All information on this page was compiled by Robert Dwyer from various sources and contributors.  These timelines and the text within is property of Robert Dwyer and Sabbathlive.com.  If you'd like to use any of this text for non-commercial purposes, please obtain permission first.  Commercial utilization of this work in whole or in part is prohibited.  [2002-2004, Robert Dwyer - Black Sabbath Live Project]

2003 News, Updates And Credits
Posted Topic What's The Story? Thanks To Link
1/2/2003 London '78 video to be officially released on DVD? Thanks to Jay Pearson for spotting this one. This news flash was posted today on bravewords.com. I haven’t been able to find any confirmation of when this coming out or who is issuing it, but I’m in looking into this now.

“BLACK SABBATH are set to release a new DVD called Never Say Die, recorded live in 1978 and featuring the following tracks: 'Symptom Of The Universe', 'War Pigs', 'Snowblind', 'Never Say Die', 'Black Sabbath',
'Dirty Women', 'Rock And Roll Doctor', 'Electric Funeral', 'Children Of The Grave' and 'Paranoid'...”

Ah, so we’re finally going to see an official DVD release of the Hammersmith Odeon, London 6/19/78 show. This is great news to me personally. I remember buying an import copy of this one on VHS back in 1989, which was titled NEVER SAY DIE: 10 YEARS OF BLACK SABBATH. I was so excited to finally own a pro-shot film of the Sabs live in concert with Ozzy. About 2 months later, my girlfriend at the time made off with it when we split up! I think I was more upset about that video tape that I was about her moving out! The only good thing I can say for her now is that she had good taste in music! At least I’ll finally be able to retire that 2nd generation bootleg copy!

Oh, I do have one word of warning about this show. Ozzy is in terrible form here, sounding as if he gargled some gasoline before the show! This is especially evident when you hear him croak out the opening number, “Symptom Of The Universe”. But I suppose this is something I’ve learned to overlook after hearing so many Ozzy boots over the years! Ain’t it a shame that this is the sort of performance that ends up getting released officially?		 Jay Pearson and bravewords.com News In Brief
1/2/2003 Tony Iommi: Inside Black Sabbath DVD available As of December 10th, 2002, Classic Rock Productions released the DVD/VHS of TONY IOMMI: INSIDE BLACK SABBATH. The following descriptions of the video are from their site, but I get credit for the proofreading. Don’t these people use spell check?

“The definitive master class with Tony Iommi, inventor of the Heavy Metal guitar sound, which powered Black Sabbath to world fame and inspired a host of inventors. [Rob-Don’t they mean imitators?!] Using examples of his own music, Tony explains how Black Sabbath wrote, worked and played together. Also featured is archival footage of vintage Black Sabbath live on stage, as well as the previously unreleased promo videos for "Headless Cross" and "Feels Good To Me".
Previously unreleased where? In Thailand? Anyhow, whoever wrote that summary either speaks English as a second language or simply has no business promoting their sites new releases! Augh! It might not seem so bad after I rewrote 3/4ths of that blurb, but take my word for it. It wasn’t pretty!

Here’s the track listing for the Iommi video: Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Headless Cross, Orchid, Feels Good To Me, Laguna Sunrise, Embryo, Smoke On The Water. I’m assuming that the first 2 tracks are from “The Beat Club” sessions, while many of the rest are live in the studio. Could someone send me a review of this once they’ve seen it?
This one is listing for $21.58 on Amazon, so click the link on the right if you’re interesting in purchasing. And no, Amazon isn’t giving me squat for saying that! However, if you go to Joe’s site, I think they’ll pay him for you clicks! What’s wrong with this picture? Hey Amazon, can you pay me too?? Pretty please?		 Me, Tony Iommi, Classic Rock Productions and God Buy
1/2/2003 Ozzy feature interview on www.thenewmusic.net I'm not sure when this took place, but I stumbled across this synopsis of an interview that Ozzy did for TV in Canada. There are also some video outtakes here that you can view. Rob Clips
1/2/2003 Coming soon: Part III of my California Jam spectacular: "The Wereo Of It All" I usually resort to teasing my site patrons with promises, but tonight I’m in a playful mood. Coming VERY soon is Part 3 of my California Jam special, which will be finished before Part 2. Go figure. Anyhow, this section will feature an exclusive interview with California Jam’s most devout minister, Scott Lifshine! If you’re a visitor to the alt.music.blacksabbath newsgroup, then you’ll know exactly whom I’m talking about. Scott has been preaching his sermon about the glory of his California Jam recordings for quite a while now, so I’d get the inside scoop on why he feels so strongly about a show that happened 28 years ago.

Scott happily agreed to the interview several months ago and was kind enough to send me several exhibits to display on the site. Exhibit A, of course, will be a streaming audio version of Scott’s beloved Cal Jam tapes. So get ready to tune in to the Wereo and hear for yourself what he’s been fussing about!		 Scott Lifshine
1/3/2003 Show confimations Many thanks to Andrew for digging out all of Sabbath ticket stubs to provide the following confirmations:

11/10/92 - Mesa Amphitheatre, Phoenix, AZ
4/1/86 - Forum. Montreal, Canada
2/22/84 - Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO
10/29/83 - Brendan Byne Arena (w/ Quiet Riot)

11/04/83 – Centrum, Worcester Mass (w/ Quiet Riot)
5/8/82 - McNichols Arena, Denver, CO
3/4/82 – Boston Gardens, Boston, MA (w/Wrabit)
3/3/82 - Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD (w/Wrabit & Alvin Lee Band)
12/3/81 - Capital Centre, Landover, MD (W/Alvin Lee Band)
10/5/80 - Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI (w/Blue Oyster Cult)
9/30/80 – Checkerdome, Denver, CO (w/ Blue Oyster Cult)
11/28/78 - McNichols Arena, Denver, CO

However, 2 stubs left me with further questions. If anyone can help with these, please do:

10/17/81 - Keil Auditorium, St. Louis, MO

I have no record of Sabbath playing any gigs earlier than November for the MOB RULES tour. In fact, my list shows the band starting their tour in Quebec City, Canada on 11/15/81. I’ve asked Andrew to double check this one.

11/11/83 - Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI

Was this really at Cobo Arena? And why do people seem to confuse this venue with Joe Louis Arena all of the time? If you’re a Detroit native and can straighten this out for me once and for all, please do!		 Andrew
1/3/2003 Another perspective on the Jeff Fenholt controversy: Is he not considered to be an ex-Sabbath singer by a mere technicality? While many have ridiculed Jeff Fenholt's claims of singing for Black Sabbath in any official capacity, Chris Slenker believes that he may not be stretching the truth so much.

"Initially, I went along with the common belief that Fenholt did little more than audition for Iommi later supported by declarations to that end by Eric Singer and Dave Spitz. However, I received an email from a supposed friend of Fenholt who sent me a wav clip of the Star Of India demos. Could have been Fenholt himself for all I know, since the guy never posted under that email again. Okay, so maybe this two minute clip was just a recording of Fenholt's audition. This is where I left the issue for a time."

