Following Ward’s statement last week that he is still waiting for a fair and reasonable contract to sign, there have been internet stories that she had dismissed the drummer from the Sabbath reunion, But writing on Twitter, Sharon had this to say: “I am not in any position to hire or fire anyone in Black Sabbath. I don’t manage the band, I manage my husband”.

Right now, the rest of the band are getting in with writing and recording a new album. Whether Ward ends up being involved remains to be seen.

Meantime, Ozzy has been talking about Tony Iommi’s ongoing cancer battle. This is what he had to say in an interview on Ozzy’s Boneyard, the new classic rock radio station:

“He needs more and more support, man. He doesn’t have a brother, he doesn’t have a sister — it’s just him and his wife and the members of Black Sabbath. So any encouragement, any support [is appreciated]. He’s gonna beat it. What it’s down to is determination and believe me, this guy’s got more determination than anybody I’ve ever met. It’s gonna be fine. It’s just one of those trials in life that happen. When the bombshell hit about Tony’s cancer problem, I came to England. It would’ve been pretty bad if I would’ve stayed in L.A. When (producer) Rick Rubin found out, he said, ‘I will accommodate wherever they are’. Which was very cool of him, actually. . .

“He’s gonna beat it. He’s got so much support, not only from each one of us in the band, but the fan base; it’s unbelievable. It’s one of them problems you have in life. . . He ain’t gonna die, I’m telling you. I told him if he dies, I’m gonna kill him.”

The famed drummer has issued the following statement about his current situation:

“Dear Sabbath fans, fellow musicians and interested parties.

“At this time, I would love nothing more than to be able to proceed with the Black Sabbath album and tour. However, I am unable to continue unless a ’signable’ contract is drawn up; a contract that reflects some dignity and respect toward me as an original member of the band.

“Last year, I worked diligently in good faith with Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler. And on November 11, 2011, again in good faith, I participated in the LA press conference.

“Several days ago, after nearly a year of trying to negotiate, another ‘unsignable’ contract was handed to me.

“Let me say that although this has put me in some kind of holding pattern, I am packed and ready to leave the US for England. More importantly, I definitely want to play on the album, and I definitely want to tour with Black Sabbath.

“Since the news of Tony’s illness, and the understanding that the band would move production to the UK, I’ve spent every day getting to or living in a place of readiness to leave. That involves something of a task, and as I’ve tried to find out what’s going on with the U.K. sessions, I’ve realized that I’ve been getting ‘the cold shoulder’ (and, I might add, not for the first time). Feeling somewhat ostracized, my guess is as of today, I will know nothing of what’s happening unless I sign ‘the unsignable contract.

“The place I’m in feels lousy and lonely because as much as I want to play and participate, I also have to stand for something and not sign on. If I sign ‘as is,’ I stand to lose my rights, dignity and respectability as a rock musician.

“I believe in freedom and freedom of speech.

“I grew up in a hard rock/metal band. We stood for something then, and we played from the heart with honesty and sincerity. I am in the spirit of integrity, far from the corporate malady, I am real and honest, fair and compassionate.

“If I’m replaced, I have to face you, the beloved Sabbath fans. I hope you will not hold me responsible for the failure of an original Black Sabbath line-up as promoted. Without fault finding, I want to assure everyone that my loyalty to Sabath is intact.

“So here I am. I lay my truth down before you. I’m good to go IF I get a ’signable’ contract.

“I don’t want to let anyone down, especially Black Sabbath and all the Sabbath fans. You know I love you. It would be a sad day in rock if this current situation fell to the desires of a few.

“My position is not greed-driven. I’m not holding out for a ‘big piece’ of the action (money) like some kind of blackmail deal. I’d like something that recognizes and is reflective of my contributions to the band, including the reunions that started fourteen years ago.

“After the last tour, I vowed to never again sign on to an unreasonable contract. I want a contract that shows some respect to me and my family, a contract that will honor all that I’ve brought to Black Sabbath since its beginning.

“That’s the story so far.

“Stay safe and stay strong.

“I love every single one of you.”

