Description

Beautiful box set featuring 4 coloured vinyls and 4 cds. This box set features two shows on both vinyls and cd and one bonus show on cd from Fresno 1978 The Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey, August 5th/6th 1975 By 1975, Black Sabbath was arguably at the peak of their considerable live powers, touring the stunning Sabotage across the civilised world. Their August 5th or 6th gig at Asbury Park's Convention Hall was recorded for the legendary King Biscuit Flower Hour, source of so many great boots, and is a fabulous document of the Sabs gleefully promoting their new album to a doubtless typical quaalude-popping American audience. The recording is fantastic and the playing is top-notch, too, with none of the drug-induced torpor of later tours. The only problem with a Sabbath set from this era is that it could never be long enough to include everything you want to hear, the band fall back on several crowd-pleasers, and Tony Iommi's solo guitar spot was already well out of control, gobbling up a sizeable chunk of their on-stage time. As it is, they touch on all their albums, playing unexpected classics like Hole In The Sky and Spiral Architect in their set. The string part on Spiral Architect, which has a good go at replicating the studio part, is definitely made by a Mellotron, which means they hauled one around for just one song, bizarre. All in all, this radio broadcast should be sought out by anyone who considers themselves a fan of the band. The Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 8th 1976 The show from 1976 features the band touring in support of Technical Ecstasy, a brilliant record that was kind of overshadowed by the groups early to mid seventies releases that were so universally praised. Thankfully this recording exists and we get excellent quality versions of three of the songs from the record. The concert was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour and is of excellent quality, well balanced and enjoyable although there is at times distortion in the upper frequencies. It is more of a bare boned recording with virtually no audience interference. The recording picks up with the first notes of Symptom Of The Universe and Ozzys vocals sound rough but the band sounds in fine form and it is very heavy, the same can be said about Snowblind, Ozzy introduces it as a number from one of their older records. For a song that was written as homage to cocaine it seems to lumber across the stage like a long forgotten dinosaur but captures the musical haze well. The first of the new songs is All Parts Stand Still starts with some brief tuning by Gerald Woodruffe who was touring with the band to fill out the sound and re create the new music the band was playing. Geezer claims the song was written about Margaret Thatcher and featuring some excellent riffs courtesy of Tony Iommi who was a very involved with the record. Gypsy is one of my favorites from the Technical Ecstasy record, the lyrics are average but have a great melody and riff and Gerald keyboards really add the songs mystical nature. There bands signature song, Black Sabbath, follows in its entire dark and cloaked ambience. Bill Ward is drumming perfection, he ads’s little notes as nuances that help to accentuate Ozzys vocals as only he could. Dirty Women sounds ominous in a dreary way and is Sabbath at their best, the Iommi riff is fabulous, Wooddruffe adds some nice fills to boot and I love the way to song kicks into gear with some nice time changes. The song evolves into the solo section beginning with a Bill Ward drum solo featuring a few Geezer notes at the beginning but is all to brief and Iommi enters in with some swing jazz notes before Geezer and Bill join in to great effect. The jam evolves into the creepy opening riff of Electric Funeral as it rises from the depths, the song is very effective live and one has to wonder what took them so long to adapt it for the stage. It is linked non stop with Children of the Grave and the song is a superb version, fast and aggressive. Selland Arena, Fresno, CA. September 22nd 1978 The show from 1978 features the banding touring in support of the Never Say Die record and a tour that would ultimately be the last with Ozzy until the late 90s. This is from the King Biscuit radio archive and it sounds as good as the well-known official live video Never Say Die (recorded London, UK, 1978). As this show seems to be from the beginning of the tour, Ozzy is in much better shape, the songs all together are sounding much tighter than on the video. Track listing: The Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey, August 5th/6th 1975 1. Supertzar 2. Killing Yourself To Live 3. Hole In The Sky 4. Snowblind 5. Symptom Of The Universe 6. War Pigs 7. Megalomania 8. Sabbra Cadabra 9. Guitar Solo Jam 10. Drum Solo Jam 11. Supernaut 12. Iron Man 13. Guitar Solo Orchid 14. Rock n Roll Doctor / Dont Start (Too Late) 15. Black Sabbath 16. Spiral Architect 17. Children Of The Grave 18. Paranoid The Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 8th 1976 19. Symptom Of The Universe 20. Snowblind 21. All Moving Parts (Stand Still) 22. War Pigs 23. Gipsy 24. Black Sabbath 25. Dirty Women / Drum Solo 26. Guitar Solo 27. Electric Funeral 28. Children Of The Grave Selland Arena, Fresno, CA. September 22nd 1978 29. Intro: Supertzar 30. Symptom Of The Universe 31. Snowblind 32. War Pigs 33. Never Say Die 34. Black Sabbath 35. Shock Wave 36. Dirt Woman 37. Rock n Roll Doctor 38. Drum Solo 39. Guitar Solo 40. Electric Funeral 41. Iron Man 42. Children Of The Grave 43. Paranoid