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From: blacksabfan
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  • I think Gillen was the second best singer ever in Sabbath. We all know who the best was, the Devil You Know...

  • RAY GILLEN WAS THE BEST MAN HE AND TONY MARTIN ARE MY FAVORIT BLACK SABBATH SINGERS TELL ME DID RAY GILLEN LEAVE BLACK SABBATH AND THEN DO SUN RED SUN WAT HAPPENED DID HE KNOW HE WAS SICK AND DYING OR WHAT I AM PERPLEXED LET ME KNOW LOVE,WILLIAM "THE JOKER"

  • @bauhaus2121 WOW! I cant believe you said that! I have ALWAYS thought Ray (well, Ray with EVERYTHING he did) and TONY MARTIN were my favorite. Tony Martin never got the praise he deserved in my opinion, Some GREAT albums and an amazing vocalist! Tony Martin is on Facebook, if you look him up!

  • i went to see iommi, who cares who sang. the man is phenominal

  • So much better than Ian Gillan.

  • i forgot how good this guy was ,amazing

  • I still have the small poster they were giving out at the show and there was Ian Gillan in it. They all wearing snake boots and I eventually bought some too!! haha

  • I saw this live, I was there ;)

  • This is freaking me out to listen to this.I was the drummer in Ray's early 80's bands Vendetta and Harlette.I have a tape of Vendetta doing this song.He ALWAYS kicked ass and gave 1000 %. Ray-I miss those days and you.RIP my old friend.

  • @acqua257 -

    I saw Harlette back in the day at the Circus in NJ. Ray was a beautiful man with a terrific voice. I was saddened to hear of him passing away at such a young age.

    Do you remember a nightclub in Nanuet NY called After Dark? 

  • RIP Ray =(*

  • Defenitely the only one i heard singing close to Dio.Great voice,,,,,,,,,

  • Hmm... Ray's not a favourite by me for sure :S I don't like him cause he quarreled with Jake E. Lee! Who does that? Jake is awesome xD

  • @Pala16123z0r all bands quarrel.give me a break.

  • Ray sounds awesome on this, but those shitty keyboard gotta go!

  • Well...Dio was the ultimate Heavy Metal Vocalist...No Doubt about it...

    But man...Ray Gillen could actually sing this song!!and he did it perfectly Powerful Voice...To bad he kicked the bucket as well...

    s

    Really few vocalists nowadays have voice of such quality...

    I'm sure there are plenty of them in the underground metal scene and we have not Idea :p

  • Wow. I didnt even know Gillen was with Sab. Im a huge Badlands fan. Saw them several times. Easily a top five band for me. What CDs did Gillen do with Sabbath? I know I can look it up but WTH. Thanks

  • @clbaumer up until recently, nothing that had been released. But the Ray Gillen version of The Eternal Idol was recently released as the second disc on the deluxe version of that album, and a live album with Gillen was released as the second disc on the deluxe version of Seventh Star (while the first disc is the original studio album with Glenn Hughes on vocals)

  • @clbaumer Unfortunately none bro :( He recorded the album "The Eternal Idol" with Sabbath as a demo for the actual album, then quit before they recorded the real deal. Then he was replaced by Tony Martin. It really sucks cuz Gillen Kicks ass lol however Tony Martin made a pretty awesome replacement. It's actually kind of a good thing he left Sabbath when he did because Badlands wouldn't have been nearly as good haha

  • @MrJimmyBain23 Hmmm. Gillen did Sabbath before Badlands? Oh how much I didnt know. I was able to see Badlands a couple times in San Francisco in 1989 and 1999. What a great band. Jake E Lee was phenominal, as was Gillen. One of the best live shows Ive seen, and Ive seen A LOT of em since my first concert in 1977. Led Zeppelin. Cheers!

  • @clbaumer Badlands didnt exist in 1999 liar. Ray Gillen died in December of 1993 you douche-bag.

  • @MorbidorA Dude.. Who asked ya? 1999 is a typo, fuckhead.

  • you know. everyone talks about ozzy and his guitarists.

    what about tony and his vocalists? he had osbourne, dio, and ray gillen. wow.

  • I remember seeing this version of Sabbath in New Haven, CT. It was Ray Gillen's first date on the tour after Glenn Hughes was fired. It was a pretty good show. He did a good job singing both the Ozzy and Dio era songs, as well as the songs from the Seventh Star album. Thanks for posting, Ray had one hell of a voice. It's too bad he wasn't able to stay in Sabbath.

  • Ronnie James Dio - Vocals

    Randy Rhoads - Guitar 1

    Jimi Hendrix - Guitar 2

    Cliff Burton - Bass

    Cozy Powell - Drums

  • @frentzen100

    Oh yeah...awesome, "heavenly" line-up.

