Tony Iommi has explained that Black Sabbath’s album with Ian Gillan originally sounded good but lost quality during the pressing process, for reasons the band still does not understand. He discussed the issue in an interview with Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk.
Iommi also revealed that the master tapes for the album had gone missing for years. The tapes were eventually found in a record company’s storage and have since been recovered and transferred.
“Well, I’d like to look at that,” Iommi said. “It took us a long time to find out where it was because the tapes went missing, and nobody knew where they were. And eventually, they were found in the storage of one of the record companies. So, we managed to get them back and then have them transferred.”
“They are waiting to be ripped apart and have a listen, but we haven’t gotten round to doing that yet,” he continued. “I’d definitely like to do that, and see if we can better it, really.”
“Because, initially, that sounded really good, but somehow, when we went away on tour, and the thing went in to be pressed and all the rest of the stuff, it lost the quality of sound for some reason, and none of us know what it was,” Iommi added. “But yeah, I’d like to have a listen again and see what we could do.”
The guitarist made these remarks while discussing the album with the Ian Gillan era of Black Sabbath.
The album in question is Born Again, Black Sabbath’s 1983 release that marked the first and only collaboration between the band and Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. The recording took place at Richard Branson’s Manor Studio, where the production faced unusual circumstances and creative tensions that may have contributed to the sound problems Iommi mentioned.
The master tapes went missing for decades before they were located in July 2021 in a record company archive and transferred to digital format. Since then, Iommi has expressed his intention to work on improving the album through a remix, giving the material a chance to sound closer to how it did during the original recording sessions.
Iommi’s remarks indicate that the band has the recovered tapes ready to work with, though they have not yet begun the detailed listening and remix process. The guitarist’s desire to revisit the album suggests that restoring Born Again to its original sonic quality remains an active goal for the band.
