Seventh Star - Album Information

Album Information

As was the case with its predecessor, Born Again, this album was not originally intended to be a Black Sabbath record. It was last-minute pressure from Warner Bros. to stamp the Black Sabbath name onto it due to the belief that it was more likely to sell records with the already famous name. Because of this, its sound is a drastic (and intentional) departure from trademark Sabbath sound. Many of the songs have a very hard rock sound, while some contain a bluesy feel (especially "Heart Like a Wheel"). Seventh Star was the first album to feature long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls as an official band member.

The promo-single and video version of "No Stranger to Love" had additional harmony vocals added by Hughes to make it more "radio-friendly". Actress Denise Crosby, who would later portray Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was in the video.

There was a tour for the album, but Hughes only performed at the first few shows. Hughes was sacked five dates into the tour, and replaced by Ray Gillen, who completed both the North American and European legs of the tour, though several dates in the US were cancelled.

Glenn Hughes has performed "No Stranger to Love", "Seventh Star" and "Heart Like a Wheel" at some of his live concerts. "I really like Seventh Star," Tony Martin told Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross, "mainly because I admire Glenn Hughes' voice."

It peaked at number 78 on the Billboard 200 chart.

As with Black Sabbath's previous album, Born Again, Seventh Star has never officially been released on CD by Warner Bros. for the US and Canada. However, it is offered for sale as a download by Apple's iTunes service in these regions.

Seventh Star was re-released in Europe on November 1, 2010, in a special edition 2 disc set. Disc 2 includes a concert recorded in 1986, with Ray Gillen performing vocals for the band. In addition, the single version of No Stranger to Love was included as a bonus track on disc 1.