"Several years later, I was sent a copy of the Star Of India demos on cassette and I thank that person for sending it. I realized that Fenholt had to be working on these songs for a few months to have recorded these, possibly not the six months he claims but several months at least. Once the tapes came out, I think it was Eric Singer that admitted that Fenholt had helped with these demos. Now what Singer told us before this is not without merit either, he simply neglected to mention that Fenholt had helped out with the demos.”
“I can now understand why Fenholt may have believed that he was in Black Sabbath. He worked with the band on some demos with a yet unnamed project with the former guitarist of Black Sabbath. Next they stopped returning his phone calls and left him hanging. Months later, the same musicians hired a different singer and released their album (Seventh Star) under the name 'Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi', but tour under the BS moniker."

"So it's not difficult to see why Fenholt believed that he had indeed recorded demos for Black Sabbath, since that's what the project turned out to be at the end of the day. It's quite a fine line for him to cross in making this claim and not quite as absurd as people would like to make it seem."

Rob - I've always believed that these tapes were of an improvised audition. It's hard for me to judge how much time Fenholt actually spent with the band, based upon just these recordings. But yes, it is likely he did spend at least some time writing lyrics for these songs. There aren't many people who can walk into an audition and just start creating original lyrics and melodies on the spot. A true "audition" would have probably consisted of Fenholt singing Black Sabbath songs. So based on these assumptions, I would also believe that Jeff had gone beyond the initial audition phase. And I also support Chris' opinion that Fenholt is not necessarily out of line for believing that he was in Sabbath. If he had stayed with the band, he would have inevitably been 'the singer of Black Sabbath'. And this really isn't that much of a stretch to make. I know plenty of musicians who have made far less credible claims than this to enhance their resumes!

For more on the Jeff Fenholt controversy, be sure to check out Mike Stark’s MINISTER OF REALITY article.		 Chris Slenker and Rob Stark Article
1/4/2003 56k Version of California Jam - Pt. 1 Here's the link for the 56k version of Cal Jam I - Part 1. Scott Lifshine and Rob Listen-Modem
1/4/2003 When exactly did Ozzy leave Sabbath in 1979? Does anyone really have any hard evidence about exactly when Ozzy was fired from Sabbath? Originally, I had it down that Ozzy was dismissed just after the NEVER SAY DIE tour in January ’79 and that Dio joined up with them in March ’79. But due to the fact that I’ve found several articles from 1979 that show Ozzy was still with the band for at least a while during that year, I believe this happened several months later.

Gary Brines highlighted this fact when he wrote to me back in October. Gary wrote: “Ya' know, I've never been able to pinpoint the exact month that Ozzy left SABBATH in 1979. That 1979 "Sounds" article on your site was dated as September, but probably issued in August, and probably written about a month before that! And so at that point - around July of '79 - Ozzy was still in the band. He was there at the beginning of the Heaven And Hell rehearsals; all the other members have stated this over the years. They claim he was apathetic and difficult to work with, and that's when Dio came aboard, probably around August. That's what I've always theorized, and that Sounds article doesn't controvert my theory. Anyway, thanks for sharing the article.”

Ronnie James Dio provided a few more clues about how this transition occurred in a 2001 interview with Classic Rock Revisited:

RJD: “They had a couple of riffs and things that they had done because they had been rehearsing with Ozzy. It was going to be their 10th anniversary. They had a studio in the home that they were living in. They had knocked some things out. When I first actually met them physically, Geezer, Bill and Tony, they said, "We are in the rehearsal place. Do you want to have a listen at this thing we have been doing?" So they played something for me and Tony said, "Do you think you can do something with that?" I said, "Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what I can do." In fifteen or twenty minutes I wrote Children Of The Sea with them. I think Tony had another riff that they had been working on. I don’t remember what that one became. Then Geezer left and it became just Tony and myself and Bill. Tony and I started writing everything else after that. Geezer came back just to play on the album. It was all written at that point with the exception of Neon Knights. We had all the material that was going to be on Heaven & Hell with the exception of Neon Knights. What happened was that Geezer had come back and we needed one more song and we were in France and we wrote that one. All in all, the material was new.”		 Gary Brines and Classic Rock Revisited
1/4/2003 Sneak preview of California Jam - Pt. 3 feature! Listen to Part 1 in Windows Media format! Special thanks to Scott for providing copies of his original reel to reel recordings of the original California Jam I FM broadcasts. I have edited down 2 hours and 20 minutes of material into 3 separate presentations. Part 1 will feature performances from Rare Earth, Earth, Wind & Fire and BLACK SABBATH! It is a 45 minute long segment, complete with interviews and other features that were in the original broadcast.

Although I was initially skeptical about the quality of these tapes, these truly are the cleanest copies I’ve heard from the ABC-TV simulcast. Since the ABC “In Concert” broadcasts were edited out of sequence, I have done my best to reassemble the show in its correct running order. I am lacking Scott’s recordings of the performances by Seals & Crofts, The Eagles and Black Oak Arkansas, but I may feature these later.

Regarding Sabbath’s performance, there are 4 songs here for you to listen to – “Killing Yourself To Live” (Scott’s tape ran out during the original broadcast, so this is sadly incomplete), “War Pigs”, “Paranoid” and “Children Of The Grave”, as well as both interviews that Ozzy did with ABC-TV.

So, kick back and enjoy this time trip back to 1974! You may want to grab these while you can, because I will be pulling down the Broadband version after a month or so.		 Scott Lifshine and Rob Listen-Broadband
1/4/2003 No Philly '97 show ever took place. Also, a ticket stub for Camden '97. Plus info on Marilyn Manson's Ozzfest '97 appearances. Robert wrote: "I can assure you that the 6/6/97 Philadelphia gig never took place. I live in the Philly area and have seen every local Sabbath show & related solo performances that they have made since 1980 and the above gig never took place. The only appearance ANY of them made in ’97 was Ozzfest @ the Sony Blockbuster E-Centre (Now called the Tweeter Centre) in Camden NJ on June 8,1997. Marilyn Manson is in the tour program and played several dates on the ’97 Ozzfest, but Camden wasn’t one of them. We got: ¾ Sabbath w/Mike Bordin, Ozzy solo, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Powerman 5000, Drain s.t.h., Coal Chamber, Slo Burn, Neurosis, Vision of Disorder and Downset."

Just FYI, Marilyn Manson did not join the Ozzfest ’97 tour until mid-June. His appearance caused the tour great controversy, due to numerous protests by religious and community leaders. The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority threatened to halt ticket sales for the 6/15/97 show at Giants Stadium unless Marilyn Manson were dropped from the bill. But after Manson and Osbourne filed suit, a federal judge ordered the show to go on as planned. Another show originally scheduled for Somerset, WI on 6/22/97 was moved to The Metrodome in Minneapolis after protests by religious and community leaders over Manson’s appearance.		 Robert Evans and Rob Ticket Stub
1/5/2003 1980 U.K. Tour Program PDF! Wow! Gary did a beautiful job at scanning this really beautiful U.K. tour program for the the spring tour for HEAVEN AND HELL. Lots of great pictures of Ronnie and Bill in here too! As always, you'll need to type "sabbathlive.com" to view this PDF. Enjoy! Gary Dean PDF
1/5/2003 Screen shots from Long Beach / Don Kirshner '75 Here are just a few of the neat things Paul's been digging up for us. Here's a rather nice of set of stills from Sabbath's 1975 appearance on the U.S. TV show DON KIRSHNER'S ROCK CONCERT. Such classic shots of Ozzy too - gotta love 'em! Paul Long Beach pics
1/5/2003 MOB RULES U.S. Tour Program! Just assembled this vintage tour program from 1981 in PDF format, thanks to generous contributions of Ola Malmström! He's sent me scans of several different programs, so there are a few more to come. Enjoy! Ola Malmström MOB RULES program
1/5/2003 Review of Ozzy unauthorized DVD "Crown Prince Of Darkness" David L. Wilson wrote a semi-favorable review of this unauthorized compilation of Ozzy related interview footage. Interestingly enough, he mentions that are interviews with authors Stephen Rosen and Sue Crawford here as well. This is one of those many DVD's on the market that are able to get around the usual copyright loopholes by putting out a band related video without any music.

