Great Lefty: Live Forever! Tribute to Tony Iommi Godfather of Metal
First ever Pals & Fans tribute to the Inventor of heavy metal genre, heart and soul of Black Sabbath - Tony Iommi.
The idea of this tribute was born among the members of fan communities dedicated to Tony Iommi, which developed a great interest in Tony’s personality and musical experience, including not only the legendary 70s Original era, but various line ups of Black Sabbath and his solo career. In our fan communities, many young people wish to discover Tony Iommi’s Legacy in all its entirety, his multiple collaborations, details of his guitar work, and his composing abilities. It’s a great mush up of ideas, tons of discussions, personal tributes and opinions. The Great Lefty tribute was born there, in the cauldron of Iommi Mania, in the hearts of genuine fans as an act of love towards Father inventor of heavy metal, the true voice of Black Sabbath. Tony continues to inspire millions of people worldwide for 45 years, not only as one of most influential musicians ever, but also as a human being, with his courage, determination and great personality.
Raising funds to contribute Macmillan Cancer Support in their fight against cancer is one of our main goals. It’s an honour to be able to do a little help to the people affected with this terrible disease.
As it’s visible from the tracklist, the songs aren’t exactly the ones we’re used to see on Black Sabbath tributes. The songs come from different eras of band’s history. Fans, especially new generations, are revisiting albums Seventh Star, Born Again, Mob Rules, Dehumanizer, Technical Ecstacy, Never Say Die and a great Tony Martin era with its five splendid albums. Huge interest developed around Tony Iommi’s solo work, the albums Fused, DEP Sessions, and Iommi 2000. Fans are discovering, studying and enjoying 45 years of Iommi’s career in continuous evolution.
The basic idea was to gather together the best Black Sabbath / Iommi tribute bands spread all around the world, and introduce their work to the larger audience of Sabbath lovers. Bands from United Kingdom, USA, Latin America, Italy, East Europe, Japan, were involved in this project. Actually tribute bands represent a special phenomenon, a result and a consequence of Iommi’s enormous influence on modern music, and an engine of his Legacy. It was really amazing experience to welcome guest artists as Mario Parga, Victor Griffin, Dario Mollo, Aldo Giuntini, Mark Boals, Tony Reed to the project, and see their brotherly love and admiration to the Master.
The song Heaven And Hell was donated by producers Damon Elliott and Michael Politz, who organized a special charity session in Elliott’s studio in Las Vegas, where the track was recorded with participation of Vinny Appice, Barry Goudreau, Hugh McDonald and Kyle Cousins. Grammy awarded producer and sound engineer Mike Exeter, who worked on all Sabbath / Iommi releases in the last 15 years, directed our work on putting together this tribute.
Great Lefty: Live Forever is a collective work. We all, Riffmaster’s fans and pals, colleagues and friends, all musicians participants, we all want to express our solidarity towards Tony, who fights Lymphoma since 2011. In behalf of all Iommi fans, this is our gift to Tony, a way to show him affection, support and admiration.
We love you, Iron Man!
Dear Master himself fancied the tribute, and published on his Official Website and social networks the following statement and a video-message:
"A big thank you to everyone involved in the album, whether you’re a player or not. I’m flattered and honoured to have this done by genuine fans not a label. I’d heard something was going on but wasn’t expecting anything this big. There are so many of you it’s impossible to mention the complete list, but great to see old band mates Tony Martin and Vinny Appice getting involved and Mike Exeter producing. Although I understand she doesn’t want to take credit I don’t think it would have happened without Rosie Piergiorgi, and I’m really pleased that she chose to help Macmillan Cancer Support. Go buy a copy, 20 tracks, great value and a good cause! And, please let us know your favourites."
Tonyiommifantastic.com team
