Following the departure of Ronnie James Dio after Mob Rules, there came what at the time must have appeared to be a strange decision to replace him – Deep Purple's Ian Gillan. With Sabbath and Purple having been so successful at different ends of the rock/metal spectrum, putting elements of the two together must have appeared a little off kilter – but it had worked with Dio (who had fronted Rainbow previously), so why shouldn't it?
In my opinion, it works. I think this is a terrific album, and Gillan is in fine form. Apparently it faltered live, when he was expected to sing Sabbath's classsics, but here on Born Again, it is excellent. You've got to love Trashed, Zero The Hero, Digital Bitch and Born Again. They are great songs, and have probably never received the recognition that they deserve. Tony's riffwork is still superb as is Geezer's bass lines, and Ian's vocals are at their best on with the faster pace of Sabbath's material.
The tragedy here is that Gillan left after this to reform the Mark II era of Deep Purple, which of course has gone from strength to strength since. But it would have been great to hear a second Butler/Iommi/Gillan collaboration, to see how the band and music would have progressed.
Memories : The film clip for Trashed. I didn't even realise it was Ian Gillan singing in the clip for a number of months after I first saw it. I actually thought it was Ozzy, singing in a different key... I was young and naïve...
Rating : Deserves a better fate in history than it has received. 4/5.
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