In response, the rest of the band – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler – have released the following statement:

‘We were saddened to hear yesterday via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current Black Sabbath plans… We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open… We are still in the UK with Tony. Writing and recording the new album and on a roll… See you at Download!!!”

Find out more at www.billward.com

The Sabs will kick things off on May 18 in Moscow, followed by performances at the Azkena Rock Festival [Spain], Hellfest [France], Graspop Metal Meeting [Belgium] and Gods Of Metal [Italy].

According to a statement, the global tour will take the band around the world including countries they have never played before and others they have not visited in more than three decades.

Sabbath’s confirmed European tour dates are as follows:

5/18 Moscow, Russia Olimpiski
5/20 St. Petersburg, Russia New Arena
5/23 Helsinki, Finland Hartwall Arena
5/25 Stockholm, Sweden Stadium
5/29 Bergen, Norway Bergen Calling Festival
5/31 Oslo, Norway Spektrum
6/2 Malmo, Sweden Malmo Stadium
6/4 Dortmund, Germany Westfalenhalle
6/10 Donington, UK Download Festival
6/12 Rotterdam, Holland Ahoy
6/15 Bilbao, Spain Azkena Rock Festival
6/17 Nantes, France Hellfest
6/19 Paris, France Bercy
6/22 Dessel, Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
6/24 Milan, Italy Gods of Metal

As previously announced, Black Sabbath announced the reunion of their original line-up – and headline slot at Download 2012 – at a press conference on November 11.

This means the classic Sabs line-up will get back together on stage next summer – that’s Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.

The surprise news was that the reunion will include a new album, produced by Rick Rubin, due for release next autumn on the Vertigo label. Recording will start in January.

The announcement took place in Los Angeles at the famed Whisky A Go Go club on the Sunset Strip.

Host Henry Rollins talked about the impact the Sabs had on his life.

“I was a very alienated young person,” Rollins said, “and when I heard Black Sabbath I realised my life had a soundtrack. I realised there were people out there using music to make great statements. When I heard Iron Man, high school became powerless over me. This is true outsider music.”

Rollins hosted a Q&A before the band answered questions from the press.

Asked about the re-formation, Ozzy Osbourne simply said: “It’s just time.”

Tony Iommi added: “It’s now or never. We get along great. Everything’s really good.”

The band also credited Rubin for helping get them back in the studio.

“He kept phoning us every five minutes,” Tony Iommi revealed.

Geezer Butler added: “We plan to get back to the old Sabbath style and sound.”

Download takes place June 8-10, 2012. Sabbath will be headlining on the last night.

Watch footage of the press conference here.

Apparently talking to the Birmingham Mail, guitarist Tony Iommi confirmed he and Ozzy Osbourne have been writing songs for the planned album:

“We’re really looking forward to it and I think the stuff we’ve been writing is really good. It’s more back to the old original stuff.”

The four – also including bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – are reported to have been in rehearsals. And, continues Iommi, the only concern is over Ward’s health.

‘‘He hasn’t been 100 per cent. He had an operation a few months ago, so we’ll see how he is.’’

However, I0ommi’s management have now strongly denied the authenticity of this story, claiming that the guitarist hasn’t spoken to the paper for two months!

UPDATE: Tony Iommi has now issued the following statement about the claims in the Birmingham Mail:

“I’m saddened that a Birmingham journalist whom I trusted has chosen this point in time to take a conversation we had back in June and make it sound like we spoke yesterday about a Black Sabbath reunion.

“At the time I was supporting the Home Of Metal exhibition was merely speculating shooting the breeze on something all of us get asked constantly, ‘Are you getting back together?’.

“Thanks to the Internet it’s now gone round the world as some sort of ‘official’ statement on my part; absolute nonsense. I hope he’s enjoyed his moment of glory, he won’t have another at my expense.

“To my old pals, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better.”

Check out all of our pevious Cult Heroes here.

Words: Geoff Barton

Eddie Van Halen and Michael Jackson. Freddie Mercury and Monsterrat Caballé. Ozzy Osbourne and Miss Piggy. Gene Simmons and Cher. Lawnmower Deth and The Great Kat. Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle.

