The Eternal Idol is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1987, through Vertigo Records in the UK, and on 8 December 1987, through Warner Bros. Records in the US. It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Tony Martin, and the final album to be released through Warner Bros. and Vertigo Records, until the release of 13 in 2013.
Recording initially began in October 1986, with producer Jeff Glixman. After a series of internal issues, Glixman was soon replaced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, and bassist Dave Spitz would leave the band, with Bob Daisley brought in to record Spitz's tracks. However, before the completion of the album, Daisley would leave the band, alongside drummer Eric Singer. Following production issues with Coppersmith-Heaven, the band switched producers once more to Chris Tsangarides, while vocalist Ray Gillen would leave the band, as he struggled with lyrics. Soon after the departure of Gillen, the band would audition several vocalists, before deciding on Tony Martin to re-record Gillen's vocals, and would also enlist Bev Bevan to record percussion overdubs. Despite these changes in the lineup, they would all receive writing credits on the album.
Peaking at No. 168 in the US and at No. 66 in the UK, The Eternal Idol received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial failure, leading to the band being dropped from Warner Bros. and Vertigo Records. Despite this, the band would launch a short tour in support of the album.
The album sleeve erroneously credits Dave Spitz as bass player: the bass was actually played by Bob Daisley. Eric Singer played the drums, with the percussion credit for Bev Bevan being for a few cymbal overdubs on "Scarlet Pimpernel".
The album was originally to be recorded with Spitz and vocalist Ray Gillen. The former was replaced by bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley during initial sessions on Montserrat with producer Jeff Glixman. According to Daisley, Gillen had struggled with the lyrics, and management was not paying him or the rest of the band. Gillen quit shortly after their return to England. Daisley worked on the album as a session player, turning down an offer to join the band as he was already committed to working with Gary Moore. Gillen and Singer, who left the band right after he finished his drum parts to join Daisley in Moore's touring band, later joined the band Badlands with bassist Greg Chaisson and guitarist Jake E. Lee, the latter of whom had recently been fired from original Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne's solo band.
A number of singers auditioned for Black Sabbath, including Jon Oliva of Savatage and a then-unknown Tony Martin. Martin was hired and reconstructed the vocals under the guidance of Chris Tsangarides at Battery Studios shortly before production ended. Most tracks were written by Tony Iommi and Bob Daisley (the vinyl version states that all songs were written by Iommi) although some lyrics were modified by Geoff Nicholls. Martin said he "only sang on, and had no part in writing" The Eternal Idol, but nonetheless "thought [it] was one of the better albums of the band."
The song "Nightmare" was initially written for the 1987 film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
After Daisley's and Singer's departure, bassist Dave Spitz returned and drummer Bev Bevan, who had previously been a member of Black Sabbath during mid 1983–early 1984, was hired for a 1987 tour in support of the album; however, soon Bevan backed out on learning that Sabbath had booked dates in South Africa during the apartheid crisis.
Bevan was replaced by former Clash drummer Terry Chimes, who appears in the music video for "The Shining". Spitz played bass for a few shows before Jo Burt (formerly of Virginia Wolf) was hired as the new bass player.
The tour was one of Sabbath's shortest, totaling 20 dates: 1 in Greece and 6-7 each in South Africa, Germany and Italy.
The video for "The Shining" was filmed in-between Spitz's departure and Burt's arrival. In 1993, Martin recalled, "The bass player in the 'Shining' video was some guy that we dragged off the street. I can't remember his name but he looked the part (In another interview Martin claims the musician's name was "Steve"). He said that he was a guitarist. I remember he was always talking about how he was a Red Indian, thus all the turquoise he wore! We never saw him again."
The album cover features two models in bronze paint re-enacting Auguste Rodin's 1889 sculpture "The Eternal Idol". Due to the paint's toxicity, the models were hospitalized after the shoot. A photograph of the original sculpture was intended as the cover art, but permission could not be secured.
