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| Date | Venue | City | Set List | Comments | Art? |
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| 7/13/68 | MYTHOLOGY - Queen's Hotel | Silloth | Steppin' Out, Top Of The Hill, All Your Love, Help Me, Dust My Blues [a.k.a. “Dust My Broom”], All That Jazz, Room With A View, Morning Dew, Spoonful | This is a private audience recording of Mythology’s very last show. During their final days, the band included Neil Marshall (bass), Chris Smith (vocals), Tony Iommi (lead guitar) and Bill Ward (drums). Mythology became dispirited after an embarassing incident where all four members were fined 15 pounds for possession of cannabis resin in Carlisle on May 27th, 1968. Since this was considered to be a serious offense at the time, much of their gigging work dried up as a result. Reluctantly, they agreed to disband after this final show in Siloth. These revelations and the following information about the tape were recently discussed in the recent book, HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH. "Keith Jefferson recorded the gig using a reel-to-reel tape machine. The only surviving record of any of the band's performances, it contains nine tracks including such enduring blues favourites as "Steppin' Out", "Dust My Blues" [a.k.a. “Dust My Broom”], "Morning Dew" and "Spoonful". [From HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH (pg. #10)] As of February 2006, an apparently complete copy of the show has begun circulating. The running time of the recording is 45:41. The quality is very good at best and gives us a very unique opportunity to hear how Tony and Bill playing together before Earth and Black Sabbath! (Special thanks to Marcos Cruz of www.whiplash.net for hooking me up with the Mythology show!) |
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| 12/10/68 | JETHRO TULL (with Tony Iommi) - 'Rock And Roll Circus' - Intertel Studios | Wembley | A Song For Jeffrey [album version - NO Iommi] | In late 1968, Tony Iommi briefly left Earth to pursue an opportunity to play guitar for Jethro Tull. Tull were invited to record an appearance for a planned TV special called ‘The Rolling Stones Rock 'N' Roll Circus. The taping took place on December 11th and 12th, 1968 at Wembley Arena in London. Tony's playing cannot actually be heard on any of these bootlegs, since the audio track was later replaced by the album version of the song! Nevertheless, Tony can be "seen" playing with Tull in the aforementioned video. Official Videos: ROLLING STONES-ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS [released 10/15/96]: After nearly 30 years, this planned Christmas ’68 BBC TV special was finally given an official release. Bootleg black & white copies have circulated for many years, but the final color print is even better to see! Along with such headline acts as The Who and John Lennon, ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS unwittingly captured the only public appearance of this brief lineup of Jethro Tull, featuring Tony Iommi on guitar! Although it is not Tony we hear playing in the audio track, the clip is still an entertaining time capsule! Official CD’s: ROLLING STONES-ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS [released 10/15/96]: The audio version of the film includes the album version of “A Song For Jeffrey” from THIS WAS (1968). It is Mick Abrahams playing on this track, NOT Tony Iommi. CD Bootlegs: ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN (Backdoor Possibilities ARF1): Bootleg compilation that includes the album version of Jethro Tull’s “A Song For Jeffrey”. Vinyl Bootlegs: ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN (Backdoor Possibilities ARF1): Bootleg compilation that includes the album version of Jethro Tull’s “A Song For Jeffrey”. CD-R’s: MORE SABBATH STUFF!!: Bootleg compilation that includes the album version of Jethro Tull’s “A Song For Jeffrey”. |
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| 12/11/68 | JETHRO TULL (with Tony Iommi) - 'Rock And Roll Circus' - Intertel Studios | Wembley | A Song For Jeffrey [album version - NO Iommi] | See 12/10/68. The taping for this planned BBC Christmas special extended over the course of two days. | |
| 1969 | Fake EARTH Demos | Instrumental Jam #1, Instrumental Jam #2, Instrumental Jam #3 | Let's get something straight right now - there are NO real demos of EARTH currently in circulation. The only known studio demo done on the EARTH moniker was the single containing "The Rebel" and "A Song For Jim", which is in the possession of original manager Jim Simpson. There could very well be some jam tapes or rehearsals from this era, but no one yet has leaked any. As for these recordings of an alleged EARTH jam section, they are completely fake. I don't think you have to be a hardcore Black Sabbath fan to discern this, but maybe I'm wrong. Some may fall for the ruse due to the lack of vocals and a passing similarity to the Sabbath vibe. But the guitarist on these tracks sounds nothing like Tony whatsoever. In fact, he sounds a bit more like a Jimmy Page wanna-be! My question is “who is the garage band who recorded these tracks?” A complete waste of everyone's time. Next! CD BOOTLEGS: ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSE (Home Entertainment Network HEN 063-1/2): Straight copy of the HEAVEN AND EARTH bootleg, packaged in a deluxe digipack format. European release from 2003. Running time is 43 minutes. [Thanks to Alexander Rack for the info!] HEAVEN AND EARTH (Bondage Music BON269/270): Japanese bootleg from 2002. 3 tracks from an alleged Earth jam session from 1969 appear at the end of this Japanese bootleg of the Asbury Park 8/5/75 soundboard. |
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| 1969 | "Song For Jim" | Song For Jim | This unreleased demo is the earliest known studio recording of the band then known as Earth. "Song For Jim" (a.k.a. “For Jim”) was written as a tribute to their manager’s love of jazz. Early on, Jim Simpson did his best to expose the band to jazz and blues artists, in hopes of inspiring them creatively. When Chris Welch interviewed Simpson for the book ‘BLACK SABBATH’ [1982, now out of print], Simpson mentioned that he still had his treasured copy of this demo, along with one for “Blue Suede Shoes”. Photos of this demo record have appeared in the BLACK SABBATH APPRECIATION SOCIETY and KILLING YOURSELF TO DIE fanzines. The record definitely bills the artist as 'EARTH'. While this first demo may not have done much for the band, it did introduce the band to the man whom would produce its first three albums. The record itself remains unreleased and in the possession of original manager Jim Simpson. Very short snippets from these songs were sampled for us at the beginning of the BLACK SABBATH STORY – VOLUME 1 video, but have never been circulated in their complete form. People have been begging the band for years to release this stuff, but I’ve gotten the impression that they may be a bit embarrassed by it! In one interview with the band, Ozzy joked that the band had planted landmines around Jim Simpson's house, just in case he tries to release it! I'm still not 100% clear on when this demo was recorded, but it appears to have been before the session for "The Rebel" took place in August '69. Official Videos: THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME 1 [Just a short sample] |
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| 8/22/69 | "The Rebel" | London | The Rebel | One of the most sought after early recordings by the band is this still unreleased demo. Recorded in their final days as EARTH, although the actual record clearly bears their new name - 'Black Sabbath'. On the day following this session, the band played one final gig as Earth in Kilcaldy, Scotland. One of EARTH’s first recording sessions took place at Trident Studios in St. Anne’s Court in Soho, which was an 8-track facility at the time. Overseeing the session was Gus Dudgeon, who had also worked with Locomotive and would later produce albums for Elton John and David Bowie. The band was less than impressed with Gus, who kept using Locomotive as the benchmark for anything they did. It was than that engineer Rodger Bain was offered his first chance to produce a record…and the rest is history. The band had just returned from a German tour to begin rehearsing for this recording session. Manager Jim Simpson suggested that they record "The Rebel", which was written by his Locomotive band mate and keyboardist, Norman Haines. Haines also took part in this session, playing organ and piano. Shortly thereafter, the band recorded yet another Haines composition "When I Come Down", which was retitled "When I Came Down" for the Sabbath version. The band chose not to release either recording, although these demos were probably used by Jim Simpson to shop the band around to different record labels. Although it is difficult to judge the song from the 20-30 second sample that appears in THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME 1 video, “The Rebel” does sound like a fairly lightweight song that lacks the heaviness you'd expect from Black Sabbath. The song begins with a few piano chords from Norman and then quickly builds up into a short and snappy guitar break by Iommi. The 1st verse sounds very downbeat and features the keyboards prominently. Maybe someday we'll get to hear the rest? Official Videos: THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME 1 |
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| 9/69 | Trident Studios | London | ??? | "Sabbath's first attempt, "The Rebel", had been shelved, since the band the management alike thought the song too 'pop' to make a striking debut. Returning to Trident Studios to try again, they recorded several numbers which would be considered not only for the single but for their first album." [from HBWOS, pg. #32] | |
| 10/69 | "When I Came Down" - Birmingham Arts Lab | Birmingham | When I Came Down [acetate demo], When I Came Down [alternate version with Norman Haines on keys], The Wizard [demo] | Sabbath tried out this Norman Haines song as a possible single just before they began work on their 1st album. For more details on this song, read the complete article. | |
| 10/69 | Regent Sound Studios [Recording sessions for BLACK SABBATH] | London | REAL Outtakes: Warning [alternate version] & much, much more.... FAKE DEMOS include: Black Sabbath, Behind The Wall Of Sleep, Wicked World |
While there IS some new evidence to suggest that there ARE demos and outtakes from these sessions in existence, they have yet to surface publically. One brief mention of these tapes was made in a small news item for Record Collector magazine in 2003. These tapes are also said to include some studio banter and are taken from the reel-to-reel 8 track masters. At this point it's just a question of WHEN the public at large will get to hear them. Unfortunately, there are also some bootlegs out there that just confuse the whole issue. As of February 2006, all boots that currently claim to contain demos for the 1st album are in fact quite bogus. Like so many other alleged Black Sabbath studio demos from the 70's, these fake demos have been reengineered to sound as if they are something new and different. CD Bootlegs: SABBATH'S BLOODY DEMOS - Fake! |