Interestingly enough, Electric Basement is hosting an interactive poll on its main page that asks the question: “Are you less of an Ozzy fan after the remixed "Blizzard" and "Madman" reissues?” And the last time I checked, the response has been overwhelmingly negative towards Ozzy. This is rather unfortunate to see, but I too must voice my agreement with the majority on this one. While I still do consider myself to be an Ozzy fan, I was floored by his decision to do this.		 David L. Wilson and Electric Basement Review
1/7/2003 Skateboarding to Sabbath! I got this complimentary note in my mail bag today. When I get burned out from slaving away on the site, I read these sort of notes to put things back in perspective. Jesse Lee Creech wrote: "Dude, great site, I love all the pictures, and handbills, etc. Needless to say I'm a huge fan of Sabbath. Anyway, great site and keep up the good work. BLACK SABBATH saved my life!!! Skateboarder 4 Life,
Jesse Lee Creech" Thanks Jesse!		 Jesse Lee Creech
1/8/2003 Remembering Sabbath in Kansas City '71….and not much else! Tom wrote: "I saw Black Sabbath several times in the 70's. The first time was in Kansas City, Missouri at Memorial Hall. The J. Geils Band opened for them!?! As far as I know it was their first tour of USA. The set was plagued with sound problems, but they managed to play about an hour and a half. It was awesome. I was way into Sabbath at the time and it was a religious experience for me. I got the show on cassette tape which I wore out. I know, I'm a dumb shit! At the end of the show, Bill Ward punched and threw his snare drum out of frustation. I also saw them with Van Halen in Kansas City and Dr. Hook in North Carolina. I saw them another time but I was too high to remember anything. PEACE!"

LOL! That "sweet leaf" will do that to you if you're not careful! I'm sure there are at least a few Sabbath fans who can relate to that experience! But what I found most interesting here is his comment about a "tape" of the Kansas City '71 show. Was this something he recorded himself and wore out? Or was this obtained from another taper? I'll investigate this further…		 Tom Farnsworth Handbill
1/8/2003 'BLACK AND BLUE' DVD release shelved by Classic Pictures? Regrettably, I have some bad news regarding the long awaited release of BLACK AND BLUE on DVD. Richard Dunn wrote to Classic Pictures (www.classicpictures.co.uk) to inquire about the release date and received the following response from Lyn Beardsall:

"Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we will not be releasing the Black Sabbath/BOC DVD. I think you can still buy the VHS on Amazon."

Ugh! I know that I'm one of many people who have been waiting patiently since this the DVD was first promised back on July 29th, 2002. In fact, I asked someone to order me a copy, but it never did materialize. Later, I heard stories about some problems in the 'manufacturing process'. Even Classic Pictures themselves has not officially announced this cancellation on their web site, so you’re hearing it here first!

UPDATE - Lyn Beardsall wrote me back this morning (1/9/2003) with the following message: "I believe Toni [sic] Iommi does not want it released so the project went on hold at the last minute. It is unfortunate but we can do nothing about it. We are also very disappointed. Kind regards, Lyn Beardsall - Classic Pictures Entertainment.		 Richard Dunn Site
1/9/2003 Review of Winnepeg '71 shows from Winnepeg Free Press article. Special thanks to Joe Siegler for sending me this newspaper review of these shows in Winnepeg. Thanks also to Brandon Napier for reminding me that I hadn’t posted it yet! This review was written by Peter Crossley for the Winnepeg Free Press and appeared in the 3/1/71 edition:

Black Sabbath appeared at the Centennial Concert Hall Sunday evening for two sell-out shows. Black Sabbath is not so much a musical group as it is a musical experience. Sunday evening, the audience at the first show rose to their feet in a standing ovation for every number. The group’s showmanship has a lot to do with it’s success. Their visual presentation is enough to turn off every person who has never come into contact with this type of show. In the center of three walls of sneakers, the four young men work into a frenzy of emotion and are totally involved in their lyrics as well as their music. They performed numbers from their first two albums, BLACK SABBATH and PARANOIA [sic].

Black Sabbath is made up of three accomplished musicians and one talented singer. The drums, bass and lead guitar form a musical web in which the vocals become entwined and fully formed. The singer’s voice rises and falls in and out of the musical framework in a pattern of emotional consistency. The members of the group are John Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums). The highlight of their set, if one could be picked out, was the fine jazz guitar work by Mr. Iommi.

The first group of the evening was Salt. They have sloppy arrangements and even sloppier musical abilities. They were not together as a unit and, although they worked very hard on stage, they failed to capture the spirit or imagination of the audience. They tried every trick in the book to get the audience on their side but all in vain. They tried hand clapping, sing along lyrics and even a rock ‘n’ roll revival version of “Johnny B. Goode”. It didn’t work. Before this group makes another appearance, they should try working as hard on their music as they do on their presentation. There must be a happy medium.

There was a delay in getting the show started because of the arrival of equipment. The audience was well behaved throughout the ordeal and overly patient with the seemingly endless “five-minute delays”.		 Joe Siegler and Brandon Napier Review
1/10/2003 An different point of view on Richard's Ted Vs. The Osbournes article Drammen Grunalf posted an alternate point of view on the Ted Nugent Vs. The Osbournes article that Richard Baines wrote a while back. This was originally posted on the Black_Sabbath newsgroup on Yahoo Groups and has been reprinted with the expressed permission of Drammen.

“Okay, fair is fair. I happen to like the Ted Nugent of 1975-1978. I thought the article was well written, and very pro Ozzy. Which is okay. In Ted Nugent's defense, I feel compelled to add these points: What is Ozzy doing now that is benefiting his followers? What is Nugent doing that is benefiting his followers? Ozzy is doing nothing, since he is highly medicated with anti-depressants he can't do much, let alone speak coherently. Nugent has several irons in the fire. Yes he endorses hunting, as do I. He has a very popular AM radio talk show, and is moving upward in the market. His show is geared toward conservatism, awareness of the constitution, and exercising his first amendment rights. He discusses attacks by liberals on the second amendment. As you can plainly see, Nugent’s life is more viable than the metal icon Ozzy. If your mind set is similar to mine.

Notice, I said "IF". Obviously we all lead different lives, and have different backgrounds. We have one thing in common - our adoration, and enjoyment of listening to what Sabbath has published. Although I disagree with what Mr. Dwyer has written, I laud him for his loyalty. My approach toward conservatism in no way blunts my pleasure of listening to Ozzy's work, as well as Black Sabbath's. What blunt's my appeal of the present day Ozzy, is seeing him in his present condition. To be totally frank, he's a mess. The evidence to this is overwhelmingly visual, which supports Nugent's point.

