If celebrating the 50th birthday of their acclaimed debut, finding the lost woman from the cover art of said record and hinting at another potential final gig aren’t enough, we could soon be getting the o.g. Black Sabbath album embryos in the form of the long lost Jazz Sabbath.
No, it’s not some weird sketch comedy/jazz Black Sabbath cover group.
According to their label, in a statement that reads like the prologue of an absurd story, “Jazz Sabbath were considered by many to be at the forefront of the new jazz movement coming out of England at the time. The eagerly awaited debut album, scheduled for release on Friday 13th February 1970, was destined never to be released. Until now.”
Read: Robbie Williams blasts Black Sabbath to piss off neighbour Jimmy Paige
The statement continues “The album was canceled when news broke that founding member and pianist Milton Keanes (AKA Adam Wakeman, who played with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne) was hospitalized with a massive heart attack which left him fighting for his life.
“When Milton was finally released from hospital in September 1970, he found out that a band from Birmingham, conveniently called ‘Black Sabbath’, had since released two albums containing metal versions of what he claims were his songs.”
From there, the story takes a decidedly sinister turn.
“Milton tried to contact his record label, Rusty Bedsprings Records (read their crazy history here, only to find out it didn’t exist anymore and the label owner was in jail. All recalled Jazz Sabbath albums had been destroyed when the warehouse burned down in June 1970 which turned out to be a case of insurance fraud by the label owner.”
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How we expect Jazz Sabbath to sound
Thankfully, the tapes were rediscovered as they were “actually misplaced” and only re-found last year, “by the man who bought the building where the recording studio had been located (in order to turn it into a vegan pet shop).” You can’t make that shit up.
The statement concludes; “These tapes have now been remixed and will finally be heard. The album will prove that the heavy metal band worshipped by millions around the world are in fact nothing more than musical charlatans, thieving the music from a bedridden, hospitalised genius.”
Jazz Sabbath drops on April 10. While you lace up your swing dancing shoes, check out the short documentary of the band below.