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| 11/11/69 | Maida Vale Studios [John Peel's TOP GEAR radio session] | London | Behind The Wall Of Sleep, N.I.B., Black Sabbath, Devil's Island | This obscure radio session is mentioned in Ken Garner’s book IN SESSION TONIGHT (1993 BBC books), which details all of the known Radio 1 radio sessions. Black Sabbath worked with producer John Walters at BBC’s Maida Vale on Delaware Road in London just 5 days before the recording of their debut album began! The first three songs were broadcast on 11/29/69, while the 4th track (“Devil’s Island”) did not air until a 3/21/70 rebroadcast of this program. According to the book HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH, "Devil's Island" was a working title for the song "Sleeping Village". Aside from the lost DOEBIDOE TV session in Holland, this is the only other known recorded performance of this song. If the show DOES exist, this would be an amazing find for Sabbath collectors. I have been investigating this possibility, but it isn't easy to get answers from the BBC on this sort of thing. There are some that speculate that it could have been lost forever, since BBC wiped many of their early tapes during the 80’s and 90’s. But I'm still holding out on the hope that it is either mislabeled or misplaced somewhere in their vast libraries. It's also possible that one of the original band members holds a copy of this in their personal collections. This is NOT the same session that is circulating as 'John Peel's Top Gear'. That is a decidedly different performance, which was more than likely recorded for John Peel's 'Sunday Show' in April 1970. |
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| 11/16/69 | Rugman's Youth Club - Whitesands | Dumfries | Set 1 [joined in progress]: Black Sabbath [joined in progress during the fast section - only 2 minutes], Let Me Love You Baby, Behind The Wall Of Sleep [1st performance], Blue Blooded Man [1st performance] Set 2: Song For Jim [instrumental with Tony on flute!] -> Bill Ward's Drum Solo -> A Song For Jim [reprise], The Warning [small cut during reel switch, but resumes], Wicked World, Behind The Wall Of Sleep [with Jazz Improvisation section at end - 2nd performance], Early One Morning, N.I.B. [with alternate lyrics], Blue Blooded Man [2nd performance] |
Unheard for 36 years, this rough diamond first surfaced in early 2005, thanks to the taper - Alex Wilson. When Alex first brought me news of his recording, I was initally dumbstruck by the magnitude of what he was claiming to have. It's the sort of find that most Black Sabbath collectors dream of. I obtained more details from him and quickly realized that this was truly the real deal. Although I was completely thrilled with the news of this discovery, it took me about a week to pull my thoughts together for the official announcement on my What's News page. Almost overnight, Dumfries '69 became one of the most important and sought after live recordings on my list. Why? Aside from being the earliest confirmed live recording of the band within the public domain, it's also the missing link between the band once known as Earth and Black Sabbath. You can hear elements of both identities amongst the raucous, swinging blues numbers and the primal renditions of several songs from their debut album. In fact, this show took place around the time they had recorded their first album, which wouldn't be released until February 13th, 1970. Sabbath tape collectors will find great joy in hearing several songs which have never been available in any form, such as the covers of Buddy Guy's "Let Me Love You Baby", Elmore James' "Early One Morning" and the Alvin Lee-ish blues rock of "Blue Blooded Man". The quality of the tape is 'very good' clear mono. There are a number of volume fluxes and signal dropouts in the nearly 40-year-old tape stock, a few of which won't be easily repairable. But none of these unfortunate flaws are enough to spoil the magic of hearing this vintage show! Alex tells me this is actually a 1st generation copy of the original master, which had begun to deteriorate long ago. Thankfully, he was wise enough to salvage the tape by making this reel to reel copy. Dumfries '69 was recorded in mono with a Grundig Reel to Reel recorder by Scotland native, Alex Wilson, who was actually there to record the opening act (Amplified Heat). Alex began rolling tape at the tail end of the first set, managing to get the final 2 minutes of "Black Sabbath" in all of its early primal beauty. This was followed by the set closer, "Let Me Love You Baby", before Ozzy announces that they would be taking a break for "a half hours time". The second set begins very interestingly with a live rendition of "A Song For Jim", the still unreleased demo track that was done as a gift for their original Jim Simpson. The difference here is that Tony puts his guitar down and plays the main theme on the flute!! Up until now, we've only heard stories of Tony playing the flute during the early live shows. The song sounds very much like a Jethro Tull number and is completely instrumental. The majority of that track is dominated by an extended drum solo by Bill Ward. A 17-minute version of "The Warning" allows us our first opportunity to hear that song live in its complete form. This arrangement gives us some idea of what pieces may have been cut from the edited studio version that appeared on their first album. There is a small cut towards the end of the song (due to a reel change), but it doesn't appear that any more than a minute of the song is missing. A refreshingly shorter album-length version of "Wicked World" is played here, long before it had been extended to epic proportions by Tony Iommi's guitar solo. "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" includes the same jazz vamp that is also heard on a few other early live recordings (such as Koln, Berlin and Paris '70). It occurred to me that this additional section might have originally been a part of the song. Notice on the studio version how the song ends almost strangely with Bill playing a steady walk out on the drums. And then we have "N.I.B.", which appears here with entirely different verse lyrics! It may be a while before the tape finally gets a public airing, but it will undoubtedly be worth the wait! |
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| 1/9/70 | Sabbath releases 1st single - "Evil Woman" | Evil Woman | Black Sabbath's very first single in the U.K., "Evil Woman (Don't You Play Your Games With Me)", was actually a cover song! A Minneapolis blues-rock quintet scored a U.S. top 20 hit with this song, but Sabbath’s version never charted. The song was included on the U.K. edition of BLACK SABBATH, but was replaced by “Wicked World” on the U.S. release. "Evil Woman" used to be something of a collectible in the United States during the 70's and 80's. During recent years, it has appeared on numerous imports and compilations. There aren't any live versions of this song in circulation, although they did allegedly perform it on Dutch TV for DOEBIDOE in April 1970. Aaron R. wrote in to say that a Mono mix of "Evil Woman" was issued on Fontana TF 1067. This is allegedly the only such Mono mix of a Sabbath single. If anyone knows of a different Mono mix, please let me know! |
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| 3/4/70 | Kouzenthans | Koln (Cologne) | Behind The Wall Of Sleep -> Jazz Improvisation [often mistitled as "Rat Salad"] , War Pigs [alternate lyrics], Paranoid [appears on L'OLYMPIA, but source is unconfirmed] | Good audience recording, which is among the earliest live recordings of Sabbath in circulation. This mysterious live fragment has been circulating as Koln 3/4/70, but I have my doubts about this. For one, I haven't been able to find any mention of such a gig in their early itineraries. Both the venue name and date are often misinterpreted. Jan Hoel pointed out to me that 'Kouzenthans' is probably just a mispelling of "Konzerthaus", which is German for 'concert hall'. The date for this tape is often listed as April 3rd, 1970, but this is just a common date transposition error. Sabbath were playing in West Croydon, England on April 3rd. The sound of this tape is somewhat boomy, but clear enough to appreciate. It's a spirited performance that might seem slightly more so due to the slightly fast tape speed on the MASTERS OF GERMANY source, which is currently the only known bootleg to contain these tracks. "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" contains a jazz section at the tail end of the song, which also appears on several live recordings from this era. My theory is that this was originally part of the song, but was edited out of the album version. Sabbath continued to perform the full version (with the jazz section) until the end of 1970. When "BTWOS" was resurrected for later tours, they reverted to the album version. While this can’t be stated with any certainty (until the true source and date have been confirmed), this tape may contain the earliest known live recording of “Walpurgis", which was later re-titled "War Pigs" with new lyrics. The rendition of "Walpurgis" on this tape is similar to the one on the John Peel 4/26/71 Sunday Show session, with Tony playing some quirky fills that weren't used on the final recorded version. And of course, Ozzy was singing the original lyrics. CD-R’s: L'OLYMPIA: The two bonus tracks on this CD-R boot of the Paris '73 show are allegedly from Koln '70. Interestingly, "Paranoid" is listed as the 2nd track. Assuming the date is correct for this show, this would be impossible. "Paranoid" wasn't written until the PARANOID album sessions in June! It is more than likely a mislabeled "Walpurgis". If anyone has this boot, please let me know what the last track is from! MASTERS OF GERMANY (Burning Bush): The first source to surface for Koln 3/4/70. Tape speed runs too fast. Also contains an audience recording from Speyer, Germany - September 4th, 1971. [Running time - 12:47] |
