I guess I can only shrug and say I just don't like it. Interestingly, this is the first time I've ever seen anyone say they DO like it, let alone love it!
My big fear about the next Kaiser Chief album. The fear gets worse when I remember Lily Allen is on it as well. Agreed. I was trying to think of a band that has successfully reformed to the same level of success as before the spilt. I haven't come up with one yet. Northern Soul doesn't have Bitter Sweet Symphony on it though, which is one of my top five favourite songs.
I don't know how you can even really look at HAH and TMR as two seperate albums. Heck, I think of them as a two record set! In fact, "Voodoo", "The Sign of the Southern Cross", and "Falling Off the Edge of the World" are three of my favorite Sabbath tunes from ANY era. I almost have to wonder if somehow you are confusing The Mob Rules with Dehumanizer?
I'm going to have to listen to both of them again based on this outpouring of emotion. In fact I don't even know why Heaven and Hell isn't on my laptop anyway. I'll be back... Hell, I'll even give Never Say Die another chance while I'm at it.
I love Mob Rules as well, but I don't think of it and Heaven and Hell as being that closely linked. Mob Rules is much heavier and more gloomy than Heaven and Hell. They're both classics, though. I'll echo the appreciation for Cross Purposes as well, and also throw out Born Again as an all-time classic Sabbath LP.
Good God yes. As if their rep wasn't damaged enough, they put out this piece of shit. It genuinely offended me as a human being. And the fact that the band still thinks it was a good idea is one of the many reasons I don't respect them anymore. And the fact that Rolling Stone actually gave it a good review is why I don't read Rolling Stone anymore.
Country Girl was worst track on Mob Rules. Tony came up with a good riff, & Ronnie sort of wrecked it from there. Ronnie's a genius, don't take that the wrong way, just he had a bad day at the office there. The difference between H & H & Mob Rules was the overall sound which was brought about in 2 ways. 1. A new drummer. 2. different studio. Heaven & Hell was recorded all over the place, Florida, L.A. & France. Sabs were having tax issues or something. Mob Rules at record Plant in L.A. as I remember. Bill Ward says he can't remember a thing about recording H&H. Headless Cross & Dehuhanizer were both good, but not as good as H&H. Here is Eric Singers 2 cents. Tony Iommi writes heavy riffs like nobody else. He’s the king/ the godfather of heavy metal or whatever you want to call it and there’s no doubt about it. A lot of people write great riffs like Judas Priest, but the kings are Sabbath and it’s Tony. He wrote those riffs. You can go through all the versions of Black Sabbath with all the different singers – the A, B, C versions of the band – the bottom line is that every record has some cool riffs and that’s Tony. I don’t know anybody better.”
& to continue offtopic slightly, here's Bobby Rondinelli's 2 cents, ( arguable THE best drummer to play with the Sabs. Big statement I know). He was on Cross Purposes. Ritchie Blackmore used to sing his praises in interviews back in early 80's when he was in Rainbow. G-R-E-A-T drummer he called him. RNRU : What was the main difference between working with Ritchie and working with Tony? BR : There weren't that many differences. Tony was really easy going. He'd say, "Play what you want," basically.
Peter Criss solo album. Forgot that one. Hooligan from Love Gun was pretty bad too. Theme of Kiss on 1st Lp a stinker also.
Between the two latter Ozzy era Sabs albums, I think 'Never Say Die!' is the stronger album. Juniors Eyes, Johnny Blade, the title track, Shock Wave, et al, are more interesting songs than what is on Technical Ecstasy. I do like 'Back Street Kids' and 'Its Alright', though.
All right I listened to all 3 of them. I still think TE is better... but not by much. Yes, Junior's Eyes, Johnny Blade, Air Dance and the last track are good, but some of the others (like Shock Wave) are just dull and uninspiring. Heaven and Hell is brilliant. (which I knew anyway) Mob Rules... what a difference a few years makes. When I first heard it I thought it sucked except for Country Girl and Turn Up the Night. Now it's entirely the opposite. I really wouldn't think of it and H&H as 'one' album though - H&H is far meatier. So I hereby retract my earlier comments and brandish all my hate at St. Anger, because I'd forgotten that piece of shit exist. Ashamed is too light a word for what Metallica ought to feel about it.
[lurch] Yoouuu raaaangg?[/lurch] Hmm, DP albums that shouldn't have been released... Well, Stormbringer wasn't much chop, Ritchie phoned in his stuff (he was going through a divorce as well as the band's ego problems), but I quite like 'Hold On' and 'Soldier of Fortune'. I really like 'Come Taste The Band', though it's a very different Purple. 'Slasves and Masters' has a couple of good tracks, but with Joe Turner onboard it was really Deep Rainbow. Don't get me wrong, at one stage I owned all the Rainbow albums but thaey sure weren't DP. Interesting we should have this thread going, I was only reading a couple of weeks ago that DP insisted that an album be withdrawn from sale, a live show which was their last with Blackmore. GIllan apparently hates it. There's a clip on YT from that gig, 'Highway Star' as an opener, when Blackmore refused to come onstage, so they atarted without him. The anger is palpable. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWTRuhFK1U&feature=related
The thing that bugged me the most about it was that a song would start out with promise, then quickly turn to shit. Some songs were almost tolerable, but James would ruin them with lyrics so terrible I felt embarassed listening to them. People blame the production, but I think it was the songs themselves. They just sucked. Hopefully Rick Rubin will steer them back in the right direction.
There were a few good cuts on Stormbringer and I've also always liked 'Soldier of Fortune'. I was a little harsh on Come Taste the Band but, as you said of Slaves and Masters, it doesn't really feel to me like Deep Purple any more; in this case it fell somewhere closer to Paice-Ashton-Lord's Malice in Wonderland and Bolin's solo stuff. I'd heard before about that blowup in general terms, but not about the album specifically. I think I've seen another clip from that tour ('Lazy'?) but not this one before.The bit where Blackmore grabs someone's drink and throws it -- whoof!
Ritchie snubbed Eddie VH back in 77 at a club, did it again in 1980. Eddie really idolized him. He's took a potshot at Molly Hatchet once because they drank Wild Turkey. What a dumb reason not to like someone. The prob with TE was it sounded flat. Parts of Dirty Women are great. That sounded funny the way I wrote it eh?
Since Phil Spector, reportedly, held them hostage at gun point during some of the session - and he spent hours and hours making them play the same songs and even notes over and over until deep into the morning - I imagine the Ramones can't be to fond of their End of the Century experience. Particularly since it was poorly recieved by the fans.