  • @frentzen100 Randy doesn't need a second guitarist. Otherwise, I agree 100%. Cozy, Randy, and Dio are probably my top performers in their respective roles.

  • Ronnie James Dio - Vocals

    Criss Oliva - Guitars

    Randy Rhoads - Guitars

    Cliff Burton

    Eric Carr - Drums

  • Ronnie had incredible pipes, but Gillen had an untouchable higher range I kinda wish he actually stuck around but at least we got Badlands before he kicked the bucket.

  • very nice version

  • Ray Gillen was just incredible... he could do the lot, be it Ozzy, Dio or Glenn Hughes-era Sabbath. I'm sure he could've done the Ian Gillan stuff too, if he'd needed to. I'm so glad that his version of The Eternal Idol has come out now. It's great to have him on an offical Sabbath release. I can only imagine how amazing Sabbath would've been if he'd stuck around...

  • There's no need to compare singers. But if I have too, I'd say Dio blows away every other singer Sabbath ever had (except for Halford). I don't know Gillen's work, he does pretty good here though

  • I was a this performance!!!!!

  • dont like the organ, but a pretty good track. ray does a pretty good job just talks too much. and is that eric singer drumming? dude from KISS. eh, looks like him

  • @dirtysouthtx16 Hell yeah!Eric Singer on drums!!!!!!!!!

  • The guy on the far right looks like he's changing into a wolf.

  • Ray was a great vocalist, may he RIP.

    He did a great version of this, it is not easy to do, especially considering the greatest heavy metal vocalist (imo) did the original, may he also RIP

  • if you want to talk pure vocalist, ian gillan is the best sabbath ever had...and ray gillen is 2nd. dio is 3rd and then ozzy...but ozzy is the greatest singer that band, or any band, ever had. hes one in a billion.

  • @publykanimal9 i think you should had tony martin then ozzy

  • @publykanimal9 RONIE IS BETTER¡¡¡

  • Grande!

  • better than Martin but still no DIO, Gillan or Ozzy

  • yo mum toured along with 'em..how dare u hang dogs on dead rock star..silly..

  • He's a good singer..sounds a lot like Dio...but he should have left out the sing a long by numbers ..sounds like a primary school teacher.

  • Check Out My cover ,,Its not anywhere as gooD as This ...But I tired To Get the feeling...I love Rays Voice...And Dio is #1

  • Gillen was absolutely one of the best! There was one Dio, there still are Coverdale, Lande and some others...

  • Ozzy couldn't sing this, he'd fall over and just mumbling the words or something. After Dio, Ray does this best. The evidence is right here. Tony Martin and even Gillan (at some dates) did this song fantasticly good Live.

  • @SilverTounge85 yes but dio sure couldnt sing paranoid

  • @aragornexe I agree, yet disagree to a point. Dio's rendition of 'Paranoid' was ok I guess. I love Dio, one of my favourite singers, but when doing the Sabbath classics from the Ozzy-era, 'Paranoid' was the "least" good of them. He did 'War Pigs', 'Iron Man' etc. pretty good though. Ray could sing it all. Listen to him performing the title track (Black Sabbath), he sounds likea young Ozzy around 1970-71, and on the Dio stuff, he sounds fantastic, he did the Glenn Hughes material fantastic too.

  • @SilverTounge85 Dio didn't like to sing the Ozzy-era songs. He was bored and just sang them because he had to.

  • @aragornexe Wrong, he did! Sounded better than Ozzy did after the reunion back in 1997...

  • Comment removed

  • i think is a shame that Ray Gillen left Black Sabbath too soon, and then died... he could be a great vocals and composer for the band, and "The Eternal Idol" album is a proof of this, before Tony Martin came to re-record it... though Martin is a great singer too...

  • RAY GILLEN WAS COMPLEMENTED BY RONNIE JAMES DIO IN HIS TIME WITH SABBATH! NOW THE ARE BOTH SINGING IN HEAVEN TOGETHER ! COZY POWELL @ RANDY RHOADS ARE JAMMING TO ! EAT YOUR WORDS IDIOT SFFRET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAPISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! POST,POST.POST,POST,POST

  • @77virgo7 Nice coincidence, I always say that too, Must be one hell uv a band by now

    Voc's:Ronnie James Dio & Ray Gillen Guitar: Randy Rhoads Bass: Philip Lynott and Cliff Burton Drums: Powell N Bonhame

  • MIKE FOR METAL YOU SHOULD BE DISGRACED ! RONNIE LIKED RAY GILLEN , WHO DIED TRAGICLY ALSO@ FOR YOUR INFORMATION ANYBODY THAT PLAYS WITH THE FOUNDING MEMBER TONY IOMMI IS A DIFFERENT VERSION OF SABBATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • i always felt that this was so disrespectful to ronnie james dio.

