Re: non-edm sets (can we get a sticky on this?)
Black Sabbath
The Born Again Demos
1983-06-26
The Manor
Shipton on Cherwell
Oxfordshire
England
Source: Unmixed studio recordings
Quality: Excellent Running
Special note on running times: The playback speed of the tape used for the original silver CD version was too fast. This particular recording has been speed corrected by using Speed Forge's Pitch Shift to reduce the speed by -.85.
- Hot Line
- Keep In Warm
- The Fallen
- Digital Bitch
- Stonehenge
- Trashed
- Zero The Hero
- Born Again
- Disturbing The Priest
Origins
Back in May of 2004, I received an e-mail from a woman who said she was Bill Ward's ex-girlfriend. Apparently, she was fishing around for a buyer for this rare cassette that Bill allegedly gave her as a gift back in 1983. She had gone to England with Bill and was present during the recording sessions for BORN AGAIN at The Manor, which Richard Branson was producing at the time. My interest was definitely piqued when she said this cassette contained demos or rehearsals for the album. I was definitely wishing for the inclusion of an unreleased track (such as "The Fallen"), but she couldn't (or wouldn't) confirm the track listing for me. I told her I was definitely interested and would make her an offer on it, especially since I didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands.
After a strange lapse in correspondence, she finally wrote back and said that another person "had come out of nowhere" to ask her questions about the tape. She insinuated that I had somehow put this person on her trail, which couldn't have been further from the truth. Heck, I didn't even tell my closest friends exactly whom I was dealing with, since I hardly wanted to jeopardize such a deal. As fate would have it, she sold the tape to this other person and that was the end of that. I'm sure that most of you Sabbath collectors can fill in the blanks here. Anyhow, I was mainly concerned that the tape would be hoarded, like many others.
Just 2 months later, Dave Sherrod informed me that BORN AGAIN UNMIXED DEMOS & "THE FALLEN" was to be released by a Japanese bootleg company on August 15th, 2004. I was relieved to know that we would actually have the opportunity to hear this amazing gem, but also knew that Sabbath might not be so happy about it. Trading live shows of the band is one thing, but the band rather upset when an unreleased studio recording or demo tape gets leaked. In many cases, these tapes were either stolen from the band at some point or they were betrayed by someone whom they were once associated with.
So it's quite easy to understand why they might now be so thrilled about such a release. But on the flip side of this coin, Ian Gillan once mentioned having an alternate mix of BORN AGAIN and hinted that he wouldn't mind people getting to hear a proper mix of the album. The bass heavy final mix of the album was always a point of discontent between Gillan and the other Sabbath members.
Tony Iommi and Geoff Nicholls first confirmed the existence of a studio outtake titled “The Fallen” in an interview with Pete Sarfas for one of his BSAS newsletters. Until now, the song has remained something of a mystery for Sabbath collectors. 21 years after it was recorded, Sabbath fans finally got to hear these long uncirculated track with the release of THE BORN AGAIN UNMIXED DEMOS & "The Fallen". It was obviously important enough that it got included in the title!
The inclusion of “The Fallen” was certainly the exciting aspect of this release. I’ve received mixed, but mostly positive reactions to the song, which has a bit more in common with Gillan’s solo work than Black Sabbath. But the propulsive rhythm section is undoubtedly none other than Bill, Tony & Geezer. Maybe it’s the over the top layered vocals by Ian that sets this one apart from the rest of the tracks on BORN AGAIN? Chris Slenker offered that the song is most similar to “Keep It Warm” stylistically. To me, the riffing is reminiscent to the throttled pedal tones of mid-80’s Iron Maiden. Great solo break from Tony too!
In at least one interview, Geezer has also mentioned a song called “Death Warmed Over”. This could be either a working title for one of the album tracks or simply a goof on the interviewer! But now, let's talk about these demos....
Sabbath recorded the BORN AGAIN album at The Manor - Shipton on Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England with their new vocalist Ian Gillan (ex-Deep Purple). Bill Ward was prematurely bailed out of rehab to play drums on the session as well, although he wasn't quite well enough to endure the world tour. The BORN AGAIN album was released in the U.K. on August 7th, 1983 and in the U.S. on October 4th to mixed reviews. The combination of this great ex-Deep Purple vocalist with the Sabs seemed like a fine supergroup on paper, but not everyone was thrilled about the final result. Although BORN AGAIN is a decidedly different record than they'd ever made, I've always enjoyed it for its uniqueness. Ian shrieks like a possessed banshee on tracks like "Disturbing The Priest" and "Hot Line"! The record has plenty of the heavy numbers you'd expect, as well as some softer moments ("Born Again"). It's an album that many Sabbath fans regard highly in retrospect, even if was a slight departure for them stylistically.
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