Audience 8.4-8.6 - This gets a double rating because I found that it seemed to become better as it went, and really had its best moments during songs or parts that were not full on max volume. Now that being said, the mic that taper used (probably a condenser mic built into his deck) could not accurately reproduce the sound it was picking up in the hall to the tape itself – but because there was level adjust (I am guessing auto level), it never distorted. So what you get is a crowded sounding tape during most of the performance when the music is at full tilt (it’s Black Sabbath so yeah, it’s mostly full tilt), but during parts where the music is more sparse (like during Black Sabbath, or the solos, especially the drum solo) you can hear what the recorder was capable of because it is way much better. In fact I praise the drum sounds, super massive and that’s why I loved Black Sabbath on this tape in particular because it’s frighteningly dense and scary sounding here. This show can be appreciated for the inclusion of songs like Gypsy, All Moving Parts, and Rock and Roll Doctor which are audible enough that you can thank this taper. I’d not heard of this tape before so I assume it’s new to circulation, and personally speaking I am glad it exists and I feel it offers something worthwhile. Black Sabbath Madison Square Garden New York City, NY. 1976-12-06 Disc 1 1. -intro 2. -Symptom Of The Universe 3. -Snowblind 4. -All Moving Parts (Stand Still) 5. -War Pigs 6. -Gypsy 7. -Black Sabbath Disc 2 1. -Dirty Women 2. -Drum Solo 3. -Guitar Solo 4. -Rock And Roll Doctor 5. -Guitar Solo (reprise) 6. -Electric Funeral 7. -Iron Man 8. -Children Of The Grave 9. -Supernaut intro - Paranoid  

Newcastle Audience 8.7 - A fairly bombastic recording that insists you pay attention to it. Thundering, massive, and thankfully listenable. It's not winning any awards for clarity, but it makes up for a lot of that with a representative recording of what you probably heard from the front row at this show. That leads me to say that while you would think there should be distortion, you can't really tell, but yes there just a bit of saturation deep in the bowels somewhere but I don't find it disturbing because it's low enough that you don't focus too much there. London Audience 8.6 - Dropping down one notch here, but there actually might be more mid-upper mid clarity with this recording. I think overall, this recording is a little less forceful, and there is no distortion at all on this. My ears rate this slightly below the Newcastle not because it is inferior quality, but because it is not quite as ballsy, and the trade-off is you have to give up a but of the balls in order to achieve more clarity, but sometimes ballsy is not a bad thing if it isn't too muddy. Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall Newcastle, UK 1982-01-06 Disc 1 101 Introduction - E5150 102 Neon Knights 103 N.I.B. 104 Children Of The Sea 105 Country Girl 106 Black Sabbath 107 War Pigs 108 Slipping Away 109 Vinnie Appice Drum Solo 110 Iron Man Disc 2 201 The Mob Rules 202 Heaven And Hell 203 Paranoid - Heaven And Hell (Reprise) 204 Children Of The Grave Hammersmith Odeon London, UK 1982-01-03 205 Introduction - E5150 206 Neon Knights 207 Country Girl 208 Slipping Away 209 The Mob Rules

Audience 9.3 - A beautiful wide, spacious, and clear recording of a band absolutely demolishing it. How much friggin’ better do you want it?  I’ve heard major label released live albums that didn’t sound as good as this.

Black Sabbath Stadthalle Offenbach, Germany 1980-06-02 Disc 1 101 Supertzar 102 War Pigs 103 Noen Knights 104 N.I.B. 105 Lonely Is The Word 106 Sweet Leaf 107 Drum Solo 108 Sweet Leaf (Reprise) 109 Children Of The Sea Disc 2 201 Black Sabbath 202 Heaven And Hell 203 Iron Man 204 Guitar Solo 205 Die Young 206 Paranoid 207 Children Of The Grave  

Audience 9.3 - I love this recording, probably a lot more than a soundboard. This is the one your ears have been waiting for. Good separation between bass and guitar so that each is distinct, plenty of bottom end but it isn't at the expense of anything else in the mix - it's perfect. I love the bass definition too, and Ian sounds good. Sometimes I think this may be pro, but for the drums which, while excellent, have the slightest touch of sizzle on the cymbals (and by extension you get a touch of it every now and then on vocals) but it's minor and it probably would not be present on a pro recording. This is really just quibbling, trying to find flaws, the recording is BADASS! Black Sabbath Quebec City Coliseum Quebec, Canada 1983-10-20 Disc 1 101. Supertzar 102. Children Of The Grave 103. Hot Line 104. War Pigs 105. Supernaut 106. Drums Solo 107. Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 108. Disturbing The Priest 109. Iron Man Disc 2 101. The Dark 202. Zero The Hero 203. Heaven And Hell 204. Guitar Solo 205. Digital Bitch 206. Black Sabbath 207. Smoke On The Water 208. Paranoid - Heaven And Hell (Reprise)

Audience 8.5 (discs 1 & 2) FM Broadcast  8.7 - Well this is odd, you have an “in the pit” audience tape that actually delivers a good, fun trip because it is immersive despite not being a full bodied audio like you want – it is definitely worth it for the ride though…but that brings us to the FM broadcast of the show…how is it that I find myself enjoying the audience tape more?  Yes the FM is cleaner and all, but it’s very limited and not quite like an AM broadcast but for goodness sake where’s the bass and drums?  It’s clearly the Tony and Ian show here – I think someone ought to matrix these together because then you might have something. Black Sabbath Thamembe Arena Reading, UK 1983-08-27 Disc 1 101 Supertzar 102 Children Of The Grave 103 Hot Line 104 War Pigs 105 Born Again 106 Supernaut 107 Drum Solo 108 Rock And Roll Doctor 109 Disturbing The Priest 110 Keep It Warm Disc 2 201 Black Sabbath 202 The Dark 203 Zero The Hero 204 Guitar Solo 205 Digital Bitch 206 Iron Man 207 Smoke On The Water 208 Paranoid Disc 3 301 Hot Line 302 War Pigs 303 Black Sabbath 304 The Dark - Zero The Hero 305 Digital Bitch 306 Iron Man 307 Smoke On The Water 308 Paranoid  

Audience 9.0 - A big sound here, and I mean it can be asbig as you want because there's just enough headroom here to add volume without fear of too much of any one thing to take away from other frequencies. It's an even sounding mix, with maybe just a little more emphasis on the massive bass/guitar attack. But even then, you still get all the vocals and drums you need...its a well rounded recording giving you sense of venue as one more benefit that comes with audience recordings.