Shawn

Dio's "schtick" hasn't aged well, while an album like Master Of Reality sounds as fresh now as ever. I still enjoy the Dio albums, but that's primarily for the riffs. Voodoo, Sign Of The Southern Cross, Slippin' Away, etc, they still sound pretty jamming...but you're right about the lyrics. Same reason I don't listen to the first couple Dio solo albums anymore...I liked them years ago but they sound like horseshit now. It's interesting you mentioned the Ian Gillan thing.... Even though that band was put together and mandated by Warner Bros (Black Sabbath+Ian Gillan)...the actual Born Again album seems to be improving with age. I've always liked the record, thought Trashed & Zero The Hero were a couple of Tony's best riffs in quite awhile. The LP always sounded terrible, they just recently put out a remaster of this that sounds "almost" good. Anyway, Gillan brings a completely unique presence to the entire thing...especially since he's SO over the top on the entire album. He sounded like he was struggling to fit his voice into the Sabbath sound...but that tension actually HELPS the record. Plus Ozzy (nor Dio) could have pulled off a track like Born Again, I think Tony & Ian really clicked...too bad it was a one shot deal.

Ozzy still can sing? Ozzy still sounded quite good on the older material (though he was using a tele-prompter from time to time). He had problems with the more progressive material from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstacy & Never Say Die (he sang SO high on those albums). But Iommi and the band were so ON that it made up for some of the weak vocal spots. What was great about the show though...was you could see how much fun they were having. Geezer & Ozzy kept goofin' around and trying to make each other laugh...Tony was having so much fun playing these songs again that he had a grin on his face the entire show...and Bill Ward...although he may not have looked very healthy...he completely kicked ass. It was such a great age range as that show at well. I would say the majority of the crowd was 40+, but many people brought their kids, there were teenagers that were singing all the words to the songs (which was cool). There was really a "community" vibe that is hard to describe.

I saw the Dehumanizer tour, it was a great show. I was traveling across country and ended up spending the night in Minneapolis. I got a local newspaper and saw that Black Sabbath was playing that night. Talk about crazy fucking coincidences. Anyway, I was on the phone to the theater in 5 minutes flat and luckily they still had tickets available. It was the "Dio rest area" along my trip. But the real deal was seeing the original lineup on the reunion tour in 1999. That was a show I will never forget as long as I live. Pantera was the opening act, when Sabbath came on afterward they made Pantera sound like Neil Sedaka by comparison.

Zeppelin was known for having an off night here and there....remember the Song Remains The Same film? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....

If you want a small sampler of Sabbath material, go with the following item instead: It's a 2 disc retrospective of the Ozzy years, nicely sequenced and the remastering is superb. The entire Black Sabbath catalog (with Ozzy) has been remastered now (for the Black Box set), I'm sure they'll start selling the remastered single discs at some point in the future. I know it's been done in Europe, but I'm waiting for remasters of the Dio era. Would love to hear better sounding copies of Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules & Live Evil (and maybe even Dehumanizer).

I'll post some album reviews later... ...speaking of Sweet Leaf...that's Iommi choking on a bong hit at the beginning of that song, he didn't know he was being recorded.

Congratulations to Terence "Geezer" Butler, Frank "Tony" Iommi, John "Ozzy" Osbourne & Bill Ward for being inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame 2006. Throwing out a little love for our working class Birmingham mates who have become one of the most influential rock bands of all time. Never taken seriously by the critics in the early days, it's taken 35 years for Sabbath to start getting the respect they deserved from the music "establishment" since the beginning. One of the few bands to appear "magically" with a sound totally unique to themselves...their power has still to be matched by any band. Some trivia: They were originally called Earth (and had a saxophone & keyboard player). But when Geezer Butler had a nightmare that formed the genesis for the song Black Sabbath, it changed the entire direction of the band. Their debut album was recorded & mixed in 8 hours (all the studio time they could afford) Tony Iommi was briefly a member of Jethro Tull and can be seen performing with them on the Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus movie. Tony's trademark "de-tuned" guitar sound came out of physical necessity. He had the tips of 3 of his fingers (on his fretting hand) cut-off in a factory accident. He had to wear custom made "thimbles" that allowed him to play the guitar (although he couldn't feel the strings). He was inspired by Django's ability to play guitar despite his injury...that gave him the drive to re-learn how to play. However, there was no such thing as "lite-gauge" guitar strings in those days, normal gauge strings required too much pressure on his fingers, so initially he tuned down to Eb and then later went down to C#. Anyway, one of my favorite bands of all time. Any other Sabbath fans on board?

Well...three orders later and I'm still waiting for the Miles Seven Steps box set. It immediately goes on backorder when you place the order...but they still have it listed on the site. But it's pissing me off that I've been trying to get it for months now with no success. Aside from that, been plugging alot of holes in my collection. Really been enjoying the Verve Jam Sessions box, the Miles Cellar Door Sessions and all the RVG's that I couldn't afford any other way.

