![]() 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. " Heaven and Hell was the beginning of a new band of which I had no idea what band I was in. ![]() " Heaven and Hell for me wasn't a turning point," he recalled. Personal issues aside, drummer Bill Ward was not completely happy with the direction Black Sabbath was moving in creatively. ![]() Gruber later stated in an interview in 2009 that he only helped write "Die Young". 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. Despite not being credited for his contributions, Gruber says he and the band nonetheless reached "a suitable financial arrangement". 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. In a 1996 interview, Iommi stated that Gruber participated only "for a bit". įormer Elf and Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber also rehearsed with the band, though the extent of his involvement is unclear. Eventually, Butler returned to the band and Nicholls stayed on as the band's unofficial keyboardist. Zappa offered his bassist for the Heaven and Hell sessions but Iommi preferred a permanent member. At one point Iommi contacted close friend Frank Zappa for help finding a bassist. When Dio first joined the band, he doubled for a short time as bassist and vocalist, having played bass in the band Elf in the early 1970s. 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 featured Geoff Nicholls on bass, as longtime bassist Geezer Butler was going through a divorce and his future with the band was in question. 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. 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. ![]() "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." "Sabbath was a band that was floundering," Dio observed. On that first day, the duo finished " Children of the Sea", a song Iommi had abandoned prior to Osbourne's firing. "It must have been fate," Dio recalled, "because we connected so instantly." 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. Both men were in similar situations: Dio was seeking a new project and Iommi required a vocalist. The pair met again by chance at The Rainbow on Sunset in Los Angeles later that year. Initially, Dio and Iommi discussed forming a new band, rather than a continuation of Black Sabbath. Ronnie James Dio was introduced to Iommi in 1979 by Sharon Arden, who would later marry Osbourne. 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. 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. 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". The initial sessions for what became Heaven and Hell began with Ozzy Osbourne following the conclusion of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! Tour.
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