ARTICLE ABOUT Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) FROM SOUNDS, September 4, 1971

One early interview with the master himself. Not a good start on the interview for Mr. Telford, and it seems to me that Mr. Iommi wasn`t too fond of or experienced in this situation at that time.
Good stuff anyway, so have a nice read.

The SOUNDS Talk-In

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath

By Ray Telford

Can you tell me how the group started?

How we started? Look back in one of your papers and you`ll see it. I think we`ve done that one before. At the start it was just me and Bill (drummer Bill Ward) who were together and Ozzie and Geezer were in other groups. We all knew each other anyway, and to cut a long story short we just got together. This was in Birmingham.

Three years ago, by all accounts, you were playing a lot of jazz material and making a good job of it.

Well, we weren`t doing anything at all with that sort of thing and we just sort of got into something a bit heavier, you know. We liked it and it just kind of progressed and progressed from there. But even now there`s touches of jazz and things we put in sometime on stage – just to get back into the old thing.

MATERIAL

What are your answers to people who continually criticise Black Sabbath on their choice of material?

Well, we play it mainly because we like it, you know. We like what we`re doing – we just like the heavy thing. We found it was exciting and really got into it and that was it.

CHANGE

Did the crowds enjoy the music at first or was it simply something you wanted to play regardless?

We played it because we liked it. Then the crowds got to like it. We wouldn`t change if the crowds stopped liking it. If the heavy thing wentout we wouldn`t go on to something else that was new, like soul.

That`s what your advert says: “We would rather starve than change”.

Yeah, that`s it because we did starve when we started. We had nothing and nobody would book us, or listen to us or just take any time to bother. It was then that we were starving because we wanted to stick together and keep our music. That was it.

SOUNDS

What differences do you see between Black Sabbath and similar bands, like Led Zeppelin or Grand Funk Railroad?

That`s hard. Every band has their own sound. Grand Funk have their own sound, Mountain have theirs and I think we have ours, even down to words and vocal harmony. Mountain have got a sort of Creamy sound like vocal wise – they`re really good. Then there`s us, like, we sing about things that are happening. We all sing about different things.

MARKET

So you`re all playing for the same market?

Oh yeah, we`re playing mainly for the same people.

What age group is that?

In England? Well, it has varied, you know, since the single. When we first had the single it was bought by twelve and thirteen-year-olds or something but that dropped off a bit and we got back to sixteen to eighteen year olds.

What about America?

Well, you get any age there. It`s unbelievable. You can get, like, some who are about thirty or forty or whatever it is who come along and do like it. But mainly in the States it`s around eighteen.

Would you agree that Black Sabbath are looked on in the States as more of an underground band?

I think that in the States people are more into music. Like they`ll go miles to see a band and they seem to get more involved with the group. They know about you personally as well and they just get wrapped up in it all.

Who writes the band`s lyrics?

Geezer, the bass player, writes most of the lyrics. Some of them are very doomy but they vary from that to drugs and the bad things that are happening with the band. You know, just the sort of thing that people know about and groups can sing about.

Would you say your music has a lot to do with drugs?

No, I wouldn`t say it was druggy but it`s something that people know about. But in the songs we get the chance to mention all about drugs and things. We like people who come along to the gigs to get as much as they can out of it because we can get into it when we`re on stage. We try to relieve all the tension in the people who listen to us. To get everything out of their bodies – all the evil and everything.

Does this hark back to your original publicity where Sabbath were supposed to be involved in black magic?

Well, that was nothing to do with us anyway. You know somebody got hold of it and blew it up to such an extent that it took us six months to get it down to say that we weren`t black magic.

EVIL

There is still an evil element in your music, though?

Yeah, there`s this kind of feel about it. See a lot of people in the States come and say how mysterious a lot of the songs are but they build this up in their heads before they even come to see us.

MELODY

Do you think that the melodic content in a song is still important for it to sell?

What if it`s got melody? Yeah, well some of our songs have got a melody bit in them. Like on the first album we`ve got a few melody bits in that sort of catches the ear. I suppose it`s all important, really.

What was the story behind you joining Jethro Tull?

Oh, I`ve forgotten now. I was only with them three weeks because we were just into two different things. We were going in different directions.

Why is it do you think Black Sabbath are so popular in America?

