Welcome back to Broken Records, the podcast that searches in all the right places to crown the very worst album in the history of music. We’ve got a biggie of a name this week as we look at Born Again, the 11th studio album from the inventors of heavy metal, Black Sabbath, released on the 7th of August 1983.

Sabbath basically dodged a bullet when original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne left the band and they were able to replace him with the equally enigmatic Ronnie James Dio. Dio recorded two albums with Sabbath, with 1980’s Heaven and Hell being considered as good as anything the band had ever put out. But when personal dynamics led to his departure in 1982, Sabbath were once again on the lookout for a new frontman. Enter former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan, a man who was highly influenced by Elvis and used to be in Jesus Christ Superstar, he didn’t quite look the right fit for a doomy, dark and menacing heavy metal band. And so it proved; though Gillan is a fine vocalist, he and the band struggled to gel creatively, and the result is this album, which also features one of the most eyeball abusing front covers in the history of music. To rub salt into the wounds, when the band went out to tour the record they were beset by problems, the main one being a massive Stonehenge stage set that they accidentally erected due to some incorrect measurements. Gillan was soon gone, but he leaves this fascinating album behind him. Question is; is it actually that bad?

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Welcome back to Broken Records, where Steve and Remfry have decided to try and find the very worst album of all time. This week we’re looking at the debut album from UK rock personality Screaming Lord Sutch, Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, released on the 25th of May 1970.

If you’re of a similar age to us then you might know the name from his various political endeavours back in the 80s and 90s, but Screaming Lord Sutch (not a real Lord) was actually something of a shock rock pioneer back in the early 60’s. He had a hit in 1963 with the song Jack The Ripper and during his live shows he would jump out of a coffin and chuck maggots at the audience...which was nice! But, by 1968 Sutch’s joke had worn thin with the “Great British Public” and he went over to the USA and decided to create his first album with the help of a few friends.

Those friends were Led Zep pair Jimmy Page and John Bonham, Jeff Beck and Noel Redding of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Good eh! Well… not if you’re any of those guys, because they weren’t sure what they were doing was even going to feature on the album, as session musicians were brought in to finish parts of the album in the style of the big names that featured. It was released and immediately became hated, both by musicians, with Page being particularly vocal about his dismay at the results, and by music fans, being voted the worst album ever by the BBC in 1998. But is it really that bad? Hmmm…

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Welcome back to another edition of Broken Records, where Steve and Remfry are charged with the unenviable task of finding the worst album ever made. This week we’re looking at Other Voices, the 7th studio album from the LA psychedelic rock band The Doors, released on the 18th of October 1971.

In the aftermath of the release of arguably their finest album, 1971’s LA Woman, The Doors were rocked with the untimely passing of their iconic frontman Jim Morrison. They had already been writing as a three piece without the singer and had composed enough material to make a follow up, assuming that Morrison would return from his new home in Paris to complete the material but unfortunately, he passed away July 3rd 1971 before he was able to record any vocals.

With this news rocking the band they became somewhat punch drunk, stumbling around trying to recruit the likes of Paul McCartney and Iggy Pop, before deciding that Jim Morrison, one of the greatest rock singers ever, didn’t need replacing and that both guitarist Robbie Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek could handle vocal duties themselves. The result was Other Voices, released a mere three months after Morrison’s passing, it stripped The Doors, not just of an iconic voice, but of almost all personality they previously had. In terms of bad ideas, this is right up there, luckily they saw sense and disbanded in 1973, but the appearance of Other Voices in their discography remains a troubling reminder of a very troubling time for the band.

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