In summation, Black Sabbath does not have to compete against Ted Nugent, the entertainer. Ted Nugent is dimensionally out of Sabbath's league, let alone the styles don't even come close. The messages expressed by these artists are totally different. Sabbath's music still sells, and Nugent's is caught on some shelf gathering dust.”		 Drammen Grunalf The Article
1/10/2003 Check out the Black_Sabbath newsgroup on Yahoo Groups. Looking for someone to chat with about Sabbath? Check out this newsgroup on Yahoo Groups. I post on here ffrom time to time, but lately have been more of a lurker (too busy!). Anyhow, these guys are quite cool, so pay 'em a visit! It's a very nice alternative to alt.music.black-sabbath, which has been overrun by Trolls lately! Marco and the gang Join
1/10/2003 New!! Visit GILLAN THE HERO - A Tribute To BORN AGAIN! Peder wrote to me a little while back about his intention to create this special tribute for the BORN AGAIN era Sabbath lineup. I thought this was a wonderful idea, since this period has personal significance to me. it was on this tour that I saw Black Sabbath first time. I also share Peder’s love of Ian Gillan and Deep Purple in general. I figured that this would be a nice resource for fans of that era, so I have agreed to make his site a complementary addition to my BORN AGAIN era section.

I was especially pleased to see how well Peder laid out his site and the graphics are quite attractive! While I will always provide my own timelines and info about BORN AGAIN, I do feel that we will try to work together to keep our information consistent and accurate. But the difference is that his site will go more in depth about the album itself, as well as providing some great article transcriptions and resources.

So without further adieu, be sure to check out the world premiere of GILLAN THE HERO – A TRIBUTE TO BORN AGAIN!		 Peder Lundmark Peder's Site
1/10/2003 Attendance info for NEVER SAY DIE. Can anyone help with this? Many thanks to Stephan for sharing his research with us here! He sent me a spreadsheet of Van Halen’s tour dates for 1978, which included a good many gigs they did with Sabbath. Thanks to him, we now have some attendance figures for these a bunch of these shows. But he still needs more info!! If you have any articles, reviews or magazines that might contain Boxscore info from ’78, please send it along to us. This is Stephan’s letter:

“I`m 27 years old and a student of economics at University Regensburg, Germany . In my final essay (Diplomarbeit) about the concert industry, I do a case study with mathematical operations (SPSS is the tool) about the tour history of VAN HALEN. I`d like to ask for some BOXSCORE information (attendance, event and venue capacity, gross, price) about the stated events and venues of the 1978 Tour. If you are not able to share the stats please give some general stats (e.g. sell out, concert capacity, etc.). Thanks for your help and greetings from Germany.”

Again, if anyone has any information that would help, please send it along to sabbathlive.com!		 Stephan Boechum NSD Gigs
1/10/2003 Oslo '71 Article - Revised! While I originally posted a sneak preview of this a few weeks ago, I have since then added a scan from the Norwegian papers, as well as additional translations by Jan. Many thanks to him for providing these great old PARANOID era articles! Jan Hoel Article
1/11/2003 Osbournes missing necklace that was to be raffled off for charity AND a possible lawsuit against them? Thanks to Bamahakin for providing us with many recent articles of note on his Sabbath newsgroup on Yahoogroups, Bahamakin777. Apparently, Sharon had put up a $15,000 necklace up for raffle at their New Year's bash. Sharon accused an "employee of ICM (a talent agency) of crashing the party and walking off with the necklace. Now, ICM is threatening a lawsuit for having their name dragged into the quagmire. Never a dull moment for The Osbournes! Bahamakin69 & MTV Article
1/11/2003 Seattle 1980 show available for download on diozine.com Yep, you heard it right. Ken has put up an 128 kbps MP3 rip of the DANCE OF THE DEVIL bootleg up as his current feature. For those of you who aren't familiar with this show, it's an VG+ audience recording from Memorial Stadium in Seattle, WA on 7/19/80. Bill Ward was still in the band at this point. Ken - Diozine.com Listen
1/12/2003 An additional thank you… Thierry Baudens pointed out that some of the info that he has sent to me has originated from a Sabbath trader named George Berk. So here's to you, George!! Thanks for the great info! George Berk
1/12/2003 Press pass from Cal Jam Thanks to Chris for sending along this scan of an original press pass from California Jam I! Chris Slenker Pass
1/12/2003 Ticket Stub from Toronto '95 John scanned his stub from this FORBIDDEN Era show for the ticket stub archive. John also provided information about several Canadian TV appearances that Sabbath made in Canada. And thanks to him, we now know about live performance footage of several Toronto shows from '82 and '95. Also of interest was his mention of a "live in the studio" performance for Argentinian TV in 1992! Thanks John! John W. Stub
1/13/2003 Tommy Bolin opened for Sabbath?! Joe passed along this info about a gig that Sabbath played at International Amphitheater in Chicago on 11/24/76. Someone wrote in and said that the opening acts included the Tommy Bolin Band, Mothers Finest and Black Oak Arkansas. Joe Siegler
1/13/2003 BLACK AND BLUE DVD Update While there is still no great progress on this front, at least there is hope. Joe informed me that his contacts at Classic Pictures are doing everything they can to get this released. From what I gather, they are in the process of negotiating with "the powers that be" in order for this classic 1980 to get reissued. Keep your fingers crossed! Joe Siegler
1/13/2003 SEVENTH STAR section now up! Tonight, I'm unveiling the new memorabilia and custom lists section for this tumultuous era in Sabbath history. Enjoy! Rob 80s Section
1/14/2003 Sabbath FAQ 2.2 is up! The Black Sabbath FAQ is the result of a great deal of research done by Alexander Rack and Chris Slenker (among others). You can download a zipped version of the FAQ here. Chris Slenker FAQ 2.2
1/14/2003 Rhino Records to issue a Dio compilation? This one is in from the grapevine and I've yet to find anything on Rhino's site about it, but here's the scoop. This planned compilation will trace Dio's career from the Elf years up to present. While it isn't likely to contain any previously unreleased studio material, some live rarities may make the cut. Jay Pearson
1/14/2003 Pictures from Bensalem, PA '98 autograph signing session for REUNION. Gary Dean recently posted some pictures from Sabbath’s 1998 promotional autograph signing tour for the REUNION album. These pictures were taken by Alex Gross at Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem, PA on 10/20/98. Alex was one of two professional photographers shooting photos throughout the signings. Many thanks to Gary for letting us know about these! Gary Dean Pics
1/14/2003 A new rant from Richard Baines - His heartfelt review of the BLIZZARD OF OZ / DIARY OF A MADMAN re-re-masters Ah, we finally have a new rant from Richard! Maybe I ought to give him a column? Hmm, I gather from what I’ve read so far that he’s not so happy with the re-issues of BLIZZARD OF OZ and DIARY OF A MADMAN. These “re-monsters” have already gotten under my skin and I’ve done good to resist the temptation to go into a full rant mode. Heck, that’s what I have Richard for! Here’s his two cents:

“As usual, I'm not the first to arrive at the scene of the crime, but in time I do get there. In this case, I’m talking about the re-recorded reissues of Ozzy's first wo solo albums. I stopped in to a used CD store this afternoon, and checked out the first Ozzy solo release, BLIZZARD OF OZ in its "new & improved" format. Talk about a piece of crap... You know as well as anyone how I've gone to bat for the man, but he's on his own on this one (or whoever the "mastermind" is behind it). I've been listening to these albums since the day they were originally released in the early eighties, and know every song by heart, as far as the instrumentation goes.”