Well, we go down amazingly well. It was just one of those things that you can`t believe has happened. `Cause in America we made it so quick you know, we came up fast. The first tour went really well and the word spread around and by the second tour we were headlining at the Fillmore which has never been known for a group on its second tour.

SLAGGED

What are your reactions when people dissect your songs and read things into what are probably meant to be harmless lyrics?

Yeah, you get that everywhere. We try not to think about it. It`s like getting slagged – I mean we`ve been slagged so many bloody times now. I get to wonder sometimes, you know, there must be someone else they can slag. You just get used to it.
For instance I remember one review of our first album and it must have been given the worst rating ever and the things they said about it I thought: “Oh, Christ, this is it,” and it really brought us down because we wondered if everyone else would think the same. It`s just like one man`s opinion. It`s true that the black magic publicity might have influenced some people in their opinions of the first LP and that`s why it pissed us off to hear about all this shit that we were doing spells.
The audiences knew what we were doing but the reporter who came along and had never seen us just took it for granted that we did do black magic and all that sort of stuff.

What differences are there between your new album, “Master of Reality” and the group`s last two?

It`s a bit more varied than the other two. Like I did a little acoustic thing that lasts for about thirty seconds just to give it a little break. That`s all it was meant for because it breaks up the rest of the numbers. It makes a little change and then people will notice the heavy things more. Instead of doing an album of all heavy numbers that little classical thing and a slow number where I play a bit of flute shows what we can do – we`re not just a heavy band.
We love playing jazz and we`ve surprised a lot of people in what we can play in jazz because what we play now is very loud and basic and people find it easier to get into. What we played before was a bit complicated and people couldn`t grasp it – “What the hell`s this sort of thing?”

NEXT ONE

How much further can you go with your present type of music?

That`s a hard question. Well, we hope to go tons further but where it`ll go to nobody knows. After “Paranoid” someone asked us what the next one would be like and we just hadn`t a clue – no idea at all.

How much of your material is worked out in the studio?

Well, on the “Paranoid” album, we wrote “Paranoid” in the studio – five minutes that was.

The words too?

Well, it just took Geezer a few minutes to write them down. There was a couple we wrote in the studio off “Paranoid” and I think there was one off the first. The last album we wrote the one with the flute in the studio.

CLASSED

When did you start playing flute?

When we played jazz and that sort of thing I used to play flute then. Of course, I got the usual people saying it sounded like so and so and it was like Roland Kirk so we thought “get rid of that”. See, you always get classed with someone else.
If a new group comes out now they`re like Led Zeppelin or like Black Sabbath or Deep Purple and they`re not given a chance but there you are, what can you do? As long as the people like it, though, I can`t see any harm in it myself.

I have personally transcribed this from the original paper. Any errors in the text from the original magazine may not have been corrected for the sake of accuracy. If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!

This number of Sounds also contains articles/interviews with these people: Carole King, Audience, Jethro Tull, John Cale, Stud, Steve Cropper, Charlie Parker, Bernie Taupin, Helen Reddy, Alan Bown, Moody Blues, Curtiss Maldoon, Seals and Crofts, Osibisa, Poco, Hawkwind, Peter Bardens, Open Road, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Keith Christmas, Freddie King, Beach Boys, Dave Ellis.

The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale!

1. Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com
2. The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage).
3. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties.

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ARTICLE ABOUT Black Sabbath FROM SOUNDS, August 14, 1971

Quite an interesting article giving us an impression of how the band were viewed and who they were compared with at the start of their career. Today, some of the comparisons may seem a little “out there” for a lot of us. The album in question, “Master of Reality”, is still one of the better albums ever released. The song named “Children Of The Grave” is worth the price of this album alone. If you don`t like this, you surely can`t call yourself a rocker.

Black Sabbath: a band of our time?

SOUNDS Editor Billy Walker reviews the band`s new LP “Master of Reality” and looks at their almost fanatical following

Whatever criticisms are levelled at their third album “Master Of Reality” (Vertigo 6360 050) Black Sabbath and their fans know that, like their American counterparts Grand Funk Railroad, they`ll move straight to the top of the charts and further cement their almost fanatical following throughout Britain, the States and on the Continent. Sabbath aren`t fooling anyone, least of all themselves, they`ve found a cast-iron market – made up mostly of teenagers between the ages of fourteen and seventeen – they know what they want and they`re giving it to them, it`s as simple as that.