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| 4/26/70 | John Peel's 'Sunday Show' (Radio Session) | London | Fairies Wear Boots, Behind the Wall of Sleep, Walpurgis [a.k.a. War Pigs – original lyrics], Black Sabbath [contains a 3rd verse and different lyrics] | This BBC performance was mentioned in the April 18th, 1970 edition of New Musical Express: "Black Sabbath and Medicine Head are the groups featured in concert in John Peel's 'Sunday Show' on Radio 1 on Sunday, April 26 - and this broadcast is repeated in the Wednesday edition of "Sounds Of The 70's" on April 29." In 1997, Ozzy included 4 songs from his "basement tapes" on his compilation, THE OZZMAN COMETH. 2 songs were featured on the 1st disc, while the other 2 were added as bonus tracks (along with an interview). The odd thing about this version is that it has been edited to sound as if it were actually a demo or rehearsal recording. In fact, most of us who hadn’t heard their 1970 BBC radio appearance fell for this explanation. But upon discovering the other bootlegged version of these songs WITH crowd noise, collectors began to suspect that something was awry. This uncut version of this radio session is often labelled as 'John Peel's Top Gear - 11/11/69' or even misdated as 11/27/70. But these dates are clearly wrong! If you compare the confirmed set list for the 11/11/69 radio broadcast with this one, you'll see that we're dealing with a different show here. It would make more sense that this recording is from their April '70 appearance on John Peel's Sunday Show - a performance which has been confirmed by the New Musical Express article. The most notable track in my opinion is the early version of “War Pigs”, which was actually called “Walpurgis”. The lyrics are completely different from what the song became when they were re-written for the PARANOID album. Despite Ozzy’s decision to use the original lyrics for this song, this performance still took place after PARANOID had been already recorded. In fact, Ozzy continued to sing the “Walpurgis” lyrics up through the end of the year, as evidenced by the Paris 12/20/70 video. Tony hits a few sour notes during the intro and main solo for “Fairies Wear Boots”, which makes this rendition stand out a bit from the rest. For a while, I was hung up on the fact that "Fairies Wear Boots" had been performed, which forced me to push the date for this tape back as far as September '70! Based on their gigging schedule, it would have been next to impossible for Sabbath to have done this show any earlier than that. The "Fairies Wear Boots" theory (based on Chris Welch’s remarks in his out-of-print book Black Sabbath) was that “Fairies” was inspired by their June 13th, 1970 gig in Newcastle, where the band were attacked by some thugs onstage during their performance. Tony’s shiner in the studio photos taken just days later seemed to confirm this. The only fly in the ointment here is that I later discovered an interview with Geezer dated 6/13/70 (in NME) where he mentions having written “War Pigs” and “Fairies” already! So much for that theory! Some other credible clues towards finding the correct source for this performance came in from Kev Hudson (from the U.K.) in April 2003. Kev Hudson: “John Peel's Top Gear show was a programme consisting of records and BBC studio session tracks only, whereas Peel also hosted a weekly live show, originally called "The Sunday Concert Programme", but later shortened to simply "In Concert" (the series is also mentioned in Garner's book). I recall that Sabbath were also featured on this live programme some time late in 1970, and over the past few years I have been collating details of all the "Concert" shows, as no-one else has done it before! The concerts sometimes featured just one band for the whole hour, but more often two bands shared the time with 25-30 minute sets. I've managed to track down recordings by the Pink Fairies, Jody Grind, Lancaster, Caravan, Family, Tempest, etc., but I've never come across Sabbath's set until today, where I found it mentioned on Jarkko's site.” Official Releases: Ozzy Osbourne-THE OZZMAN COMETH (Sony): Best sounding version, but all of the audience sound has been edited out to make it sound like a demo?! Released on 11/11/97 CD-R's: JOHN PEEL'S 'TOP GEAR' SESSIONS 11/11/69: Incorrect date; The only reason to get this version is for completeness, since the quality is worst than most versions I’ve heard; Also, the tape speed is too fast. ULTIMATE RARITIES – VOLUME 1 (2002 Aces High): Contains audience sounds that are edited out of the OZZMAN COMETH version. Slightly better source than John Peel’s Top Gear Sessions CD-R. RARE TRACKS - VOLUME 1: Contains all 4 songs. RARE TRACKS - VOLUME 3: "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" only. |
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| 5/4/70 | Recording Session for TV and Radio | Paris | ? | This recording session in Paris is among the gig dates listed on an April 1970 itinerary from Jim Simpson to Tony Iommi (see Miscellaneous pictures section). I’m still trying to confirm whether or not the session even took place. Black Sabbath did make a number of European TV and radio appearances during the spring of 1970, but exact details have been daunting to find. Don’t confuse this session with the legendary Paris 12/70 TV appearance that was included on THE BLACK SABBATH STORY VOLUME I. Although there have been many questions about the veracity of the date and venue for the Paris ’70 video, one fact makes this date an unlikely candidate. The inclusion of “Paranoid” (which wasn’t written the end of the PARANOID sessions in June) rules out the possibility of these being the same TV appearance. |
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| 5/14/70 | Jazz Festival - Plumpton Race Course | Plumpton | See Berlin 6/26/70 | This is a misdated copy of Berlin 6/26/70. Early bootlegs attributed the tape to either Sabbath’s first show at Plumpton Race Course (on 5/4/70) OR the larger festival gig they played on 8/9/70. Other alleged dates include 5/23/70 and 8/8/70, both of which are even more implausible. Read my notes for Berlin 6/26/70 to learn more about this recording. | |
| 5/22/70 | DOEBIDOE Dutch TV Performance | Hilversum | Black Sabbath, Evil Woman, The Wizard, Behind The Wall Of Sleep, N.I.B., Sleeping Village, Warning | On May 22nd, 1970, AVRO Productions filmed a “40-minute spectacular” of Sabbath playing most of their debut album live in the studio for a program called DOEBIDOE. It was mentioned in the 5/16/70 edition of Disc and Music Echo and has been confirmed by AVRO in 2003. This “lost” Dutch TV performance would be a rather important show to be found, for it contains the only known live recording "Evil Woman", as well as some very rare live recordings of songs like “Sleeping Village”, "The Warning" and "The Wizard". Sadly, AVRO Productions told Armijn Hemel (one of my researchers in The Netherlands) that these tapes were wiped long ago. Oh man!! Can you imagine how amazing it would be to see this film today? There’s always a slim chance that someone managed to make a copy before the magnetic particles on this master were blown into oblivion. What a great and tragic discovery this was! |
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| 5/25/70 | 'Beat Club' - German TV | Bremen | Black Sabbath [with rain and church bells intro], Blue Suede Shoes [from soundcheck] | Recorded live in the studio in Germany’s now legendary Radio Bremen studios on May 25th, 1970, this session aired on Episode #55 of The Beat Club on May 30th. It is the earliest video that we currently have of the band performing live. This live-in-the–studio rendition of “Black Sabbath” begins with the same rain and church bells intro that opens their debut album. This is a slow, plodding and primal reading of the song, but it’s raw and dangerous sounding. The real treat here is getting to see the boys so early on in their careers! Next, they launch into a high-octane version of the Carl Perkins’ rock and roll staple “Blue Suede Shoes” with an intensity that is in complete contrast to the song they played before. Ozzy sings in the characteristically nasal tone that he had during this period, while Iommi spews out a spiraling guitar solo over the frantic shuffle beat. This is the only recorded version of Sabbath playing this song. The band didn’t intend for this soundcheck recording to air, but the producers thought it was worthy of the program. Sabbath did record a few other covers during this period, including “Warning” [originally recorded by Aynsley Dunbar’s Retaliation] and Crow’s “Evil Woman”. By this point in their career, the band was transitioning away from playing other people’s songs, preferring instead to forge ahead with their own brave new sound. These ‘Beat Club’ tracks have been included on countless bootlegs and also released commercially on video. Official CD's: BLACK BOX (2004 Warner/Rhino): Video versions of both ‘Beat Club’ appearances are featured on the bonus DVD. Bootleg CD’s: BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO (1995 Planet): Japanese bootleg. Includes all 4 songs from both ‘Beat Club’ appearances + an audience recording from San Francisco 11/70. IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PAST (Metal 110): Appears to be a copy of BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO. ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN (Backdoor Possibilities / Evil Jesus ARF 1): “Blue Suede Shoes” only NEWCASTLE NIGHTS. CD-R: WE LOVE YOU ALL (DO AS THOU WILT) (Mighty Atom 002): U.S. boot includes all 4 ‘Beat Club’ tracks alongside songs from Don Kirshner ’75, Live Aid ’85 and Costa Mesa 11/15/92. VEIL OF DOOM (Head): All 4 ‘Beat Club’ tracks + most of Paris 12/70. Official CD: BLACK MASS (1999 New Millennium Communications – Pilot 49) This mixed mode CD includes both audio and Quicktime video versions of both of Sabbath’s 1970 'Beat Club' appearances. U.K. release. Official Videos: BEAT CLUB - THE BEST OF ’70 (1999 Radio Bremen): Officially sanctioned release done by the producers of the TV show. One song (“Black Sabbath”) from their first ‘Beat Club’ appearance was included on this compilation. |
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| 6/16/70 | Fake PARANOID Demos | Iron Man, Planet Caravan | These fake demos are simply original album tracks that have been reengineered to sound as if they are something new and different. Don't waste your time on these! CD Bootlegs: SABBATH'S BLOODY DEMOS |
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| 6/26/70 | Audimax der Freien Universität - Henry-Ford-Bau | West Berlin | Paranoid [with alternate lyrics], Iron Man [with alternate lyrics], Guitar intro -> Black Sabbath [with alternate lyrics & extra verse], Walpurgis [a.k.a. War Pigs – original lyrics] Hand Of Doom -> Rat Salad, N.I.B., Wicked World, Fairies Wear Boots | Click NOTES link for a complete review. | |
| 7/5/70 | 'Progressive Pop Festival' - Ostseehalle (East Sea Hall) | Kiel | See Berlin 6/26/70 | Same as Berlin 6/26/70 tape. Read my notes for Berlin 6/26/70 for more details. | |
| 8/8/70 | Plumpton Race Track - Lewes | East Sussex | See Berlin 6/26/70 | This is a misdated copy of Berlin 6/26/70. Early bootlegs attributed the tape to either Sabbath’s first show at Plumpton Race Course (on 5/4/70) OR the larger festival gig they played on 8/9/70. Other alleged dates include 5/23/70 and 8/8/70, both of which are even more implausible. Read my notes for Berlin 6/26/70 to learn more about this recording. | |
| 8/22/70 | Betuwse Popfestival | Tiel | N.I.B. | 12 seconds of Black Sabbath performing "N.I.B." appears on 35mm new reel from Polygoon Hollands Nieuws. There are just over two minutes of footage all, including bits of Golden Earring, The Kinks and The Dream. Could there be more??? | |
| 9/26/70 | 'Beat Club' - German TV | Bremen | Paranoid, Iron Man | These tracks are taken from the audio portion of their 2nd appearance on German music program “Beat Club” – episode #59. This was shortly after the release of the PARANOID album. Sabbath performed live on this TV soundstage with loaned equipment, leaving many viewers to believe that the band really used Orange amps! The new equipment may be at least some of the reason that the band isn’t sounding as stunning as usual. Tony’s guitar goes slightly out of tune during “Iron Man” and he seems to be generally going through the motions to make this one work. Ozzy completely messes up the first two verses and ends up inverting and reusing several earlier lines from the song. Official CD’s: BLACK BOX (2004 Sony) Bootleg CD’s: BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO (1995 Planet – Japan), IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PAST, ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN (Backdoor Possibilities ARF1), NEWCASTLE NIGHTS. CD-R’s: WE LOVE YOU ALL (DO AS THOU WILT) (Mighty Atom Records 002) VEIL OF DOOM, SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH DEMOS (Our Laws Records) VCD’s: BLACK MASS [U.K. Release] |
