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...
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Vertigo, 2013
It is risen! Rick Rubin reconnects Sabbath with its younger self.
GEEZER: We did have a few worries at first. But the difference between this time and the last time we tried to do an LP in 2001 was that Tony had about 80 riffs written. So it gave us a great starting point. When we met with Rick Rubin he gave us the direction.
OZZY: I’ve known Rick for many years and every time I see him, he says, “If you do a Sabbath album with the original guys, I want to be the producer.” So he says to me, “I don’t want you to think about heavy metal.” And I said, “What the fuck are you talking about? We invented it!”
TONY: Rick wanted to go back to the basics of the raw sound, with few overdubs. We were up for a go at that, but it’s hard to go back when you’ve tried to get a new sound going.
OZZY: We’d say, “We’re just warming up.” He’d say, “That’s what I’m after!” One time I wasn’t even singing words, just filling the holes – that’s what ended up on the album. He used ProTools like we used to use a four-track – he didn’t load it up with fake effects. What you get is what we played, with just a few overdubs. He captured the spirit of early Sabbath.
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