SADISTIC

This particular market, adolescent if you like, relates strongly with the material Sabbath put out and regardless of its aesthetic value there`s no denying its financial value on one hand and the strong “message” for the kids on the other. Bill Ward, the band`s drummer, says “Most people are on a permanent down, but just aren`t aware of it. We`re trying to express it for the people.”
The astonishing success of “Black Sabbath”, “Paranoid” and the obvious success that will follow with “Master Of Reality” shows Ward`s statement to be most accurate and their heavy, droaning, repetative numbers full of thumping bass lines and doominess were described by one American fan as “sort of sadistic”.
This might be an imaginary thing arising from the band`s flimsy ties with Black Magic in early career but there`s no doubting the very weight of their music, the underlying suggestions and a strong sexuality that was brought to a peak by Led Zeppelin, a band that Sabbath have been compared with endlessly.
Former manager Jim Simpson is quoted as describing Sabbath`s music as “basic, raw, dirty and bad” and “an honest interpretation of their background and environment”. On the other side it might be said they are playing to a `success format`, giving the masses what they want without questions, and not trying to move artisticly forward. Certainly they weren`t playing the same sort of stuff when they were known as Earth and from reports they are far better musicians than their Black Sabbath materials/albums would have many believe.

SLAMMED

The parallels with America`s Grand Funk Railroad are numerous and pretty obvious. Funk are slammed again and again by critics but it doesn`t stop the kids loving them and their records and concerts from being huge successes. In a way too both bands are laying down the same lines musically-aggressive, thumping, apparently without melody and aimed straight for the vitals – leaving little room for style and none for romantics.
In Britain Sabbath`s following seems to be regional – London audiences, for one reason or another, aren`t totally sold on them – but in the States and Europe, especially Germany, they are enormous and their appeal far more general. Their second date at Fillmore East, for example, sold out three weeks before the concert and the climate of American adolescence, rather than militance, holds the key – both here and abroad – to their appeal.
The audiences that flock to Sabbath`s concerts in the States are, to quote an American magazine, “the kids who are growing their hair long this year” and this sort of `no messing` music is the kind that expresses and perhaps relieves some of the hang-ups the fourteen and fifteen year olds are feeling. It`s also the sort of stuff that newcomers to music can easily pick up on and doesn`t need too much understanding, just listen and react.
When you`re fifteen, with all the hassles the age seems to be beset by, the rainbow world of James Taylor, complexity of Miles Davis or sunshine sailing of CSN & Y isn`t what it`s all about – Sabbath and Funk is – impulsive, strong, high-energy, music sexually brash and basic. This is true of audiences all over the world and therefore Black Sabbath`s market, for the moment at least, is evergreen with new additions every year.

Therefore, in reviewing any Sabbath record or concert all of these points must be considered. Whatever the verdict on “Master Of Reality” it will doubtless be a huge seller and Sabbath can afford to be generous and ignore their critics` remarks about lack of originality or progression.
The opening track on “Master”, “Sweet Leaf”, is pure Sabbath, virtually the same tempo throughout, cracked vocals with tremendously heavy guitar from Tony Iommi and equally weighty, undulating bass lines from Geezer Butler and seemingly unstoppable drumming by Bill Ward. There is a short guitar break in the middle but they`re soon back to the thrusting, repetition and thudding tempo.
“After Forever” suffers from this monotony and again it`s the lumpy bass work of Butler wedging and pushing its way to the top that comes over strongest. When guitarist Iommi occasionally breaks away from the steady thumping pace he seems restricted, as if tied by a piece of string to a post, and cannot move past a certain point. This sort of `trussed up` feeling in some of his work adds a lot of fuel to the belief that his guitar work is very limited.
An instrumental, “Embryo”, last little more than twenty seconds and with its Elizabethan feel sounds strangely out of place. The speed and drive of early cuts is continued through “Children Of The Grave”, a blanket-sound that droans on and on with an odd step up or down in tempo with the bass/guitar marriage sounding very close and hard to separate. Again there`s the usual guitar break in fast-fingered, time-honoured tradition from Iommi but he manages to keep away from any obvious Page/Clapton/Lee phrases.