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| 10/3/70 | POPSHOP | Brussels | See 12/19/70 | It is highly likely that this the famous Paris 12/19/70 video was actually filmed in Brussels on this date. However, I will not make this correction until I have found definitive proof of the date and venue. | |
| 10/30/70 | Glassboro State College | Glassboro | See 4/2/71 Philadelphia - Misdated show | Incorrectly dated copy of Philadelphia 4/2/71. See the notes for that show for more information. | |
| 11/70 | U.S. radio promo for BLACK SABBATH | BLACK SABBATH Radio Promo | This radio spot was done by Warner Brothers to promote Sabbath's first album in America. It was apparently recorded around the time of their first U.S. tour, which would date this as 'Winter 1970'. CD-R’s: DISTURBING THE POLICE |
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| 11/2/70 | The Club | Rochester | See Berlin 6/26/70 | Yet another BAD copy of Berlin ’70 that someone is trying to pass off as something different. This tape has been degraded and edited in an attempt to disguise its true origin. I am told that a German trader was originally responsible for perpetuating this fraud. The same tape was also traded as Fillmore East, NYC 11/10/70. | |
| 11/10/70 | Fillmore East | NYC | See 6/26/70 | Mislabelled 'hoax' tape that is actually an incomplete (and poor) copy of Berlin 6/26/70. | |
| 11/22/70 | Fillmore West | San Francisco | BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO version [This version plays about 1.3 semi-tones too fast]: Set 1 – M.C. introduction -> Paranoid <2:34>, N.I.B. <5:12>, War Pigs <7:03>, Guitar intro -> Black Sabbath <8:11>, Iron Man <6:03> Set 2 - 2nd M.C. introduction -> Behind The Wall Of Sleep -> Jazz Improvisation <4:41>, Hand Of Doom -> Rat Salad <6:55>, Fairies Wear Boots <6:08>, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo I -> Orchid -> Guitar Solo II -> Wicked World [reprise] <13:34> SPEED CORRECTED VERSION [RT-65:02]: Set 1 - M.C. introduction -> Paranoid <2:46>, N.I.B. <5:36>, War Pigs <7:36>, Guitar intro -> Black Sabbath <8:49>, Iron Man <6:31> Set 2 - 2nd M.C. Intro -> Behind The Wall Of Sleep -> Jazz Improvisation <5:02>, Hand Of Doom -> Rat Salad <7:29>, Fairies Wear Boots <6:33>, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo I -> Orchid -> Guitar Solo II -> Wicked World [reprise] <14:37> |
Very good to excellent audience recording, often mistaken for a soundboard. This is a remarkably clear tape that has fooled many into believing it was recorded from the board. But if you want to sort this out for yourself, then just put on a pair of headphones. You’ll hear some very prominent handclaps near the microphones (as you would hear on most audience tapes), especially between the songs. The taper captured two separate sets from Sabbath at the Fillmore West (see track listing). There are some cuts between tracks, so it’s not clear whether this contains complete performances or is simply a compilation of those 2 sets. BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO gives 11/27/70 as the date for this show, but this is absolutely wrong. Sabbath performed 2 sets a night at the Fillmore West from November 19th through 22nd with James Gang and Sugarloaf. By November 27th, they were already 3,000 miles away at The Sunshine In at Asbury Park, NJ performing with Cactus and Steel Mill (featuring Bruce Springsteen). I have settled upon the November 22nd date, thanks to help of Kevin Walker. He has a low generation copy of this show with that date, as well as a recording of the James Gang set from the same night. I would definitely recommend seeking out the speed corrected CD-R version of this show, since both of the 'official' bootleg is annoyingly fast. Even if the pitch doesn’t seem to far off, the tempo is markedly faster than normal. Marco, the moderator on Black_Sabbath@yahoogroups.com, speed corrected the BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO boot and distributed several copies through a trading vine back in 2002. I was even more impressed with his work after I tried doing a speed correction of this show myself. Speed correction is difficult to do on the earlier Sabbath shows because the guitar and bass tunings aren’t entirely consistent from show to show. A few more thoughts on the San Francisco ’70 tape: At the end of “Paranoid”, Ozzy says: “That was ‘Paranoid’, our latest single which is also on the album which is going to be released in February. Thank you.” PARANOID was already out in the U.K. as of September 18th, 1970, but was released in the States in January 1971. Interesting enough, the band were basically promoting their debut album during the 1st U.S. visit, given that PARANOID wasn’t yet on the shelves! During Tony’s solo, he plays some droning raga-like melodies that may have been the pre-cursor for the opening measures of “After Forever”. [Thanks to Paul Jarolimek, Peter Bambini, Kevin Walker and Niko for their contributions to this research. And yet another “thank you” goes out to Marco for sending me a speed corrected copy of this show!] Bootlegs CD’s: BLACK NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO (Planet Records - Japan): Plays too fast! Also contains tracks from both 1970 ‘Beat Club’ appearances]. There are also speed corrected CD-R versions of this bootleg too without the ‘Beat Club’ bonus tracks. IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PAST CD-R’s: LIVE AT THE FILLMORE WEST |
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| 11/27/70 | Fillmore West | San Francisco | See 11/21/70 | Incorrect show date for San Francisco 11/21/70 tape. The band did play several shows at the Fillmore West during the previous week. A week later (on this date), they were at The Sunshine In with Steel Mill and Cactus in Asbury Park, NJ. There IS a soundboard tape of Steel Mill’s opening set in circulation, so maybe the same person recorded Sabbath too? It can’t hurt to wish for it! Joe Siegler also mailed me an original ticket stub dated 11/27/70 that proves there were originally plans for the band to return to the U.K. for a show in Maryport. For whatever reason, the Maryport gig was cancelled and Sabbath ended their 1st U.S. tour in New Jersey. See my comments for San Francisco 11/21/70 for more details on this tape. Special thanks to Peter Bambini (Brucebase.com) and Joe Siegler for helping me sort this out! |
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| 12/12/70 | K.B. Hallen | København (Copenhagen) | Alleged to exist, but not circulating at this time. | ||
| 12/19/70 | L'Olympia (The Olympia Theater) | Paris | Intro -> Paranoid [One of my favorite renditions ever!] <3:26>, Hand Of Doom [Ozzy scrambles the lyrics in this rendition] -> Rat Salad <8:05>, Iron Man <6:32>, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath <8:34>, N.I.B. <5:55>, Behind The Wall Of Sleep -> Jazz Improvisation <5:55>, War Pigs [Ozzy scrambles the lyrics again!] <7:56>, Fairies Wear Boots <6:36> [Running times from WAR PIGS - 1991 Great Dane] | 'Paris ‘70' (as it is best known) is one of the most popular films of Black Sabbath in concert during the 70's. It is one of only a few pro-shot concert films available to us and certainly the most complete one from this era. However, there is more than enough evidence to indicate that this show was actually recorded in Brussels and NOT Paris at this recording has so long been attributed to. The most likely candidate would seem to be a scheduled gig on October 3rd. However, I won't change the date on this one until I can find definitve proof, as well as a venue name. Originally filmed on 16mm for the Belgian TV program “Pop Shop”, it was later re-broadcast on British TV by Yorkshire and Tyne Tees Television, where it aired in 2-30 minute episodes. Footage from this show later appeared on some official releases, such as THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME 1 and Ozzy Osbourne’s DON’T BLAME ME autobiography. The audio portion was also used for the 2002 live compilation PAST LIVES. It goes without saying that this is one of the most essential Black Sabbath videos to have in your collection. The performance is top notch and it is the earliest known pro-shot film of the band playing a full concert. I get questions all the time about whether the band is going to release the whole thing on video. Given that they have already issued much of the audio from this show on the live compilation PAST LIVES, it remains a likely possibility. Ozzy does sing some different lyrics for many songs and improvises some new ones during “Hand Of Doom” and “War Pigs”. During “War Pigs”, he even resorts to the original lyrics for “Walpurgis” during one verse. Although it wasn’t uncommon for Ozzy to forget lyrics, I do think makes it more likely that the songs were still somewhat new to the band at this show. Although it is rarely mentioned in the track listings, “Rat Salad” is performed after “Hand Of Doom”. It would also be the last time that this song would turn up in a live Sabbath recording. These “alternate lyrics” have given us some suspicions about the date for this show, which is well after the release of PARANOID. Since “Paranoid” was not written until the end of the PARANOID sessions in June ’70, the true date for this video would have to be sometime after then. Oddly enough, the true origin of this film has been the subject of vigorous debate by fans and researchers. Recently, I discovered several article from some French music papers that state that the actual date for December show in Paris was December 19th, 1970, not the 20th as it always been written. Thierry Bauwens suggested that the actual show may not have been performed until after midnight, but I cannot think of many Sabbath shows from that period where they did play at such an hour. Most shows were done between 7:30 PM and 11:30 PM. There are many small clues that do indicate that the film was more than likely NOT done at the L'Olympia Theatre in Paris on December 20th, 1970. And while it is true that Sabbath played at the L'Olympia Theater on the PREVIOUS day (December 19th), the venue they are performing in does not at all resemble L'Olympia. Max Robinson (from Italy) is one of several people helping me to research this mystery. Max came up with the following conclusions about the Paris 1970 video. 1. The UK TV speaker just before the show does not say when or where the show has been recorded. 2. During the show there is no hint of any kind that helps thinking it is been done in one place or another. 3. During the backstage scene there is a writing on a wall "Defense de Fumer" which, in French, means "No Smoking". 4. In a big part of Belgium the main language is French. 5. Credits (in French) at the end of the program show a lot of names that sound French but also quite a lot of names with Belgian / Dutch origin. Those same names (Rents, Arnaud, Verhagen, Zurstrassen, Meyer) are usually found in the credits of many little specials that Belgian TV used to produce in the period 1969-1973. I do have some of those programs on Yes, E.L.P., Focus, Curved Air, Genesis. 