I have been a Tony Martin fanatic since "Eternal Idol" first came out. I could never understand why so many Sabbath fans either didn't like his era, or never even gave it a chance. So glad that this era is finally vindicated.
For me this is an excellent vindication of how powerful the Tony Martin era actually was for Sabbath. I am 56 so was perfectly placed to enter the Dio era and follow all the ups and downs after that and into the Martin era. When those albums were effectively removed from the catalogue and there was that gaping 10 year period which nobody spoke of ... it was heartbreaking. When these albums went out of print and you could not find them it was, in my opinion, an example of the Sabbath machine and political machinations gone askew. Through all of these years Tony Martin has been a gentleman and never did a rant online. He waited and he hoped. And with the release of these albums, remastered and the remixed version of Forbidden .... these albums can now stand proudly beside the entire catalogue. I am including the compilation "The Sabbath Stones" which came out in 97 and included these songs. So for Martin it really was a 10 year tenure.
@@CookieMonsterJams the reason why I say that I don't think it would be a box set is they did not do that on Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules so I don't see the born again I'm being a box set maybe a double album and that's about it
Im new to the Tony Martin era because life happened back then, and I missed these. Now, I'm thrilled to have discovered these. This catalog is fantastic! They each are on heavy rotation and I'm not tiring of it. Crank these up on a good stereo and be blown away.
Tony Martin said it was a big step forward for Toni Iommi to have validated this period of Black Sabbath with this box set, well now you guys have done this for me as well. Love hearing your enthusiasm for the set. Really hope more material comes out!
I'm discovering Tony Martin era Black Sabbath for the first time and I absolutely love it! Ive been listening to the box set on vinyl. I wasn't even aware anyone but Ozzy or Dio sang for Sabbath for quite sometime.
Totally agree with you, John and Darin, about being happy for Tony Martin. He did his work and did it well. Great to see his albums getting proper treatment.
My favorite Black Sabbath line-up after Dio. Forbidden is probably my number 1 off that line-up and Headless Cross is the 2nd. I REALLY loved Forbidden when it came out. And I still do. I just couldn't believe that in 1995 (I was in the middle school then) Black Sabbath sounded like a modern band, and not just an old band with a modern production. RIP Cozy Powell
I bought all these albums new or almost new, on cassette mostly. My box set just came in the mail and it's been on regular rotation in the car. I remember being enormously impressed when Eternal Idol came out, thinking they'd really found the right guy--somewhat Dio-esque, but not a stylistic clone of Ronnie at all. Glad to see these releases and Tony Martin's era getting a new lease on life. Some exceptionally powerful music was made.🤘🤘
It's great mine arrived last Friday. Seen many reviews etc on-line. If one criticism which could be levelled was the non bonus tracks on the vinyl, which could have been on a 7" single or a cd. Main difference is vinyl has lyrics and no bonus tracks. Cds have no lyrics but bonus tracks. Tony's interviews have been amazing honest guy and looks happy with the results Great show guys take care 🤘💯💯💯💯
Martin era is the best since the Ozzy days. Songwriting is much better than on Dio/Gillan/Hughes albums. Those albums have definite highlights, like Die Young with its unbeatable lyrics, but Headless Cross is the greatest Sabbath record since Sabotage. Incredibly beautiful and powerful album, one of the best metal albums ever.
For some reason the boxset is extremely expensive to get in Ireland. 100 Dollar/Euro/Sterling or so for both formats. I guess the thinking is demand is so great on this side of the pond (UK and Ireland) that they can justify these prices. My only gripe is that this boxset is way cheaper in the States. Ironic. Rip off your biggest market which is on the doorstep. BMG over here and Rhino over there.
Totally with you on this. In the UK and I was going to order this boxset in the CD format. I went on Amazon and I couldn’t believe the price point. It was £89.99 when they announced it and then went to £99.99. I’ve since found out that in the States it was at 51 dollars- about £40 at the exchange rate and they can get it at less than half the price we can. It makes no sense to me. I am not ordering it now. I realise many Sabbath fans in the UK have given in but I don’t have the money to lash out on such an expensive item.
The summer after graduation one of my good longtime friends and I spent many hours cruising around in his '84 Z/28 and blasting Tyr. ⚔ And then news of the impending first Dio reunion broke, and man was I excited for that. Seemed like it took forever for Dehumanizer to finally come out the next year.
Forbidden kicks ass now. Songs I did t care for then are shining now. A song like Shaking Off the Chains benefited greatly what a mind melter now. I’ve played this so much the last week. 😂. Now I need to dive into other albums I bet they sound so good w/ the remastering lots of folks are Glowing about that and I cant wait to see for myself. Good to see justice done for this era of Sab🤘
The whole box set is fantastic, the remix of Forbidden is killer, i feel if the new version was the one originally released, Forbidden would have been much better recieved!
I haven't heard the new boxset, no cash & don't stream, but always enjoyed the original albums upto Cross Purposes, will hopefully pick up the set sometime. I saw Tony Martin interviewed on the Now Spinning yt & he said he had several tapes of unreleased stuff but BS (Black Sabbath) politics mean they can't release anything "new". That's disappointing.
I’m Loving this set. Forbidden unbelievably is actually a good album now. IMO. I really like all 4 albums a lot. I do think though that this era should have a different name for the band (Iommi maybe?) it just doesn’t have much of a Sabbath sound overall
From what I’ve learned about this box set, between all the extra goodies and the 4 CDs, the price is a great value. Question-for those of us who really only want the CDs and not so interested in the extras, any thoughts of them just releasing the remastered individual discs?
From what I understand from a friend of mine who owns a record store says a lot of them is on backorder but he said that doesn't mean they're going to print anymore of that
@@LairoftheAlchemist I think about 10 - 15 years ago it was easing off. You weren't getting 80's levels of dynamic range but, taking the Sabbath remasters of the time as an example, there was a healthy amount of head room. But I think the popularity of Spotify and other streaming radio has meant record companies have fallen back into old practices.