  • @Mike4metal Fuck You cunt! Ray was awsome and he deserve respect!

  • When Ray was in Badlands, and I was in BURN (managed by NIJI Management) we all used to rehearse at Mates Studios in N. Hollywood, and hang out all the time.

    -Rik Fox -(BURN)

  • Gillen could sing Dio-era stuff quite well.

  • @mateusromanp I have to agree with you he s the closest vocalist to Ronnie amazing how close Still not Ronnie R.I.P Ronnie

  • Hes not Dio for sure

  • holy shit this guy was awesome!

  • @stathistate Ray Gillen is one of the all time greats-a singers singer!

  • The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. ~John Milton

    RIP RJD! Thanx for everything you brought to the world of music, you will NEVER be replaced! ~peace~

  • Black Sabbath • Paranoid • Master of Reality • Black Sabbath Vol. 4 • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath • Sabotage • Technical Ecstasy • Never Say Die! • Heaven and Hell • Mob Rules • Born Again • Seventh Star • The Eternal Idol • Headless Cross • Tyr • Dehumanizer • Cross Purposes • Forbidden

  • I would have loved to hear Ozzy sing Heaven and Hell at least once. Just to know how that'd have sounded.

  • @rocknrollkissfan Ozzy couldn't have sang Heaven & Hell it not in his register, Ozzy had some great stuff with Sabbath, I think he was at his best on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but Ozzy never has been the caliber singer that Dio is, sorry it's just a fact.

  • @jpocalips1 No sorry necessary. I agree with you. I just would've love to hear. Curios to know how that would've sounded.

  • Genuine Sabbath or not. A fantastic lineup! How can a band that's got Tony Iommi, Ray Gillen and Eric Singer not be great? RIP Ray! Who's on bass and rhythm guitar?

  • @rocknrollkissfan I believe it's Dave Spitz on bass guitar, and don't forget Geoff Nichols on keyboards.

  • He sings great but I hate when singers feel the need to give speeches to the audience.

  • Only the VOCALIST can import a song from one band to another. It's like when you hear Dio sing Paranoid. Dio can sing Heaven and Hell in DIO-the band but Sabbath sucks doing H'n'H with another singer

  • @ThorOdinson14 Rob Halford, and Ian Gillan both made Heaven and Hell sound badass, especially Halford.

  • Ray Gillen, that's ironic. In dutch Gillen means screaming ( to scream) And Ray screamed (Gilde) alot in his music..

  • It's also ironic that one of Ray's predecessors' was Ian GILLAN, who is the absolute master of screams :D

  • Damn...this guy was fucking good..

  • i saw badlands august 1990 in brockton massachusetts RIP RAY

  • Miss you Ray. You had beautiful soul in your voice

  • killer

  • I agree with Reg197844, This guy can hang with Dio live. No easy feat at all. Never heard him before unfortunately......This guy can sing!

  • ray gillen was great i wonder why he never record a studio album?

  • Raymond 'Ray' Gillen (May 12, 1959 December 1, 1993) R.I.P

  • Sabbath was changing singers every other day back then. Ray left to join Jake E. Lee in Badlands. They put out an awesome debut album in '89 and another in '91. Sadly he passed away in '93. He had some killer pipes. Not many singers can due justice to a Ronnie Dio song; but he kicks ass here.

  • I'm usually not too keen on other singers singing Dio stuff but I have to say Ray did an excellent job here. He got the crowd into it and gave 110% on the performance.

  • Ronnie James Dio was the best vocalist this band ever had. Fact!

  • and second is this guy then ozzy i don't know tony.

  • this guy died back in the 90's from aids.

    he replaced glen huges after I saw them in providence rhode island. he recorded the album eternal idol. then he left and tony martin re-recorded that album. he formed badlands with jake e lee after that. look up badlands.they were great.

  • I saw badlands in toronto ray took eric singer (drummer) with him

  • @69johnholmes agree !!! absolutely !! RONNIE JAMES DIO is the best !!! ever !!

  • @69johnholmes fuck yea!

  • @69johnholmes / No Ronnie is the best vocalist of all freakin time!!!

  • @69johnholmes you got that right, although the ozzy-era stuff is really good too

  • @69johnholmes

    \m/ damn straight!