LURKING

Another shortish instrumental opens side two titled “Orchid” with acoustic guitar that`s hard to associate with  the usual relentless purse of the band`s general material which is given its head on once more “Lord Of The World” where Ossie Osbourne gets his best chance so far to show his vocal abilities. Here, for the first time, there`s a spark of the true ability and style the band can show – the old predictable tempo but a nice guitar passage and solidity of bass and drums – lurking just under the skin.
“Solitude” as its title suggests breaks with the expected weight and drive, a soft lyrical track with good vocals and what sounds like a French horn at the back plus a fine piece of electric guitar from Iommi that sounds a lot like Peter Green in style and presentation. But just as you think that you`ve been a little too harsh “Into The Void” looms up with that directness of bass and undercurrent evil. Best of the `heavier` numbers, it can be likened to the controlled tightness that Led Zeppelin managed to produce but it`s spoilt by creeping off into a more stagnant, repetative mire.

ABILITY

But for all the drawbacks, criticisms etc., Black Sabbath, like the Beatles, Cream or whoever, are a band of our time. They`re perhaps not your meat or mine but to those many, many thousands who buy the albums and fill the concert halls they`re a band of their time. And whatever your views about their musical ability or taste of material or direction you`ve got to acknowledge their importance. They, and bands including Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin (perhaps less and less as time goes by) have a role to fill and it`s as important a role as any other in today`s music.

I have personally transcribed this from the original paper. Any errors in the text from the original magazine may not have been corrected for the sake of accuracy. If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!

This number of Sounds also contains articles/interviews with these people: Alun Davies, Roger McGuinn, Rev. Gary Davis, Judy Collins, Ottilie Patterson, Gentle Giant, David Bowie, Moby Grape, Henry McCullough, Marc Bolan, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Family, ELP, Jethro Tull, Grease Band, Osibisa, Strawbs, Pink Floyd, Mimi Farina.

The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale!

1. Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com
2. The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage).
3. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties.

 

ARTICLE ABOUT Mott The Hoople and Black Sabbath FROM New Musical Express, April 10, 1976

This is one of those “double” reviews of albums that I`m personally not very fond of. But here you have it. Two albums reviewed for the price of one or something… Personally I find the Sabbath one a great collection of tracks even today, but Mr. Murray wouldn`t agree with me. Enjoy!

You too can have a legend like mine

Takes only two minutes a day – in your own home!

Mott The Hoople: Greatest Hits (CBS);
Black Sabbath: We Sold Our Soul For Rock `N` Roll (Nems).

By Charles Shaar Murray

A cornucopia of aspects: Compilations seen as examples of the Gentle Art Of Putting Compilation Albums Together, compilations as someone`s idea of the best and most important aspects of the artist in question, compilations as distillations of the essence of the artist and thereby lynch-pins for discussion of the artist`s Galactic Importance, Social Significance, Role in the economic exploitation of the rock-sensitive sections of the populace and occasionally New Jersey.
The Mott album was put together by the current incarnation of the band with the assistance of Stan Tippins, tour manager and close associate of the band since Year Dot.
It covers the CBS years: i.e. from “Dudes” (1972) to “Saturday Gigs” (late `74); the period from the entry of David Bowie to the departure of Ian Hunter.
It contains all the hit singles – that`s “All The Young Dudes”, “Honaloochie Boogie”, “All The Way From Memphis”, “Roll Away The Stone” and “The Golden Age of Rock And Roll” – the last two singles, which didn`t catch public interest too tough (“Foxy Foxy” and “Saturday Gigs”), and a clutch of album tracks: Pete Watts` big moment “Born Late `58” and Ian Hunter`s two melodramatic chest-beating keynote speeches “Hymn For The Dudes” and “Ballad Of Mott The Hoople (March 26, 1972, Zurich).”

Which is fair enough, obviously. “Born Late `58” is no cultural triumph, but it provides continuity with the current Hunterless Mott (who, after all, compiled the album). “Hymn” and “Ballad” are both crucial tracks, but the inclusion of both at the expense of equally crucial (and far more dynamic) pieces like “Sucker” and “Violence” balances the album far too heavily towards the portentious end.
“Saturday Gigs”, whatever its merits/demerits in its original incarnation as a single – the overly self-centred autobiography-of-Mott latter verses blow it for the far more universal opening verses – was just tailormade to be the last track on a Mott The Hoople bestof.
Still, those are individual quibbles with an individual view of the music of what was certainly one of the best and most important British bands of the first half of the `70s – and while we`re on individual quibbles, I still think “Honaloochie Boogie” sucks – and it should go without saying that anyone who wasn`t Hoople-conscious at the time owes it to his/her rock and roll soul to get this album.
On a trivia level, however, it would appear from the packaging that various old wounds dating from the Mott/Hunter/Ronson hara-kari of a year or so back are still more than a little septic.
The cover photo has Hunter – undeniably the group`s Heavy Duty Figure during its hey-day – unobtrusively stashed away behind Morgan Fisher, while Pete Watts in all his glory holds sway front`n centre.

