Tony Iommi has confirmed that Black Sabbath are planning to remix the band’s 1983 album, ‘Born Again’. The long-missing original tapes were finally located.
Speaking to Planet Rock, the guitarist explained that the masters had been lost for years. They recently resurfaced in a record company archive.
“Yes, there is a plan,” Iommi said. “To be honest, we couldn’t find those tapes for a long time. They disappeared. And I don’t know who located them at the end, whether it was Ralph [Baker], my manager, or who found them. But they were in some record company storage. And anyway, we’ve gotten them back and they were transferred. So they are ready to start work on.”
Iommi acknowledged that the album’s famously murky sound has its defenders. He noted that a new mix may not satisfy everyone. “So many people have got used to the ‘Born Again’ sound, with all of its production flaws. Some of them liked it. And I’m sure if I do a remix on it, it’ll be, ‘Oh, no. It’s not as good as it was before,'” he said.
“[We’re] definitely gonna give it a go,” he continued. “Because when we actually did it and we heard it in a studio, it was great. And then we went on tour, and the next thing, it’s in the charts here, and we heard it. We thought, ‘God, it’s really muffly. What happened?’ Somewhere in the process along the way, something happened.”
The comments revive a project that has been discussed in fits and starts for years. They mark the clearest sign yet that a new version of the record is moving forward.
The renewed interest in the album’s sound is rooted in a session that took place more than four decades ago. ‘Born Again’ was recorded and released in 1983. The album was a one-off collaboration that lined up Iommi with bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward alongside former Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan.
The mix was a talking point from the day of release. The final mix handled by Robin Black drew controversy immediately. Many fans and critics said the sound was murky, the drums were too prominent, and Gillan’s vocals were often buried in the blend.
Iommi has said he heard the problem himself once the record was out. He recalled that the sound was “really dull and muffly,” describing how the band wondered, “My God, the sound is really muffled. What happened?” Gillan was even blunter: “I put the LP on the turntable and was disgusted by it. It was just garbage,” he said.
Those complaints never stopped the record from selling. ‘Born Again’ reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, marking Black Sabbath’s highest UK position since ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’. The album has stayed in circulation since then. It received a reissue through Sanctuary in 2004 and a deluxe edition on May 30, 2011.
This is not the first time Iommi has raised the idea of a remix. He confirmed in July 2021 that the long-lost original master tapes had finally been located. At the time, he said he was considering remixing the album for a future re-release. Updates have been scarce in the years since. Fans have regularly traded rumors about where the project stood. However, Iommi’s latest remarks appear to put the remix back on the schedule.