6. At the very end there is an indication "Coproduction RTB/ORTF". Well RTB was Belgian National TV and ORTF was French National TV. "At the end of my investigation I can only say that Belgian TV is surely part of it, but whether the show have been recorded in Paris or Brussels or elsewhere it can't be said by simply seeing the video." Additional clues include the fact that the venue they are playing in marks no resemblance to L'Olympia whatsoever. Also, Slugnoir pointed out that the the name Cressida can be read on the drum kit behind Bill's, indicating that they were the other band that was performing that night. [Special thanks to Sylvain Benoit, Max Robinson, Petri Kaasalainen, Slugnoir and Thierry Bauwens for their research assistance!] Official Releases: PAST LIVES (2002 Divine): Seven tracks from this show turned up on Disc 2 of this official live compilation, which also includes a remastered LIVE AT LAST & 3 songs from the Asbury Park '75 pre-FM recordings. Tracks include "Hand Of Doom", an unlisted "Rat Salad", "Iron Man", "Black Sabbath", "N.I.B.", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" and "Fairies Wear Boots". May simply be a cleaned up version of one of the better bootlegs. THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME 1 (VHS: 1991 Warner Reprise / DVD: 2002 Sanctuary): Probably the best quality video source in circulation. Only two songs from Paris ’70 are included - "N.I.B. and "War Pigs". OZZY OSBOURNE – DON’T BLAME ME (VHS: 1992 Sony / DVD: 2003 Sony): Includes excerpts from “N.I.B.” and “Fairies Wear Boots”. Bootleg CD's: COME TO THE SABBATH (1990 Living Legend Records – LLRCD 061): Italian bootleg, which may very well be the best bootleg sounding source available! WAR PIGS (1991 Great Dane – GDRCD 9119 - Italy): Runner up for best quality, along with COPPER. "Black Sabbath" is incorrectly listed as track 8 on the cover art (it's actually #4). COPPER (Flashback World Productions - Luxembourg): The running times listed on the cover art are mostly wrong. Correct running times are as follows: Paranoid <3:27>, Hand Of Doom <7:50>, Iron Man <6:43>, N.I.B. <approx 6:00>, Behind The Wall Of Sleep <5:42>, War Pigs <7:51>, Fairies Wear Boots <6:34>, Black Sabbath <8:33> [RT-52:41]. From BSAS Volume 5 (1990): "According to the sleeve notes, the band includes two members with a curious, but familiar ring to their names: Tony Lommi and 'Greeze' Butler! The sound quality remains mukry despite having been digitally mastered, but it is a good deal better than many of the other recordings of dubious origin." IRON MAN FROM THE DARKNESS IRON MAN VOL. 1 - LIVE UNAUTHORIZED (Australia only release) ROCKSTARS IN CONCERT (Stemra Records - Holland) BLACK SABBATH LIVE (DV More Record-Italy CDDV 5522): Incomplete; lacks “N.I.B.” IRON MAN - BLACK SABBATH (Los Grandos Del Rock - Italy): Only 5 tracks from Paris ’70 + 3 from Cal Jam ‘74. PARANOID (1995 Alegra): Includes two songs from Cal Jam ‘74. [RT-55:59] LIVE 1970 (Armando Curu's Editore 1991): Incomplete – Lacks “War Pigs”. VEIL OF DOOM (Head): Also includes 'Beat Club' appearances from 1970. WAR PIGS (Made in Italy #0003): Same title, but not the Great Dane release [50:57] Bootleg LP’s: COPPER PARIS 20/12/70 Bootleg Cassettes: ROCKSTARS IN CONCERT [Stemra Records-Holland] CD-R’s: COMPLETE MP3 COLLECTION MORE SABBATH STUFF!! |
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| 12/20/70 | L'Olympia (The Olympia Theater) | Paris | See 12/19 | Nearly all official and bootleg sources for this tape proclaim the December 20th date. I have been able to confirm a performance on December 19th at the L’Olympia, but not a single mention of a show on the 20th. But even this minor discrepancy does not even scratch the surface of why I believe the alleged “Paris ‘70” video wasn’t even recorded in that city. For more on this controversy, read my comments for Paris 12/19/70. | |
| 1/71 | U.S. radio promo for PARANOID | PARANOID Radio Promo | This radio spot was done by Warner Brothers to promote the release of their 2nd album, PARANOID. This may have been recorded around the same time as the promo for BLACK SABBATH, since both albums were being promoted in the States around the time of their 1st U.S. tour. CD-R’s: DISTURBING THE POLICE |
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| 1/14/71 | City (Oval) Hall | Sheffield | War Pigs, Into The Void [alternate lyrics], Iron Man, Guitar intro -> Black Sabbath, After Forever [alternate lyrics], Wicked World, Fairies Wear Boots, Paranoid | This VG+ audience recording surfaced in December 2003, thanks to Harry Dean, Jarkko Aaltonen and SABBATHLIVE! An MP3 version of this show was posted on Christmas Day 2003. Includes the earliest (and currently the best) known live recordings of "Into The Void" and "After Forever" to date from the 70's, both with alternate lyrics! For many, this was the sort of live recording we’d all been hoping would soon appear. The quality is quite good and remarkably clear for its age and how it was recorded. The performance is a bit uneven and not one of the band’s more stellar evenings, but this Sheffield audience hardly seems to notice. Regardless – the sneak preview of the brand new songs was rewarding enough. MASTER OF REALITY wasn’t even released until July ’71! The tape speed begins shifting when the recorders batteries starting waning during “Wicked World”. The problem grows a bit worse during the last two tracks – “Paranoid” and “Fairies Wear Boots”. These defects are disappointing, but not enough to ruin an otherwise wonderful early audience tape. It is also important to note that this does NOT appear to be the complete show. During this era, Sabbath almost always began the show with “N.I.B.”, which is missing here. Instead, the tape begins with the 2nd song, “War Pigs”. This is a guess on my part, but none of the other shows from this era start with “War Pigs”. Be warned that many copies of this show in circulation were originally sourced from the 128 kbps MP3 source. Look for copies of SHEFFIELD ’71 with the “W.I.C.D.” bonus track if you want the best sounding copy. Visitor comments: Armijn Hemel: “Permission to drool? Listening to “War Pigs” now. For a bootleg, it's good, especially considering the age of the recording and the equipment back then. Amazing...” "What I really notice is that there's not that much audience noise, as in 'no jerks screaming all the time'. Don't know if it was crowded or not, but this doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't. I had made some pretty good recordings at a Dio gig, which was completely packed. They must have used a pretty good microphone and have been near the soundboard, or at least somewhere where it wasn't loud. Or maybe they used a microphone that doesn't pick up every sound. When I record (last concert was about two years ago), I usually have the problem that the sound is too loud and it's just noise you end up hearing, even though I'm usually next to the soundboard. I wish I could make more recordings with this quality." Kevin S.: “What a great show, and so clear, too. Pity about the speed problems on the last three songs, but it makes the first two-thirds of the show all the more sweet, I think.” See the PARANOID era Articles section for a complete article about this show. CD-R's: SHEFFIELD ’71 (2004 SL / Rock Steady Records): The definitive version! Sourced directly from the original master cassette and nicely re-mastered and equalized for optimum sound by RF. This CD-R was mysteriously seeded on STG in June 2004 without any mention of the mystery bonus track – a 54 second sample of the unreleased 1969 demo “When I Came Down”! MASTERS OF REALITY (2004 Digital Bitch Productions): This is a "fixed" version of the show, extracted from the MP3 version of the show; Thanks to HR for this one! CD BOOTLEGS: MASTER OF SHEFFIELD (Lost And Found): Japanese bootleg copy of SHEFFIELD '71. Get the trade copy.… |
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| 1/18/71 | Newcastle City Hall | Newcastle-Upon-Tyne | Paranoid, N.I.B., War Pigs, Into The Void, Iron Man, Black Sabbath, After Forever, Wicked World [incomplete], Fairies Wear Boots, E: Paranoid | Just surfaced in 2005! Mostly complete audience recording from PARANOID tour. Recorded by Alex W. (who also recorded Dumfries '69), this audience tape is unique for the fact that it contains TWO renditions of "Paranoid" performed on the very same night! Alex W.: "I've just found this recording that I have from the above date and I'm pleased to say it's the whole show I believe! I was reading your comments about the Sheffield show four days previous to this one and I can definately say that the following is the running order. I saw Sabbath a couple of days previous to this show at Edinburgh, and they had the same set for both shows. The opening number "Paranoid", "N.I.B.", "War Pigs", "Into The Void", "Iron Man", "Black Sabbath", "After Forever", "Wicked World" (sadly with one of my breaks in the middle again!), "Fairies Wear Boots", and finishing the evening off with "Paranoid" again! I remember talking to them after the Edinburgh show. I asked why they did it twice and they said it was to "get it out of the way" at the start for the pop fans. At first I couldn't understand why they did it again at the end! I haven,t listened to the tape all the way through yet for quality." |
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| 2/23/71 | The Forum | Inglewood | Tune-up -> Introduction, Paranoid, N.I.B., War Pigs, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo -> Wicked World [reprise], Fairies Wear Boots, Day Tripper [cuts] | Good to very good audience recording, all depending on which version you happen to find. SABBATHLIVE’s Guillaume Roos recently remastered his copy of the show and made the following observations. Guillaume Roos: “Every versions of this show I had heard so far (most certainly sourced from the "Inglewood 71" bootleg CDR) shared the same flaws, which is to say they played ridiculously fast, were pretty hissy, muddy and had numerous volume fluctuations. I tried to fix these flaws and here is the result. This remaster deserves a VG rating, with only a thin layer of tape phasing.” ”For the technical details lovers, here's what I did : “ - As I said, the speed was too high, so I rectified the pitch 1,5 semitones lower, bringing the total running time from 47 minutes to 52. - The left channel mainly contained the vocals and the drums, while the guitar and the bass were mainly on the right. So I EQed the two channels separately in order to clean the hiss and the saturated bass without altering the sound of each element. - Normalisation of the whole recording at 95% - Fixing of the volume fluctuations. - Removal of some cuts and new track splitting. ”Now, performance wise, this is a very good performance from the "Paranoid" era, really powerful and energetic. Sabbath had not reached the mastery they would gain during the "Master Of Reality" tour, but I don't think they ever were as raw and wild as they were during the "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid" tours.” ”One very interesting thing about this particular recording is the 19 seconds track at the very end which seems to be the beginning of a second encore after "Fairies Wear Boots". Unfortunately the tape cuts during the leading riff, so we only get to hear Ozzy cheering the crowd over the beginning of the song. If anyone guesses what this song is please tell me because I couldn't recognize it. It definitely sounds familiar, but I couldn't name it. Maybe a Beatles song? [The song is “Day Tripper”!] Anyway, enjoy this great testimony of Black Sabbath in their prime.” CD-R's: INGLEWOOD 1971 |
