BLOW ON THE JUG
The song appears at the end of "The Writ" on the album 'SABOTAGE'. The Song
is about 20 seconds long and a little Sgt.Pepper like.
Blow on the Jug
Everybody come on blow on a jug
Be like me and blow on a jug
I want you to blow on a jug
Everybody dig it blow on the jug tonight
If you are blowin' on the jug you are the jug love man
oh yeah heh heh oh yeah heh heh
Sadly enough the song doesn't appear on every 'SABOTAGE' version. You can hear
him only on the US and UK vinyl version! Mark Jones (the secretary of Bill Ward)
wrote the following: "Blowing On A Jug" was a little bit that was added to the
end of one of the albums ['SABOTAGE']. It was Bill singing and playing the piano
and was just something that the engineer caught during a session and it was
put into the album. I'm not sure if it was the first time Bill had been caught
singing on an album. He has sung "Swinging The Chain" and "It's Alright".
Ozzy also sings on Blow On A Jug. Originally, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did the song.
This from BSAS vol 4 p. 18: [The story behind it relates to the Hollywood festival
SABBATH played at in 1970 where an amusing incident occurred while Mungo Jerry was playing. Apparently all of the other name acts like Free, Family and Traffic were,
along with SABBATH, desperately trying to blow each other away by borrowing amps to
outstrip one another. But who went down the best that day? Fucking Mungo Jerry!
Ozzy said "He was playing fucking jugs and he stole the day! So it just shows you
it doesn't matter what anybody thinks...after Mungo Jerry we didn't have a hope.
Blowing on fucking jugs!"]
PLANET CARAVAN
On Planet Caravan, Ozzy is the vocalist. This reference from BSAS vol 3.
The effect used on the vocal is best known as the "Leslie" rotating speaker effect.
SOLITUDE
On Solitude, Ozzy is the vocalist. Reference BSAS vol. 2 p. 21.
Listen to the song "Journey To The Center Of Eternity" from
Bark At The Moon to hear Ozzy sing in this style.
SWINGING THE CHAIN
The vocals on "SWINGING THE CHAIN" ('NEVER SAY DIE', 1978) are definitely
done by Bill Ward. That is mentioned by Mark Jones (the secretary of Bill
Ward) in a french BLACK SABBATH Fanzine "Thanks God It's SABBATH Volume 6"
and by Tony Iommi in "Guitar World", Volume 13 No.8, August 1992 (look at
'Prime Cuts With Tony Iommi'). This was the second time Bill was featured
on a full track as the vocalist. Reference BSAS Vol. 2 p.21
, BSAS vol. 4 p.18
It's now clear that Ozzy did sing during the faded part (not alone, but still). Bill sang most of the vocals for Swinging The Chain, and at the end of it, it was Ozzy and Bill doing harmony.
(Bill Ward manager after questioning him who was singing at the end
of the song Swinging The Chains).
HARD ROAD
For many years Geezer Butler has been credited with singing backup on Hard Road.
This source of information was from the BSAS 1990.
In a relatively recent interview (1998) Tony Iommi confessed to also singing backup
with Geezer on this track. This interview might be found at Joe Seigler's Black Sabbath page.
IT'S ALRIGHT
It's Alright was Bill Ward's first full track on a SABBATH album as vocalist not counting the
inner groove outtake "Blow On A Jug". One source for this information is BSAS vol 2.
SELLING MY SOUL
Ozzy sings this one and a drum machine was used instead of Bill Ward.
This choice may have been due to Bill's heart attack, but it is also suggested that
they wanted better time keeping for the song. It has also been suggested that Vinny Appice
plays on this track, but there is no confirmation.
SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH ALBUM
Note about the bagpipes:
When later(1990) interviewed by Pete Sarfas about the bagpipes, Tony Iommi admitted that there are no bagpipes on Spiral Architect because he couldn't actually get anything musical out of them despite several attempts. Pete also mentions: No Geezer did not really play his nose either!
-It seems that Rick Wakeman played piano on "Sabra Cadabra," and Tony Iommi on "Fluff"
-It seems that Tony played a harpsichord on "Fluff"
-Tony plays flute on "Looking For Today"
Interesting note:
A member of the list says he saw Ozzy played the keyboards live on "Sabbra Cadabra" during 1974.
