Music Opinion of Ian Gillan about ‘Born Again’, his only album with Black Sabbath

Born Again (1983), the only record of Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan On vocals, he usually generates heated debates among fans. There are those who love and who hate the album, due to their muffled sound.

But what about the vocalist, what do you think about it? In an interview with Igor Miranda to the Rolling Stone BrazilGillan, who will be in Brazil with the Deep Purple in June to perform at the festival Best of Blues and Rock 2025gave his verdict.

He said:

“I think the songs great. I just found it (the sound) ridiculous. The mix was absurd. One day the engineer disappeared from the studio. And someone took over. [Geezer Butler] It must remain secret. But I think it was remixed and you could only hear the serious. If you’ve seen the movie This is spinal tap (1984), this is the story of Born Again. The label girl or the press officer said to the businessman, ‘You can’t play.’ And that’s exactly what happened. The level of the severe was so high that you couldn’t play on the radio. It had been shortly after the emergence of digital music. So people still used needles. And it was impossible. “

In fact, over the years Ian Gillan has always shown discontent with production – and the cover with a “damn baby” Born Again. The singer ensures that when they recorded the songs, they sounded better.

He regrets that the end result does not live up to the compositions – to the point of Tony Iommi I have said several times that you want to remix the disc.

“I have a cassette tape with a return mix that is 10 times better than the album sound. If they will remix, it’s a little late. But yes, probably for aficionados, collectors or something… I don’t know. But there are some songs there that I really find great.”

Ian Gillan talks about his times at Black Sabbath

About the old guitarist partner, Gillan is just compliments. Deep vocalist Purple, who soon after the tour of Born Again He left Black Sabbath precisely to meet with his original band, keeps great memories of the times with Tony Iommi and company:

“It’s always a joy to compose Tony and we certainly had a lot of fun doing the album. There’s a song there called ‘Trashed’which was composed the day after whatever is behind the story. It was a fantastic time. I enjoyed the tour. It was the longest party I’ve been to. It lasted a year. I find the album really great. It is always time. We always recognize the fact that Ozzy (Osbourne) He is the singer of Black Sabbath. And people identified with it. So it was a strange and strange situation. But in general, thank God they will remix. “

The discomfort with the period

Among other curiosities of the Ian Gillan phase in Black Sabbath, one involves an immortal classic Deep Purple: “Smoke on the water”. During the tour for the dissemination of Born AgainThis song was included in Sabbath’s repertoire, something curious.

However, to revisit this anthem of his former band seems to have bothered Gillan less than singing the songs recorded by Ozzy Osbourne. The vocalist remembered the radio Rock FM (via Igor Miranda website):

“Beyond the songs of Born AgainWe had to present at the shows they did to Ozzy. I never felt comfortable, although they were great and I could sing them. But I am not him, it didn’t look right. “

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