On the back liner spread and the photo insert, there ain`t one single pic of Mick Ronson – who for better or for worse was a member of Mott The Hoople for a while, even though none of the present Motters have any cause to remember him with any affection – and the unfortunate Ronno is simply listed as having played guitar on “Saturday Gigs”, just as, say, Andy Mackay is listed as having played saxophone on “Boogie” and “Memphis.”
He`s also conspicious by his absence from any mention in CBS`s PR chief David Sandison`s liner note.
It may seem petty to go into all this, but it was a lot pettier for Tippins, Watts, Fisher, Griffin et al to turn Ministry Of Truth and attempt to re-write history like this.
Ronno was in Mott – no matter for how short a time and no matter how unhappily – so give the dude his due, boys. An album of this nature is supposed to be a picture of what went down, not a means of avenging old grievances. Be British about it, f`Chrissakes.
The Sabs` album, on the other hand, is beset by no such problems. For one thing, they`ve had the same line-up all along, so there`s no danger of the album being turned into a battlefield by warring factions. For another, they`ve only ever had one hit, so there`s no need to worry about conflicting identities as a singles band vs. album/concert band.

What it is – fanfare please, maestro – is A Monument To The Work Of A Great Group.
Wisely enough, it concentrates on the band`s early material; working on the principle that the Sabs` current young audience will be more likely to have, say, the last three albums as opposed to the first few. Therefore, the first two albums, “Black Sabbath” and “Paranoid” are re-presented virtually in toto, and its various successors are represented proportionately on a sliding scale (i.e. the more recent, the less tracks).
Mind you, it don`t make that much difference because apart from the reactionary intrusion of strings, pianos, synthesisers and other softening/broadening devices introduced to vary the monolithic belabouring of guitar, bass and drums, it all has remarkable internal consistency (when I was a snob – i.e. before I Saw The Light – I would`ve said that it all sounds the same). “We Sold Our Soul For Rock `n` Roll” – I think I`ve seen that slogan somewhere before, like on NME tube-card ads – is wall-to-wall pneumatic-drill riffing in wide-screen Skullarama, heavy as two short planks and monomaniacally psychotic/obsessive rock and roll.
I`m proud to say I love every beautiful braindamaged crushingly obvious moment of it. Cross my heart and hope to…
YaaaaaAAAAaaaaxhgghhhhhhhhhh….

I have personally transcribed this from the original paper. Any errors in the text from the original magazine may not have been corrected for the sake of accuracy. If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!

This number of New Musical Express also contains articles/interviews with these people: Woody Herman, Howard Schuman and Andy Mackay, Man, Roy Wood, 50`s Rock and Roll, Boxer, Al Jarreau, Bill Wyman, The Bothy Band, Mike Dorane, Billy Connolly, Fats Domino, Led Zeppelin.

The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale!

1. Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com
2. The offer should be 15 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage).
3. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties.

 

ARTICLE ABOUT Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) FROM NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS, February 14, 1976

I wonder what kind of guitar the Broom is? You haven`t heard of either? Well, you will read about it in this article, but I can not give you any answers. I guess that Mr. Anderson really knew how to spell this famous guitars name, especially when you know that one of his interests is Greek. The writer of this article lives in South London and runs his own company called Rexclusive these days – for the most of the 70s he worked for NME.
The other person mentioned in this article, John Birch, sadly passed away in november 2000. His company still exists under the name of John Birch Guitars UK.
Tony Iommi just recently ended all concert activity with his band Black Sabbath, one of the greatest bands that will ever exist for all eternity.

The Secret Of The Hidden Valley

A thrilling melodrama by ever-popular Rex Anderson, in which two intrepid explorers recount the adventures that befell them in the upper reaches of the M1 – homeland of the Iommi tribe.

