be honest, it sort of takes me back that adolescenty-cool heavy metal sound of eighties power metal, and maybe I just needs me some nostalgic sounds right now. I've listened to it about four times so far.

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    I'd vote for Born Again)

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    Great:
    1. Mob Rules
    2. Heaven & Hell
    3. Headless Cross

    Good and well worth a listen:
    1. Dehumanizer
    2. Eternal Idol
    3. Seventh Star

    Average, but maybe worth listening to once or twice:
    1. Born Again
    2. Tyr
    3. Cross Purposes
    4. Forbidden
    Last edited by PeterG; 11-25-2013 at 10:29 AM. Reason: I was too harsh on Born Again and Tyr.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    OK, I just discovered "Eternal Idol," and it seems to me that Tony Martin had more Dio-itis on that album than he had on "Tyr."
    Eternal Idol is light years better than Tyr.

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    I love Jerusalem from Tyr - it's similar in style to DP's Coverdale-Hughes era.

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    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Great:
    1. Mob Rules
    2. Heaven & Hell
    Thanks to this thread I made a CDr compilation of both those albums. I can honestly say that Mob Rules as a whole might be better than H&H. Well, what I mean is that there are more songs I like on MR compared to the number of songs I really like from H&H. But those four songs I mentioned earlier from H&H just blow Mob Rules out of the water. There's really no way I can rank MR over H&H but if I do a track by track comparison of both albums the edge might have to go to Mob Rules. Yeah I know, I sound like a ball of confusion on this one. I will say this though, I really like Turn Up The Night more than Neon Knights. Anyway, I've finally burned out on the Ozzy era albums and I'm just listening to this H&H/MR compilation.

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    I agree, I think as an entity listned from first to last track, Mob Rules works better than H & H, but the gems from H & H are way better than the gems from MR.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by NogbadTheBad View Post
    Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules.
    ...and period!
    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    I agree, I think as an entity listned from first to last track, Mob Rules works better than H & H, but the gems from H & H are way better than the gems from MR.
    Totally agree.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rael View Post
    And even Forbidden has a couple of cool tracks. In some ways, I like it better than "Cross Purposes" though I'm probably in the minority on that one.
    Forbidden has some crushing tunes. "Rusty Angels," "Get a Grip" and the phenomenal album closer "Kiss of Death" are songs to crank at "11"!

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    A box set of the IRS/Tony Martin years is finally being released:

    "The ANNO DOMINI 1989-1995 4LP and 4CD sets contain newly remastered versions of HEADLESS CROSS (1989), TYR (1990), and CROSS PURPOSES (1994), plus a new version of FORBIDDEN (1995) that guitarist Tony Iommi remixed specially for the collection. Several albums make their vinyl debut in the LP version of ANNO DOMINI, while the CD version contains three exclusive bonus tracks: the B-side “Cloak & Dagger” and the Japan-only releases “What’s The Use” and “Loser Gets It All.” A booklet comes with the set featuring photos, artwork, and liner notes by Hugh Gilmour. The collection also contains a Headless Cross poster and a replica concert book from the “Headless Cross Tour.” "





    Last edited by Dan Roth; 5 Days Ago at 12:17 PM.

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    Heaven & Hell and The Mob Rules are my two fave metal albums

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    Glad these are coming back. I love the Tony Martin era albums, except for Forbidden-and even that one has a couple of worthwhile tunes.

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