“The best way to describe the new version is as a reverse ‘Karaoke from hell’ where drunk amateurs (try to) play their instruments along to the vocals. It reminds me of the mid-eighties when Coca-Cola introduced New Coke, and no one swallowed the new version for a minute (from a consumer standpoint) and the company got the Asshole of the Year award for deviating from the original formula that made Coke a household name. The re-recorded bass tracks on the new version sounds like there is one hell of a good KETTLE DRUM player pounding out the bass part, instead of a bass guitar player. In other words, it sounds like s**t! Whomever was the ultimate driving force behind this world class act of stupidity needs to have a digital camera shoved up their ass next time they need their drivers license photo made because that is where they'll find their head. That includes ANYONE, and excludes no one... Let those whom the shoe fits wear it...”

“I wore Ted Nugent out a while back, because I was a pissed off consumer, who was fed up with arrogant musicians and record company dweebs, who take things like fan loyalty for granted. It's OUR money that put them in a higher tax bracket! And when they choose to stick some "bootleg quality" BS like the Ozzy reissues out on the market, then they better not come whining about people cutting into their profits by copying their CD's! The cost of a blank disk is about all the new stuff is worth anyway. I don't give a damn about lawsuits or any other business-related catfights that have been going on. I care about a classic piece of work being preserved in the way that it has existed for over twenty years.”

Thanks a big pantload guys! You’ve transformed these two classic Ozzy albums with Randy Rhoads into the musical equivalent of what Michael Jackson has done to his face! My advice to anyone that is tempted to buy the reissued Ozzy stuff is to instead, buy a fifth of tequila, go home and slam your head against the side of the house about three times real hard, walk in the door, put the original version of "Blizzard of Oz" on, drink all the tequila, and wait to get sick to you stomach with an atomic headache while listening to Ozzy’s music. You'll get the same result as I did listening to the reissue. The bright side is that you won't feel like a fish with a hook in its mouth for swallowing the bait. You’d be paying money for your own copy under the delusion that the new stuff is as good or better. This is one of the reasons that people copy CD's, not to mention the fact that they are overpriced to begin with. To anyone who has an ounce of conscience about copying the reissued versions, I’d tell you to put it out of your head! And if these new reissues are something you've just got to have, then "burn baby, burn”…”

Alright Richard, put down your weapon and slowly move away from the car! I didn’t like that new Coke either (especially this even newer crap with the vanilla in it), but what Ozzy allowed to happen was definitely sacrilege. I have listened to both albums (no, I didn’t pay a cent for ‘em) and they sound as if they were re-mastered from the original multi-tracks, as opposed to the mixdown masters. While this gives Randy and Ozzy’s tracks a bit more “presence”, the remix of their parts and the new bastardized rhythm section sounds like a bizarre alternate mix or demo version of the album. It’s certainly not up to the standards of the original, since they killed the original groove by having Trujillo and Bordin play over it. So what if The Osbournes were having differences with Daisley and Kerslake? Is that any reason to piss on the fans?		 Richard Baines
1/14/2003 Review of Dio's first ever gig with Sabbath - Stadthalle, Aurich, Germany on 4/17/80 This was Ronnie James Dio’s first official live gig with Black Sabbath. Many thanks to Hilko Meyer of Düsseldorf, Germany for sharing his own story about this historic Sabbath show.

Hilko wrote: “I have a little bit of information concerning the first gig of Sabbath´s HEAVEN AND HELL tour in 1980, because I was there. Back then, I was a teenager living in Emden, which is only a few miles away from Aurich. Emden and Aurich are both very small towns in the Northwestern part of Germany, near the Netherlands border. Being a rock fan of course, I was very excited to hear that Sabbath would play in Aurich. But since they were such a big band, me and my friends couldn’t believe that they would REALLY play when we first found out about the show. I guess that’s what a lot of other people must have thought because the venue that they played at was pretty small – and it wasn’t crowded at all. From the show itself, I only remember a few things: Sabbath were supported by a local band called Amuthon. As far as I know, Amuthon never played outside the Emden / Aurich region, which was probably best for the band and their audience!”

“The only two songs I’m sure that Sabbath played were "Neon Knights" and "Heaven and Hell". I also remember that Ronnie James Dio wore a red shirt and that he left the stage as soon he had finished a vocal part. He was only on stage when he was really needed. I was also surprised to see how short he is. In hindsight, the atmosphere of the gig was more of a public rehearsal than a "real rock-show". Except for the lighting, there was no special effects or staging. Unfortunately, I don’t remember much more. If I’d had been aware of the historic nature of this event, I would have been more attentive.”


“I bought the HEAVEN AND HELL album as soon as it was released here in Germany. The record company had put an "On Tour" sticker on the cover, which listed all German dates of the HEAVEN AND HELL tour. The first date listed is Aurich on April 17th.”		 Hilko Meyer
1/14/2003 New SEVENTH STAR Tour Site! Wow! Now we have two different sites dedicated to different Sabbath tours! Scott sent me a note last week to tell me of his new project. I would certainly recommend this to any fans of the Glenn Hughes/Ray Gillen era lineup. Scott has created a VERY attractive page layout along with his personal review of the Meadowlands '86 show and scans of different articles from that period. Bravo! Scott Valenzano 7th Star Page
1/14/2003 New interview with Ozzy done by Launch. Dave DiMartino recently conducted this interview with Ozzy. Check it ou! Dave DiMartino and Bahamakin Interview
1/14/2003 Some thoughts on the 1st album and Sabbath's philosophy Brandon got me thinking about the debut record for Sabbath all over again when he sent me this e-mail: “I was visiting your miscellaneous images page for the Black Sabbath album and there is this picture in there of a Vertigo record company poster (at the top it reads Comments and Quotes). I like what it says about Black Sabbath: We strongly advise those of nervous disposition NOT, repeat NOT to listen alone’. My dad listened to BLACK SABBATH when he was a teenager in the late 70's and he said that he and his friends never could listen to the album PARANOID alone-it was too scary and he never could listen too it in the dark. It is really strange how people responded to Black Sabbath when they first came out, because no one knew what to call it.”

“The first album was really awesome and Bill Ward always says that the first one was always his favorite. “I just wanted to make a comment on that and how the critics thought that it was a scary and satanic album. It may be scary but I don't see any references to the devil, except maybe “N.I.B.” and “Black Sabbath” which aren’t meant to be satanic.”

Rob: When BLACK SABBATH was released in 1970, there really wasn’t much to compare it to. The ‘hard rock’ music of that time was a definite reaction against the peace and love themes of the whole hippy dippy San Francisco scene. Band like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Blue Cheer were pounding out heavy riffs too, but their lyrics paled in comparison. While Texas rockers Bloodrock did come out with the horrific play-by-play description of the aftermath of a plane crash in “D.O.A.” (also released that year), the song itself was uncharacteristic of the band’s music. Sabbath tackled social issues that were “too heavy” for the others, including drugs (“Hand Of Doom”, “Sweet Leaf”, “Snowblind”), armchair generals who send their soldiers off to die (“War Pigs”), Individualism or self-realization (“Under The Sun”, “Supernaut”) and even questioning God’s intentions (“Who Are You”). I gained great respect for the band due to the brute honesty of their lyrics and the resonance of the universal themes, which they discussed

Every track on the 1st Sabbath album contains that eerie essence that makes it such a heavy rock essential to this day (and beyond). I was deeply affected and influenced by the music on this album, especially the guitar work of Tony Iommi. I spent hours in my room learning to solo by imitating the licks in songs like “The Warning” and “N.I.B.” Their music was so ‘heavy’ that it seemed to silence many of its detractors with its dark and forceful intent.

