Former Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber has been talking to Classic Rock about his role on the classic Black Sabbath album Heaven & Hell.
“I played all the bass on it, co-wrote some of the songs and brought in Die Young. They got me in when Geezer Butler quit, and I spent six months working with them on the record. But when Geezer contacted them and said he wanted to come back, I encouraged it – I felt that the band were better off with three originals in there.
“However, I was very upset when the album came out without my name appearing anywhere, despite the fact that they kept my bass parts and all the songs I’d been involved with. But we came to a suitable financial arrangement, and we get on fine these days. They were, and are, great people and great musicians.”
Gruber has also revealed that there are that there are moves towards a reunion of Elf.
This was the band who teamed up with Ritchie Blackmore for the first incarnation of Rainbow (officially known as Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow), and featured Ronnie James Dio.
Now Gruber says that he, Dio and guitarist David ‘Rock’ Feinstein are in serious discussions about reforming Elf.
“It’s definitely on the cards. Mickey Lee Soule would be back on keyboards, and all we’d need to do is find someone to take over on drums from Gary Driscoll (who died in 1987).”
All I knew about Craig Gruber was that he was the bass player on Man on the Silver Mountain. Unfortunately he won't be making plans with Dio.
But I don't know if he's exaggerating about what he did on the album.
Wouldn't they have credited him on the album?
wiki says this:
The exact origins of much of this album's material is still a topic of debate. Osbourne apparently attempted to record some of what would become "Heaven and Hell" before being fired; all of this material was scrapped. Sabbath had in fact begun demoing material with singer Ronnie James Dio before Osbourne was formally fired.
The song "Children of the Sea" was written by Dio and Iommi during their very first session. When Butler returned to the recording studio, all but one track ("Neon Knights") had already been written for the album. Craig Gruber claims that it is his bass playing that appears on the album.[4][5] Gruber also claims that it was he who brought in the music for "Die Young", although he is not credited for it.[4]
Bill Ward says he has "no memory" of making the album, due in part to his alcoholism.[6] It is unclear how much of the album, if any, was actually written by bassist Geezer Butler or drummer Bill Ward.
http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/n...en-hell-album/
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by ELVIS