  • @69johnholmes Ray was the best singer of Black Sabbath.Ronnie was the legend,ok,but Ray was the best!Too much talking though!HAHA

  • By the way it`s no coincidence that savatage opened for Dio frodo10 numbnutz.

  • Geoff Nicholls wasn't shy about gettin' his keyboards high in the mix without RJD around to break his balls!! LOL!!!!!! Go Geoff!!!!!!!!

  • It`s ronnies song mfker. Best vocalist on earth, ever. so stfu.

  • Ian Paice is the best voice great song from Tony Martin

  • Ian Gillan, you mean?

  • he's with deep purple...made another group and went back to deep purple....he still can scream and hit high notes

  • not the same gillen. It's ray not Ian, a much beter singer!

  • Ian Paice? He is a drummer not a singer.

  • Great song Ray Gillen!

  • It could be Dio, Hughes, Gillan, Ozzy, Martin, Gillen, but this song only needs one guy... Mr. Iommi

  • i know everyone loves to bash ozzy but the ozzy era sabbath was great.just as latter sabbath was great.and ozzies voice at one time was more then adequat. when I seen him with sab in 99 he was still a great performer sang geat and rocked the house.its only since his ATv accident has his voice became nazzely and I dont really like it.but give the guy credit.He was a huge part of the greatest metal band ever for many yrs.and his first 2 solo albums were proably some of the best rock ever recorded

  • Ozzy-era Sabbath was great, but it was great despite Ozzy. There isn't a vocalist in the world who could have screwed up those albums, they were that good.

  • Very good!!!! He sounds like Geoff Tate ....nice range

  • He does very good vocals, although I cannot stand the way he interrupts the songs to say "That was the first verse, there are still two more". That was annoying.

    Still, great vocals. Very similar to Dio's.

  • Geoff Nichols is the only one who ever put good keyboards on Sabbath music. He usually used sounds that suited the dark guitar sound of Iommi. This is a great version.

  • wrong.Rick Wakeman did put some great ''bloody'' keys to Sab's music too...

  • So did Don Airey on Never Say Die. The same keyboard player who wrote the epic intro to Ozzy's Mr. Crowley.

  • I could listen to Ray Gillen talk and be happy so when he sings ,great scott ,what a voice . Sadly missed

  • Great song verson by Ray Gillen. Great vocalist which unfortunately had a very short tenure with Black Sabbath. Would have made a great vocalist with this timeless band.

  • Thanks for posting this wonderful song. Ray Gillen did a wonderful job with Sabbath, pity his tenure with the band was short lived. I love Black Sabbath and never cared who the singer was. Their music has always been great.

  • Great vocals. Very strong chest voice, which is what this song requires. I do love Gillan and Halford's takes on this song, though, with more emphasis on the screams.

  • not chest voice.......top head an'mask voice.

    The One who nourished his own voice from da'chest was Mr. DIO !!!!!

    Tho', Mr.Gillan do it guud......but the band for him were BADLANDS !!!!

  • TONY IOMMI IS BLACK SABBATH

    i like ozzy but fuck me hes overrated out the ass

  • @lennonlegend0909 so are you

  • @lennonlegend0909 lol hes not overated..

  • @lennonlegend0909

    agreed

  • @lennonlegend0909

    Agreed

  • Big Shit !

  • It's a shame Ray wasnt with this band longer . He sounds very similar to Tony Martin but better imo .

  • not bad its ok not as good as gods sorry i mean dios version but still good

  • Awesome. Ray is my all time favorite singer and its great to hear him sing this classic.Dio still sounds more evil when he sings it. Still a great job from Ray.

  • Ray was a great talent, it's such a shame that we no longer have him among us. I just love what he did with Sabbath, Phenomena and Badlands. Does anybody know if he recorded with other people?

  • Tony Iommi's riffage is unbelievable in this song. Dio's original vocals are very similar to Ray Gillen's. I would have thought he would try to make this song his own.

  • nop, Ray's vocals are very similar to DIO's

  • ozzy is a complete vocal hack. He is the WORST singer they ever had by far

  • i agree

  • Ozzy didnt write anything. Ward and Iommi wrote all of it and Dio wrote a lot during his tenure

  • actually it was butler who wrote most of the material,,,

  • @jayc69nz Geezer wrote the lyrics, Iommi the music.

  • I'll assume that it's a typo and you meant to type "Tony Is Sabbath!"

  • cheers for upload pal ,i managed to see em on this tour at Birmingham odeon ,i think it was the seventh star tour , ray gillen was awesome

  • hes better than ozzy,

  • Who isn't!

  • nah

  • They toured under the name. It is what it is. They are all members of Black Sabbath.