Somewhere in the upper reaches of the M1; in the untamed lands where the swarming bees drive the natives indoors in the summer-time and lone wolves prowl at night in search of a tasty morsel of visitor`s ankle; somewhere, on a lesser tributory of the 47th intersection is a land where no white man`s eye has ever set foot.
There lives Tony Iommi, lead guitarist of the Black Sabbath tribe with his stunningly attractive native bride, Susan, whom some believe has strange, enchanting powers and whom some call simply She.
There too, in the misty, murky foggy nights of the forgotten country-set mansions of the awe-inspiring Leicestershire landscape, dwells the great mystic witchdoctor, friend of the Brum-brogued Iommi and soothsayer to those in the lead guitar fraternity who have read the signs.
Some call him “Ablokeimet,” – but locally he is known by the strange, almost unproununcable native name of John Birch.
Our story begins one mild-but-drizzly-on-high-ground January afternoon (visibility good, outlook fair) when two intrepid explorers set out from Long Acre (the old NME base before the great river crossing) with our trusty native guide in search of the wisdom of Iommi.
We were destined not to meet the legendary Birch, but rumour has it that he speaks a strange tongue which few men (other than the mysterious tribe of Electrical Engineers) can understand, and that when he speaks this tongue he is often siezed in a mystical and sacred trance so that none can stop him for several hours.

Our journey passed uneventfully. We found the Iommi palace without mishap. It was indeed a grand residence, of such a size that Birmingham council could have built an enclosed shopping precinct in the hallway and erected a council estate in the conservatory.
We were welcomed and made comfortable by the hospitable Iommi and having put him at his ease and explained the functionings of the camera – dispelling all ideas that his soul would remain imprinted on the image of the negative – I questioned him as to his dealings with John Birch and as to what of his teachings concerning the guitar he could pass on to me.
Iommi explained, in almost perfect English, that the jungle telegraph – what he described as the grape-vine – first brought his attention to the great wizard but that at that time he was conversant in only the common magic of electronics and that it was Iommi himself who encouraged him to research the higher magic of guitar manufacture.
He said: “I went to see him with one of the guitars to do one of the pick-ups or something. He wasn`t actually making guitars at that stage, but there were so many people going to see him, asking him to repair this or that – broken necks and other bits that went wrong – that he started up a little business at home doing repairs.”
Birch`s initial interest and expertise had been in electronics, but Iommi says he became involved with the rest of  the make-up of guitars and began to criticise the workmanship in many well known makes.

Throughout the conversation Iommi referred to a guitar which he said was very popular by a strange name that I was never able to translate and so I will refer to such guitars throughout as Brooms.
Please remember that whenever I mention Brooms I really mean a famous make of guitar that, as I say, I was never quite able to catch the exact name of.
Iommi said of Birch: “He said that a lot of workmanship in the guitars was bad and I can agree with him. It is. The newer Brooms are not as well made they used to be. I have a Brooms that is badly made and it`s not even one of the later ones. The later ones are worse.”
He produced a red one which he said was terrible when he first had it but which had been doctored by the amazing Birch.
“I think if you can get hold of the older ones the work is there. Now they are mass produced. They are just churned out.”
I asked him if he didn`t think the newer ones were merely immature and that possibly the older ones seemed better because any faulty ones had been thrown away or repaired so that only the best had survived.
He agreed that there was some validity in my argument. He said that he liked to play a guitar that felt as though it had been used, and that one of the great feats of magic that the amazing Birch performed was to produce a guitar, a brand new one, with a neck that felt as though it had been matured by time and use.

“With most new guitars you buy now, the frets are rough. It just doesn`t feel right. That`s how it was with that Broom – I picked it up and it was terrible, but I knew I could get work done on it. I brought it back to John, had all the neck taken down, had new frets, new tuning keys and a new pick-up put on. It`s virtually a different guitar now.”
What is it that John Birch does to his guitars, apart from that, to make them distinctive and better than other guitars?
“The guitar itself is made of one piece of wood from head to tail – whereas Brooms are joined at the neck/body junction and they`re weak there. They`re also weak at the head/neck junction. If you drop them they snap. But Birch guitars will stand up to very rough treatment, so they`re perfect for taking on the road. Look at this Broom.”
Iommi picked up the guitar, strummed it and applied light pressure to the neck. The strings immediately dropped a semi-tone.
“You can sit down and tune it and when you stand up it goes out of tune. I like the old guitars and this one has a particularly nice feel, but there is that problem – which is why with the newer ones they`ve tried to stop it by building this heel where the neck meets the body. But I can`t say it`s a well-made guitar.”
Iommi is very critical of the instrument. He doesn`t like the heavy tailpiece, but says he bought the guitar for a particular job and because he knew he could have it worked on.

