IOMMI/HUGHES: 'The 1996 DEP Sessions' To Arrive In Late September

Sanctuary Records has set a September 28 release date for the previously unreleased Tony Iommi collection of songs featuring ex-DEEP PURPLE/BLACK SABBATH singer Glenn Hughes. Entitled "The 1996 DEP Sessions", the CD's final version will be quite markedly different to the version currently on the underground market under the title "Eighth Star".

The story behind the release is as follows:

In 1996 Tony Iommi was writing for his solo album and looking around for singers who might do justice to his music.

Tony and Glenn Hughes had stayed in touch since the "Seventh Star" album (released under the "BLACK SABBATH featuring Tony Iommi" banner) and they arranged to meet, write and see what came up. These songs were recorded as a set of demos in Coventry and Birmingham in the autumn of 1996, the bulk of them at DEP Studios, owned by local band UB40.

The original players were Tony, Glenn (who sang and played bass),drummer Dave Holland (ex-JUDAS PRIEST, TRAPEZE) and keyboard contributions by Don Airey, Geoff Nicholls and engineer Mike Exeter. No proper mixes were undertaken and both Tony and Glenn pursued other paths, although occasional conversations took place regarding the quality of the material and their possible release.

In the meantime a very poor quality bootleg CD became available on the web, which was missing some of the tracks and made from a stolen cassette.

The tapes were then stored until early 2004 when Tony reviewed the multi-tracks in his home studio with a view to releasing them, and setting the record straight.

With new drums by Jimmy Copley (who had played on Tony's "Iommi" album),Tony and the original engineer Mike Exeter then got down to mixing the CD, stripping the original performances back to basics and giving them a clean feel.

Strengthening the BLACK SABBATH connection is bassist Neil Murray, from the "Headless Cross", "Tyr" and "Forbidden" eras, who revealed his participation recently. "I spent one afternoon replacing the bass on two songs, one of which only had to be replaced because Tony Iommi had altered the riffs used in the song, or the original Glenn Hughes bass track would have been used," Neil told RockDetector.com.

Everyone who heard the work in progress was amazed at what had been unearthed and in a meeting with his label, Sanctuary, Tony played some of the roughs to Cory Brennan and Merck Mercuriadis who both jumped at the chance to release the album.

As soon as Tony finishes headlining Ozzfest with BLACK SABBATH, he will start recording his next solo album, tentatively due next spring.

"The 1996 DEP Sessions" track listing:

01. Gone
02. From Another World
03. Don't You Tell Me
04. Don't Drag the River
05. Fine
06. Time Is the Healer
07. I'm Not the Same Man
08. It Falls Through Me