  • @SFFRET Tony Iommi IS Black Sabbath, compared to Ozzy, Tony has actually written the majorirty of the music in Black Sabbath. Geezer was the lyricst. Geoff Nicholls has been with the band since 1979.

  • Zenutheduck: If the line of Sabbath is the same as on the pic shown here then we have in this version of BS

    Ray Gillen: Vocals

    Tony Iommi: Lead guitar

    Dave "the east" Spitz: Bass guitar

    Eric Singer: Drums

    Geoff Nicholls (sp?): keyboards

  • Yep, that would be the correct lineup for what you're hearing.

  • @slavemale2 : That's Dave 'The Beast" (not east) Spitz. on bass.We're both from NY and an old friend of mine, as was Ray Gillen, whom I knew from his days playing covers in New jersey-we played the same Jersey cover circuit.

    -Rik Fox- (Steeler, SIN, Surgical Steel)

  • Is Eric on drums on this tour?

  • tubetubby-yes quite possibly one of if not The BEST live singer of his era.

    Alot of people do not know that at the same time Ray was getting calls from Black Sabbath to join;he was being offered one of the leads in Cats the musical in NYC. A tremendous

    compliment and proof has had an elite vocal talent.

  • You had to hear him live to understand the command he had on his voice.PERIOD.

    he could sings the blues;ballads,heavymetal,-

    acapella-

    You name it.

    RIP...Ray Gillen.

    It's very very fortunate that we have clips like this one of lost talent to look bak on and appreciate.

    He and Randy Rhoads inspired me tremendously.

  • individuals in the music business.he got alot of attention from alot of people that have been in the business alot longer than him.he was getting there.When he went into Sabbath it was a logical,& obvious move that everyone was'nt surprised about,and happy for him I understand.I can't imagine what he would've acheived.

  • Ok here I go on a rant.-rickinicki-rideon77-I tiotally agree with you.And yes ricki-I play guitar.I played guitar back in the day as well.I met Ray when in Rondinelli,& ran into him a few times after the shows & on the way to see my girlfriend in the public bus of all places!.lol...I got to see him play live w/Rondinelli at the Ritz,He sounded I would say Better live than on cd.The guy was CLEARLY an elite singer among his peers and proved his talent when he started rubbing elbows with....

  • what does the man's health have to do with his musical legacy....he is one of the greatest and perhaps the greatest live singer of al time....enjoy the music motherfuckers

  • the dio version pwns this. ray needs to shut up and sing the song , i know i dont want to hear him babble off nonsense during the song.

  • Don't Say this. Dio is fantastic but Gillen Was the most precise Sabbath live singer. Dio Fan Boys will never accept that, but Ray performance in this is really incredible and he could sing every Sabbath Era songs. Ray Rules. And some of those dirty comments on youtube are shit, pure shit! Internet is full of Shit!

  • I'm Dio fan, but this version rocks!

  • i actually agree rideon77 and i'm a big dio fan all though dios version is # 1 for me this version is fucking great he sings all of sabbath beautifully

  • Is that Eric Singer of Kiss?

  • That would be correct.

  • He's played for Alice Cooper on-and-off over the years, too.

  • Ray Gillen's range at the time was second to none.PERIOD.He sounded as good live as the record.A true student of the art.A shame he left so soon.RJD had his own sound;no doubt & a tremendous voice in his own right;but at the time Ray was in Sabbath,Ronnie had Dio & live Ronnie could not maintain the range Ray could.Ray showed total command in his voice.He could sing clear and raunchy.everyone else except Ian Gillen after the Ozzy era were just RJD clones.There I said it.

  • I know. I studied with Ray's teacher-Robert Fitzgerald- for a year once or twice lesson per week. Lets just say I retain the teachings. The knowledge of Ray continues to proliferate. You sound like you know a lot of rock history and all that!

    Eric

  • Fuckin' amazing. No words to describe how wonderful is this version

  • As a matter of fact I'd never believe that somebody else could sing my favorite song of

    Ronnie so well.

    Thank you blacksabfan for this.

  • its good to educate the youth about history of black sabbath great track hope one day we can go buy this on a cd at the local store

  • he did well and i give my respects but still nothing nothing like dio

  • How could this have existed without me ever hearing it. This is amazing.

  • They actually filmed this show, but the footage has never turned up

  • you have no fucken idea how many people love all the line ups of sabbath, enjoy all the music , because all of it is different yet all great in there own way,all line ups where brilliant!!!

  • Ray Gillen is AMAZING

  • But can't beat Dio.

  • ... yeah he can.

  • sab is god...well done

  • Awesome, Ray Gillen has a great voice...fantastic...