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Audience 8.7 - A somewhat subdued tape that begs for increased volume, which actually may be fine if you have a nice pre-amp…or just turn this up and get down because it isn’t bad. One thing I do appreciate about this tape is that Tony Martin is probably the clearest out of everything, then maybe Iommi and especially his lead work which really rings out. All instruments are present, I think this tape is a keeper. Black Sabbath Playhouse Edinburgh, Scotland 1989-09-05 Disc 1 1. -Ave Satani & The Gates Of Hell 2. -Headless Cross 3. -Neon Knights 4. -Children Of The Sea 5. -Die Young 6. -When Death Calls 7. -War Pigs 8. -The Shining 9. -The Mob Rules 10. -Black Sabbath 11. -Devil And daughter 12.-Iron Man 13. -Children Of The Grave Disc 2 1. -Heaven And Hell 2. -Paranoid & Heaven And Hell (Reprise) 3. -soundcheck (unknown origin) Line-up: Tony Martin - Vocals Tony Iommi - Guitar Neil Murray - Bass Cozy Powell - Drums Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards
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Audience 8.4 - A middle of the road stadium recording that is quite clear but not very close. That being said, I found much to appreciate from this one – namely the curious line-up at this time. Tony Martin singing, ok, he is decent enough and certainly professional caliber but to me, this just is not Black Sabbath. It’s a really badass metal band with Tony Iommi on guitar. This recording does allow you to really hear both Tony’s pretty loud and clear. BLACK SABBATH DATE : 1987/12/10 VENUE : Palasport, Firenze, Italy Disc 1 Supertzar [Intro] Neon Knights Children Of The Sea War Pigs Die Young Drum Solo Iron Man Born To Lose Black Sabbath Disc 2 Glory Ride Heaven and Hell Children Of The Grave The Shining Paranoid The Shining [Reprise] Laguna Sunrise [Outro] RUNNING TIME : ~ 99 minutes LINE-UP : Tony Iommi - Guitar Tony Martin - Vocals Jo Burt - Bass Terry Chimes - Drums Geoff Nicholls - keyboards NOTES : Very good and complete audience recording of the last show of the "Eternal Idol" tour. This was also the last show for the short lived Iommi / Martin / Burt / Chimes / Nicholls line-up, and a great show it was.
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Audience 8.4 - So, first the good news. This recording is much better than the Dublin ’83 show. Why is that significant? Because there are precious few live recordings of any kind of quality highlighting this short lived period with Gillan. I don’t know about you, but I think this material and the sound of the band during this time period is just awesome. I really would have loved more of this…but alas it was not meant to be. The downside is that the recording is mainly from Geezer’s side of the stage, so you are going to get an earful of Geezer, and that is not a deal breaker but what sucks is that Tony sounds weak in comparison. Another upside? You can hear Ian Gillan over the wall of sound, and therein lies the main reason why this tape deserves a listen. Will it get repeated plays? Probably not…but I was happy to be able to get another chance to hear Ian Gillan live with Black Sabbath and I am better for it. BLACK SABBATH Pavillon Des Sports Del Champel Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland September 25th 1983 THE BAND Ian Gillan vocals Tony Iommi guitar Geezer Butler bass Bev Bevan drums Geoff Nicholls keyboards Disc 1 1 -Supertzar 2 -Children of the Grave 3 -Hot Line 4 -War Pigs 5 -Born Again 6 -Supernaut 7 -Drum Solo 8 -Rock N Roll Doctor 9 -Disturbing the Priest Disc 2 10 -Iron Man 11 -The Dark 12 -Zero the Hero 13 -Heaven and Hell 14 -Iommi Solo 15 -Digital Bitch 16 -Black Sabbath 17 -Smoke On the Water 18 -Paranoid
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Neunkirchen Audience 8.8 - A large sound, almost feel the sound pressure against your chest on this one! The bass is huge and guitars sit slightly behind creating a sensation of dread, and thankfully the vocals are really placed very nicely in the live sound mix. Definitely the better of the two in this set.
Boblingen 1983 Audience 8.6 The overall sound here is somewhat average but it's actually slightly clearer than the Neunkirchen show albeit more distant and hollow sounding. It really could use some mid-range boost to bring up the guitars but if you have a good system you can attenuate this to dial in your desired EQ. It's not bad, it's just not quite up to prime time and you'll get more satisfaction from the Neunkirchen show in this set.
