First off, before I post the update, I wanted to say why I haven’t had any update in a couple fo weeks. Last week was my birthday, and I also found out a week ago that I’m going to be a father for the first time. I’ve had a few othe things on my mind besides this site. :) I know that’s off topic, but I wanted to explain where I was with updates.
Since my last update, there has been another news story posted about the upcoming “Eighth Star” release by Tony Iommi. Here’s the news story as it appears on iommi.com, Tony’s official website.
Iommi material unearthed and scheduled for release in September 2004
8 tracks of previously unreleased Tony Iommi material featuring the singer Glenn Hughes is scheduled for release on 28th September 2004 on Sanctuary Records under the title ?The 1996 DEP Sessions?.
Read the exclusive story behind the release here first!:
In 1996 Tony Iommi was writing for his solo album and looking around for singers who might do justice to his music.
Tony and Glenn Hughes had stayed in touch since the ?7th Star? album and they arranged to meet, write and see what came up. These songs were recorded as a set of demos in Coventry and Birmingham in the autumn of 1996, the bulk of them at DEP Studios, owned by local band UB40.
The original players were Tony, Glenn (who sang and played bass), drummer Dave Holland and keyboard contributions by Don Airey, Geoff Nicholls and engineer Mike Exeter. No proper mixes were undertaken and both Tony and Glenn pursued other paths, although occasional conversations took place regarding the quality of the material and their possible release.
In the meantime a very poor quality bootleg CD became available on the web which was missing some of the tracks and made from a stolen cassette.
The tapes were then stored until early 2004 when Tony reviewed the multi-tracks in his home studio with a view to releasing them, and setting the record straight.
With new drums by Jimmy Copley (who had played on Tony?s ?Iommi? album), Tony and the original engineer Mike Exeter then got down to mixing the CD, stripping the original performances back to basics and giving them a clean feel.
Everyone who heard the work in progress was amazed at what had been unearthed and in a meeting with his label, Sanctuary, Tony played some of the roughs to Cory Brennan and Merck Mercuriadis who both jumped at the chance to release the album.
As soon as Tony finishes headlining Ozzfest with Black Sabbath he?ll start recording his next solo album for a release in the Spring of 2005. In the meantime be prepared to be amazed that what was stored for eight years can sound this good.
As usual, when I see a news story about Tony Iommi or Black Sabbath I immediately contact my guy who is at Tony’s managment comapny. This is what he had to say in regards to this news story:
Dear Joe,
Many thanks for the hawk-eye! It may be, may not, this would be for Europe only, it will be on Sanctuary in the USA, but despite the spy in the camp report we have not agreed it yet.
So it appears that what was said might come to pass, but it appears it’s not official yet. More as I get it.
Update: I mistakenly neglected to credit iommi.com with the press release above, I’ve edited that (sorry guys). Also I’ve gotten a few emails from folks saying that there are some online stores saying the release date is September 27th.
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