The world of music has thrown up some mighty strange partnerships over the years. But none more strange – not to say disastrous – as the combination of Ian Gillan and Black Sabbath.

It was a marriage made in hell. (Which, when you think about it, was highly appropriate given the Sabs’ devil-horned heritage.)

When late vocalist Ronnie James Dio bowed out of Sabbath, blaming disputes over the 1982 (or 1983, depending on where you lived) Live Evil effort, Tony Iommi and co. typically found themselves in a fix. Memories of Dave Walker (the ungainly Brummie they brought in to replace Ozzy Osbourne for a few months in 1977) began to resurface. The Sabs were not only without a singer, they were embroiled in a war of words with le petit Ronald, who accused his old bandmates of tampering with the sound of Live Evil by muting his vocals and cranking up their own instruments instead. Sabbath retorted by saying that Dio had been spotted sneaking into the studio at the dead of night and doing the exact opposite. It was all getting rather silly.

(Incidentally, when the warring parties kiss and made up, and reconvened to form Heaven And Hell, the above shenanigans were neatly denied/forgotten.)

It got sillier still when Ian Gillan split his own band, Gillan, on the pretext of joining up with a reunion of the Mk II line-up of his former group, Deep Purple. When that reformation was put on ice for a year or so, Gillan found himself at a loose end. Then the ‘Dio-quits-Sabs’ news broke and, even though Purple and Sabbath had been fierce rivals in the past, Ian began to contemplate a rather unusual career move…

Gillan met up with guitarist Iommi and bass player Geezer Butler in a pub in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Gillan had had a car crash on the way to the meeting (“I arrived in an L-shaped vehicle,” he once recalled) and the trio proceeded to get royally pissed. The next day the singer received a phone call from his personal manager to tell him that he had agreed to become Sabbath’s new frontman. Gillan was as bemused as he was hung over. He had no idea what his manager was talking about. But, dammit, he decided to join the Sabs anyway…

The sole album Gillan recorded with Sabbath, 1983’s Born Again, is generally regarded as the nadir of the band’s career. To this day, rumours persist that it wasn’t supposed to be a Sabs record at all, but rather some sort of supergroup offering. However, like the Seventh Star solo album that Tony Iommi cut with Glenn Hughes, the Black Sabbath name eventually prevailed.

Born Again was memorably described as ‘abominable’ in a past issue of Classic Rock. Furthermore, when the Sabs featured in Classic Rock’s series of Buyer’s Guides we advised you to avoid Born Again at all costs. ‘It’s like an uninspired version of Purple doing a spooky karaoke parody of Sabbath,’ we warned.

But is Born Again really that bad? Sticking a copy of the re-released album into the office CD machine the other day in anticipation of a bloody good laugh, we were surprised to find that it’s got whole host of redeeming qualities. It ain’t as bad as it’s painted – even though its cover, designed by Steve ‘Krusher’ Joule in five minutes after a drunken lunch, most definitely is!

Gillian’s ingrained rock’n’roll sensibilities and Sabbath’s traditional lumbering approach are certainly a volatile mix. (“The guy’s [Gillan’s] voice is just too distinctively un-Sabbath,” Ronnie James Dio once complained.) But apart from some laughable demonic cackling in Disturbing The Priest and some trite lyricism (Digital Bitch, would you believe, is about a temptress whose daddy made his fortune from computers) Born Again had the Classic Rock office rocking quite alarmingly the other day.

Perhaps the crisp fidelity offered by CD over vinyl has benefited the album, we dunno, but we do recall Born Again sounding very flat and boring when it was originally released.

But honestly, there’s plenty to enjoy here: Gillan puts in a consummate vocal performance, full of tonsil-grating howls and banshee wails; guitarist Iommi offers an atypically shrill solo on Trashed, a tale of race-track inebriation; the Close Encounters-style cosmic twittering on the instrumental The Dark leads dramatically into Zero The Hero; the gruff riff to …Hero is strangely reminiscent of Guns N’ Roses’ Paradise City; the aforementioned Digital Bitch is full of Ted Nugent-style rolling thunder…

And so it goes on. Classic Rock certainly found more to enjoy on Born Again than when we played The Eternal Idol, the first of the Sabs’ records to feature singer Tony ‘Cat’ Martin. And a drab, soulless, Dio-by-numbers effort it is, too…

There’s no escaping the fact that Born Again is viewed by the majority of fans as a dismal failure, even though the album reached No. 4 in the UK chart – the band’s highest position since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, with Ozzy on vocals, in 1973.

