Rat Salad: Eddie Van Halen’s riffy 1994 collaboration with Black Sabbath

04.15.2019
08:41 am
Topics:
Music
Tags:
Black Sabbath
Tony Iommi
1993
Eddie Van Halen
Cross Purposes

Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen in 1978.

“Without Tony, heavy metal wouldn’t exist. He is the creator of heavy! Tony is a legend. He took rock and roll and turned it into heavy metal.”

-–Eddie Van Halen telling the world how he feels about Tony Iommi.

Not long after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio (as well as drummer Vinnie Appice) in 1992, Tony Iommi began formulating his plan to re-assemble Black Sabbath. In his revealing book, and in this fan’s estimation, one of the best rock bios ever, Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi discussed in detail his experience of rebuilding Black Sabbath yet again. In the process of auditioning new UK-based timekeepers, Iommi got a call from a fellow former bandmate of Dio’s, Brooklyn native Bobby Rondinelli, who was very much interested in the gig. According to Iommi, Rondinelli flew out to play for the guitarist, and Iommi hired him on the spot. With Tony Martin back on vocals (for the first time since 1990), long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoffrey Nicholls (RIP) and Geezer Butler firmly in place on bass, this version of Black Sabbath began the process of writing and recording their seventeenth album, Cross Purposes, at the Monnow Valley Studios in Wales. While Sabbath was busy working, Van Halen (or Van Hagar, as it was 1993) was close to wrapping up the European leg of their Right Here Right Now Tour, stopping at the National Exhibition Centre on April 25th,1993. This time, when Iommi’s phone rang it was Eddie Van Halen on the other end, asking Tony if he had time to hang out while he was in town. And this is where one of rock’s riffiest rumors got its start.

Since Tony Iommi is a class act, he personally drove to Eddie’s hotel to pick up the guitarist to bring him to Sabbath’s nearby rehearsal space, just outside of Birmingham. On the way, they stopped at a local music shop to pick up a guitar for Eddie to play, setting the stage for the possibility that Eddie Van Halen might somehow become a part of Cross Purposes. Ever since this particular meeting of the twin guitar titans, there have been persistent affirmations from fans and websites that Eddie’s signature shredding appeared on the song “Evil Eye.” And why not? If Eddie Van Halen asks if he can come over and “play” with you, not only do you say “yes,” but anyone with good sense would also be sure to capture the moment in some way, shape, or form, or as they say, “it never happened.” So here’s the story straight from Iommi on Sabbath’s jam session with Eddie Van Halen one Sunday evening in 1993.

Noted in the book, on their way to the rehearsal space, Eddie asked if his new BFF wanted to pick up some beer. Since Iommi was driving, he declined to imbibe, but the seemingly very thirsty Ed grabbed a case of beer to bring along with him anyway. Before Eddie became, in Iommi’s words, “legless” (you know—when your legs stop holding you up because booze somehow broke all your leg bones), Eddie played a solo over Iommi’s original riff for “Evil Eye.” What happened next would echo back to Sabbath’s problematic “let’s do all the cocaine” days in the 70s when they were completely fucked up all the time, including while they were in the studio laying down music for an album. In an interview with High Times magazine in 1994 with both Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne, Ozzy recalled, quite remarkably, that the band would constantly “forget” what they were doing, including not remembering to hit the “play/record” button in the studio for hours on end! This time (noted in chapter 71 in his book), Iommi put the blame squarely on his own stone-cold-sober self—and the band—for not recording his and Eddie’s epic riff/solo collaboration:

“We (Eddie, Iommi, and Sabbath) had a jam, and he played on “Evil Eye.” I played the riff, and he played a great solo over it. Unfortunately, we didn’t record it properly on our little tape player, so I never got a chance to hear it! That was a funny day.”

Well, here’s one mishap involving Black Sabbath and Van Halen we can’t blame on cocaine, mostly since competitive cocaine snorters Ozzy Osbourne and David Lee Roth were not involved in this heavy metal hangout. In the end, Eddie’s inspired solo didn’t make it onto the album, though many people still believe the solo in question played by Iommi is actually Eddie Van Halen. Ed is also not credited on the album, but as Iommi confirms in his book, Eddie came, he played, but the solo you hear on “Evil Eye” isn’t Eddie. The section in question on “Evil Eye” comes in at around the three-minute mark with the appearance of what sounds to be EVH speedily delivering the guitar goods. However, since this is Tony Iommi we’re talking about (you know, GOD?), if anyone was capable of replicating Eddie’s unique style of playing, it would probably be Tony Iommi, and if I’m wrong about that, may God/Tony Iommi himself strike me down.

Lastly, in 2018 Tony Martin posted on his Facebook page on October 23rd that he had “found” the original cassette recording of Eddie’s solo, and claimed Ed helped write “Evil Eye.” In the post, Martin went on to say he’s not able to share the “crappy recording” due to the fact that he doesn’t own the rights, though he hopes to find a way to release it along with a book/DVD someday so the “full” story can be told. So, if Tony Martin is to be believed—and I see no real reason to doubt him, as he was there—then a recording of Ed’s solo does in fact exist. Martin’s description of the poor quality of the tape also backs up the notion it could not have been used on the album. Still, some people are going to want to arm-wrestle me about this, to which I would suggest taking their queries to Tony Iommi directly, because Tony knows best.

Audio of “Evil Eye,” with Iommi channeling Eddie Van Halen, is posted below for your listening pleasure, as is audio of Van Halen taking a deep dive into Sabbath’s catalog with a cover of “Tomorrow’s Dream” in 1976 at the fabled Sunset Strip club, Gazzarri’s.

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