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| 3/2/71 | University Of North Carolina | Chapel Hill | Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Into The Void [alternate lyrics], Wicked World -> Guitar Solo -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots | Fair to nearly good audience recording. Chapel Hill '71 is a slightly distant and boomy sounding audience recording. I had previously been much more critical of this tape until I upgraded to a 1st generation copy. Aside from the cavernous sound of the tape, the biggest quality issue relates to the number of dropouts in the source tape. There are nearly a dozen or more in "N.I.B." alone, but thankfully these are mainly in just one channel. I was able to create a 'patched' version of this show, which minimizes the occurrence of these annoying dropouts. There is the also the squeal of the taper turning the recorder off and then on again after each song. Because of this self-editing, many of the stage raps are missing - but not all. Nit-picking aside, Chapel Hill '71 could be considered a 'good' recording at the very best. The running time is approximately 55 minutes once all the bad edits and extra silences have been trimmed away. What makes this show worthwhile is the pre-MASTER OF REALITY rendition of "Into The Void" that is performed in the middle of the show. Like the Sheffield and Newcastle ’71 shows, “Into The Void” contains different lyrics, much of which may have been improvised by Ozzy. It’s a decent enough performance by the band, but a rough testament. CD-R's: LIVE AT THE UNC |
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| 3/9/71 | Century's Paramus Theatre | Paramus | Tune up -> Ozzy talks to the audience, N.I.B., War Pigs [small cut in middle], Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Into The Void [alternate lyrics], Fairies Wear Boots, Paranoid | Good (at best) quality audience recording, which just surfaced as of 2005. Sabbath performed two shows for charity in Paramus, New Jersey. This show was sponsored by St. Matthews Episcopal Church Coffee House. The profits from this show went towards work support projects and inner-city missions. In early 2005, Sabbathlive received the following e-mail message from Ken Riccio, who was writing simply to confirm that the show happened. Ken Riccio: "I was at this show so I can confirm that it took place. I was 15 at the time and this was the very first concert I ever attended. The opening act was a great local band called Spider, they were an excellent band with some really good originals but they just seemed to disappear." Upon further discussion, Ken mentioned having a 1st generation copy of this never before circulated audience recording from the Paramus ’71 benefit show. It has been recorded by his friend, the late Bobby Hefferman. The original master cassette met an untimely death after it was fed to a hungry tape deck, so Ken’s 1st generation copy (on an ancient Ampex C60) is the only surviving source. Ken was kind enough to give me both the original cassette and his own CD transfer of the tape, complete with his own custom cover art! Here are the liner notes from his custom CD cover: “This disk was made from a vintage cassette recording by Bobby Hefferman. The sound quality, to say the least, was horrible since high fidelity portable cassette recorders weren’t exactly commonplace back in 1971. Besides – as freshmen in High School, we could barely afford the outrageous price of $5.00 for a concert let alone massive dollars for good recording equipment. But now with the miracle of modern recording software, I was able to raise the quality to a level somewhere in the range of terrible. For me, this disk is not so much about the sound – but more about the memory of that night. This was my very first concert, so the recording holds a special memory for me. I hope that even in its poor quality you’ll find your own enjoyable memory from that night.” “Don’t wait ‘til the end of your life to let it pass before your eyes and ears. Enjoy some of it now.” On the back cover, Ken inserted a small photo of his belated friend and the following note: “In memory of Bobby Hefferman. I enjoyed many memories of Bobby while making this disk. A friendship cut short, but long remembered.” I was touched by Ken’s tribute to his friend and also feel also that the show should inevitably be shared in the same spirit in which it was given. Since Ken’s initial recording of the show was compressed into MP3 before being authored as CD (simply a newbie mistake), I went ahead and did a new transfer of his 1st generation cassette. The tape is currently not in wide circulation, but may soon see a wider release. Ken was quite humble in rating his recording as “terrible”. Overall, the recording is fairly clear with just a slight murkiness in the high frequency response. It’s sometimes difficult to make out Ozzy’s stage raps, but the music is loud, clear and enjoyable. There’s a little bit of tape hiss underneath, but it’s not loud enough to be annoying. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the tape was for its age and the way in which it had been recorded. Not quite as nice as Sheffield 1/14/71, but not too much worse. Like many shows from the last U.S. tour to promote PARANOID, there’s a sense that Black Sabbath still need to prove something to American audiences. This New Jersey crowd are warm towards the band, but seem to be quietly studying them throughout the show. There is a long pause after Ozzy introduces the band while Tony tunes his guitar. Although it’s difficult to make out much of what Ozzy says here, you can hear him clearly say, “It smells rather nice in here”, obviously noting the fragrance of cannabis in the room. This would be the first of many times that Iommi would have to attend to his uncooperative instrument. The first few numbers (“N.I.B.” and “War Pigs”) seem a bit sluggish and uninspired in retrospect, but I’m sure the audience was still impressed by the wall of sound these 4 guys produced. The slower-than-usual tempo made me question the tape speed at first, but adjusting the pitch only made later songs sound too fast. There is a small cut in the middle of one of Tony’s solos for “War Pigs”, probably due to some damage that was inadvertently done to the master. You can hear the audience chattering a bit while Tony noodles through his opening guitar piece for “Black Sabbath”, which earns them a rapturous response at the end. After that somber number, Ozzy brings out the smelling salts as he petitions everyone to stand up and clap for “Iron Man”. We get another welcome pre-MASTER OF REALITY rendition of “Into The Void” with different lyrics on this tape, which I’d rate as a highlight for this somewhat lackluster gig. But don’t take my criticisms the wrong way either. I’m very thankful to Ken for allowing me to be a fly on the wall at a Sabbath show ‘back in the day’ when the band were still earning their medals. The band weren’t playing badly here, just not with the energy you’d expect. |
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| 3/25/71 | Henry Levitt Arena | Wichita | M.C. Announcements -> Band Introduction, Tune-up -> Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots, Ending Announcement, | VG audience recording that has minor flaws, but is still very impressive. Sabbath was playing a shortened set list here, due to the fact that they were opening for Mountain. There are some fluctuations and slightly muffled moments, possibly because the microphone had become obstructed at certain points. Aside from that, the taper was very close to the P.A. and the band can be heard very clearly and without too much in the way of level distortion. The venue is sometimes listed as the Wichita Coliseum, but was actually Henry Levitt Arena. Bootleg CD's: THE MADMAN YEARS (2000 Aces High #016): VG quality version – incomplete. Lacks the encore of “Fairies Wear Boots” and may have additional small cuts. [RT-46:16] Cover Art: MASSES IN WICHITA |
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| 3/26/71 | Memorial Coliseum | Dallas | Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Wicked World -> Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots, | Fair audience recording. This tape sounds a bit muted by a substantial layer of tape hiss and minimal high frequency response. It’s also a bit distant sounding and lacking in clarity. There are many cuts in the tape from the taper switching the recorder on and off between songs. Maybe the taper was trying to conserve tape or batteries? There do not appear to be any missing songs, as the 55-minute running time is fairly typical of Sabbath’s opening sets during the PARANOID tour. Dallas ’71 is disappointing due to the aforementioned defects and for the lack of enthusiasm shown by the band and audience. The audience offers the band some polite applause at the conclusion of each song, but you can almost hear a pin drop when the band is about to start playing. It’s almost as if the Texans were trying to figure out what to make of this strange new band! In the early days, Sabbath wasn’t always getting standing ovations in every place that they played. This controversial band still had a lot to prove, especially in the more conservative parts of the U.S. The band does seem affected by the muted response and plays a good, but unremarkable set. Even the crowd warmer “Iron Man” seems to have little impact on these people! Many traders lists incorrectly claim that this show took place at Reunion Arena. That would be impossible since Reunion Arena not open its doors until 1980! CD-R's: REUNION ARENA, DALLAS, TX - 3/26/71 |