But the cause of the Gillan-led Sabs wasn’t helped by an appearance at the August 1983 Reading Festival: in front of a polystyrene mock-up of Stonehenge that didn’t even fit on to the stage, the band’s set climaxed with a version of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water. Inexplicable, but true. Plus Gillan’s book of lyric prompts was frequently obscured by billowing dry ice. Still, thankfully, a mooted version of the Electric Light Orchestra’s Evil Woman (ELO drummer Bev Bevan having replaced Bill Ward in the Sabs line-up by this time) failed to materialise.

In November 1984 this writer found Ian Gillan back in Deep Purple. The delayed reunion of the Mk II line-up of the band had finally taken place, and Ian was palpably relieved. But the memories of his short time in Sabbath still lingered uncomfortably:

“When you’re a nobody and you haven’t achieved anything, then any career gaffes you might make don’t really matter. I went through five or six bands before I joined Deep Purple and all the failures I had were anonymous failures; nobody knew about them except a handful of people in a few local towns. Failures happen,” Gillan said frankly.

Initially, Gillan thought the Born Again album “was brilliant. Absolutely f**king sensational… until it was mixed, when it was totally destroyed. I went away for a holiday after we’d finished recording it, and I was well pleased. I thought, I’ll leave the guys to it now, they’ve been around for years, they know what they’re doing. But as soon as I went away – as I understand it, anyway – all these outside influences started creeping in.

“When I came back off holiday I found they’d sent me a bundle of 20 Born Again albums. I looked at the cover and puked. I put the LP on the turntable and was disgusted by it. It was just garbage. In a rage, I smashed all of the 20 albums to pieces.”

After all that, it was no surprise to hear Gillan say later: “Heavy metal drives me bonkers. It makes me vomit.”

Pass the sick bag. But please, just this once, don’t mistake it for the sleeve to Born Again.

Commenting about the ongoing rumours of a reunion between himself, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, Butler says on his own website:

“I would like to make it clear, because of mounting speculation and rumours, that there will be definitely NO reunion of all four original members of Black Sabbath, whether to record an album or to tour.”

Not that this will stop the speculation, but right now Butler’s priority appears to be working on a new GZR album.

Words: Malcolm Dome

There’s a novel in here somewhere. Maybe even a movie. The cautionary tales of rock ’n’ roll. Not so much a case of ‘Be careful what you wish for’. More like ‘Just what are you wishing for, anyway?’.

This is the story of Money. One filled with lucky breaks that went slightly wrong, inexplicable – almost suicidal – business decisions. And, ultimately, the virtual cremation of an album that could have become a significant part of everyone’s life in the late1970s, but has ended up us a vault classic, gathering dust, while other, lesser records did their own alchemy shuffle, turning gold, platinum, and beyond.

So, who are Money? Why is it most people won’t even have heard of them? Let’s go back to Birmingham in the late 1970s. By this time, two school chums had returned home from London a little chastened. Drummer Tony Bodene and guitarist John Overton had a band. Called Attila The Hun. They were signed to the Jet label, but things didn’t exactly go to plan.

“We were only kids,” recalls Bodene. “And got badly burnt by the experience. We really did come back to Birmingham with our tails between the legs!”

Now, the irrepressible drummer had an ambition: to put together something of a supergroup, featuring the best young musicians in a city that’s always been a shrine to hard rock. To this end, he persuaded May West bassist Larry Phillips to join the party. Thus was Gypsy Rose born, with Phillips also handling vocals. However, the twio were to be short lived. The Rose withered, although the dream didn’t die. Just a few months later, the three were back round the metaphorical table. Only this time they had a vocalist.

“I got a guy called David Mullen to come in,” says Phillips. “T be honest, I didn’t want to carry on singing. And I’d always found it tough writing lyrics. David, though, was brilliant at it. Give him an idea and he’d have lyrics written in no time. And they flowed beautifully.”

