Black Sabbath 'Anno Domini' boxset

[LLR]

Just got the vinyl boxset off Scobes. Have always loved Headless Cross,Tyr and Cross Purposes but Forbidden always sounded a bit gammy.

Reading loads about how good the remix is so can't wait to give it a spin cos the tunes are definitely decent.

[Jward]

No, John.

The Anno Domini sets are just the Tony Martin remastered albums and Forbidden remix.

The other sets are individual Ozzy albums with all the bells, whistles, doorknobs and kitchen sinks...

It's not the Anno Domini one I'm interested in
Just the Ozzy ones

eg Black Sabbath Vol 4 Super Deluxe that came out 2021
or
Paranoid Super Deluxe from 2020
or
Sabotage Super Deluxe from 2021

Wondering if they are worth picking up

[Jward]

Wondering if they are worth picking up

Or just get a first pressing 

[jobrok1]

I have all the first pressings (and a few others in some cases), so kinda reluctant to venture down that road myself.

The CD versions are quite tempting, though. 🤔

[Mr Barlow]

The CD versions are quite tempting, though. 🤔

Meant to be fairly brickwalled. So if that bothers you, I'd stay clear.

[mickO)))]

Ordered the vinyl box and it is suppose to be arriving at some stage today. Wish they would do boxes for the self titled and Master of Reality. I got all of the other box sets which are great. The tour books that come with them are great for reading while listening to the albums.

Which boxset do you find the best?
These are the ones with the remastered album/alternative takes/dialogue/live?

Am looking to pick one up

All of them are great just depends which album you would prefer most. The only one that isn't really essential is Live Evil.

[Jward]

All of them are great just depends which album you would prefer most. The only one that isn't really essential is Live Evil.

Picked up Vol 4 Super Deluxe vinyl as it was the best value & gets good reviews

Cheers mickO)))!

[Eoin McLove]

I had Cross Purposes and Forbidden on this morning. I am not familiar with them at all so it's perhaps unsurprising to say I really prefer Headless Cross and Tyr. Tyr is just another level.

It seems the 90s were very unstable for Black Sabbath with endless lineup changes and a lack of certainty with direction. I'm curious about Forbidden because the book makes out that it was essentially a nu metal record but I can't hear that apart from the first song with Ice-T rapping a verse. It makes me wonder how much was changed in the new mix. Were entire sections removed? Were drum beats changed? Apparently there used to be 'up to date' keyboards all over it that have been brought back in the mix. What was going on there? Were there scratchy vinyl sounds and blips and bleeps all over the shop? I will have to listen to an original version to hear how awful the original was but as it stands my first impression is of a band still operating mostly in 80s mode, writing decent but not exactly exceptional hard rock/ heavy metal/ doom.

I expect I'll be obsessing over Headless Cross and Tyr for the foreseeable but hopefully the other two will sneak in under the radar with time.

I think the book is pure grand. I mean, most of it is culled from 80s/90s Kerrang and Metal Hammer interviews and the soundbite style and interminable repetition of information becomes mind numbing pretty quickly.

[Trev]

It's been a long time since I listened to Forbidden but I remember thinking the same about the nu metal comparisons, just got blown out of proportion because of Ice T's involvement

Must give it another go soon, thought it was fairly poor back then but I'm interested to see the difference between my original copy and this new mix.

[Bürggermeister]

The original mix of Forbidden was spectacularly poor and hid what might actually be a decent album. I've never been able to listen to it all the way through... until now 😂

This video covers the change quite nicely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQk8VDzaJiU

[Bürggermeister]

I always loved Eternal Idol, I still say the title track is one of the finest and heaviest things Iommi ever did. This set is shining a light on a run of albums which are, perhaps, a lot better that they were ever given credit for, initally. I gave Headless Cross a spin last night and, yeah, it sounds magnificent, much better than the shitty 128k mp3s I had of it 😂 Looking back, the music just didn't fit the time. There wasn't really anything else which sounded like that in 89. Same goes for Tyr. Don't forget, Tyr was followed by the mighty Dehumanizer. That's four bangers in a row. Dehumanizer is the best of the Dio albums, for me, and one of the best ever under the Sabbath name. I remember being disappointed by Cross Purposes when it came out because it didn't have the aggression of Dehumanizer but I stil have that VHS and CD set they released from that tour which was class. It's interesting. If they had released them one by one, they might have just come and gone like a lot of reissues. Putting them out as a set makes you consider the whole era and, yeah, that run of Eternal Idol, Headless Cross, Tyr and Dehumanizer is not shabby at all, just didn't fit in with the music of the time.

[leatherface]

'Dehumanizer' is very overlooked, the downtuned tone and drum sound is savage.

[Eoin McLove]

I have never listened to Dehumanizer, or Mob Rules for that matter. Plenty of quality Sabbath left for me to delve into 

[Bürggermeister]

Ah jaysus, man, sort that out, they're fucking amazing 

[Eoin McLove]

Yessir.