The Sabbath Stones

The Sabbath Stones
Compilation album by Black Sabbath
Released	29 April 1996
Recorded	1983–95
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	79:59
Label	I.R.S.
Producer	Various (see below)
Black Sabbath compilations chronology
The Collection (1992) The Sabbath Stones (1996) The Best of Black Sabbath (2000)

The Sabbath Stones (1996) is a compilation album of Black Sabbath songs taken from albums ranging from 1983's Born Again to 1995's Forbidden. It was never formally released in the US or Canada, and was the last album to be released by Black Sabbath with I.R.S. Records.

Album information

It was created solely to fulfill Tony Iommi's contract with I.R.S. It included a short story about Black Sabbath which had some mistakes. Another mistake was the misspelling of Vinny Appice's name on the front cover of the CD as "Vinnie", a mistake which also appeared on both the Mob Rules and Live Evil sleeves.

The era covered by the album is considered to be the "third era" of Black Sabbath. After the initial line-up with Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward broke up the band's reformation with Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice formed the second era. Thereafter, line-ups were far less stable, with band members repeatedly coming and going, with many returning. This period is generally the least popular among Black Sabbath fans without Ozzy or Dio on vocals, although Dio's vocals are featured on the Dehumanizer album, with "TV Crimes" being taken from that album.

The version of "Headless Cross" that appears on this album starts with the last few seconds of the track "The Gates of Hell" (Which precedes "Headless Cross" on the Headless Cross album) before the opening drum line.

‘Loser Gets It All’, according to the liner notes in the album, was supposedly one of Tony Iommi’s favorite tracks to both perform and write. It was recorded during the Forbidden sessions, but only appeared on the Japanese version of the album.

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Track listing

Personnel

• Tony Iommi – guitars - All tracks
• Geoff Nicholls – keyboards - All tracks
• Tony Martin – lead vocals - Tracks 1-4, 6, 7, 9-13, 16
• Ronnie James Dio – lead vocals - Track 8
• Ian Gillan – lead vocals - Track 14
• Glenn Hughes – lead vocals - Track 15
• Cozy Powell – drums - Tracks 1-7, 11-13
• Vinny Appice – drums - Track 8
• Bobby Rondinelli – drums - Tracks 9-10
• Bill Ward – drums - Track 14
• Eric Singer – drums - Track 15, 16
• Laurence Cottle – bass - Tracks 1-3
• Neil Murray – bass - Tracks 4-7, 11-13
• Geezer Butler – bass - Tracks 8-10, 14
• Dave Spitz – bass - Track 15
• Bob Daisley – bass - Track 16

Guest musicians

• Brian May – guitar solo - Track 2

Producers

• Tony Iommi & Cozy Powell – Tracks 1-7
• Mack for Musicland GmbH – Track 8
• Leif Mases/Black Sabbath – Tracks 9, 10
• Ernie C. – Tracks 11-13
• Robin Black – Track 14
• Jeff Glixman & Chris Tsangerides – Track 15
• Jeff Glixman & V. Cooper – Track 16

See also