And, this wasn’t Gypsy Rose II. Oh, no. Bodene had another brainwave.

“I came up with the name ‘Money’. In fact, at the first band meeting, not only did I have the name. But I’d taken a bank note, cut the ‘k’ out of the phrase ‘Bank Of England’ and replaced it with a ‘d’…BAND OF ENGLAND.”

So, Money were ready to take on the world – but would the world respond? And what was the cunning plan that would separate them from their peers and a growing clutch of young hopefuls darkening the skies overhead, as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal prepared for flight? Simple. It’s called fate…

“We’d all done the whole process of playing the toilets up and down the country,” explains Bodene. “You know, the workingmen’s club circuit. Now, we wanted to do something different, to concentrate on the songs and get a label deal first.

“At the time, I was working in a music shop called Drum Land. People like John Bonham and Bill Ward – who were big inspirations for me – used to come all the time. One day, when I wasn’t around, Bill said to the guy who ran the place: ‘Can you shoot Tony’s fucking legs off. He’s too good!’. But it was through Bill that we got the chance to come to London. He told me that Morgan Studios in Willesden (North West London), where Sabbath were recording what was to be their last album with Ozzy (Never Say Die), were holding auditions, with a view to signing up young talent. I decided to phone the man who ran the studio then, Monty Babson (a former, albeit unsuccessful, recording artists in his own right). He also owned Mr. Sam Music, which was connected with Gull Records, and they were to come into the picture a little later on.

“I called from a phone box, and had to keep pumping in ten pence pieces. Eventually I had to get him to call me back, because  I was running out of change. This was long before mobile phones, remember. It turned out that we were too late for these auditions (as an aside, Japan got their deal with Ariola through this process), but Monty thought that I had more front than Harrod’s, so he invited the band down to London.”

“Typically, Tony never told the rest of us what he was up to!” smiles Phillips. “It was only after the whole thing had been set up that he let us know. So we piled into our transit van and headed south.”

Babson was impressed enough with the young, good-looking band to offer them the chance to record during ‘down time’ in the studio, which meant…

“We’d go in at weekends in 1978 when there was a studio spare,” continues Phillips. “We ended up recording a lot through the night, and sleeping in there during the day. There was more than one occasion when the cleaners would find us asleep on the floor, and kick us out, because Gary Moore or Colosseum were due in. Because of this, we had very little time for overdubs, or doing take after take of a particular track. We’d set up and play virtually as live, which I feel gave the recordings a lot of energy.”

These sessions were to turn into First Investment, the band’s sole album. Recorded over a span of six weekends across a two-month period, it was produced by Chris Tsangarides, and if the name now carries a considerable weight – thanks to a career that’s seen him work with giants like Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore and Spider  – when he got involved with Money he was still very much the new kid on the block.

“It was my first ever production,” says Tsangarides. “And I remember that we really did have to fit everything into when studios were spare. There was no budget – and we are talking about studios back then that cost £250 per hour to hire!”

Money also had to constantly deflect Babson from focusing on a song called Martini Romance.

“We wrote this pop song for fun,” laughs Bodene. “It was a throwaway tune that was different to anything else we had. But we made the mistake of playing it to Monty, and he wanted more of the same. Now, we had no intention of doing anything else like it, but he kept pushing, as it was a potential single. But that wasn’t what we were about!”

That was only one of the problems Money had to contend with. Another was the presence of Black Sabbath!

“Ozzy used to come into our studio all the time,” shudders the drummer at the recollections. “On one occasion, he wandered in, put his ear to the speakers, heard a track, and said, ‘There’s no fucking bottom end. I can’t hear the bass!’…”

“Actually that was a serious point,” interjects Phillips. “I was worried about that as well. There seemed to be no bottom end at all. I think Chris was experimenting with sounds, and if I have one criticism in general of the album’s production it would have be that. Even Ozzy agreed with my doubts. Don’t get me wrong, Chris was a great guy, but I do wonder if we’d have done better through working with a more experienced producer. But, this was being done with no funds.”