ETERNAL IDOL
Eric Singer played all the drums on that album and that he played all of the bass parts on the entire album. The other bass player (Dave Spitz) was just "in the band" so they put his credit on the album as well but he didn't play a note. Bev was there onlyfor the final cleanup stuff anyway, and that he didn't have any "real" drum bits there, anyway.
A BIT OF FINGER
When Tony Iommi used to work in a factory of some kind, his job was to pass
hunks of metal to someone who used a machine to punch holes in the metal
or cut it up or something like that... One day when the other guy didn't
turn up, Tony tried to use the machine and cut the ends off his fingers -
he took the bits to hospital where they said they couldn't do anything for
him. The possibility that he would not ever play guitar again was very real.
Tony may have tried switching to playing right handed, but it wasn't working out.
Then a friend of his gave him a Django Rheinhardt album. This was a gypsy guitarist
who only had two fingers. This inspired Tony to go home and repair his fingers with molten
plastic from an old washing-up liquid bottle, in true Blue Peter spirit.
He had to do so because playing without the ends of his fingers was too
painful.
SIDE PROJECTS/GUEST APPEARANCES OF BLACK SABBATH MEMBERS
NECROMANDUS - OREXIS OF DEATH
Tony Iommi does some guitar work on this besides producing it.
CATHEDRAL - CARNIVAL BIZARRE
Tony Iommi plays a guitar solo on track three.
Mathew Hopkins is also a very good track on this cd.
BOBBY HARRISON - FUNKIST
Tony Iommi plays a guitar on two tracks.
DIAMOND HEAD - DEATH AND PROGRESS
Tony Iommi plays a guitar solo on the first track.
TWANG! - A TRIBUTE TO HANK MARVIN & THE SHADOWS
Tony Iommi plays the third track WONDERFUL LAND.
FORCEFIELD - FORCEFIELD (1987, Vemsa, VLP-267 [E-30.1479], President)
Drums: Cozy Powell, Guitar: Ray Fenwick, Lead Vocals: Pete Prescott,
Bass: Mo Foster, Keyboards: Nick Magnus and Ray Fenwick, Backing Vocals: Barry St. John
Guest appearance: Neil Murray (bass) and Chris Cozens (keyboards)
FORCEFIELD II - The TALISMAN (1988, Vemsa, VLP-330 [E-30.1756], President)
Drums: Cozy Powell, Guitar: Ray Fenwick and Jan Akkerman, Keyboards:
Chris Cozens, Bass: Lawrence Cottle, Vocals: Tony Martin and Barry St. John
GUITAR SPEAK II ('No Speak' Label, Cat No EIRSA 1025)
An instrumental sampler only with guitarists. Tony Iommi appears with
one track called 'MIRANHA' which means 'Goddess Of Death'.
KERMIT - KERMIT UNPIGGED
Ozzy Osbourne recorded together with Miss Piggy the classic Steppenwolf
track 'BORN TO BE WILD' for that sampler.
LITA FORD - LITA
Lita Fords comeback album from 1988 includes a duet with Ozzy Osbourne
and the beautiful ballad 'CLOSE MY EYES FOREVER'. This song was also
released as single which reach the US Top 10 Single Charts.
MOTORHEAD - MARCH OR DIE
Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne are singing together the track 'AIN'T NO NICE GUY'.
BILL WARD worked with a project called Blue Thunder but there is no official release.
He also appears in a video by the rock group Trouble.
BILL WARD - WARD ONE: ALONG THE WAY
Bill Wards first solo album includes guest appearance by Ozzy Osbourne
on two tracks. It also includes Jack Bruce ex-Cream on two tracks.
BILL WARD - WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
Bill Wards second solo album.
G//Z/R - PLASTIC PLANET
Geezer Butler's first released solo album. Has Burton C. Bell,
Pedro House on guitar and Castrono on drums.
GEEZER - BLACK SCIENCE
Geezer Butler's second released solo album. Has Clark Brown on vocals,
Pedro House on guitar and Castrono on drums.
BIOHAZARD - AFTER FOREVER
The video for that song shows Bill Ward together with Biohazard.
QUEEN - FREDDY MERCURY TRIBUTE CONCERT
Tony Iommi had a small guest appearance on that concert. He played the
main riff for one song.
