Black Sabbath "Seventh Star"

Seventh Star is the twelfth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in January 1986. The release came at a difficult time as the group had just finished a highly contentious tour, experiencing conflicts within the band. With guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi being the sole original member left, musicians Geoff Nicholls, Eric Singer, and Dave Spitz contributed to the album, playing keyboards, drums, and bass, respectively. Glenn Hughes, ex-Deep Purple bassist and vocalist, was the lead singer on this album. Musically, it features a blues rock influenced sound that moved from the group's traditional heavy metal to a more eclectic style. Additionally, it was the first Black Sabbath album to feature the band as a quintet, as keyboardist Geoff Nicholls was confirmed as an official band member the year prior.

The album was the group's first release without bassist Geezer Butler, who left the band in 1984 after the aforementioned Born Again tour. It was originally written, recorded, and intended to be the first solo album by Iommi, as shown by the musical experimentation. However, due to pressures by Warner Bros. Records and the prompting of band manager Don Arden, the record was billed as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi. Later releases label the album as simply by Black Sabbath.

Despite the issues behind the release's production, it earned major commercial success, reaching #78 on the Billboard 200 chart.

As was the case with its predecessor, Born Again, this album was not originally intended to be a Black Sabbath record. It was last-minute pressure from Warner Bros. to stamp the Black Sabbath name onto it due to the belief that it was more likely to sell records with the already famous name. Because of this, its sound is a drastic (and intentional) departure from the trademark Sabbath sound. Many of the songs have a very hard rock sound, while some contain a bluesy feel (especially "Heart Like a Wheel"). Seventh Star was the first album to feature long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls as an official band member.

The promo-single and video version of "No Stranger to Love" had additional harmony vocals added by Hughes to make it more "radio-friendly". Actress Denise Crosby, who would later portray Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was featured in the video.

There was a tour for the album, but Hughes only performed at the first few shows. Hughes was fired five dates into the tour, and replaced by Ray Gillen, who completed both the North American and European legs of the tour, though several dates in the US were cancelled. W.A.S.P. and Anthrax were the supporting acts on their North American tour.

Glenn Hughes has performed "No Stranger to Love", "Seventh Star" and "Heart Like a Wheel" at some of his live concerts. "I really like Seventh Star," Tony Martin told Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross, "mainly because I admire Glenn Hughes' voice."

Seventh Star was re-released in Europe on 1 November 2010, in a special edition 2 disc set. Disc 2 includes a concert recorded in 1986, with Ray Gillen performing vocals for the band. In addition, the single version of No Stranger to Love was included as a bonus track on disc 1.

Track listings

Music by Tony Iommi; lyrics by Tony Iommi, Glenn Hughes, Geoff Nicholls and Jeff Glixman.

Side one

1. "In for the Kill" 3:48
2. "No Stranger to Love" 4:28
3. "Turn to Stone" 3:28
4. "Sphinx (The Guardian)" 1:12
5. "Seventh Star" 5:20

Side two

1. "Danger Zone" 4:23
2. "Heart Like a Wheel" 6:35
3. "Angry Heart" 3:06
4. "In Memory..." 2:35

The Canadian version has the same identifiers and catalog ID, but is manufactured and distributed by WEA music of Canada, LTD., Scarborough, ON

A promotional video was made for "No Stranger to Love", featuring Star Trek actress Denise Crosby.

Recording information:

Recorded at Cheshire Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA, USA

Originally mastered at Artisan Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, CA, USA