“Another time, Ozzy came in swigging from a bottle of red wine. I think Bill was with him then, and before we knew it, Ozzy was running around naked and all sorts of madness was going on. I was trying to get a drum sound at the time – doing my best John Bonham impression – but with everything that was going on around me, I had to give up at about 4.30 in the morning. A few years later, I met Ozzy at John Henry’s Rehearsal Studios in London. He was dressed in a Santa outfit, and we passed on the stairs. But he recognized me, and we did spent a little while recalling those mad times at Morgan.”

The result of such a heady brew of insanity, inexperience and talent was an album, where every song was genuinely a band effort.

“I know a lot of musicians claim that they write as a group, but in our case it was really true,” insists Phillips. “Back then, all four of us were involved at every point.”

The search for a label deal proved to be frustrating, as any interest soon turned to ashes.

“On one occasion, I remember Chris telling us that he’d taken the tapes into Island Records, and they didn’t like the ‘drum spread’,” sighs Bodene. “Er, what about the songs? And we weren’t punk enough for them either. That was another problem we had. When we first got started, punk was all the rage, and we didn’t fit in. Then, a couple of years later, we got lumped in with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – and we were never metal. If anything, we were a little progressive. John, for instance, was influenced by the Wishbone Ash album Argus, and also by Todd Rundgren. That was where we were coming from. So, we never seemed to fit in.”

Perhaps there was an air of inevitability that Money would end up signing to Gull, given the strong relationship between Morgan Studios and that company.

“I believe our biggest mistake was in not having any management at all,” admits Bodene. “If we’d had proper representation, then a lot of things may have been different. But we were a little paranoid about being ripped off by the music business – especially John. So we managed ourselves. In hindsight, that may have been the way things were angled by Monty Babson and David Howells, his business partner in Gull. They’d just lost Judas Priest to CBS (now Columbia) because that band had major management. It’s possible they wanted to avoid something similar happening with us. But, it was a big mistake from our viewpoint. All we wanted to do was make music – and our heads were full of business issues.”

It was also Gull who persuaded Money to record the song (Aren’t We All) Searching, as former CBS executive Howells believed the album lacked a single.

“David just said to us that there was nothing on the record that he could put out as a single,” reveals Bodene. “So, we hired the Quaker Hall in Birmingham, wrote (Aren’t We All) Searching and also the B side, Where Have All The Dancers Gone.”

“We were very excited when told that the single got played by Paul Burnett on Radio One on a Friday evening,” adds Phillips. “But that was it for UK airplay. I don’t think we got any more after that!”

First Investment actually got released in Japan in 1978, before it arrived anywhere else. And you know the cliché ‘Big In Japan’? Well…

“We genuinely were big in Japan!” insists Bodene. “The album sold well out there, as it ended up doing in Germany, and also oddly in New York.”

Indirectly, that Japanese success sowed the seeds for the band’s demise. It’s a complex part of the story that saw them get closer than they’d ever come to sniffing the long-awaited breakthrough, only to have it cruelly, and crucially whipped away from under their noses.

At the time, one of the most respected and powerful booking agencies in Britain was the Bron Agency. So when Gerry Bron, the head of that company (he also ran Bronze Records, home to Motorhead and Uriah Heep) asked Money to come down to London for a meeting, they didn’t hesitate. They were driven down from Birmingham in a white Jaguar, owned by Phillips’ older brother Jimmy (who was second guitarist in Earth, just prior to their name change to Black Sabbath), and arrived to a lavish reception.

“They laid on a room full of food and drink,” gasps Bodene. “And then Gerry Bron himself came in. He said that we were the best kept secret in the music business, and that he’d just been in Japan, and kept hearing our album…”

“He told us that he was putting together a  30+ date European tour for a major Canadian band,” continues to Phillips. “I was thinking to myself, ‘I know of only one band who fitted that description, and that was Rush. Surely it can’t be them!’. So, I asked Gerry who the band were…It was Rush. Basically, the tour was ours if we want it. I think they themselves asked for us, although I can’t be certain if that was the case. All the band’s management wanted was a £7,500 buy-on (a ‘buy-on’ was, and is, normal practise in the music business, whereby support bands paid the headliners a fee for the tour). We thought it was a done deal. And what an opportunity. The chance to tour with one of the biggest bands in the world just as our album was about to released in the UK and Europe. And, musically, we knew we’d fit with the Rush audience…”

The tour was due to kick off in Newcastle on April 23, 1979 and would feature 20 UK shows, before another batch in Europe, ending on June 2.

