By Enti Bracamonte
Posted: May 8, 2022
Updated: June 10, 2022

My thoughts on the Born Again album

Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? The baby on the album cover is an actual baby and not some infernal creature spawned from the abyss. The artist that created this album sleeve did so in a hurry and hoping his work would be rejected. He used the picture of a baby posted in some magazine and, in his own words, “overexposed it, stuck the horns, nails, fangs into the equation, used the most outrageous colour combination that acid could buy…” (I don’t think he was talking about film developing acid from Dupont).

Steve Joule, the designer of the album sleeve, was, at the time, working for Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and was offered lots more money if he dropped what he was doing for them and went to work on the Sabbath artwork, purely out of spite. Why? Because… well… the story is long, and I think too well-known for me to recount here, but, in a nutshell—kind of—goes something like this:

In the early days of Black Sabbath, the lads were being relentlessly pursued by a rather intimidating guy—allegedly—that insisted on being their manager (hey, I’m not trying to slander anybody here, that is just how the story goes, ok?). The name of the guy is/was (don’t know) Don Arden. Interestingly, in a strange twist of fate, Arden would later become Ozzy’s father-in-law (go figure!) and would eventually rescue Black Sabbath from the clutches of former managers who, for years, had profited unfairly from their music.

The album Sabotage (1975), so titled in reference to how Sabbath felt they had been treated by their former management, includes a song called The Writ, which is an angry reproach directed specifically to the most insidious and pernicious (again: Not slander… The story… Remember?) of their past managers who was still, at the time, profiting from their music, although the band, by then, had made every effort possible to sever any ties to him. The Writ also happens to be a great song. Do give it a listen, you will not regret it. I don’t think Ozzy’s voice has ever sounded so powerfully angry, ever again.

Where was I?… Ozzy married Sharon (Arden’s daughter) and left/got fired from Black Sabbath. Arden did not take this well, and so he tried to sabotage (see? There’s that word again!) Ozzy and Sharon by taking away as many of their people as he possibly could, including the designer of the Born Again sleeve.

Let me say again that Steve Joule thought he was doing his worst—on purpose. He was pretty sure his artwork would be rejected, but Arden saw the shock value in that artwork and immediately told Joule to get busy with the inner sleeve and the back cover of the album.

The band’s reaction to the album cover was the same as everyone’s: absolute disgust. It may surprise you to know that none—and I mean not a single one—of the members of Black Sabbath, before, during, or after Gillan, are—or ever were—Satan’s worshipers; they are all just musicians that became successful through their craft, despite being lousy business people—I mean… clearly!

Reportedly, upon laying his eyes on the sleeve, Ian Gillan—the man with the evil laughter at the start of Disturbing the Priest, remember?—seems to have regurgitated all of his tequila, as almost did Bill Ward (the drums guy) who famously said, “It is shit.” But Geezer and Tony—reluctantly, mind you!—agreed with the shock value thing, so they approved. The band was in desperate need of record sales—literally and hyperbolically. 

Admittedly, Joule procrastinated doing the whole thing until only one night remained before his deadline. He did everything haphazardly, that same night, in the trusty company of Jack Daniels. He even put the lyrics to every song, on the inner sleeve, by hand (Microsoft Word wasn’t happening, at the time, in 1983).

Now, how I happened into this wonderful expression of musicianship while in the ruins of a war-torn country like El Salvador, in the mid-1980’s, I tell you, was in the unlikeliest of ways: I can clearly recall, like it was yesterday, that it was actually Pat Robertson who introduced me to Born Again. It’s not like I was on a quest or anything like that; it was…. well… an act of God.

I am not saying I would not, eventually, have found out about its existence (I am still talking about Born Again), I am just underscoring the exceptional manner in which this came about.

The thing is that, although a Catholic, my mother loved to watch The 700 Club, and she would always ask me to find it on the telly for her. One day, as I was channel surfing through all 3 local channels on our black and white, 20-inch TV set (and of course I was using the channel knob, not a remote), I saw Pat Robertson, of The 700 Club, talking about heavy metal music.

I think he talked about Alice Cooper first and, then, Pat Robertson turned his attention to the Black Sabbath album, which he already had lined up for the chopping block. He held the Born Again album in his hands and showed it to the camera up close. I was glued to the screen and could not—not that I wanted to—look away. I don’t think I called my mom to come watch The 700 Club that time, I was too busy watching it myself.

Robertson was describing the awful cover of the album and the satanic lyrics it contained, and the whole time I just kept thinking: “I hope they have it at Kismet, I hope they have it at Kismet.” Kismet was the only worthy record store in town, at the time.

I think my vinyl collection, at the time, included such titles—the only titles—as Gracias por la Música (yes, the Spanish version pressed in Guatemala), Supertrouper (Guatemala) and Piece of Mind and The Number of the Beast (both USA pressings). Although the Maiden albums were actually the property of my older brother, I always regarded them as mine, on account of the fact that I was the real metalhead.

And, please, allow me to hold you back in time, a little while longer, and tell you that this is San Salvador, in 1984, we are talking about, in the middle of a civil war that came with the works, including, but not limited to:

• Stray bullets: of which I, literally, I saw one too many from way too close and heard at least a couple. You never heard the loud “bang”, of course, you just heard the subtle whizzing as the projectile was passing you by. You would, then, duck and hope it wasn’t a burst—at the time, more the rule than the exception;

• Everyday curfews that started as early as 5 p.m.;

• And scheduled, daily, 8-hour-long power outages.