Bizarre album cover...

Johnny is in my top 5 favorite jazz artists of all time, this is sad news indeed. Here's hoping he pulls through. Happy Birthday Little Giant, you're loved.

Squirrel Gravy.

Let's not leave out the club-owners either. The whole "jazz club=supper club" thing just baffles me. The general "rules" are wear something nice, eat quietly, talk in whispers with your date, applaud after solos (they don't know why, they're just doing it because everyone else is)...and the entire time you're detached from the music almost entirely. For some artists this is appropriate...but if you're watching Lonnie Smith tear down...your ass better be outta the seat jumpin' around...or you just aren't gettin' it. Looking at the standard jazz club out there...it's no wonder people claim the music is boring. LET YER FUCKIN' HAIR DOWN WILL YA!!!!

I spent most of my teenage years living in a rural area, I don't think I knew a single person that listened to jazz (or even had an idea of what it was). Were these people clueless to jazz because they were country bumpkins? Well, I'm sure that was part of it...but where in the hell would they hear the music anyway? There were no jazz radio stations. No jazz on TV (unless they had an obit to announce on ET). Nothing marketable (t-shirts, hats, jean jacket patches--lol). And no music education to speak of anywhere. It's hard to sell something when either a)nobody knows it exists or b)they have the standard misconception that jazz is "difficult music" for an elite audience of snobby, politically questionable, pot-smoking poetry readers. If someone mentioned jazz to me at the time, my first thoughts were usually of something so old that it was irrelevant...or something so experimentally noisy that it was unlistenable. Of course I find all this laughable now (with jazz CDs stacked all over the place), but in all honesty I had to move to Seattle for college before I met some actual jazz fans that started me on my journey. If I had remained in the area...who knows. Before you can sell something, you have to educate the masses on what the product is...and why they need to buy it. But jazz musicians themselves LOVE to argue over what jazz is and isn't, there is no good single catch-phrase you could use to "sell jazz". MTV has shortened everyone's attention span to the point where I don't think people would take the time to even listen if there was a good commercial outlet for the music. Lastly, people tend to like vocals...alot. Not a whole bunch of instrumentalists making a killing out there (outside of new age/smooth jazz). So there's another stumbling block. Jazz would require a real "breakout artist" (ala Norah Jones) to capture attention at this point. But I don't see it happening.

Sign up for the free trial of Yahoo Music Service. It's one of the better deals out there...and since it's a subscription service, you can download as many songs as you want to your computer (you just can't burn them). They are powered by a company called MusicNet, they are one of the largest digital distributors in the country and have an excellent jazz collection...including the entire Fantasy catalog.

Is the "74 Miles Away" album all live? The version of the song on this sampler just knocks me for a loop!

I currently have an extremely bizarre setup...and also a rather cheap setup...but it gets me through for now. My computer is the central component of my system (has been for awhile) and my turntable and other items are hooked up via a small Mackie mixing board. I'm using a Yamaha power amp, Soundblaster Audigy HD soundcard, JBL near-field monitors & an old Technics 1800 turntable. Plus a Shure SM58 for recording my guitar noodlings. That's stereo #1. The second system is a mid-price Sony DTS surround system (which I'm slowly upgrading with better speakers). The two systems are networked together using a Xbox 360 as the media extender. By having the systems networked, I am able to access any music on my computer via the Xbox 360 and play it on my "living room" system.

I use Goldwave, you just select "Stereo Mix" from the input dropdown and then chop into seperate files later. Once I've got them captured I then use Soundforge for any editing, volume leveling needed.

I would really like Concord to let Van Gelder re-master the complete Mintons recordings he did of the Lockjaw/Griffin Quintet. After all, he did the on location recording, so he should know what the tapes should sound like.

Well...my heart wants to buy the Jazztet box...my head tells me to buy the Donaldson...my wallet tells me to avoid both like the plague.

Keep 'em comin'!!!!!

Well...since I've never heard any of his original LP masters...I have no idea.

I'm approaching the latter half of my 30s, still hopelessly single but not wanting to be. Unfortunately I'm an old-fashioned romantic and I'm waiting for the "real thing". Whatever the hell that is....

I agree with Lon on this one. I see nothing wrong with using a similar visual design for the two series, I mean honestly, these reissues push "RVG" as the brand (that's where the marketing focus is). The labels are a secondary factor.

Well Jim, maybe they'll do what Coke did and re-issue that beverage as "Pepsi Lite Classic".

Remember what the back of the cardboard covers for the early RVG's looked like? That's basically what they look like. Blue Note font lettering at the top, little black box in the center talking about the series, etc. Sorry, I don't have a scanner or I'd post it.