So, imagine the shockwaves sent coursing through the Money spine when Gull refused to pay the fee (usually, it is record labels who are responsible for funding such ‘buy-ons’, as it gives a potentially massive promotional boost to a band’s record).

“They wouldn’t do it,” says Phillps. “And, to this day, we don’t know why. It seemed like a such an obvious thing to do.”

In the end, Canadians Max Webster landed that tour support slot.

A second, more formal, meeting with Bron didn’t resolve the impasse, but it convinced Phillips and Bodene that there was no future in sticking with Gull. However, they met stiff resistance to this viewpoint from other Money pair.

“John rejected the whole idea of quitting Gull, and David went along with him,” says Bodene, still slightly stunned at Overton’s recalcitrance to this day. “I have no clue why John was so determined to stay with the label. Larry and I have our own theories, but the fact is it led to a stalemate in Money.”

The cracks within the band grew even wider when Overton suddenly stopped writing songs.

“We were demoing ideas for our second album, which was gonna be called Frozen Assets. Well, we thought that at least we had our music, even if things with Gull weren’t good,” recalls Bodene. “But then one day John just said that he didn’t want to carry on writing songs for that label. So, here we were: unable to leave Gull, because John wouldn’t go along it. But also now unable to write and demo songs for a new album, because John didn’t want to give these to the label! Now, you explain what was going on in his head!

“I still feel that, if we’d had major management back then, like Iron Maiden or Def Leppard, then this would never have happened. We did have offers. Mike Dolan of Arnakata, who looked after Judas Priest, was definitely interested (Money supported Priest at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1978). But nothing came of it.”

And then Money made the naïve mistake of spilling their hearts during an interview with Birmingham journalist Mike Davies. It all appeared in print.

“Every word was true,” insists Bodene. “But Gull were furious, because it put them in such a bad light. They demanded that we get a retraction printed, in which we claimed to have been misquoted. Larry and I refused, but John was ready to do it. I remember saying to him, ‘Do you really want to hang Mike Davies out to dry for telling things as they are?’.”

A retraction did eventually appear, as Money found their integrity compromised by music business expedience and reality.

Given the impossibility of the scenario now enshrouding Money, something would have to snap. Eventually, it was Bodene. In late 1980, he told the rest of the band at a show in Birmingham (Bogart’s) that he was leaving.

“I was getting session offers, and quite honestly we were drifting. I couldn’t see a way forward for Money. But even at that late stage, I could have been talked out of leaving!”

“With hindsight, I should have gone with Tony,” regrets Phillips. “I think if we’d both have left, then it might have forced the issue with John and David, and perhaps wed have persuaded them that we had to get away from Gull. But I somehow felt that I had to stay and steady the ship.”

The remaining trio went through three drummers as they attempted to salvage a career that was fast careering off the rails. Ray Fullard, Spencer Scrannagh and Eddie Fincher all gave it their best shot, but the magic had gone.

“Things took an ominous turn when John and David would go away, write songs and then present them to the band,” admits Phillips. “We weren’t writing as a team anymore.”

By the end of 1981 Money were metaphorically bankrupt. It was over. The promise and hopes of merely two years previously now dissipated into an indifferent ether. Bodene and Phillps did try to resurrect  their musical relationship in a band called Monkey Run (“It was Money 2, really,” says the bassist), but it didn’t quite work.

However, Money’s reputation among musicians, which was absurdly the inverse to their commercial attainments, nearly landed Bodene a prestige gig in the mid-1980s.

“I was asked to audition for Robert Plant’s band. I didn’t get the job, but Robert did say that he’d asked me to come down after hearing a session we did for Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show on Radio 1. That session (produced by Tony Wilson at the Beeb’s Maida Vale Studios) did us a power of good. We got a lot of letters through it.”

