Ozzy Osbourne is in high spirits as he calls from Los Angeles. “I’m having the time of my life,” he says, revelling in the success that has greeted the reformation of the classic Black Sabbath lineup for a new album and tour. “We’re having a fucking blast,” he adds. “We played the Holl...
SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH
World Wide Artists, 1973
The band stretch scaly wings: castles, funk, riffs… Rick Wakeman!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6WTwi1gw90
TONY: We’d done the same thing – we went to the same house, the same studio, but it just wasn’t working out.
GEEZER: We thought it might be the end. We got to LA, and they’d changed the studio. Stevie Wonder had bought half of the studio and put a synth in there. What you do on your laptop now took a whole studio then.
TONY: We ended up starting again in England. We went to Clearwell Castle in Wales. We wanted to create a vibe, so we rehearsed in the dungeons.
OZZY: We used to play tricks on each other, and pretend the castle was haunted. We’d have a few beers and then plant a bug in someone’s room and start making noises, like fucking schoolkids.
GEEZER: Tony said, “Let’s give it one more try.” And he came out with the “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” riff, and we just went, “Yes!” We stretched ourselves a bit on that one… we needed to. We’d learned a lot more musically. Rick Wakeman’s on it.
OZZY: In my opinion we should have folded after that. By this time, we’d realised the manager was ripping us off: we had lawsuits, and people serving us. That was our last joint effort.
