A hard-rocking set to wake you up on a Saturday morning: Black Sabbath’s 1980 album Heaven And Hell, Machine Head from Deep Purple, released in 1972 and Aerosmith’s 1976 album Rocks. My album commentaries are below each record’s track list.
Black Sabbath – Heaven And Hell
1. Neon Knights
2. Children Of The Sea
3. Lady Evil
4. Heaven And Hell
5. Wishing Well
6. Die Young
7. Walk Away
8. Lonely Is The Word
One of those albums where a band replaces an iconic singer perhaps thought to be irreplaceable and rolls on, sometimes to greater at least commercial if not always critical success, depending on the critics’ tastes. Three other albums and bands come immediately to mind: AC/DC in 1980 – the same year Heaven And Hell was released – with Back In Black, Brian Johnson replacing (RIP) Bon Scott, Van Halen with Sammy Hagar taking over for David Lee Roth for the 1986 album 5150 and Genesis with Phil Collins as lead singer in place of Peter Gabriel starting with the 1976 album A Trick Of The Tail.
In Sabbath’s case, replacing Ozzy Osbourne with Ronnie James Dio rejuvenated the band, which was somewhat in disarray due to substance abuse and a perceived dropoff in quality of their at that point most recent two albums – Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die! I’ve always seen merit in both, and have played material from them like Johnny Blade and Junior’s Eyes, just to name two songs, on the show over time. But that’s true of me with every Sabbath release. I’m a fan of the band, all eras and singers including Tony Martin and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple’s one album foray (for 1983’s Born Again) as frontman.
As for Heaven And Hell, interesting that the last song recorded during the sessions, Neon Knights, is the first song on the album and a scorcher it is, intentionally or not a signal to listeners that – as with Back In Black’s opener Hells Bells – all’s well with this new version of the band. A classic track on a classic release full of great songs, as is the case with the other two albums I’m playing on this show.
Deep Purple – Machine Head
1. Highway Star
2. Maybe I’m A Leo
3. Pictures Of Home
4. Never Before
5. Smoke On The Water
6. Lazy
7. Space Truckin’
The album which gave the world Deep Purple’s best-known song Smoke On The Water and other familiar tunes like Highway Star, the propulsive opener Purple has also often used to open its concerts to this day, and Space Truckin’. May as well mention the rest of them: Maybe I’m A Leo, Pictures Of Home, Never Before and Lazy. An essential album for lovers of rock music.
Aerosmith – Rocks
1. Back In The Saddle
2. Last Child
3. Rats In The Cellar
4. Combination
5. Sick As A Dog
6. Nobody’s Fault
7. Get The Lead Out
8. Lick And A Promise
9. Home Tonight
It’s arguably a tie amongst many Aerosmith aficionados between Toys In The Attic from 1975, featuring such classics as Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion, and the 1976 followup Rocks as the band’s best. And not only does Rocks feature such well-known hit tunes as Back In The Saddle and Last Child that find their way to most compilations but it also contains likely my favorite Aerosmith deep cut and song of theirs in general, the apocalyptic Nobody’s Fault. Rocks is definitely an appropriate title as the album does just that – except for the slightly less rocking ballad Home Tonight that closes the record. The lyrics in the opening verse of Home Tonight can be seen as taking on a different meaning now, given that Aerosmith announced in August that it was cancelling its farewell tour and retiring from the road as a result of a vocal cord injury to lead singer Steven Tyler.
“Now it’s time
To say good night to you
Now its time
To bid you sweet adieu”