As far as the “Satanism” thing goes, anyone who believes that Black Sabbath’s lyrics were in support of the devil obviously need to go back to remedial reading classes! If anything, most of these songs are cautionary tales about what happens when you make the wrong choices in life. These are unflinching looks at the dark side of man and the consequences of embracing “the dark side”. I like to think of it as the musical equivalent of “scared straight” (when it comes to Satanism). But as far as drugs go…well, let’s just say that there’s a ‘mixed’ message! Essentially, I believe that much of Sabbath’s philosophy is summed up in the lyrics of “Under The Sun”.

“Well I don't want no Jesus freak to tell me what it's all about / No black magician telling me to cut my soul out / Don't believe in violence, I don't even believe in peace / I've opened the door and my mind has been released”

“Well I don't want no preacher telling me about the god in the sky / No I don't want no one to tell me where I'm gonna go when I die / I wanna live my life with no people telling me what to do / I just believe in myself, 'cause no one else is true”

“So believe what I tell you, it's the only way you’ll find in the end / Just believe in yourself, you know you really shouldn't have to pretend / Don't let those empty people try and interfere with your mind / Just live your life and leave them all behind”		 Brandon Napier 1st Album Ad
1/16/2003 "Is Sabbath Turning Purple?" - A 1984 article from Circus Magazine Mr. Dean has been sending me some great stuff this week. This one is just in time for the recent unveiling of the BORN AGAIN section. Here's a nice PDF of an article from Circus, which discusses their 10/25/83 appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Gary Dean PDF
1/16/2003 Some custom cover art for DOOMSDAY RECITATION Bobby has sent me several custom CD covers for different Sabbath boots. This one is for the Lund '77 show. Bobby Front Cover
1/19/2003 What show is the "Doomsday Reciation 1999" bootleg from? Chris is doing some research on these boots and needs to know some more detailed info on this one. If you happen to know, please write! I know the cover pic is small, but it's all we have! Chris Slenker Cover pic
1/19/2003 Contest!! Come up with the best alternative for the 1st line of "War Pigs" and win the show of your choice from Rob's collection! Keir made this amusing post on the Heep newsgroup, but I can't believe I hadn't given this much thought before. Regarding the first verse of "War Pigs", where Ozzy sings:
“Generals gather in their masses, just like witches at black masses”, Keir remarked “It always bothered me that they rhymed masses with masses. Couldn't they have thought of a different word?”

LOL! Good point, Keir. I’m sure that many of you could come up with some creative alternatives to that first line. This all gives me an idea! Send me in your best alternative for this first line of “War Pigs” and I’ll accept these until next Saturday (1/25/2003). I’ll send the winner of this contest the show of their choice from my collection. If I were to pick a specific show, I would be afraid that the winner may already have it. Bring on those creative answers!

BTW – My live shows list is at the link to the right. And don’t ask me for trades!! I’m too busy to start wheeling and dealing with people right now. If you win the contest, I’ll send you the show you want.
Rob's List
1/19/2003 Feature on rare LIVE EVIL promotional reels Paul is the proud owner of one of these great pro-shot reels from the MOB RULES tour. He actually send me these stills months ago, but I've been dragging my butt on getting this posted. Anyhow, be sure to check out this special feature about his films. Paul May Feature
1/19/2003 What is the video LIVE AT LAST? Were these 1973 performances filmed as well? These questions were originally prompted by a telephone conversation that I had with Paul Jarolimek recently. He remembers seeing this video for sale back in the early 80’s, but it was quickly withdrawn from public sale. I decided to do a little more research and found a mention of this video on the Black Sabbath FAQ, but nothing more. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if there truly were some vintage pro-shot footage of Sabbath from ’73 sitting in the vaults? There is truly very little video of Sabbath during the 70’s in circulation, so anything more would be quite welcome. The skeptic in me wants to think that this video is just a repackage of the London ’78 show, but others seem to believe it’s not. Does anyone have any more details on this mystery video? Paul Jarolimek
1/19/2003 Questions about radio interviews and Tony's birth year Lars wrote in with some questions regarding two tapes that he recently received in a trade. The first tape prompted questions about Tony Iommi’s actual birth year. In a phone interview conducted by a DJ from WLIR-FM (Garden City, NY) on 2/19/81, it is mentioned that this was Iommi’s 32nd birthday. But wasn’t Tony born in 1948, thus making him 33? In the interview, they also discuss Tony getting a parking ticket that same day and the last tour, which included the States, Japan, Australia and Europe. The tracks “Black Sabbath”, “Supernaut” and “Wishing Well” are played. The name of this program was “Midnight Snack”.

Regarding the 2nd tape, Tony Iommi and Bev Bevan were on the ’97 Rock Metalshop’ radio program playing their favorite tracks during December ’83. After the music has been edited out, there is only about 3 minutes of them talking. Does anyone know what city and station this took place at?		 Lars Bernstroem
1/19/2003 Artwork for the SOD THE RULES bootleg. Chris just passed along these covers for a bootleg of the Devore 2001 show to us. Chris Slenker Front
1/19/2003 Letter from taper of Buffalo '80 show Wow, it’s always great to hear from the tapers, especially the guys who recorded Sabbath shows from 20+ years ago! When I’m listening to these old live tapes, I’m always wondering about origins of these recordings. Where were they sitting? What sort of equipment did they use?

Ken L. wrote: “I saw your web site and as to your question about the Buffalo 10/13/80 show. If it’s the recording I know of, then it’s an audience recording. I was the one who taped it. I traded it quite a lot at that time, but unfortunately my master is long gone. I has a simple slim cassette recorder with an average microphone, but I was right next to the AMPS!”

“As far as the Sabbath show goes, my memories are strictly of the audio. My seats were great to record from but I couldn't see anything but Geezer and occasionally Ronnie. It was a LONG show. BOC had to breakdown all of their stuff and then Sabbath set up and it took forever. I taped the opener, Shakin’ Street, but that tape is long gone too.”		 Ken L.
1/19/2003 Sabbath songs express Xtian concepts? Huh? One of my site contributors, who would prefer not be named or associated with this topic, pointed me to this interesting, but bizarre article. Written by Reverend Matt G. Paradise, who belongs to Anton Lavey’s infamous Church Of Satan, the article actually confirms that Black Sabbath ARE NOT Satanists.

He uses the term “Xtian” here which is an abbreviation of “Christian”. While it could have been intended in an offensive way, such as to blot out the name of Christ, it’s not usually considered to be a negative term. X is an abbreviation for Christ, arising from Greek term ‘Christos’, which starts with a Greek Chi, which is written as X. The usage of the term “Xtian” dates back to the 1500’s.