“But you can`t compare it to one of these,” he said, indicating his Birch guitars. “Even in looks alone they knock spots off it. And now he`s (Birch) got these different pick-ups so they`ve got tone as well.
“Why people bought the old Brooms was to get that old, dirty rusty sound and because Clapton has used them and all the rest of it. But if you`re playing at volume, especially like we do (chuckle), that sound becomes squealier and howlier and God knows what else.
“I`ve had a few Brooms before. I had a rare 1951 three-pick-up model or something in the days of `Paranoia` – in fact, I done `Paranoia` on it – and as soon as you plugged it in it squealed. The coils were so loose in the pick-ups that they just used to vibrate and cause feedback.
“What Birch has done is produce the sound of the Les Pauls, that raw gutsy sound, but made it really solid so that there`s no whistling.”
Another Birch innovation is a guitar with interchangable pick-ups. The pick-up itself can be slotted in from the back. He and Iommi have a patent on this idea, which was perfected as a result of Tony`s need for one guitar with the different pick-up sounds of all the others for studio work.
“Normally you can alter the controls on the guitar or on the amp or use a different amp, but you don`t actually change the effect of the pick-up itself. If you put all the bass on the amp you get a muffly sound and if you take the bass off and put on all the treble you get a thin sound, but the pick-ups have a sound of their own and you can only build on it with the amp.

“Like the Fender sound… a Fender guitar, with those single-pole pick-ups has a thinnish sound. If you have power behind you from the stack you can get a really gutsy sound from them.
“Using an AC30 with a treble booster you can get a particularly good sound with the Strat, but I`ve tried it on recording and I find it really thin in comparison.”
Iommi has a Birch Interchangeable for recording and another Birch, with beautiful inlaid crosses all up the fingerboard, which is now his favourite for stage work. He is unstoppable in his praise of the amazing Birch.
“I think he`s a genius in his own right. The difference with him is he`s trying all the time to make something better. He`s trying to make the perfect guitar – the perfect instrument for anybody, not just one particular player.
“He can make anything you want, including the sound of the pick-ups. I tell him what sound I want, perhaps play him a record and tell him it`s something between that and this, and he can produce it. He`ll just keep doing it until it comes right.”
Birch doesn`t just make custom guitars for the stars. He also makes standard models that come off a small production line and are slowly finding their way into the musical stores.
When buying one, the customer, presumably for a fee, can request any adjustments he likes. Iommi believes Birch`s retail price for a production-line guitar is about £250.

“But people think they can get a Broom if they pay just that bit more… they think because it`s a Broom it`s got that much more in it. But it hasn`t. It fools a lot of people. If they would only pick up a Birch and feel the difference…
“Birch also has a different system for truss-rods that I don`t quite understand. And he sets all the controls in epoxy resin so everything is absolutely solid. Another nice thing is this plate right across the back so you can never scratch the wood. He only employs one type of timber now, too.”
Examining the guitar, it`s apparent that Birch has coated the fretboard with polyurethane varnish, sanding both fingerboard and frets between each coat. The result is a scalloped effect similar to that seen on some antique classical guitars which were originally made that way so that ladies would find them easier to play.
The guitar also has a virtually flat fingerboard; there`s no bevel to speak of – a feature that Tony apparently prefers.
“Nothing is impossible for him. It got to the stage where I was asking him silly things. Making things up like – can you build a little tape recorder in the guitar? And he would say: `Yes… yes I think that can be done if we…”
“He`s also got a pick-up now that`s two sounds in one. It`s got a switch to give you a different sound… He`s more or less built two pick-ups into one. He was even talking about building one to fill all the space between the bridge and the end of the neck. It would be so powerful and gutsy it would just blow the amps up. But this one is as near as damn it to the Broom sound I wanted – and he hasn`t ripped a Broom pick-up apart, he just knew what was wanted electronically.”

The controversial LP-cover once made for the band Boxer.

I have personally transcribed this from the original paper. If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!