The Eternal Idol was released in November 1987. The album spent six weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at 168. A three-minute and fifteen second studio outtake titled "Some Kind of Woman", written by Tony Martin shortly after joining the band, appeared as a B-side of "The Shining" single. An early version of "Black Moon"—a song that would ultimately appear on the 1989 album Headless Cross—was released as a B-side of the "Eternal Idol" single.
In 1997, reflecting to Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross, Iommi stated, "I'd like to have seen some of the stuff off The Eternal Idol be a bit more credited, because I think there's some good tracks on that album"; he cited "Ancient Warrior" as one of those tracks.
The album was rereleased on 1 November 2010 in Europe as a two-disc expanded set. Bonus content includes the aforementioned b-sides "Some Kind of Woman" and "Black Moon" on disc 1. Disc 2 contains the session for the album recorded with Ray Gillen on vocals.
In February 2025, it was announced that The Eternal Idol would re-issued for the first time on limited edition, ruby red vinyl as an exclusive for Record Store day.
Tracklist:
Disc 1
- The Shining 05:58
- Ancient Warrior 05:34
- Hard Life to Love 05:00
- Glory Ride 04:48
- Born to Lose 03:43
- Nightmare 05:17
- Scarlet Pimpernel 02:07
- Lost Forever 04:00
- Eternal Idol 06:35
- Black Moon ('The Shining' Single B-Side) 03:39
- Some Kind of Woman ('The Shining' Single B-Side) 03:16
Time: 49:57
Disc 2
- Glory Ride 05:21
- Born to Lose 03:41
- Lost Forever 04:17
- Eternal Idol 06:48
- The Shining 06:30
- Hard Life to Love 05:20
- Nightmare 04:49
- Ancient Warrior 04:54
Time: 41:40
Disc 2: The Eternal Idol: Ray Gillen Session
Warner Bros. Records released it on 8/11/87 for the American market.
The most problematic album recording in the history of Black Sabbath. Production started in Montserrat, with Jeff Glixman producing, and a line up of Tony Iommi, Ray Gillen, Geoff Nicholls, Eric Singer and Dave Spitz, and ended in London, with Chris Tsangarides producing, and a line up of Tony Iommi, Geoff Nicholls, Tony Martin and Bob Daisley guesting on bass. Band manager Patrick Meehan was also fired during recording.
A video was shot for "The Shining", with a stand-in bass player and Terry Chimes (of punk band The Clash) on drums.
"Nightmare" was originally intended for inclusion in the soundtrack of "Nightmare on Elm Street" (hence the title).
The cover is based on a sculpture called "Eternal Idol" from 1889 by French artist Augustine Rodin, and the band wanted to use the original sculpture for the cover. However, they did not have the rights to use it, so the band asked the models to paint themselves with bronze paint and pose in the same positions as the original sculpture.
An alternate title to the album was "Blood God".
Although Dave Spitz receives credit in the liner notes for playing bass on the album, the bass sections were actually played by Bob Daisley.
Warner Bros. Records released it on 8/11/87 for the American market.
"The Eternal Idol" was originally recorded with Ray Gillen but was redone with Tony Martin after Ray Gillen left the group. The only surviving part of Ray Gillen's voice on the released Eternal Idol album is some laughing on the track "Nightmare".
According to Jon Oliva (Savatage) in an interview in May 2023, he auditioned for Black Sabbath during the time of this album, and sent his demos of "The Shining" and "Ancient Warrior".
"The Shining" is a renewed version of another song called "No Way Out", which was composed and recorded in 1984 in sessions with vocalist Dave Donato, and which also featured Geezer Butler on bass and Bill Ward on drums.
Track 10 is a demo version of the song which appears on the Headless Cross album.
Track 11 written by Tony Martin.
Recording information:
Recorded at :
-Air Studios, Montserrat
-Air Studios, London
-Battery Studios, London
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