Legendary Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has announced the Manipulations of the Mind solo box set and a separate greatest hits album. Both arrive on July 30th.
The box set spans four CDs and collects Butler’s three solo albums, Plastic Planet (1995), Black Science (1997), and Ohmwork (2005) — each having been previously reissued individually on vinyl. A fourth CD houses rare and mostly unreleased material. The box set is perfect for completionists, but if you’re looking for a quick sampler of the legendary bassist’s solo work, the standalone The Very Best of Geezer Butler compilation houses 17 highlights form the three LPs chosen by Butler himself.
Free from the creative limits of Black Sabbath, Butler explored the full breadth of modern heavy metal on his solo albums. This includes dabbling in industrial and progressive metal, as well as the Sepultura-style groove metal popular during the late 1990s. Plastic Planet, originally released under the GZR moniker, features vocals from Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell and signaled a deliberate departure from the slower, ominous vibes of Black Sabbath.
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“I was listening to Fear Factory at the time and liked what Burton was doing – heavy vocals but with melodic choruses when required,” Butler said via a press release. “So, I asked him if he’d be interested in singing on the album, and he agreed. Importantly, he was great to work with, and had a similar sense of humor to Pedro and me. And didn’t sound anything like Ozzy or Ronnie Dio, which was important to me.”
Black Science featured the then-unknown Clark Brown on vocals and returning Plastic Planet collaborators, guitarist Pedro Howse and drummer Deen Castronovo. Again, Butler explored an industrial metal style, though he would have to put his solo work on hold following Black Sabbath’s 1997 Ozzfest reunion. The bassist wouldn’t convene with Brown and Howse again until 2005’s Ohmwork, which featured Chad E. Smith (the St. Louis drummer, not to be confused with the RHCP drummer) in place of Castronovo.
“I wasn’t looking for plaudits,” Butler said of his solo career in a press release for the new box set and hits package. “I doubt that many people got any of the lyrical references, and as before, it was just music I enjoyed making. Again, it was a great fun time, writing about personal things, and doing music I loved making with Pedro and Clark in a relaxed atmosphere, without any pressure. Much fun was had.”
You can pre-order Geezer Butler’s Manipulations of the Mind box set and greatest hits album here. Check out the artwork and tracklists for both releases below.
Manipulations of the Mind Artwork:
Manipulations of the Mind Box Set Tracklist:
CD1 – Plastic Planet
01. Catatonic Eclipse
02. Drive Boy, Shooting
03. Giving Up The Ghost
04. Plastic Planet
05. The Invisible
06. Séance Fiction
07. House of Clouds
08. Detective 27
09. X13
10. Sci-Clone
11. Cycle of Sixty
CD2 – Black Science
01. Man in a Suitcase
02. Box of Six
03. Mysterons
04. Justified
05. Department S
06. Area Code 51
07. Has To Be
08. Number 5
09. Among the Cybermen
10. Unspeakable Elvis
11. Xodiak
12. Northern Wisdom
13. Trinity Road
CD3 – Ohmwork
01. Misfit
02. Pardon My Depression
03. Prisoner 103
04. I Believe
05. Aural Sects
06. Pseudocide
07. Pull the String
08. Alone
09. Dogs of Whore
10. Don’t You Know
CD4 – Bonus
01. Pseudocide (No Intro)
02. Prisoner 103 (Demo)
03. The Invisible (Instrumental)
04. Area Code 51 (Demo)
05. Cycle of Sixty (Radio Mix)
06. X13 (Radio Mix)
07. Northern Wisdom (Demo)
08. Beach Skeleton (Japanese Version)
09. Pardon My Depression (Alt Take)
10. Misfit (Rough Mix)
11. I Believe (Demo)
12. Four Feathers Fall (Demo)
13. Drive Boy, Shooting (Live)
14. Detective 27 (Live)
15. House of Clouds (Live)
The Very Best of Geezer Butler Artwork:
The Very Best of Geezer Butler Tracklist:
01. Drive Boy, Shooting
02. Man in a Suitcase
03. Misfit
04. The Invisible
05. Box of Six
06. Pardon My Depression
07. House of Cards
08. Mysterons
09. Aural Sects
10. Detective 27
11. Number 5
12. I Believe
13. Catatonic Eclipse
14. Among the Cybermen
15. Prisoner 103
16. Plastic Planet
17. Area Code 51