This number of New Musical Express also contains articles/interviews with these people: Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Fania All-Stars, David Bowie, Sailor, Gay and Terry Woods.

The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale!

1. Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com
2. The offer should be 15 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage).
3. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties.

ARTICLE ABOUT Black Sabbath FROM NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS, January 24, 1976

This article can be difficult reading in parts for those not so familiar with English slang. This is the sort of review where you`re not sure if he slags the band off or if he really likes them. Make up your own mind!

OWOTTA LARRFF

Black Sabbath
Hammersmith

By Charles Shaar Murray

The bastards weren`t loud enough!
Not even halfway loud enough. No right-thinking individual can get off on the Sabs unless they`re loud enough to make yer braincells seep out yer ears and run for cover in the warm safety of your trouser pockets.
You need to feel as if Geezer`s sproinging away on the coils of your cerebellum while they`re connected up to a light socket, if you wanna get technical about it. Simultaneously Tony Iommi`s got to be heaving giant slabs of semi-sentient guitar gunge around just behind your eyelids and Bill… well, Bill`s probably out the back smashing his way through a brick wall by the simple expedient of hitting it with his head, while Ozzie caterwauls about something or other in a locked basement.
That`s the way yer real Sabs conna sewer likes it.
`Cuz when it ain`t that loud, it becomes uncomfortably apparent that Black Sabbath are one of the dullest gaggles of clowns ever to haul onto a stage (Ozzie, this means you, schlubbo. Do you know what you look like in those trousers?) Luckily I gained access to the photo pit after about twenty minutes of the set and was thus able not only to see the boys close up to hear the music at a decent volume.
I really enjoyed it after that.

There was some horrible object tricked out like a giant seashell with a cross on it behind Bill Ward`s drum kit. Their S. Pokesman told me that Bill had recently delivered a jest (larf a minute, Bill is) about how they were gonna sell it to Blue Oyster Cult after the tour, but Blue Oyster Cult are American and therefore have much better props – not to mention better costumes. Just wait`ll you see Ozzie`s outfit.
Larf? I thought I`d never start.
Lessee now – they did “War Pigs”, “Children Of The Grave”, “Snowblind”, “Iron Man”, “War Pigs” – `ang on, I think I`ve already mentioned that one – “Sabra Cadabra” and lots of other good stuff. Geezer and Ioomi had the equivalent of six Laney 200-watt stacks each piled up into a neat little battlement across the back of the stage (but it still wasn`t loud enough) and Iommi was playing a really nice John Birch guitar with little crosses inlaid on the neck. Couldn`t see much of Bill, but he kept knocking his cymbals over so he must`ve been having a good time.
Once you`re in a position to get yer cortex shook, you can just settle down and groove while the band lumber around grinding it out. Occasionally they stop so that Tony Iommi can look pained and blat out one of his patented fast bits. The hall-mark of an Iommi fast bit (to use the technical term) is that it doesn`t really fit into the band context so “Sabba Cadabra” (the number into which it`s usually slotted) has to crunch to a halt while he jabbers away at Velocity Mark 10 for a few minutes.

Ozzie looks great. He`s got this yellow T-shirt with a glitter V on the front and fringes on the sleeves and the world`s most ridic trousers. They`re tight around the ass (bad move, Ozzie) and baggy round the crotch (no Freddie Mercury I`ve-got-the-whole-world-in-my-pants tactics from these boys) and show his navy-blue underpants off to excellent advantage. They also clash exquisitely with his knee-length blue platform boots.
All joking aside, folks, I really like the Sabs (`specially when they`re really loud).
Most people I know who don`t like them generally make the mistake of taking them seriously (or trying to) and failing to get off because the whole Sabs trip is so patently dumb. The trick is to regard the whole thing (performance, audience reaction etc) as a huge joke mounted especially for your amusement and then (provided it`s loud enough) you can have a wonderful time.
I mean, what other band can provide a moment when their entire audience howls the word “Paranoid!” as loud as they possibly can? That`s always worth the price of admission by itself.
The food was unspeakable.

I have personally transcribed this from the original paper. If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!

This number of New Musical Express also contains articles/interviews with these people: Alex Harvey, Elvis Presley Fan Club Convention, Lou Reed, Howlin` Wolf, Hot Vultures, Aerosmith.

The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale!

1. Send me an e-mail, if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com
2. The offer should be 15 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage).
3. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties.