Studio
demo 1 - musicians :
Tony Iommi (guitars)
Eric Singer (drums)
Ray Gillen (vocals)
Dave Spitz (bass)
Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
Studio
demo 2 and 3 - musicians :
Tony Iommi (guitars)
Eric Singer (drums)
Ray Gillen (vocals)
Bob Daisley (bass)
Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
Studio
tracks 4 - musicians :
Tony Iommi (guitars)
Eric Singer (drums)
Tony Martin (vocals)
Dave Spitz (bass on track 2 "Some Kind of Woman")
Geoff Nicholls (keyboards, bass on track 1 "Black
Moon")
NOTES
:
Studio demo 1 contains pre-production demos that were recorded
at Air Studios, Monserrat between July and August 1986.
Studio demo
2 is recorded at Air Studios, Monserrat in October 1986.
Recorded after Bob Daisley’s arrival, since his lyrics are sung here by
Ray Gillen.
Studio demo 2 lacks guitar solos on almost all of the tracks except “Born To Lose”.
This tape allows
the opportunity to hear the bare rhythm tracks for the upcoming
album.
Studio demo 3 was recorded a bit later and does contain guitar solos for all tracks except “The Shining”. It is this
version that provides the most complete sounding version of the
Eternal Idol demos.
Studio demo 4 songs are released only as the b-side for “The Shining”
maxi-single in Europe (Warner Bros Records).
The song "Some Kind Of Woman" was obviously left off the album because it is simply
too different from the rest of the ETERNAL IDOL song list,
sounding like something Van Halen might have recorded!
The basic tracks for “Some Kind Of Woman” were recorded in Monserrat and contain the bass playing of Dave Spitz, making his first and only appearance on a Sabbath studio recording. Like “Black Moon”, it wasn’t an easy song to write lyrics for. So, it was left unfinished until Tony Martin was able come up with some words to finish it off. Iommi was a bit perplexed by the stuff that Martin came up with, but still decided to go with it in the end.
The demo for “Black Moon” demo was recorded during the final ETERNAL IDOL recording sessions in London, probably in August ’87. Originally titled “Gypsy Warning” when the band began jamming on this song earlier on in the sessions, it remained an instrumental until Martin laid down his vocals on this rendition.
Geoff Nicholls made his one and only appearance playing bass on a Sabbath studio album with this track. He also played the keyboards here as well.
Both Tony Martin and Geoff Nicholls have claimed credit for writing lyrics on this one.
Black Sabbath re-recorded "Black Moon" for the 1989
"Headless Cross" album.
EXTRA
NOTES
:
By September 1986 the
recording of the "The Eternal Idol" album had
commenced and the majority of the backing tracks have been
completed by mid-October that year.
Eric Singer would depart the band in January 1987, having
already completed his drumtracks. By March 1987 vocalist Ray
Gillen had quit the band.
They shortly thereafter hooked up with ex-Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee to form BADLANDS.
The remaining Sabs (Iommi, Nicholls & Daisley) moved the recording sessions from Monserrat to London. Cash flow troubles forced the band to halt recording during the spring of ’87 and Bob Daisley left the band around this time. Recording resumed in August ’87 with Iommi bringing in vocalist Tony Martin to re-record Ray Gillen’s vocal tracks in just 8 days! Martin’s stiff performance was a result of having to mimic Gillen’s performance as closely as possible. The only remaining trace of Ray Gillen’s vocals left on the album was the laughter during the mid-section of “Nightmare”.
Thanks
to Robert Dwyer
(
www.sabbathlive.com
) for final
details.
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