Beyond Aston

Beyond Aston is the third solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. There is no release date for it. Bill has been working on this album for a long time; it originally had its genesis before his previous solo album was released in 1997.

In December of 2007, Bill stated in a Christmas letter to his fans that he hopes to have the album completed in early 2008.

Track listing
While the final track listing is unknown, Bill did release a listing of seventeen titles for Beyond Aston on his website on . That list appears below. In a later update, he said that there would be ten songs on the album, so which of these actually makes the cut (or even retain these titles) is unknown at this time.

#"Crow"
#"The Dark Half Hour"
#"Straws"
#"God and the Law"
#"Hi Fi Life"
#"Ashes"
#"Angel in the Rain"
#"Beyond Aston"
#"Monmouth Nights"
#"First Day Back"
#"Everybody Loves Me"
#"Powder on the Moon"
#"Soldiers"
#"Abandoned Gift"
#"Somebody’s Heart"
#"Elephant Man"
#"Woodshop"

On June 13 2006, Bill stated in an update on his website that two of the track names are "Where You Are Is Not Forever" and "Poppies". Whether these are new tracks not on the list of titles Bill released in November of 2002, or just renamed versions of some of those tracks is unknown.

Musicians

*Bill Ward - Vocals, lyrics & musical arrangements, drums on "Poppies"
*Keith Lynch - Guitars
*Paul Ill - Bass guitar
*Ronnie Ciago - Drums

Straws

One of the songs from Beyond Aston is called Straws. For a time in 2002, Bill made an mp3 of the song available for free on his website, but it was later withdrawn. Straws was then printed in a limited quantity of CD's. Only 2,200 copies of the "Straws" CD-single were produced, with the first 1,200 going to governmental heads of state throughout the world, humanitarian organizations, peace support groups, media outlets, musicians and actors. The remaining 1,000 copies were put on sale through Bill's Website, and the monies raised from sales of the CD single benefitted five charities that Bill chose. These charities are:

#The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
#Inner City Music Program - "Bands Not Gangs", Los Angeles
#The Alice Faith Mittelman Foundation
#Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF)
#The National Veterans Foundation

Bill had this to say about the song Straws and its meaning on his website: I wrote "Straws" in September 2002 when I became most fearful of retaliatory response in the U.S.A. if war with Iraq became a reality. I hope this war does not trigger a terrorist response and allow the unimaginable to happen. "Straws" is about my unimaginable. Peace to all men, women, and children.

The Dark Half Hour

On March 9 2004, Bill released another song from Beyond Aston; that being The Dark Half Hour. With the release, Bill had this to say about the song: It's about sexuality and sexual shame in part. This version is a close master mix, and therefore, will be different than the final master that will end up on the album.

Unlike the Straws download, this is still available as a legal free download from Bill's site.

Trivia
*Despite being a drummer himself, Bill's did not drum on his own previous solo work. Beyond Aston changes that; Bill does drum on one track, "Poppies".
*Early on, this album's name was "Remembering"; it was later changed to Beyond Aston.
*The title Beyond Aston refers to the place where Bill grew up; the district of Aston in Birmingham, England.

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