Black Sabbath is releasing their new box set ‘Anno Domini 1989-1995’ with Tony Martin-era recordings in a few days, but it was delayed due to a few reasons in the beginning.
The former Black Sabbath frontman sat down with The Metal Voice and discussed the upcoming box set. He revealed that he wanted to do it for so long, but band politics became the reason for the delay of the set:
“I have been wanting this for a long time just as you have and the fans have. Unfortunately, I’m not in the band, so I have no part in the decision-making or the politics that go on. So I had to kind of sit and twiddle my thumbs just like you all did. I didn’t have any role to play in it it was just that they sort of said they were thinking about it some years ago, but because of all the band politics and the contracts, the amount of people that are involved that they have to get agreements from. About a year ago they called me and said, ‘We can’t do it, it’s too complicated. There’s too many people demanding this that, and we just can’t get it together.’”
Although not everything went as expected, they eventually sorted it out with the record label and things went back to normal:
“So then a few months after that they called me again and said, ‘Do you know what? Things have changed, so we think we’re going to get this thing going after all.’ BMG, the record label picked it up and they’ve been so patient and they ran with it. So it sort of started to happen really quite quickly after that.”
What Does The Set Include?
Two months ago, Rhino Records announced that the box set would drop on May 31. The set celebrates Martin’s time with Black Sabbath and dives into the band’s career from 1989 to 1995.
It comes in four albums from Black Sabbath’s Tony Martin era: ‘Headless Cross,’ ‘Tyr,’ ‘Cross Purposes,’ and ‘Forbidden.’ All of those albums were mixed by the guitarist Tomy Iommi.
The set comes in both four-LP and four-CD formats, with some albums making their vinyl debut. The CD version throws in three exclusive bonus tracks. It also includes remastered versions of all four albums, special bonus tracks, a booklet loaded with photos and artwork, liner notes by Hugh Gilmour, a ‘Headless Cross’ poster, and a replica of the concert book from the ‘Headless Cross’ tour.
You can watch the interview below.