TALENT WE LOST

R.I.P. Singer Raymond Arthur Ray Gillen (BADLANDS, BLACK SABBATH): May 12th, 1959 – December 1st, 1993 (aged 34; photo above courtesy of Mark Weissguy Weiss;

The golden voice on these albums would’ve turned 66 today (May 12th, 1959). 🎂 RIP BADLANDS + BLACK SABBATH singer Raymond Arthur “Ray” Gillen. 😢 aged 34.

Let’s continue with some excerpts from the BraveWords chat with Jake E. Lee from 2020. If you recall, Ray Gillen showed up at Badlands’ rehearsal space to try out and sang the not-yet-released “The Last Time”, which actually didn’t end up on the self-titled debut (in 1989). It kicked off the follow-up, Voodoo Highway in 1991. Jake explains:

“Yeah, that was me being a wise-ass to the record companies. We had that and then we got signed to Atlantic but they kept saying ‘You don’t have any hit singles.’ And I said, ‘All right, we don’t have any hit singles.’ So then I wrote ‘Dreams in the Dark’ and they said, ‘Ok, there’s a hit single.’ So we took off ‘The Last Time’ and we put that on, but then they got all pissed-off and wanted to know where ‘The Last Time’ went because that was a hit single. I said, ‘Motherfuckers, you said we didn’t have any hit singles!’ I’m not my best friend when it comes to dealing with record companies. Like we did ‘Fire and Rain’…”

…and Atlantic didn’t see the single potential in covering a James Taylor song?

“Our label guy wanted ‘Fire and Water.’ Ever since the first record, he kept saying ‘You guys should really cover “Fire and Water.”’ But I wasn’t sure how I would change it. He kept hammering me, but he kept saying ‘Fire and Rain:’ ‘You guys should really do “Fire and Rain” by Free.’ And I went, ‘You know it’s not “Fire and Rain” by Free, right?’ But he kept saying it, so on the second record I thought, you know what? You got it. And so we did ‘Fire and Rain’ and he was so pissed-off! He said, ‘You know that’s not what I meant!’ But I said, ‘That’s what you fucking said, and that’s what you got.’ But, I’m glad we did it, because I think it’s an amazing version; it’s so different than the original. And Ray sang his ass off on it.”

And it’s such a dark, classic, edgy song to begin with.

“It is. And yeah, that why we did that. And that didn’t win me any points with the record company either. I’m really good at fucking things up, it seems.”

R.I.P. Singer Keith Relf (THE YARDBIRDS): March 22nd, 1943 – May 12th, 1976 (aged 33)

One of the greatest album covers of all time. Created by legendary artist Hans Ruedi (H.R.) Giger who we sadly lost 11 years ago today (May 12th, 2014). He was 74. 

How did CELTIC FROST obtain the rights? Tom Warrior explains:

“Well, Martin (Ain) and I had pored over Giger’s Necronomicon (originally published in 1977), his oversized, standard work constantly. It was basically our bible, we looked at it literally every day. And of course we loved the Satan 1 painting. When we wrote to him in late ’83, when I wrote to him in my little letter, handwritten letter, we mentioned that painting and said if it’s at all possible, would it be possible to do a collaboration with this painting? And to our astonishment he actually responded. He called us and his then wife also called us, who did his administration at the time, and we began to have regular phone calls, we began to have regular letter exchanges. It was of course before email and so on, and he told me on the phone one day that he had just finished what he called The Red Phase, a series of paintings in red paint, and he said his favourite painting of the series is the only one that hasn’t been published yet, and he said, ‘If you’re agreed to also use that red painting (called Victory III) that I love so much, and put it also on the album, I’ll give you the Satan 1 for free’.”

HEAVY BIRTHDAYS

HEAVY RELEASES

Happy 36th
MORBID ANGEL’s Altars Of Madness – May 12th, 1989

Happy 33rd
THE BLACK CROWES’ The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion – May 12, 1992

Happy 30th 
MESHUGGAH’s Destroy Erase Improve – May 12th, 1995

Happy 19th
SODOM’s Sodom – May 12th, 2006

Happy 17th
IRON MAIDEN’s Somewhere Back In Time – The Best Of: 1980 – 1989 – May 12th, 2008

Happy 16th
THE GATHERING’s The West Pole – May 12th, 2009
SACRED OATH’s Sacred Oath – May 12th, 2009
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER’s Majesty – May 12th, 2009

Happy 14th
3 INCHES OF BLOOD’s Anthems For The Victorious – May 12th, 2011

Happy 11th
DIO’s Live In London, Hammersmith Apollo 1993 – May 12th, 2014

Happy 11th
VEIL OF MAYA’s Matriarch – May 12th, 2015

Happy 8th
AJATTARA’s Lupaus – May 12th, 2017
HAREM SCAREM’s United – May 12th, 2017
GIDEON’s Cold – May 12th, 2017
KOBRA AND THE LOTUS’s Prevail I – May 12th, 2017
SACRED OATH’s Twelve Bells – May 12th, 2017
SEETHER’s Poison The Parish – May 12th, 2017
VOYAGER’s Ghost Mile – May 12th, 2017
WARRANT’s Louder Harder Faster – May 12th, 2017