Black Sabbath – Seventh Star
Seventh Star, originally released in 1983, is Black Sabbath's latest album to get the 2-disc remastered reissue treatment, and is an album that divides opinion on whether it really deserves a place in the band's discography. For all intents and purposes Seventh Star is a Tony Iommi solo album put out as a Sabbath release (or rather the oddly titled 'Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi') at the record company's behest, and it is best judged as such rather than compared to the Ozzy or Dio fronted incarnations of the band.
Featuring an impressive line-up, which includes Eric Singer on drums (who would later go on to join Kiss), and ex-Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes, Seventh Star is more Hard Rock than Heavy Metal and even veers into radio-friendly, lighter-waving bilge on 'No Stranger To Love' and Blues on 'Heart Like A Wheel'.
Not essential Sabbath by any means, Seventh Star is a slightly patchy affair (the aforementioned 'No Stranger To Love' being the weakest link) but, if judged on its own merits rather than in comparison with the rest of Sabbath's back catalogue, it's a solid enough album of very obviously 80's hard rock.
The second cd included in this reissue is a live recording of Black Sabbath featuring Ray Gillen on vocals (Hughes' replacement after his departure due to 'ill-health') recorded in 1986 at Hammersmith Odeon. The sound quality is pretty shoddy, but it serves to showcase Gillen's impressive voice, which is as at home with the Dio & Ozzy classics in the set as it is with the two numbers from Seventh Star.