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| 4/2/71 | The Spectrum | Philadelphia | N.I.B., War Pigs, Guitar intro -> Black Sabbath, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo [includes Orchid] -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid | There are actually TWO known audience recordings of this show. Until recently, most Sabbath collectors (myself included) believed that the various versions of this tape were different generations of the same source. After comparing two different versions a bit more carefully, Lars Bernstroem determined that these were in fact completely different sources. Source #1 contains a good bit of talking near the recording, none of which can be heard on the second source! Good ears, Lars! After much debate and research, I have decided to rule out Glassboro, NJ (or Philadelphia) 10/30/70 as a possible source for these tapes. They have long been traded with this date and the claim that these recordings were from Sabbath’s 1st U.S. show. In fact, these tapes are from the tail end of Sabbath’s 2nd American tour for PARANOID. They opened for Mountain and Humble Pie at The Spectrum in Philadelphia on April 2nd, 1971 at a show billed as the “Mountain Dance Concert”. This explains the shortened set list as well. Mike Lindenauer pointed out that one of the sources was recorded by a male & female taper team. This couple also recorded Mountain and Humble Pie that night. Upon examination of those tapes, Mike & his sources were able to pin this one down to the 4/2/71 date once and for all! They do indeed appear to have been recording by the same tapers on the same evening. Both sources are very good audience recordings. There are a few minor cuts, but I think it unlikely that any complete songs are missing. On one source, the taper does a fairly good job, but we can hear them slapping the microphone around in a few sections. The sound is slightly distant, but clear. As is the case on many Sabbath boots, the vocals and guitars are most prominent in the mix. Running time is just under 50 minutes. Source #2 has a good deal more talking near the microphones. Tony begins the show with his trademark blitzkrieg guitar solo, before slamming into a much heavier than usual rendition of “N.I.B.”. This is due to the fact that he and Geezer are tuned down to D, which is something new for the band. During the 1970 shows, they seem to hover between standard tuning and E flat. There were several reasons for the “down tuning”. One was that lower pitch suited Ozzy’s range a bit better. Secondly, Iommi mentioned that the reduced tension in his guitar strings from the down tuning didn’t tear up his fingers as badly. And undoubtedly, it just sounded HEAVIER! Sabbath continued to tune down to D (and even C#) for their next few albums, but began raising the pitch again on TECHNICAL ECSTASY and NEVER SAY DIE. The crowd seems to like what they are hearing, but they aren’t quite as warm and gregarious as some of the European audiences that the band was accustomed to. There are many very quiet pauses between the songs and the audience seems to be scrutinizing the band a bit more. They do clap along during “War Pigs” and even reward Iommi with a nice applause after his overlong solo (which gets a bit repetitive in places with the finger picked bits), but they are oddly quiet at other times. While the first numbers show the band off to a strong start, they lose momentum at the beginning of the 3rd song, “Black Sabbath”. As Tony begins his mellow finger picked intro for the song, he almost immediately breaks a string! It takes quite a while for him to replace the string and Ozzy apologizes a few times for the delay. At this point, the taper cuts off the recorder so we don’t know exactly how long they waited. The tape is turned back on as Tony crashes into the opening riff of “Black Sabbath”. He probably opted to skip the intro and get right to business with the crowd getting restless and all! The crowd is quiet during this song, but gives a strong roar of approval as the band plays the final chords of the song. “Iron Man” gives Ozzy an opportunity to rouse up everyone’s spirits. It’s a song that always seems to go over well, probably due to its popularity too. “Wicked World” is a devilish blues riff, which is grinding and deliberate here. But as I stated earlier, Tony’s solo break does seem to try everyone’s patience at this gig, although they are gave him a nice applause at the end. Maybe it’s just ME that felt that way, but that was the vibe I sensed. Chris Slenker: “I could be wrong but at 5:15 in Wicked World jam it sounds like pre-Embryo melody although he ends using finger picking which is similar to Orchid. Possibly both songs originated from this jam.” “Paranoid” closes the gig on a strong and familiar note. While the Philly gig did sound like it went over well, it did sound like they had to work harder for the approval! Overall, the tape is reasonably good for its age and Ozzy is “on”, but the vibe here isn’t particularly uplifting or energetic. CD Bootlegs: PARANOID WORLD CD-R’s: THE EVIL HAS LANDED |
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| 4/14/1971 | K.B. Hallen? | København (Copenhagen) | Alleged to exist, but not currently circulating. | ||
| 7/14/71 | The Spectrum | Philadelphia | See 4/2/71 Philadelphia - Misdated show | See 4/2/71 Philadelphia entry. Incorrectly dated show. | |
| 7/15/71 | Howard Stein's Capitol Theater | Port Chester | Unknown - see comments | Black Sabbath played two sets at the Capitol Theatre along with Yes and Humble Pie on July 15th, 1971. They cancelled their appearance on the following day. While this recording still cannot be confirmed as of yet, there is at least a remote chance that a tape of this show survived. Several recordings from the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY have been unearthed over the past few years and many more will be surfacing in the near future. Here is some information about the Port Chester Restoration project and the origin of these long unheard live recordings! Evan Bellaff (9/2003): “Ken and Judy Lee didn't think anyone would be interested in hearing their recordings...” ”Between the years 1970 and 1971, Ken worked security at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, while his girlfriend Judy ran movie projections between sets. One of a few live music taping enthusiasts of the time, Ken was granted exclusive permission by club promoter Howard Stein to record the shows at the theatre for his own personal use. Judy was on hand to perform the tape flips while Ken was busy doing his job.” ”In 1968, the couple took Judy's brother Mark, who was nine years old to his first concert at "Cafe Wha?" in New York City. The Monkees were on tour and Jimi Hendrix was along for the ride as their opening act.” ”Several years later, Mark was introduced to the music of the Grateful Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on March 19th, 1973 in Uniondale, Long Island. This single event marked the beginning of a life long odyssey of musical experiences with the band that affected him most deeply. Along with his good friend, John Jay Hance, who Mark met at a Dead show in 1979, the two traveled around the United States with the band in search of the ultimate musical experience, attending over 350 shows together. The two also shared a common interest in seeing live music of a wide variety of genres, and during the 23 years that they knew each other attended more than 1000 total concerts together, until Mark's untimely death in November of 2002.” ”Mark knew of brother in-law Ken's recordings from the Capitol Theatre, and had a strong interest in having the shows circulated; however, being true to his word to Howard Stein, Ken kept the recordings under wraps and the tapes never saw the light of the trading domain (One noteworthy bending of this rule occurred when Ken agreed at Mark's request to circulate the late show that the Grateful Dead did on June 24th of 1970. This show is highly regarded as an all-time magical performance by the Dead during their 30-year history as a band).” ”It was not until John Jay, who also knew Ken Lee, and of the Port Chester tapes, ran into Ken at Mark's funeral in 2002 that the fateful discussion of having the recordings released occurred. At that time, Ken didn't think anyone would have any desire to listen to his tapes. They had been sitting up in the attic of his present home for over 20 years going through the early stages of decay.” ”Because such a great deal of time had elapsed since Ken made his agreement with Howard Stein, and the fact that John Jay was insisting that there was an overwhelming interest by music lovers to hear these recordings, Ken agreed to open the flood gates and the Port Chester Restoration Project began, which is ultimately a tribute to Mark Cohen's passion for live music.” ”By fortune and coincidence, John Jay Hance, a master at the art of recording and restoring live music himself had already developed his own method for preserving fragile, decaying audio tapes with a heating method commonly known as "baking." The process of restoring Ken's recordings presents an even greater challenge, however. The cassette shells that encase the audiotapes first have to be removed and replaced because they are too fragile to be played. This is extremely difficult, being that these cassettes were glued together during manufacturing (as opposed to the use of screws, today). The halves of the shell must be carefully removed without doing damage to the tape inside.” ”Once the analog tape is restored and rebuilt, it must then be then played back one time through an analog to digital converter onto a CD, which is then cleaned of hiss and other extraneous noises. Then it can be replicated and introduced to the world of music trading. For the cleanup job, John Jay enlisted the help of "Sound Forge" software guru Peter G to help make what exists from the master tapes sound just exactly perfect. Having listened to the first installment of this project, Janis Joplin and Full Tilt Boogie from August 8, 1970 several times, I can tell you that the sound is brilliant!” ”Keep in mind that Ken and Judy recorded nearly EVERY show at the Capitol during '70 and '71, on an estimated 300-500 cassettes (one box of cassettes is believed to be missing). While many are labeled with correct dates and the music they contain, much of what exists is still a mystery. Several gems containing long forgotten performances and musical collaborations have already surfaced. Expect some nice surprises in the years to come.” ”Enjoy Ken and Judy's recordings from the Capitol Theatre and appreciate the great care and quality of craftsmanship that went into their creation and is currently going into their preservation.” When I asked Evan specifically about the likelihood of a Sabbath Port Chester tape, he told me of the dozens of unlabeled cassettes they have yet to go through. He hadn’t seen the Sabbath tape yet, but it just may be somewhere in piles of cassettes! |
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| 7/18/71 | Borough Of York Stadium | Toronto | Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Guitar Intro -> Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Embryo -> Children Of The Grave, Wicked World-> Orchid-> Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo-> Jam -> Guitar Solo II -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots | VG+ audience recording from the ‘Beggars Banquet Dance Festival’, where Black Sabbath and Yes opened for Three Dog Night! Many bootlegs of this Toronto ’71 tape list the venue as Stanley Park. David Capitano astutely pointed out that Stanley Park is in Vancouver, British Columbia! A handbill for this show confirms that the venue was actually ‘Borough Of York Stadium’. This is the earliest circulating show from the MASTER OF REALITY era. It includes also marks the first known live recordings of “Sweet Leaf”, “Embryo” and “Children Of The Grave”. Aside from the new additions, the set list was the nearly the same as it was for the spring ‘71 U.S. tour to promote PARANOID, only longer. The running time is nearly 66 minutes. The tape itself was done very close to the stage. Like many of the audience tapes from the PARANOID tour, the taper cut all of the raps between each song. There is also a lot of fumbling with the microphone, which briefly obstructs the sound every now and then. The good news is that Sabbath was KICKING ASS at this show! Ozzy sounds great on every song. Bill is grooving and having fun with the songs and you can even hear Geezer for once! Tony is always the "Iron Man", but is troubled by some tuning problems at the end of "War Pigs" and during "Black Sabbath". Technical difficulties aside, Iommi is really going for it during his guitar spot in "Wicked World", which swings nicely during the main verse riffs! It was during this show that I first noticed the inclusion of an improvisation that I like to call the “Cornucopia jam”. It’s an oddly syncopated riff that alternates between some low E chugging and accents on a D chord, much like the verse riff in “Cornucopia”. Sabbath continued to insert this jam during their live improvisations for years to come. CD bootlegs: WICKED SABBATH |