BLACK SABBATH INFLUENCES
Has anyone from BS ever explained where they got their groundbreaking sound
from?
Nothing was as heavy before they came out. Were there other bands, or
was the harsh reality of Birmingham and bad drugs? Stay high
Geezer Butler: The Beatles, Mothers of Invention (any more than these?)
Tony Iommi: See iommi.com
Ozzy Osbourne: the Beatles were and still are his favourite band (his favourite
album of all time is Sgt. Pepper). He also liked Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin.
Bill Ward: Elvis, jazz, big band swing
Geezer Butler: The stuff we had when we first started was all 12-bar blues.
We used to do a lot of Willie Dixon songs, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Muddy Waters.
We learned them from listening to the records. They were easy to play.
When we first came together we formed in one day and had a gig a week later!
We never had played together so we learned 18 12-bar blues numbers in a week.
Geezer: Ten Years After were one of our heroes. Alvin Lee was billed
as "the fastest guitar in Britain." One of our big breaks was when we
did a gig with him. We supported Ten Years After and they really liked
what we were doing. Alvin Lee got us a gig at the Marquee in London.
That sort of started the ball rolling for us.
[source ISSUE 118 Interview by John Stix From Guitar for the Practicing Musician, May 1994.(excellent interview!)]
They of course deserve the credit for coming up with heavy metal, but when
asked about who they were inspired by they will point to Cream, The Beatles,
The Shadows(Hank Marvin), Django Rheinhardt, Joe Pass, Alvin Lee,
Count Basie's Orchestra, early Fleetwood Mac, The Blues Breakers, and Buddy Holly.
Of all of these influences only Cream and maybe Alvin Lee could said to be heavy.
They also covered Jimmy Rushing , Crow, Ansley Dunbar's Retatliation and
ex-Locomotive Norman Haines (who wrote "The Rebel").
[pages 17, 50, 55 ect. Welch]
EXTRA/MISSING SONG TITLES
One question many new comers ask is about extra songs that seem to be missing from their Import albums versus the U.S. versions.
According to most Sabbath music books these extra titles are interpolated SABBATH songs. Interpolate means inserted or introduced
between other parts. In these cases the extra song titles are the names of the inserted song parts.
BLACK SABBATH
- "Wasp" is the introduction of "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and repeated.
- "Bassically" is the bass introduction to "N.I.B.".
- "A Bit Of Finger" is the instrumental between "Sleeping Village" and "Warning".
This instrumental consists of two parts. The introduction is from 0:54 to 1:36 on the remaster.
The second part is a progression of D A C power chords and features 28 measures of guitar solo.
PARANOID
- "Luke's Wall" is the ending of "War Pigs"
- "Jack the Stripper" is the introduction of "Fairies Wear Boots" and repeated.
MASTER OF REALITY
- "The Elegy" is the introduction and repeated in "After Forever".
- "The Haunting" is the music concrete ending of "CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE".
- "Step Up" is the introduction to "Lord of This World".
- "Deathmask" is the introduction to "Into The Void".
- "The Straightener" is the ending of "Wheels of Confusion"
- "Every Day Comes and Goes" is the middle of "Under the Sun"
SABBATH, BLOODY SABBATH
- "You Think That I'm Crazy" is the 1st interpolation in "Killing Yourself To Live"
- "I Don't Know If I'm Up Or Down" is the 2nd interpolation in "Killing Yourself To Live"
- "Prelude to a Project" is the acoustic introduction to "Spiral Architect".
GUEST MUSICIANS ON BLACK SABBTH ALBUMS
Roger Bain -Their one time producer played Jews Harp in the opening to SLEEPING VILLAGE
from the band's first self titled album. Reference BSAS Vol. 1 page 6.
unknown single note brass horn -At the start of Evil Woman.
Rick Wakeman -played on SABBRA CADABRA from SABBATH, BLOODY SABBATH.
Gerald Woodruffe - played on TECHNICAL ECSTASY
Don Airey - played on NEVER SAY DIE
unknown sax player on NEVER SAY DIE
Geoff Nicholls - not really a guest, but on every album starting from HEAVEN AND HELL
Gordon Copley - played bass on No Stranger To Love from the SEVENTH STAR album.
