Heaven and Hell is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 April 1980. It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1979.
Produced by Martin Birch, the album was a commercial success, particularly in the United States, where it reached number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum for one million sales.[4] In the UK, it sold well enough to be certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in April 1982.
Overview
The initial sessions for what became Heaven and Hell began with Ozzy Osbourne following the conclusion of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! Tour. The band convened in Los Angeles for eleven months to record a new album, a process described by guitarist Tony Iommi as a "highly frustrating, never-ending process". Osbourne has stated that he had become fed up with the experimentation on the preceding albums Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!, preferring the band's earlier, heavier sound. In his memoir, Iommi revealed that he still possesses a recording featuring Osbourne singing an early version of what would become "Children of the Sea" with different lyrics and "a totally different" vocal melody.[5]
Ronnie James Dio was introduced to Iommi in 1979 by Sharon Arden, who would later marry Osbourne.[6] Initially, Dio and Iommi discussed forming a new band, rather than a continuation of Black Sabbath.[6] The pair met again by chance at The Rainbow on Sunset in Los Angeles later that year.[7] Both men were in similar situations: Dio was seeking a new project and Iommi required a vocalist. "It must have been fate," Dio recalled, "because we connected so instantly."[7] The pair kept in touch via telephone until Dio arrived at Iommi's Los Angeles house for a relaxed, getting-to-know-you jam session. On that first day, the duo finished "Children of the Sea",[7] a song Iommi had abandoned prior to Osbourne's firing.
"Sabbath was a band that was floundering," Dio observed. "And, with my inclusion in it, we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, cared a lot about each other, and knew that we could do it again – especially under the banner of a band that had been so successful."[8]
Sabbath's line-up was in a state of chaos as the band prepared to enter the studio to record what would become Heaven and Hell. Not only had the band replaced its longtime vocalist, but drummer Bill Ward was battling personal issues that would see him also leave the band within months. Demo recordings for the album, including song titles like "Lady Evil Blues", "Slap Back", "Lord She's Handsome" and an early version of the title track[9] featured Geoff Nicholls on bass, as longtime bassist Geezer Butler was going through a divorce and his future with the band was in question.[7] When Dio first joined the band, he doubled for a short time as bassist and vocalist,[6] having played bass in the band Elf in the early 1970s. At one point Iommi contacted close friend Frank Zappa for help finding a bassist.[6] Zappa offered his bassist for the Heaven and Hell sessions but Iommi preferred a permanent member.[6] Eventually, Butler returned to the band and Nicholls stayed on as the band's unofficial keyboardist.[7]
Former Elf and Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber also rehearsed with the band, though the extent of his involvement is unclear. In a 1996 interview, Iommi stated that Gruber participated only "for a bit".[10] Gruber has stated that his contribution was quite substantial; he says he cowrote most of Heaven and Hell's songs and that it was he and not Butler who played bass on the album.[11] Despite not being credited for his contributions, Gruber says he and the band nonetheless reached "a suitable financial arrangement".[11] Iommi conceded in his 2011 autobiography that Gruber had indeed recorded all the bass parts on Heaven and Hell, but Butler had re-recorded them upon his return, without listening to Gruber's bass tracks. Gruber later stated in an interview in 2009 that he only helped write "Die Young".[12]
Personal issues aside, drummer Bill Ward was not completely happy with the direction Black Sabbath was moving in creatively. "Heaven and Hell for me wasn't a turning point," he recalled. "Heaven and Hell was the beginning of a new band of which I had no idea what band I was in. It was almost like Ron was capable of coming up with lyrics that seemed to fit his idea of how Black Sabbath ought to be, and I sensed a kind of unrealness about the lyrics. My favourite song on Heaven and Hell was a blues song that we did, 'Lonely Is the Word' – and that seemed to be real. But things like 'Lady Evil', they seemed almost like bandwagon-type lyrics. 'Lonely Is the Word', I definitely liked playing that song. And 'Children of the Sea' – I did like to play that too. I thought Ronnie was a very good singer."[13]
Heaven and Hell was recorded at Miami's Criteria Studios (in which the band recorded Technical Ecstasy) and Studios Ferber [fr] in Paris. Dio suggested the band hire producer Martin Birch, who he had worked with as a member of Rainbow in the 1970s.[7] Birch was Sabbath's first outside producer since the band parted ways with Rodger Bain following 1971's Master of Reality, with Iommi primarily producing the band's albums since that point by himself.[6] Iommi stated that the band felt that they were creating something special in Heaven and Hell. In his memoir, he wrote, "Ozzy would sing with the riff. Just listen to 'Iron Man' and you'll catch my drift: his vocal melody line copies the melody of the music. There was nothing wrong with that, but Ronnie liked singing across the riff instead of with it, come up with a melody that was different from that of the music, which musically opens a lot more doors. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking Ozzy, but Ronnie's approach opened up a new way for me to think."