Reverend Paradise wrote: “In the early 1970s, the band Black Sabbath rose to musical fame under some very assuming pretenses. Many of Black Sabbath's songs, misunderstood within the comparatively restrictive social condition of the time, were indeed pulled straight from the values, ideals, and principles of the Xtian religion. Ozzy Osbourne, then-lead singer for the band, could have very well been the first Xtian rocker. Within the lyrics of their songs, they expressed the Xtian concepts of [the Xtian] God vs. Satan ("Black Sabbath"), reconciliation with Xtian beliefs ("After Forever"), a plea to Jesus for help (a common theme in Sabbath tunes, most notably in "The Thrill Of It All"), Satan being the motivator for war ("War Pigs") and many others. With Dr. LaVey and The Church of Satan in the media limelight at the same time, I'd say that society was being reinforced with mixed messages , especially the young. Of course, the members of Black Sabbath also sang about degenerate hippie topics as well, but even hippies have a love for master / slave relationships. (Drugs and the Xtian god, being two of them.)”

While it’s no secret that the members of Sabbath all had a fascination with the occult, they have never associated themselves with any particular group or belief system publicly. They have been hounded for years by different cults and groups who claimed to understand what the band were saying, but Sabbath has always seemed to distance themselves from such people. And in their lyrics, Sabbath has always implied a “fear” of Satan, rather than an incitement to embrace Satanic values. This is even evident on the later albums with Tony Martin, such as THE ETERNAL IDOL.

Anyhow, there is more about Ozzy in this article, as well as other “Xtian rockers”, so check the link for more. I should forewarn you that this site is of a Satanic nature, so you use your own judgment here about whether you want to visit.		 Deep Throat Xtian Essay
1/19/2003 A short history of Detroit venues Back on January 3rd, I posted about all of the confusion I have dealt with in sorting in some of the Detroit gigs. While I have received some help from several people on this (including Mike Cooper – thank you!), I was simply curious at how these mix-up’s could have come about. In other words, I wanted to know more about Cobo Hall and Joe Louis Arena, since I myself have never been to Detroit. Ron Dagwell came to the rescue today with this letter:

“I have been to numerous shows at both venues. Both are in downtown Detroit, on the riverfront, and are blocks from each other. From the inside, they are laid out similarly, but seat different amounts of people (Joe Louis seats 19,000, compared to Cobo's 12,000 seats. (Subtract seats to allow for staging- these figures are for sporting events).”

“Back in the 70s, when I first started to go to shows, the main venues in Detroit were Cobo Arena (where I saw Sabbath in Feb '74), Masonic Auditorium (4,400 seats), Olympia (the Beatles played here in '64 and again in '66), Michigan Palace (4,500 seats), Pine Knob, and Ford Auditorium, in roughly that order (of usage for concerts). I was too young to have gone to the Eastowne or the Grande Ballroom, both of which were popular late-'60s venues.”

“Joe Louis was built in '79. The first show I remember there was in May '80 (Fleetwood Mac). The Black & Blue show was there in Oct '80, Blue Oyster Cult played there again in Oct '81, and I saw Bowie there in July '83. In fact, as the '80s progressed, there were fewer concerts at Cobo and more at Joe Louis. I can't say for sure, but based on this, I would go with Joe Louis. In the '80s, that was the place to play. But by the ‘90s, even Joe Louis had faded as a venue. Springsteen in '88 was the last show I remember there.”

“Today, it seems like the only places they have concerts are at the Palace of Auburn Hills and at Pine Knob. Both are in the northern suburbs of Detroit. The newly completed Ford Field recently hosted The Rolling Stones, but so far that's about it. Cobo is used infrequently nowadays for things like Barney-the-purple-dinosaur shows, alternative rock concerts, where I I saw Green Day there in '94. Don't laugh, my young girlfriend wanted to go! Also a few graduations have been held there. Hope this helps!”

Sure does! Thank you, Ron!		 Ron Dagwell
1/19/2003 Are the OZZMAN COMETH basement tapes from the John Peel "Top Gear" sessions? Revised (1/28/2003) - These 4 mysterious tracks appeared on Ozzy’s 1997 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 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.

There is also quite a bit of speculation that these tracks were originally recorded for John Peel’s “Top Gear” program. In fact, 2 of these songs (“Black Sabbath” and “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”) were performed during the confirmed 11/11/69 session, but we don’t know for sure if this is the actual origin of these particular versions. “Walpurgis” and “Fairies Wear Boots” were almost certainly recorded later.

Much of this speculation originates from a bootleg alleging to be the “Top Gear” sessions. Jarkko Aaltonen and Chris Slenker determined that this bootleg was actually the same as the OZZMAN COMETH basement tapes. The only difference that Jarkko heard between these versions is that the studio audience noise has been edited out of the OZZMAN COMETH versions.

Paul Jarolimek inspired me to take a closer look at the date, since he himself had arrived at late April ’70 as the most likely time it was done. I concur with Paul’s estimation here, but it is not yet possible to nail it down to an exact date. It could have taken place anytime between March 1970 and the recording sessions for PARANOID, which began in mid-June. Keep in mind that Sabbath played “Walpurgis” live at Koln, Germany on 4/3/70.		 Jarkko Aaltonen and Chris Slenker
1/20/2003 Who played bass on "Black Moon" and "Some Kind Of Woman"? A few months back, Thierry asked me these tracks from the 1987 HEADLESS CROSS sessions. He mentioned that Bob Daisley had discussed these tracks with him and said that he did not play on them. Strangely enough, even Tony Martin had no answer for this question! Does anyone have a clue? Thierry Bauwens
1/20/2003 New!! Known audios of Tony Iommi listing! Back in August 2002, I asked Sabbath scholar Thierry Baudens to take a hard look at my timelines and send me his criticisms or input. What he did send me was so overwhelming that I have yet to absorb all of his suggestions or information! So in other words, there is much more information to be posted in regards to the “known audios” of Black Sabbath, thanks to Thierry and George Berks.

One comment that Thierry did make was that my current timelines are very much slanted to indicate that Tony Iommi “is” Black Sabbath, since I have incorporated much of his solo information into these listings. This is not the case with any other member of the band. I must admit to an unconscious bias toward Iommi, since he is the only person who played in every lineup of the band. Thierry suggested that I start building a separate timeline for Iommi’s work. While I knew he was right about this, I was already very wrapped up in the Sabbath timeline itself.

I was reminded of his suggestion while going through my old site mail and decided to construct at least a skeleton of Iommi’s known work aside from the band. I ended up piecing together a good bit of information regarding official and un-official audios and videos that have featured Tony. There is still much work to be done here, so please send along any additions or corrections you may have.

Also, I have removed much of this information from the Sabbath timeline, since it has a much more appropriate home in these lists. I have chosen to leave the SEVENTH STAR related recordings in the Sabbath timeline, since this project inevitably led to a BLACK SABBATH album and tour. But I do agree with those who feel that this was initially meant to be a Tony Iommi solo project and there is no arguing that point. I feel it would be confusing to move this information to Tony’s listings when the band was called BLACK SABBATH by the time the album was released.

Will I create separate listings for the solo works of Ward, Butler, Martin, Dio, Powell, Gillan, Gillen, Nicholls and OZZY?? Maybe in time, but I must admit that Ozzy’s solo career is an even more intimidating project than this one. For the time being, the focus will stay entirely on BLACK SABBATH, since there is still so much work to be done here. I do think that an Ozzy timeline / database would be a worthwhile endeavor, but I’m only one person! Just imagine the known audios and videos lists I’d have for him! Not to mention the endless tours of Dio and Gillen….