Brian May - played guitar towards the end of the track When Death Calls from
THE HEADLESS CROSS album. Reference BSAS Vol. 1 p.3
Eddie Van Halen - co-writer on the track "Evil Eye" on "CROSS PURPOSES".
Ice T - Cameo rap on the song Illusion Of Power from the FORBIDDEN album.
BLACK SABBATH AND THE OCCULT
Tony Iommi:People are bringing us down saying we are a Black Magic group.
I think they must be getting us mixed up with Black Widow. We don't do any
sacrifices on stage, and we're not on a black magic kick. Reference BSAS
Tony Iommi: Admittedly, we were involved with the head witch in England,
in the early days of the band. He used to come to shows and try to get us
to attend his meetings. We checked into some of it out of natural curiosity,
but none of us were ever seriously involved with witchcraft or the occult.
Reference Guitar World August 1992 p.79
Geezer Butler:We only do two numbers about black magic in fact, and they
are both warnings against it.
Perhaps the best way of getting BLACK SABBATH's involvement with
black magic and witchcraft into perspective is to consider the answer
Ozzy gave when the question was put to him during an interview he
gave in the mid 80's.
"Were BLACK SABBATH really into all that stuff?" the interviewer asks.
"Are the Rolling Stones into avalanches?" Ozzy quips. Reference BSAS vol. 3 p.11
E5150
This excerpt from BSAS vol 4 p.19:
Another question raised in Vol 3 concerned the meaning of E5150 and I
was unable to provide the exact answer despite asking Tony.
Since then several people have written to me about it, offering possible
explanations, most common of which was that it stood for an American police
code for the criminally insane.
However as far as I know, that is 5150, without the E.
But what does it indicate with the E as a prefix? Well, I think Geezer had
something a little more sinister in mind when he came up with the title. Cop
this. It could well be that it is to do with Roman numerals. I'll explain. The
letter E just stands for itself, next is 5, which in Roman numerals is V, then
we have I which is itself, leaving 50 which is L. So, what do you get, yeah that's right
EVIL. Clever stuff Geezer
THE MAGIC LANTERNS WITH OZZY
Ozzy Osbourne isn't on it and was never in the Magic Lanterns.
The guy's name was MIKE OSBORNE. Also, he is from Warrington, not Birmingham,
plus he plays the bass. Chris Welch mentions the Magic Lanterns in his book BLACK SABBATH,
but Welch was mistaken about Ozzy being in that band.
Interestingly this wasn't the only band with an Osbourne.
There was another band with an Oz Osbourne bass player, Coven with albums called
'Witchcraft', 'Blood On The Snow', and 'Coven'. It was suggested by Pete Sarfas that
this band was into witchcraft.
IS BLACK SABBATH IN THE ROCK'N' ROLL HALL OF FAME?
As of 03-16-1999 they are not in there, although they were nominated but choose
instead was the incredible talent of the Bee Gees.
Hollywood Rock Walk link that SABBATH were inducted to.
http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Pit/1139/hwrw.html
N.I.B.
Ronnie James Dio popularized this in 1980 by saying at concerts,
"Many of you might think this stands for Nativity In Black, but what it
really stands for is N-I-B."
From on the ng:
Erm.. I have no evidence at all for this opinion, but I thought NIB
stood for Name In Blood, nib being the quill pen you were signing with.
Perhaps?.....
Geezer finally cleared this up in THE
BLACK SABBATH STORY VOL I, saying that Bill Ward had a beard that looked like
a pen nib. So they started calling him Nibby and somehow the name got attached
to the song. The name had nothing to do with the song - Geezer
-- There was no one Live Evil concert as the album is a compilation of three different concerts.
Another question that is being asked is when will the Birmingham video be released?
The standard answer is there are no plans to do so. With the 1999 concert tour started
it would not be a smart business move to release it until after the tour was over.
Additionally most of the reunion tour was being recorded on video, possibly for inclusion with the Birmingham video.
So don't expect to see it until after the tour, if at all.
At the time that was written THE LAST SUPPER had not yet been released, but REUNION had been released. THE LAST SUPPER is the sound and some picture from Birmingham 1997 concert. Supposedly some of the pictures are synchronized from concerts other than Birmingham and are not documented which
location and date.