Black Sabbath legend, TONY IOMMI, will reissue the two albums he recorded with powerhouse singer Glenn Hughes – ”The 1996 The Dep Sessions” and ”Fused”, on October 4 via BMG. Both albums have been remastered including bonus tracks.
The relationship between iconic guitarist Tony Iommi and English musician Glenn Hughes stretches far back into the mid-Eighties. Best known for playing bass and performing vocals in the hard rock band Trapeze and in the Mk. III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple, Hughes sang on the 1986 Black Sabbath album ‘Seventh Star’.
Ten years later, Iommi once again collaborated with Hughes for a release that would become known as ‘The 1996 Dep Sessions’, recorded at DEP International Studios in Digbeth, Birmingham. The recordings were demos left unfinished due to the original line up of Black Sabbath reforming at the time.
However, a bootleg recording known as ‘Eighth Star’ was circulated among fans so in 2004, to combat this, the session was eventually officially released – and these doesn’t sound as ‘demos’ or unfinished. ‘The 1996 Dep Sessions’ rocks hard.
The original players were Tony, Glenn (who sang and played bass), drummer Dave Holland and keyboard contributions by Don Airey, Geoff Nicholls and engineer Mike Exeter. No proper mixes were undertaken and both Tony and Glenn pursued other paths, although occasional conversations took place regarding the quality of the material and their possible release.
In the meantime a very poor quality bootleg CD became available on the web which was missing some of the tracks and made from a stolen cassette. The tapes were then stored until early 2004 when Tony reviewed the multi-tracks in his home studio with a view to releasing them, and setting the record straight.
With new drums by Jimmy Copley (who had played on Tony’s “Iommi” album), Tony and the original engineer Mike Exeter then got down to mixing the CD, stripping the original performances back to basics and giving them a clean feel.
The authorised release of ‘The 1996 Dep Sessions’ in 2004 proved to be a catalyst for Tony and Glenn, who rekindled their collaboration and within a year, released what would be Iommi’s third solo album in 2005. Titled ‘Fused’, the album was recorded at Monnow Valley Studios in Wales and saw Iommi sounding heavier than ever.
The album is chock full of stomping, grinding riffs that saw Iommi tipping his hat to the metal genre he had helped spawn decades before.
On October 4th, both albums will be released on vinyl for the first time and will also be available on digisleeve CD’s.
HIGHLY Recommended
01 – Gone
02 – From Another World
03 – Don’t You Tell Me
04 – Don’t Drag The River
05 – Fine
06 – Time Is The Healer
07 – I’m Not The Same Man
08 – It Falls Through Me
Tony Iommi – guitars
Glenn Hughes – vocals, bass
Don Airey – keyboards
Jimmy Copley – drums
Neil Murray – additional bass
Geoff Nicholls – additional keyboards