I think I will elaborate since Gaz seems to take some offence to our comments. I love Tony Martin. The Martin era is my fav Sabbath era and some of my all time fav albums. I remember having the VHS of Cross Purposes live when I was in my teens and played the fuck out of it. It was clear Martin wasn't at his best but I loved the whole thing. The performance, Tony's performance, it was just a joy to watch for me.
IMO, what Tony has done since is disappointing. There's been some cool stuff. The Giuntini albums were solid and especially the third one sticks out, that's some nice melodic rock. I didn't care much of what I heard from the Cage but the third one I thought was decent. The Rondinelli album too was alright. His last solo album was disappointing and on a whole, it's just a shame that he hasn't done more quality stuff because his voice is so good. I was so pumped at the 'Black' project that was announced with Andy LaRocque and Magnus Rosen, but never to be heard of again.
Magnus getting him on his Freefall album and sounding as good as he does was a great move. And Martin returning for two songs on this new album shows he likes what Magnus is doing. Perhaps Gaz is simply right, maybe what Magnus sent wasn't for Tony for some reason. Magnus does say himself there that he seems picky. But that's his right to have that stance. I think the comments from him here come across a bit arrogant just because, while he obviously doesn't have to commit to things that he doesn't like or don't suit him, just with how underwhelming his discography is, it just seems maybe he has a chip on his shoulder, or has a higher opinion of himself than perhaps he should. I mean, it seems songwriters aren't banging down the doors to get him to sing their songs. Or yet, maybe they are he just has this stance across the board and feels things aren't good enough for him. It's his right, but Magnus writes pretty similar songs across the board so for him to throw stuff back and him and say songs don't work seems odd, but who I am to say. I love the guy and his voice, I wish he did a lot more recording, but comments like this makes him appear that he has a higher opinion of himself than maybe he should. Just my opinion.