GEEZER BUTLER Says DIO-Era SABBATH Is 'More Musical' Than Band's Original Version

Michael Roberts of the Denver Westworld Blogs recently conducted an interview with legendary heavy metal bassist Geezer Butler (BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN AND HELL). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Westworld Blogs: Most SABBATH fans rank the classic lineup of you, Tony (Iommi),Bill (Ward) and Ozzy (Osbourne) above all of the ones that followed. But were there others along the way that were just as good as that one?

Geezer Butler: "It's, as you say, everyone's got an opinion. Some people like the "Heaven and Hell" lineup more, but most people like the original lineup. But I think the stuff that we did in this lineup certainly lived up to the expectations."

Westworld Blogs: What are the biggest attributes of the "Heaven And Hell" lineup? What does this lineup do particularly well — and maybe better than any of the other lineups?

Geezer Butler: "I think we're more musical. The playing is probably a higher standard, as far as the music standpoint goes. Technically is what I'm trying to say."

Westworld Blogs: With Ronnie, how does the dynamic change?

Geezer Butler: "When Ronnie came in, he brought a totally different aspect to it. He was a writer himself. He wrote on guitar, so it was easy for him to explain, musically to us, what he wanted us to change to suit his songs. And he writes his own lyrics, which gave me a break, because I wrote all the lyrics for the original SABBATH. So it was totally different, and I could concentrate solely on bass when he came in, instead of juggling bass and the lyrics. I was happy about that."

Westworld Blogs: There was a never a time where you felt bad about sitting on the sidelines lyrically? You were fine with him taking over that part of it?

Geezer Butler: "Oh yeah. I hated writing lyrics in the end. It really got to me. I felt like I was becoming taken for granted. In the first place, Ozzy used to come up with a few things and then we used to work together a lot. But I felt like, toward the end, it was like, Geezer writes the lyrics and that's it, and I didn't like that. I felt, if somebody's got a good idea, they should come up with it, and not leave it up to me all the time. It's sort of like leaving it to Tony to come up with all the music and nobody helping out — that kind of thing."

Westworld Blogs: So you didn't feel like someone was stepping on your toes?

Geezer Butler: "Not at all. I was so relieved when Ronnie came and said that he wrote lyrics. It was brilliant for me (laughs)."

Read the entire interview at this location.