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Audience 9.2 - Startling realism, where it’s as if Tony is playing right in your living room. Should be in every self-respecting Sabbath fan’s collection. Black Sabbath Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA September 7, 1975 Disc 1 01 Killing Yourself To Live 02 Hole In The Sky 03 Snowblind 04 Symptom Of The Universe 05 War Pigs 06 Megalomania 07 Sabbra Cadabra Jam 08 Sometimes I'm Happy Jam Disc 2 09 Supernaut 10 Iron Man 11 Orchid 12 Rock 'N' Roll Doctor Jam 13 Black Sabbath 14 Spiral Architect 15 Embryo 16 Children Of The Grave 17 Paranoid
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Audience 8.8 - A very satisfying recording, with a great snare drum sound and I highlight that because it is often overlooked. Dio sounds clear and if I fault anything it’s maybe Toni’s guitar which is just slightly behind the overall sound coming from the mains but still it’s really not too bad and the solos really come across clearly. It’s a fine live sound all around and is comfortable on the ears. Black Sabbath 1981-01-20 Hammersmith Odeon London, UK Disc 1 101 Supertzar 102 War Pigs 103 Neon Knights 104 N.I.B. 105 Children Of The Sea 106 Sweet Leaf 107 Drums Solo 108 Sweet Leaf (Reprise) 109 Lady Evil 110 Black Sabbath Disc 2 201 Heaven And Hell 202 Iron Man 203 Guitar Solo 204 Die Young 205 Paranoid - Heaven And Hell (Reprise) 206 Children Of The Grave
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Sale!Audience 7.5 - Technology has done wonders for the collecting world, this tape is a classic example of going from unlistenable muck to actually hearing what the band was doing. You will still place this one in the “fair to average” category but in the pantheon of Sabbath shows this is one hell of a barnburner. I wish we had something a little better, but this tape is MUCH better sounding now than it was 10 years ago.
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Stockholm 1983 Audience 8.9 - This tape starts off kind of average and slowly but surely keeps getting better until what we have is a very good tape of a really good show. As most already know, any good tape of this line up is VERY welcome as it showcases what I consider a great band – I did not say a great Black Sabbath because you can’t get away from Ian’s obvious vocal inflections that inevitably recall his old band. That being said if you listen to this without that bias you realize how good this BAND was in 1983. Paris 1983 Soundboard 9.1 - A most welcomed thing amongst Black Sabbath collectors without question is this board tape with the Ian Gillan line up. I love the material they recorded on Born Again, this is almost the logical progression from Technical Ecstasy, to me anyway. The music is more ideally suited to Ian Gillan’s vocals than it would have been to Ronnie James Dio and I think that is obvious. Black Sabbath Quebec City 1983 Audience 8.9 - I like this tape because you really get to hear and appreciate what the bass is all about in Sabbath and it is here in excellent detail. Everyone shines, it’s great to have this abundance of riches because this short-lived period of Black Sabbath is certainly one of the most unique sounding. Black Sabbath LIVE 1983 Ian Gillan - Vocals Tony Iommi - Guitar Geezer Butler - Bass Bev Bevan - Drums Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards Disc 1 Johanneshovs Isstadion Stockholm, Sweden August 19th, 1983 01. -Intro (Stonehenge) 02. -Children Of The Grave 03. -Hot Line 04. -War Pigs 05. -Born Again 06. -Supernaut 07. -Drum Solo 08. -Rock 'N' Roll Doctor 09. -Disturbing The Priest 10. -Keep It Warm 11. -Black Sabbath 12. -The Dark 13. -Zero The Hero 14. -Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo 15. -Digital Bitch 16. -Iron Man Disc 2 Stockholm Cont'd 01. -Smoke On The Water 02. Paranoid Espace Balard Paris, France September 30th, 1983 03 - Children Of The Grave 04 - Hot Line 05 - War Pigs 06 - Supernaut - Drum solo 07 - Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 08 - Disturbing The Priest 09 - Guitar solo 10 - Digital Bitch 11 - Smoke On The Water 12 - Paranoid Disc 3 Quebec City Coliseum Quebec City, CANADA Oct 20 1983 01 -Intro - Children of the Grave 02 -Hot Line 03 -War Pigs 04 -Supernaut - drum solo - Rock' n' Roll Doctor 05 -Disturbing the Priest 06 -Iron Man Disc 4 07 -Zero the Hero 08 -Heaven & Hell - Guitar solo - Digital Bitch 09 -Black Sabbath 10 -Smoke on the Water 11 -Paranoid
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Audience 8.6 - A strong recording that you know was done by people who were careful and prepared because right away you can hear them getting the recording levels set during the opening bars of the first song. They knew what they were doing! A lively gig, the band riding high and looking to prove that the hype was for real. Get this!
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Audience 9.4 -A fierce sounding tape with major emphasis on Tony, and man, you can hear every nuance of the guitar and it is literally spine-tingling…but at the expense of Ronnie’s vocals. Not to worry too much, I mean, it’s just a badass recording you tend to overlook that. This is well worth listening to I highly recommend it. Black Sabbath Kaikan Hall Kyoto, Japan 1980 November 20 Disc 1 01 Opening SE - Supertzar 02 War Pigs 03 Neon Knights 04 N.I.B. 05 Children Of The Sea 06 Sweet Leaf 07 Drum Solo 08 Sweet Leaf 09 Lady Evil 10 Black Sabbath Disc 2 01 MC 02 Heaven And Hell 03 Iron Man 04 Instrumental 05 Guitar Solo 06 Instrumental 07 Guitar Solo 08 Instrumental 09 Guitar Solo 10 Orchid 11 Die Young 12 Paranoid (encore) 13 SE 14 Announcements Line-up: Tony Iommi - guitars Ronnie James Dio - vocals Geezer Butler - bass Vinny Appice - drums Geoff Nicholls - keyboards
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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)
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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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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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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 -
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)