Black Sabbath had a long history of playing pranks on drummer Ward, and this continued during the recording of Heaven and Hell. During a slow day in the studio, Iommi doused Ward with a solution used by studio technicians to clean the tape heads, and he then set light to the solution, which was much more flammable than he had anticipated. Ward suffered third degree burns as a result and still has scars on his legs from the incident.[6] Ward has stated that, due to his alcoholism, he has no memory at all of the period in which the album was recorded.[14] His behaviour became erratic; on the Heaven & Hell Tour, Ward began dictating long and rambling press releases to the band's public relations representatives after every show, instructing them to "get that out on the news wires tonight".[7] Ward's personal issues, which included the deaths of both his parents, would soon force him to leave the band. Dio recalled answering the telephone in his hotel room one morning mid-tour to hear Ward say "I'm off then, Ron", to which Dio replied "That's nice Bill, where are you going?" "No, I'm off mate. I'm at the airport now", indicating that he was incapable of completing the tour.[7] American drummer Vinny Appice was quickly brought in to replace him. The Heaven and Hell album represents the only Sabbath material recorded during the Dio era that does not feature Appice on drums.
Artwork
(Left): a 1928 photograph of women dressed as angels smoking backstage during a college Christmas pageant served as inspiration for the cover art; (right): back cover artwork by Harry Carmean
The album's cover art was taken from a painting by artist Lynn Curlee, Smoking Angels, inspired by a 1928 photograph of women dressed as angels smoking backstage during a break at a college pageant.[15][16] The album's back cover illustration of the band was drawn by artist Harry Carmean.[17]
The album was successful, becoming the band's highest-charting album (No. 9 UK, No. 28 US[22]) since 1975's Sabotage and the third highest-selling album of Black Sabbath behind Paranoid and Master of Reality, respectively. It was eventually certified platinum in 1986 for selling 1 million copies in the United States. In the UK, it became the third Black Sabbath studio album to attain silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in November 1980. It subsequently attained gold certification (100,000 units sold) in April 1982, the only Black Sabbath studio album to be thus certified. Heaven and Hell was re-released as part of the Black Sabbath box setThe Rules of Hell in 2008.[23] In 2017, it was ranked 37th at Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[24]
Six of the album's tracks were played live, with only "Walk Away" and "Wishing Well" not making the setlists on the Heaven & Hell Tour. Four of those became mainstays in setlists for the band's tours with Dio and Tony Martin: "Children of the Sea", "Neon Knights", "Die Young" and the title track.
Some critics insisted that Dio's addition irretrievably altered the band, with Rolling Stone contending, "Although Dio could belt with the best of them, Sabbath would never be the same." In his autobiography, Iommi admits, "We were doing big shows and it was difficult for Ronnie to go out and stand in front of people who had seen Ozzy in that spot for ten years. Some of the kids hated it and they'd shout: 'Ozzy, Ozzy!' But eventually Ronnie won them over."
In an interview with Songfacts, current Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society dismisses the idea of the Dio-era being authentic Sabbath: "You listen to Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio in it, and it's not Black Sabbath. They should have just called it Heaven & Hell right from the beginning. Because you listen to that Heaven and Hell album, that doesn't sound anything close to Black Sabbath. I mean, that sounds about as much like Black Sabbath as Blizzard of Ozz sounds like Black Sabbath. If you were to play Black Sabbath for me – and I'm a huge Sabbath freako – and then with Father Dio over there, I'd be going, 'Oh, cool, what band is this? This is good stuff.' I mean, the songs don't even sound Black Sabbath-y. I mean, 'Neon Knights', could you picture Ozzy singing over that song?"
Mick Wall noted in his book Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe, "For once their timing was spot on. In Britain, Sounds magazine had begun championing a new musical phenomenon it dubbed 'The New Wave of British Heavy Metal' ... The reborn Black Sabbath, with their glistening new sound, incomparable new singer and top-drawer new album, were seen as part of a widespread revival in rock fandom."
In 2010, Machine Head mainman, Robb Flynn, released audio and video of an acoustic cover of "Die Young"[1] as a tribute to his former manager, Debbie Abono, who had died on the same day as Ronnie James Dio.[42]
Warrior recorded "Neon Knights" for the 2010 Neon Knights – A Tribute to Black Sabbath album.[43]
The 2014 Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life tribute, overseen by Ronnie James Dio's long-time manager, Wendy Dio, included a cover of "Neon Knights" by Anthrax.[44] Stryper's version of "Heaven and Hell" was a bonus track on the Japanese edition.
^Ronnie James Dio interview with Tommy Vance for BBC Radio 1's Friday Rock Show; broadcast 21 August 1987; transcribed by editor Peter Scott for Sabbath fanzineSouthern Cross #11, October 1996, p27
^Schroer, Ron (October 1996). "Bill Ward and the Hand of Doom – Part III: Disturbing the Peace". Southern Cross (Sabbath fanzine) #18. pp. 16–17.
^Brien, Jeb (producer/director); Hardiman, Monica (producer/director) (1999). Black Sabbath: the Last Supper (Documentary/Concert). Automatic Productions.
^Time-Life Books: This Fabulous Century 1920–1930, pg. 200
