I like all of them except the "Forbidden" record. My top favorites are Headless Cross, Cross Purposes and Eternal Idol. Tyr is good too.

Big fan here also! I believe I have every song Tony has released Sab or other. The Rondinelli CD w/Tony is a must IMHO.

Tony almost falls into the JLT catogory, He will always be compaired to those before him.

I think Tony was the only Sab singer who can sing all era's of the band live. Dio butchered the Ozzy era, Ian G. could not do the Dio songs, Glenn, Well Glenn was having a hard time period with everything.........

For me Black Sabbath is my favorite band regardless of who the vocalist is. I am a fan of all era's. The only album I dislike from the Tony Martin era is "Forbidden" which is truly horrible to me! Love all the others he was on though, especially Headless Cross!

This line up of Black Sabbath was unfairly judged due to Tony Martin not being Ozzy or Dio. It also didn't help that during this time Black Sabbath's management problems caused them to cancel tours.

NIGHTWING FLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEESS AGAAAAAAAAIINN!!!!

Damn, you guys are going to cause me to go back out and re-purchase these albums again. :swear:

The only one I still have a copy of is Eternal Idol.

Eternal Idol is really good.

Tony Martin is an excellent singer. I think all the Sabbath albums with him performing are great. My favorite is The Eternal Idol. I think they're all better than the last couple with Ozzy.

detuned Black Sabbath with Tony Martin are all worth getting but avoid "Forbidden" unless you are a completist.

I really like The Headless Cross and Tyr alot.

TYR excellent CD, I like the music better on "Headless Cross' but it seems Tony Martin tired to hard on that album to write lyrics that he felt matched Black Sabbath's image, songs such as "When Death Calls" and the title track for example, where on 'TYR" IMO he seemed like was writing lyrics that were suiting his style. Both great albums and Cozy Powell's drum work on those albums was some of his best.

Headless Cross is my favorite, I just started revisiting these albums a couple of days ago, wish I never got rid of em now.

I like them all, but Eternal Idol is my favorite. In fact it's definitely a desert island classic around here. I don't compare the different vocalists/eras of Sabbath. They are all great and all unique to what they did.

Eternal Idol is also my favorite from Tony Martin era, followed by a very close second by 'Headless Cross". Eternal Idol stock has been rising among fans and critics in the last few years so hopefully more fans will discover this classic.

I remember when Forbidden was a new release and the reviews just slayed it. I always enjoyed the song Guilty as Hell. I have all the Martin albums, but I just feel his voice lacks power at times. I agree that Headless Cross is the best of them.

My personal favourite Sabbath era is Heaven and Hell through to Seventh Star. I know there are three different vocalist in that stretch, but I'm a big fan of each album released during that time.

Not a bad era to pick at all. I'm the Born Again king after all, just ask Spec.

Listening to TYR this morning and I think this album sounds better now than it did when it was initially released. Sometimes the passage of time helps you to hear things in a different context. When TYR came out we were all still waiting for some version of classic Sabbath to reunite...so every release that only featured Iommi was like "oh, another one". Thus all of these albums were kind of brushed off when they came out.

But here in 2008 we've had reunions of the Ozzy lineup and the Dio lineup (despite the name change) is in the studio getting ready to release a new album.

So all of a sudden our perceptions of this Tony Martin edition (as well as the Gillan and Hughes lineups) can focus on the MUSIC instead of all the other surrounding issues.

Bump:

Thanks to Joe Seigler's excellent Black Sabbath site (black-sabbath.com) I learned some interesting tidbits about these albums.

Bonus tracks (either b-sides or Japanese only):

Some Kind Of Woman (b-side of The Shining single)
Black Moon (b-side of The Shining single - rerecorded for Headless Cross)
Cloak & Dagger (released on picture disc of Headless Cross)
What's The Use (Japanese bonus track from Cross Purposes)
Loser Gets It All (Japanese bonus track from Forbidden, also on The Sabbath Stones)

I have most of the Martin years albums, they are good, definately some brighter moments here and there, and a lot of average moments. I have them mostly because they are Black Sabbath. He walked into a bad gig, following Ozzy and Dio he was set up. He is just not in the same league.