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| 7/28/71 | Gaelic Park - Bronx | Riverdale | Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., Embryo -> Children Of The Grave, War Pigs, Sweet Leaf [cut at end], Iron Man [cut at beginning], Wicked World -> Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo-> Orchid -> Guitar Solo II -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Curtain Call -> Fairies Wear Boots | Good, incomplete audience recording of a spirited show! Running time is just over 56 minutes. The tape cuts out near the end of “Sweet Leaf” and “Black Sabbath” is entirely missing. Recording resumes during the beginning of “Iron Man”. Also –“Children Of The Grave” is pushed up in the set list to the #2 slot, in front of “Sweet Leaf”. CD-R's: BRONX 1971 |
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| 8/12/71 | Auditorium Theatre | Chicago | Tune Up -> Guitar Intro -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Embryo -> Children Of The Grave, Wicked World -> Guitar Solo -> Orchid -> Guitar Solo II -> Jam -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, Fairies Wear Boots | VG audience recording. For a long time, the actual date and venue for the Chicago '71 audience tape were something of a mystery. Finally, in June 2004, one of the people who surfaced this show came forth with the correct date and venue. He confirmed that the show had been recorded at the Auditorium Theatre on August 12th, 1971. The running time for the complete recording is just under 60 minutes (59:44). | |
| 8/31/71 | Jai Alai Fronton Hall | Miami | Guitar Intro [faded in] -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Embryo -> Children of the Grave, Wicked World, -> Guitar Solo -> Orchid -> Guitar Solo II -> Don't Start (Too Late) [early version] -> Guitar Solo III [fades out] | Fair to almost good audience tape – incomplete. The first half of this recording is badly out of phase and sounds almost like it's being piped through a flanger. It isn't until "Iron Man" that this annoying tape defect is much less noticeable. Like the Miami '77 recording, Tony Iommi's guitar is very much in the forefront of this mix (if you an call it that). In a way, it is interesting to hear Tony's playing so clearly, but I don't think he would have been all that flattered with about this particular show. Along with the occasional feedback from his overdriven guitar amp, his guitar tone wasn't very good during this leg of the tour. Take note of the twangy, almost 'out of tune' sound of his guitar during the quieter sections or the bridge before the closing solo for "War Pigs". It sounds like he was having to turn down the gain on his guitar to prevent the excessive feedback. Thus, he ended up sacrificing a good deal of his tone and sustain in this uneasy compromise. Ozzy's vocals can be heard in the distance but aren't as loud as they need to be. Geezer's bass is present, but very low in the mix. It is often difficult to hear Bill's drums with any degree of clarity. The Miami '71 ends prematurely during the climax of Tony’s extended guitar solo in "Wicked World”. Miami '71 lacks the reprise for "Wicked World and the final songs -"Paranoid" and "Fairies Wear Boots". The tape also contains many cuts, mainly between each song. All of the stage chatter has been removed and each song begins almost too abruptly after the last one. My speed correct copy runs about 44 minutes, although I have seen copies that are 46 minutes long. Although I don't have anything to confirm the venue, some seem to believe Jai Alai Fronton Hall was the place. I've also seen Civic Center listed. CD-R's: MIAMI '71 |
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| 9/4/71 | British Rock Meeting - Rheinhalbinsel | Speyer | Sweet Leaf <5:06>, Iron Man <7:01>. Embryo <0:25> -> Children Of The Grave <4:50>, Wicked World <3:42> -> Guitar Solo I <0:41> -> Guitar Solo II <0:32> -> Jazz Improvisation I <0:30> -> Orchid <2:36> -> Jazz Improvisation II <0:58> -> Guitar Solo III <2:35> -> Jazz Improvisation III <0:26> -> Guitar Solo IV <1:50> -> Wicked World [reprise] <1:29> | Sabbath headlined the ‘British Rock Meeting’, a 2-day rock festival near Frankfurt, Germany. Other bands on the bill included Rod Stewart & The Faces, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac and Rory Gallagher. The Speyer ’71 tape is a very good, but incomplete recording. At first there is very little tape hiss, but it gradually increases towards the end of the recording. Also, there is a slight phasing problem and some distortion and saturation at times. The source tape reviewed here played obviously too slow. The taper must have stood really close to the PA because the audience can barely be heard. The band is so clear that this recording could mistaken for a soundboard. The tape begins during the first riff of "Sweet Leaf" and ends right after the end of "Wicked World", leaving only four songs. At least we get to hear the whole jam section of the show. It lacks the first two songs (“N.I.B.” and “War Pigs”) and the last two songs (“Paranoid” and “Fairies Wear Boots”). Concerning the performance in itself, it is an average to good show from this period - quite inspired without being exceptional. The songs are well played and Ozzy's singing is very good, but the show lacks a little energy. Maybe the fact of playing in front of this rather unresponsive audience in Speyer that was not motivating enough. You can sense Ozzy getting nervous as he can't seem to make everyone clap during the drum intro for "Iron Man" ("Come on, clap your hand, for fuck's sake !!"). [Notes by Rob Dwyer and Guillaume Roos] CD-R's: MASTERS OF GERMANY: Also includes Koln 4/3/70 |
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| 9/5/71 | '48 Hours Festival' - Stadthalle | Wien (Vienna) | Introduction, N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Embryo -> Children Of The Grave, Wicked World, Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo, Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid | Notes: Fair to good audience recording. It appears to be incomplete, lacking their standard “Fairies Wear Boots” encore. The crowd noise is especially loud in spots, but Sabbath sounds good at the ‘2-Tage Festival’. CD-R’s: VIENNA 1971, WELCOME TO THE WICKED WORLD (Lost And Found LAF 036) |
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| 10/1/71 | Winterland Ballroom | San Francisco | Introduction, N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Wicked World, Guitar Solo, Wicked World [reprise], Embryo -> Children of the Grave, Paranoid [joined in progress], Fairies Wear Boots | VG audience recording with small cuts (not missing any songs). Surfaced in 2004. See NOTES link for a complete review and artwork. CD Bootlegs: MASTERS OF WINTERLAND (Reel Masters 004) |
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| 10/10/71 | H.I.C. Arena | Honolulu | Unknown - see comments | This audience recording is currently missing in action, but may exist? Joel Barron: "I was just looking at your Black Sabbath known shows and recordings when I noticed for the New York City show on 10-22-71, you'd said that this was also sometimes listed as 10-10-71. Well I'm here to tell you that I was at the 10-10-71 show and that was in Honolulu and did record this show. I had the tapes for a few years then they went missing. I still have my ticket stub and memories of the show. I also recorded Zeppelin on 9-17-71 in Honolulu. That most valuable tape is also AWOL !! I was surprised to see the Oct. 10 listing of Sabbath though, hoping maybe the reference was about my tape being found!!" |
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| 10/17/71 | The Celebrity Theater | Phoenix | Introduction -> N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Wicked World -> Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo (pt. 1), Guitar Solo (pt. 2) -> Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid, E: Fairies Wear Boots | Good mono audience recording, which is nearly complete. There are some of the usual edits between songs, but no songs are missing. Ozzy’s vocals are particularly clear and his lyrics well enunciated. For once, Tony’s guitar isn’t drowning everyone else out and you can hear Geezer and Bill fairly well. But there is a bit of level distortion during the louder sections. I first learned of both the gig date AND recording for this show in April 2003. It was then that I had received an e-mail from a taper named Bob G., who provided the following some information about his recording. My heart did skip a beat at one point during the show when Ozzy said “We’re all gonna do a number now off our new LP titled “Lord Of This World”. But after a quick moment, Ozzy corrects himself and introduces “a number featuring our lead guitarist Tony Iommi called “Wicked World”. Can you imagine how cool it would have been to hear them do “Lord Of This World” live in ’71? As of yet, there are no live versions from any 70’s shows in circulation. I asked Bob to give me some background on his vintage recording and he shared the following with me: “The Master was recorded in MONO with a GE cassette recorder with an external mike. It was state of the art in its day; it cost $80.00 new back then. It was a nice little unit. The Celebrity Theater in Phoenix where the show was taped is still there. It's known as the "Theater in the Round" around here. It's not a very big place, maybe 4,000 seats, it's round and the stage is in the middle and it revolves the whole time, as it did during the show.” Bob G. also recorded the Tucson 3/16/72, which he surfaced a few months later. Of the two shows, the Tucson ’72 [Special thanks to Paul Dargitz for helping bring this information to light!] CD ARTWORK: LIVE IN PHOENIX, AZ 10/17/71 |
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| 10/22/71 | Academy of Music | New York City | N.I.B., War Pigs, Sweet Leaf, Iron Man, Embryo -> Children Of The Grave [missing a part], Wicked World -> Guitar Solo, Wicked World [reprise], Paranoid | Good to very good quality, but incomplete. The taper only had a 60 minute tape with him, so he was unable to capture their encore of "Fairies Wear Boots". Doah! There is a little distortion around the edges of this recording, which I've slightly penalized this tape for. But during quieter sections (like Iommi's guitar solo), the sound is much better. All of the copies I've heard so far need speed correction. This show has also been incorrectly listed as 10/10/71. [Special thanks to George Berk for his insights!] CD-R’s: NEW YORK CITY 1971, MASTER OF THE GRAVE |
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| 10/28/71 | Community War Memorial Auditorium |