I would love to tell you more about the civil war in El Salvador, but that is something I already have in the works, and I hate spoilers… so… moving on…

I know I didn’t buy the album in 1983 because that was the year Born Again was released in Europe and Kismet only sold pressings, made in Guatemala or Costa Rica, at a much later time after anything was released in Europe or the USA—it may well have been in 1985, but, trust me, I got a copy as early as I possibly could and the poor thing underwent a torture test, as did the stylus of my father’s turntable—and, I imagine, also my mom. Thank you, mom—by the way—for everything! (…eyes tearing up, trembling chin, etc., I hope no one enters the room right now).

I still remember how difficult it was to read those lyrics dictionary in hand. You see, I bought the vinyl long before I learned to speak English, and Joule’s handwriting didn’t really help at all. On second thought, maybe I did not buy a Guatemalan or Costa Rican pressing. Those rarely ever came with lyrics printed on the inner sleeve.

Anyway, even with my mighty dictionary in hand, I could not understand even 50% of the lyrics. But I liked it well enough just so. There was so much power and mystery in that album, my imagination just went wild with it. I didn’t have to understand the lyrics, I would just blank my mind and let it be filled with whatever images the music conjured up with every chord I heard. It really was a magical thing.

Have I strayed off topic again? Once or twice, maybe? I apologize.

Back to it then… Ian Gillan has always been a great singer, but it was everyone’s guess, back then, how Gillan’s voice would get along with Sabbath’s music—pretty great! in my opinion!

Some people love Born Again, some people hate it (mostly on account of its “bad” sound). I have held long, scholarly discussions with both camps and, although I agree that perhaps the recording is a bit bass-heavy (and accusations have been levied against Geezer Butler, by Gillan) and that perhaps there may be some overuse of guitar distortion (which could only be attributed to Tony Iommi, I imagine), Born Again, to me, remains, hands down, one of Black Sabbath’s best records.

Though I accept these complaints as valid, I have to say that no other album, in the world of heavy metal, is a worse offender than Judas Priest’s Sad Wings of Destiny, when it comes to bass-heavy productions. And I love that album, as well, and I never complain about it, not even now, this is just a comparison to illustrate my point. But you really have to listen to the thing either through tiny speakers or rolling-off the low-end early with eq in order to make the sound bearable (especially at the start of Tyrant), but I am not hearing any complaints about that anywhere whatsoever.

Born Again is not anywhere close to being as bad as Sad Wings of Destiny, in terms of bass-heaviness. Some Maiden recordings are also bass-heavy, but no one seems to be complaining about them either.

I think all these complaints are only due to the tremendous success of Born Again: a larger audience attracts a larger number of critics.

But, O.K., I have to admit that I never actually heard the vinyl version of Sad Wings of Destiny, I have only ever listened to the CD version. And it may be that, because of the physical constraints of the medium itself, the vinyl version may not be as bass-heavy (or as loud) as its digital counterpart.

I did stray off topic again, didn’t I?

So… yes… after all this time, I still think Born Again is a fantastic album, especially now that I can actually understand the lyrics.

That said, I wish they would remix it and remaster it, so we could hear Gillan’s nuanced voice cut through the mix a lot better. I do believe he was at his prime when he recorded this album.

This version of the recording (below) really lets you hear how powerful and controlled Gillan’s voice really is: undeniably masterful! He truly was at his prime when he recorded this album with Sabbath.

Stonehenge followed by Disturbing the Priest (official release)

Trashed, Stonehenge, Disturbing the Priest, The Dark, Zero the Hero, and Keep it Warm are, all, favorites of mine, but, by far, the best title in that album is the song that bears its name. WOW! if you are reading this just out of curiosity and don’t even like metal, give the song a listen as you read the lyrics, you will be blown away by the depth, the elegance, the mood, the imagery.

Inspiration for the song Disturbing the Priest, by the way, did not come from the Devil. The inspiration came from a, very politely handled, neighborly dispute in which the local church complained to the lads that they were playing too loudly during their rehearsals (recording process), thereby disrupting their choir sessions. This was simply the result of someone leaving one of the studio doors open and the sound escaping through it, but it was all quickly addressed and resolved. As out-there as, at least, a couple of these guys were known that they could be (and I am talking about Gillan and, may be, Ward), they really were very respectful with the local clergy.

No human sacrifices took place in the making of this or any other Black Sabbath record. I can vouch for any, ANY, Sabbath line-up.

Regarding Ozzy biting-off the head of a bat, during a live performance, let me put that rumor to rest right now: First, Ozzy was no longer part of Black Sabbath; second, it was an accident. Ozzy thought it was one of his fake bats, but someone in the audience had thrown an actual live bat onto the stage. A few rabies shots later, however, Ozzy was back to touring. Sadly, the bat was not.

The lesson here is that, if you are a rock star or any kind of star, you should not pick anything up that is thrown at you or even handed to you by a fan; that is why they call them fans: they are fanatics! You never know what they are up to! I keep that in mind now that I am a famous blogger and all, you know?

Regarding Ozzy bitting off the head of a pigeon, during a record industry executives meeting… well… what can I say?… I love his music and the legend he is… but… I am not going to lie for the guy.

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Update (June 9, 2022)

Metal Hammer posted an article, just yesterday, written by Martin Kielty, that talks about the Born Again album and possible future plans for it. The article includes comments by Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi.

Thanks to Justo Abarca for bringing this to my attention.

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Update (June 10, 2022)

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The video below was posted on youtube only 9 hours ago. It is a very interesting discussion on the album Born Again.