Black Sabbath Germany 1983 Disc 1 Hemmerleinhalle Neunkirchen am Brand, Germany 27th September 1983 1. Supertzar 2. Children Of The Grave 3. Hot Line 4. War Pigs 5. Born Again 6. Supernaut 7. Drum Solo 8. Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor 9. Disturbing The Priest Disc 2 10. Iron Man 11. The Dark - Zero The Hero 12. Heaven And Hell 13. Guitar Solo 14. Digital Bitch 15. Black Sabbath 16. Smoke On The Water 17. Paranoid - Heaven And Hell(reprise) Disc 3 Sporthalle Boblingen, Germany 28th September 1983 1. Children Of The Grave 2. Hot Line 3. War Pigs 4. Born Again 5. Supernaut 6. Drum Solo 7. Rock’n’roll Doctor 8. Disturbing The Priest Disc 4 9. Iron Man 10. The Dark - Zero The Hero 11. Heaven And Hell 12. Guitar Solo 13. Digital Bitch 14. Black Sabbath 15. Smoke On The Water 16. Paranoid - Heaven And Hell(reprise) 17. Interview with Ian Gillan Ian Gillan – Vocals Tony Iommi – Guitar Geezer Butler – Bass Bev Bevan – Drums Geoff Nicholls – Keyboards -
Hammersmith 1977 Audience 8.5 Not bad for a ’77 aud. but it doesn’t open up much, stays within a bandwidth that allows you to hear everything on stage but with mostly guitar and bass, with Ozzy singing rising over it all. Drums are somewhat buried the snare comes through OK The more I listen to the more I adjust and like it, like the rating indicates this isn’t terrible seeing as how there are few really stellar ’77 tapes. 6-10-78 Audience 8.4 This tape does not rise above what seems at first a noisiness, where you don’t get a good separation of instruments and a frequency that favors upper mid and highs, but thankfully not annoyingly so. I would say that you might still endure it all the way through regardless because while I was not blown away, I also wasn’t offended. It’s average, but not garbage bin material. 6-19-78 Audience 9.0 The best of the Hammersmith set for sure. It’s pretty clear and has good separation of instruments. I did find it leans more to treble tone, but you can add bass and not destroy this at all…so there’s a lot to like about this show. Black Sabbath Hammersmith Story 1977-1978 Disc 1 Hammersmith Odeon London, UK 1977-03-13 101 Supertzar 102 Symptom Of The Universe 103 Snowblind 104 War Pigs 105 Gypsy 106 Black Sabbath Disc 2 201 Dirty Women 202 Drum Solo 203 Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 204 Guitar Solo 205 Electric Funeral 206 Jam 207 N.I.B. 208 Iron Man 209 Children Of The Grave 210 Paranoid Disc 3 1978-06-10 301 Supertzar 302 Symptom Of The Universe 303 War Pigs 304 Snowblind 305 Never Say Die 306 Black Sabbath 307 Dirty Women 308 Drum Solo 309 Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 310 Guitar Solo 311 Jam 312 Electric Funeral 313 Iron Man 314 Fairies Wear Boots 315 Children Of The Grave 316 Paranoid Disc 4 1978-06-19 401 Supertzar 402 Symptom Of The Universe 403 War Pigs 404 Snowblind 405 Never Say Die 406 Black Sabbath Disc 5 501 Intro 502 Dirty Women 503 Drum Solo 504 Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 505 Guitar Solo 506 Jam 507 Electric Funeral 508 Iron Man 509 Fairies Wear Boots 510 Children Of The Grave 511 Paranoid 512 Outro (She's Gone)
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Pro Audience 9.2 - This rating may seem confusing and that is because I just don’t believe this to be a board feed recording, nor do I believe it to be a straight audience tape. I believe this may have been recorded for broadcast locally and the station probably hung mics or placed them somewhere in the hall because there’s too much ambience for a straight board tape. It’s very good, it’s got a critical element missing in every board tape and that’s some sense of the room, the audience, etc.
Black Sabbath Civic Center Hartford, CT 1980-08-10 Disc 1 101 Supertzar 102 War Pigs 103 Neon Knights 104 N.I.B. 105 Children Of The Sea 106 Sweet Leaf 107 Drum Solo 108 Sweet Leaf (Reprise) 109 Black Sabbath Disc 2 201 MC 202 Heaven And Hell 203 Iron Man 204 Guitar Solo 205 Die Young 206 Paranoid 207 children Of The Grave Bonus track Hammersmith Odeon London, UK 1980-05-08 208 Children Of The Sea -
Sale!Soundboard 9.5 - Cool to hear such a nice board because quite frankly the volume and mix of most of the live recordings I have heard just have little separation of instruments and I like hearing Geezer clearly. Drums sound great on this one. It also happens to be the final show.
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Audience 8.5 - While some may say this recording is not technically that great, I beg to differ. Now, it is not super clear, but it is not muddy…it is not distant, it is not super dynamic but it still has guts and balls. I actually REALLY grooved to this, and the band is ferocious sounding. Hearing the fresh faced Vinnie Appice on drums for the first time with Sabbath and he’s really driving the beat, a different style to Bill Ward. This one is a must have for anyone that calls themselves a Sabbath fan. It’s THAT important. Black Sabbath Aloha Stadium Honolulu, Hawaii August 31, 1980 1. -Dio and Appice interview 2. -War Pigs 3. -Neon Knights 4. -N.I.B. 5. -Children of the Sea 6. -Sweet Leaf 7. -Black Sabbath 8. -Heaven and Hell 9. -Iron Man 10. -Guitar solo 11. -Die Young 12. Paranoid 13. -Children of the Grave
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Audience 9.0 - This is one of those recordings that really grows on you. You kind of have to adjust a little, especially through the first couple of songs. Taper begins to slowly sort of find the spot, and the recording gets better, a good mix actually although I wasn’t crazy about Tony’s guitar tone around this time…and it’s only Tony who is still original Sabs but his crew is highly competent (not crazy about the big rock stadium mannerisms of Tony Martin). I like the vocals of Martin, don’t get me wrong, but the between song banter is a little over the top. Listen to this without bias, it’s not Sabbath but it’s a great fucking band with Tony Iommi on guitar. Black Sabbath Olympiahalle Innsbruck, Austria 1990-10-09 Disc 1 101 Intro - Ave Satani - The Gates Of Hell 102 Neon Knights 103 Iron Man 104 Children Of The Grave 105 Die Young 106 The Sabbath Stones 107 Bass Solo 108 Heart Like A Wheel (A Part Of) 109 Guitar Solo 110 Headless Cross 111 When Death Calls 112 The Law Maker Disc 2 201 Anno Mundi 202 Black Sabbath 203 Heaven And Hell 204 Paranoid 205 Heaven And Hell (Reprise)