Black Sabbath - Deep Black (2023)

STUNNING 1983 SHOW WITH IAN GILLAN ON VOCALS  Following a three-year stint as Black Sabbath’s vocalist following the departure of Ozzy Osbourne in 1979, Ronnie James Dio left Sabbath himself in 1982 to form his own band, and took drummer Vinny Appice with him.  The remaining original members, Tommy Iommi and Geezer Butler, began auditioning singers for the band's next release. Deep Purple and Whitesnake's David Coverdale, Samson's Nicky Moore and Lone Star's John Sloman were all considered and Iommi states in his autobiography that Michael Bolton auditioned. The band settled on former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan to replace Dio in December 1982. The project was initially not to be called Black Sabbath, but pressure from the record label forced the group to retain the name. The band entered The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire in June 1983 with a returned and newly sober Bill Ward on drums.  Born Again was released in August 1983, and reached number four in the UK, and number 39 in the U.S., becoming the highest charting Black Sabbath album in the United Kingdom since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in 1973. Unable to tour because of the pressures of the road, Ward quit the band. He was replaced by former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan for the Born Again '83–'84 world tour, which began in Europe with Diamond Head, and later in the U.S. with Quiet Riot and Night Ranger.  Among the finest shows on the tour, the band’s performance at The Centrum in Worcester, MA, on 4th November 1983 remains a firm favourite among fans and collector’s, recorded as it was for FM radio broadcast and transmitted live across the U.S. Previously unreleased, this dynamic show is now available on this new CD for the first time.