“All of this might be coming over as depressing,” concludes Phillips. “Sure, there were tough times, but we also had a good laugh as well, and a lot of fun. Am I proud of what we achieved? Yes, but the frustration is that, looking back, it could have been so much more.”

First Investment is now over 30 yearold. But, despite its production deficiencies, inevitable given those circumstances described here, there’s a style, class and serenity to the music that’s priceless and rare. Strangely, it sits more comfortable in the 21^st Century than residing in the late 1970s.And it’s available now on the Rock Candy label.

“We were never heavy metal as such,” maintains Bodene. “Someone in Sounds magazine, once called us ‘precious metal’. I like that.”

Here are some Money tunes:

This is (Aren’t We All) Searching. 

And Another Case Of Suicide. 

Finally this is Leo The Jester.

You can find out more about the band right here.

Blabbermouth is reporting that the famed bassist has said of the situation: “Heaven & Hell is finished. It could only ever be with Ronnie I’d still like to carry on withTony and Vinny doing something but it won’t be as Heaven & Hell”.

Butler also refuses to rule out a Black Sabbath reunion, with Ozzy and Bill Ward:  “We’re all talking again so that’s a good sign — I hope. As far as the original band goes, there are so many places we never played that I’d love to visit. Japan for instance. We never ever played there, or so many places in Eastern Europe, or Asia that have opened up since the original band — or since the reunion of the original band”.

 Talking to www.staythirstymedia.com, the tub-thumper said:

“The first one hopefully in the spring, then one in the summer and then trying to get one towards the end of October, right before Halloween. So that’s what I’m doing right now. Well I go back into the studio on Tuesday, making sure the tracks are ready for 2010. I’m always busy.”

Apart from Ward himself, on vocals and drums, these albums will also feature guitarist Keith Lynch, bassist Paul Ill and drummer Ronnie Ciago, plus a number of as yet unspecified guests.

Keep up to date at www.billward.com

The singer believes that Iommi has wrongfully claimed the sole rights to the band’s name and therefore has profited from royalties and merchandise sales.

In a statement released by the Osbourne camp, Ozzy criticises Iommi for spending the early 1990s playing to small clubs as Black Sabbath with a revolving door of musicians.

“The brand of ‘Black Sabbath’ was literally in the toilet,” Ozzy says, adding that since he, drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler all helped restore faith in the Sabbath brand, they should all equally share the name.

Read Ozzy’s entire statement to Iommi below:

‘It is with great regret that I had to resort to legal action against my long-term partner, Tony Iommi, but after three years of trying to resolve this issue amicably, I feel I have no other recourse.

‘As of the mid-1990’s, after constant and numerous changes in band members, the brand of “Black Sabbath” was literally in the toilet and Tony Iommi [touring under the name Black Sabbath] was reduced to performing in clubs.

‘Since 1997 when Geezer, Bill and myself rejoined the band, Black Sabbath has returned to its former glory as we headlined sold-out arenas and amphitheatres playing to upwards of 50,000 people at each show around the world.

‘We worked collectively to restore credibility and bring dignity back to the name “Black Sabbath” which lead to the band being inducted into the UK and US Rock And Roll Hall of Fames in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

‘Throughout the last 12 years, it was my management representatives who oversaw the marketing and quality control of the “Black Sabbath” brand through Ozzfest, touring, merchandising and album reissues.

‘The name “Black Sabbath” now has a worldwide prestige and merchandising value that it would not have had by continuing on the road it was on prior to the 1997 reunion tour.

‘Tony, I am so sorry it’s had to get to this point by me having to take this action against you. I don’t have the right to speak for Geezer and Bill, but I feel that morally and ethically the trademark should be owned by the four of us equally.

‘I hope that by me taking this first step that it will ultimately end up that way.

‘We’ve all worked too hard and long in our careers to allow you to sell merchandise that features all our faces, old Black Sabbath album covers and band logos, and then you tell us that you own the copyright.

‘We’re all in our 60s now. The Black Sabbath legacy should live on long after we have all gone. Please do the right thing.’