One sadly missed out of print album like the other gems with Tony Martin. Although this one is a bit messed.
Do you happen to have the live counterpart, that was included with the VHS?

-21grams :

Love :
One sadly missed out of print album like the other gems with Tony Martin. Although this one is a bit messed.
Do you happen to have the live counterpart, that was included with the VHS?

I beg to differ.
As much as I like Tony Martin’s voice, “Forbidden” sounds *rushed* (to say the least) and it’s by far the weakest non-Ozzy Sabbath album.
No wonder it flopped – let’s not blame it all on circumstances, trends, Heavy Metal not being popular in the mid-90s and so on.
Lacks any artistic value really. And don’t get me started with that Ice-T collaboration.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
At the risk of sounding (too) harsh, Iommi & the lads did a terrible thing by going through with its release.
Convulsive attempt to save a (at the time) sinking ship?
Cloudy judgement?
Succumbed to some Record Company executive’s pressure? (Yes, it’s happened before!)
Whatever the cause(s), it resulted in uninspired songs (excluding 2 or 3 decent tracks) way, WAY below their usual standards.

How can you not blame circumstances? Especially since there is one very prominent, that explains almost everything: The 90s!
It’s an unarguable fact, that almost everything went to shit in this decade, except for some very few acts like the powerhouse AC/DC which could postbone it’s downfall to the turn of the millennium.

But it’s Black Sabbath we’re discussing here and there is one consistent factor over all the years of it’s on and off existence and that’s their butthurt over all the different combinations of circumstances, that surrounded their doing. From the oppression of the label (Sabotage), to shitty production (Born Again) and to time limits (Eternal Idol) – Forbidden seems to have all them plus the usual personal issues (Butler and Ward abandoning Iommi once again) and a singer struggling with vocal problems.
Ernie C might just be the last drop that makes this blend so unbearable, but let’s see…

How can one compare this with “The headless cross” -which stands as equal next to the legendary “Heaven and Hell”– or the EPIC “Tyr”?
The latter was the last ground-breaking Sabbath album and how I like to remember them.
Also, in terms of musicianship/technical skills the band had a phenomenal line-up and let’s not neglect to give credit to one impressive production.
One more time: Despite what some are saying about *overshadowing* the songs, I FUCKING LOVE Cozy Powell’s HUGE drums.
Overshadow? Try showcase.
All in all, they were at their peak in EVERY aspect. Composition-wise, Sound-wise, music direction, everything.
The planets must have aligned during the recordings or something
In one word, impeccable.
Contrary to “Forbidden” which in my not so humble opinion, should have never seen the light of day.

When I wrote “the other gems with Tony Martin” I really meant the other albums to be the gems, but I was still happy to see Forbidden turning up here because there hard to get being out of print.
By the way, Mr. Iommi, why is that so? Don’t you think there’s someone to buy them or is really like Martin says, that your trying to cut out that part of Black Sabbath?

It’s seem very often to be the case, that Ernie C’s production is blamed for this forbidden album, which is in someways cutting out the musical failings compared to their other works.
From what I know he really forced himself on to produce the Sabbs, not because he was driven by money, but because he was a fan – what an excellent combination, because the band also wanted to simplify the production again and make it sound as rough and raw as in the beginning.
Did he deliver on that? Yes. But listening to the rough mix you know, what the guys had in mind and where it should have gone.
I have to confess, that I have a hard time liking Tony’s slow tractorlike riffing from that time on, but listening to the rough mix is somehow more enjoyable for those tunes, also because the vocals are missing.
No, I’m not a Tony Martin hater – I really value this guy and love his albums with Black Sabbath, but here he didn’t do anyone any favors.
Rusty Angles, I Can’t Get Close Enough and I Won’t Cry For You are no ballads like Changes, but goddamn they really try to be this 90s rock ballad, it’s a shame listening to the instrumentals on the rough mix. The lyrics certainly don’t add anything, but Martins voice just sounds flat and tired. I know he says he didn’t know which of his lyrics were finally going to be used, so I don’t know if Ernie just picked the worst of them or if he picked the best out of a lot of bad ones.

What’s with Powell and Murray? The seem to be the least to blame. But even a half assed is the lineup just to strong to totally fuck up this record.

I’m with you on Powell – for me he’s next to guys like Bonham and Ward. He just didn’t have the time to put it all in, but the final mix is an insult to him or maybe it’s just the way of how drums had to sound in the 90s.

Back to your initial request, and judging by the last sentence, I now realise you somehow mixed “Cross purposes” with “Forbidden”.
Wrong thread perhaps.
As far as I know (Discogs and RYM agree with me) there never was any video footage accompanying “Forbidden”.
You must be looking for “Cross purposes – Live” then…
Sorry, I don’t have that.

Just another piece Iommi needs to bring back…