But the Iommi audios and videos listings seem a bit necessary to untangle this web a bit and make some important distinctions between Tony and Black Sabbath, for often that line has been a very thin one.		 Thierry Bauwens Iommi Audios
1/20/2003 New!! Known videos listing for Tony Iommi - solo. These are the known videos for Tony Iommi solo. If you have any additions or corrections, send 'em along! Rob Iommi Videos
1/21/2003 A somewhat skeptical 1986 review of Ozzy's THE ULTIMATE SIN and Black Sabbath's SEVENTH STAR Gary passed this along to me, probably after reading all of this talk of Iommi on the news page. Written back in 1986 by Terry Atkinson, the review is repectful to Iommi as a musician, but pans the 7th Star album. Gary Dean Review
1/22/2003 A toast and a recommendation to blacksabbath.org! Paul Jarolimek has put a great deal of his time and work into his labor of love. When I first started discussing "tour dates" with Paul nearly a year ago, both of us were extremely dissatisfied with the information that was out there. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that someone was taking the trouble to search out these missing gig dates, as well as the known live recordings that existed of the band.

Since then, each of us has continued to research Sabbath gigs and craft our own personal perspectives on Sabbathology. And while our sites are not affiliated in any official sense, we do often compare notes and share discoveries. I'll be the first to admit that I was a little concerned about our sites being "redundant". Like Paul, I've invested hundreds of hours into my research, so I think it's only natural to be protective of my work.

But it would also be ridiculous for either of us to claim we did alone. We've each had plenty of help along the way to fill in these blanks. This is evident from our endless list of credits and thank you's! Paul has penned a very nice credits list on his site, which includes names of the various patrons who have visited my site as well. So, it is quite obvious that we continue to influence each other and I thought it important to acknowledge this. If there is anyone I haven't "thanked" enough, it would be Paul.

But I am pleased to see that Paul is crafting his own take on the Sabbath story, with plenty of new revelations that haven't been written elsewhere. I think we're both finding that the more that we keep digging; the deeper the wormhole seems to go! So, there's plenty of territory to cover here and I don't think that either of us could do it entirely alone. It takes the every day inspirations of the articles we find and the people we talk to that make our respective works what they are. I would prefer to see Paul as a colleague, rather than a competitor, so here's to blacksabbath.org!

So be sure to take a look around and check it out. While most of the site is still under construction, you will find some very interesting reading under 'The History' section, especially 1959-68. Keep an eye on his site, 'cause he will be one of the next generation of Sabbath sites to keep the fans entertained and informed.		 Paul Jarolimek Visit
1/22/2003 The Osbournes - The First Season (Uncensored) to be released on DVD soon! On March 4th, the uncensored version of season one of 'The Osbournes' TV series will be issued on DVD. If you're a fan of the show, I do think that this would be a worthwhile disc to get. I say this mainly due to the fact that these are the "uncensored" versions, which are a whole lot better than the bleeped and edited stuff that MTV shows in constant rotation. It's always been rather strange to me that Europe has no problem with airing these, yet we censor them in America? Go figure. Anyhow, I have the European versions on VCD and they are much more enjoyable. Many jokes and comments are lost on the audience for the censored versions, since you're having to guess what they said.
Included on the disc are:
*All 10 episodes of the first season with commentary
*Never before seen, un-aired footage from six episodes
*Four never-before-seen episodes
*Commentary track
*"Too Oz for TV" - Blooper Reel
*Ozzy's Ten Commandments
*Diary of an Osbourne — Random Acts of Ozzy
*Never-before-seen interviews with cast
*Ozzy translator — decode the Prince of Darkness
*Conversations with the Osbournes: Life On The Road, Family Values, First Season Stories, The Untold Story of Michael the Security Guard
*Set Top Materials: Name that dookie, Edit a scene, Osbournes Bingo Game – use supplied cards or download new cards off the internet to play bingo
*DVD-ROM: Food Nuisance, Guide to "The Osbournes", Web site links		 Rock Rage Link
1/22/2003 U.S. District Court Judge sets ugly precedent for file swappers Richard passed along this newsworthy article along to me this morning. He wrote: "Here's some more info you might want to keep track of. I'm not a big expert on this kind of thing, but it seems to be mainly concerned with unauthorized distribution of commercially available material. I would focus on HOW they are tracking these guys more so than why. I keep hearing Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" in my head every time I read this kind of stuff."
The main gist of this article is that a U.S. District Court judge ordered Verizon to name a particular Kazaa user who had been sharing hundreds of songs with other users. If this ruling were to play out, it would give the RIAA the power to identify and prosecute users of file sharing communities for sharing copyrighted music, thus making MP3 trading more difficult and even quite risky. I knew it was only a matter of time before the RIAA would start pressuring the ISP's, since this is really the only way they can put a serious damper on the MP3 free-for-all that has been going on for several years. Follow the link for more on this.		 Richard Baines Article
1/22/2003 Another Ozzy compilation on the way - The Essentials Ozzy is giving his fans even more to purchase, with yet another repackage of his greatest hits, due out January 28th. Unlike his 1997 THE OZZMAN COMETH set, this one includes some lesser known material from his solo career such as "You're No Different" and the underrated "Fire In The Sky" (which is actually a re-written version of an unreleased Uriah Heep demo called "Valley Of The Kings"). What makes this release a little more controversial is the question of whether the re-recorded versions of the BLIZZARD & DIARY tracks (with Trujillo and Bordin) will appear in the place of the original versions. All that has been said so far is that the album will feature "digitally remastered" versions of the songs.

CD1: 01. Crazy Train, 02. Mr. Crowley, 03. I Don't Know (Live), 04. Suicide Solution, 05. Goodbye To Romance, 06. Over The Mountain, 07. Flying High Again, 08. Diary Of A Madman, 09. Paranoid (Live), 10. Bark At The Moon, 11. You're No Different, 12. Rock 'n' Roll Rebel, 13. Crazy Babies, 14. Miracle Man, 15. Fire In The Sky, 16. Breakin' All The Rules

CD2: 01. Mama, I'm Coming Home, 02. Desire, 03. No More Tears, 04. Time After Time, 05. Road To Nowhere, 06. I Don't Want To Change The World (Live), 07. Perry Mason, 08. I Just Want You, 09. Thunder Underground, 10. See You On The Other Side, 11. Gets Me Through, 12. Dreamer, 13. No Easy Way Out		 Rock Rage Link
1/23/2003 Limited edition 7" colored vinyl single of Ozzy with Randy My wife keenly came across this interesting Ozzy related item. This colored vinyl single includes "You Looking Me (Looking At You)", "Diary Of A Madman" and a rare recording of Randy teaching someone the chords to "Diary". These are going for $20 a piece, so Ozzy collectors may want to check this out. Suzanna Dwyer Buy
1/23/2003 Interesting information about Bill Ward's 1980 departure and some 1st hand testimony from someone who worked on the HEAVEN AND HELL tour! “Big Bob” Costin was able to help me out with some information regarding the HEAVEN AND HELL tour, since we worked on the merchandising crew for a few weeks during August, 1980. This was a key point in the band’s history, because it is when Bill Ward decided to leave the band for the first time. Up until now, all that has really been known about Bill’s departure is that it took place after a gig at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, CO towards the end of August 1980.

But according to Bob’s memory of these events, Bill’s departure wasn’t quite so abrupt. In fact, he had actually left the band earlier in August, but was somehow convinced to continue touring a few more weeks. Here’s Bob’s take on this:

“I came to be on the Black Sabbath 1980 HEAVEN AND HELL tour because the combined BLACK AND BLUE tour came to a separation point for a short while. I flew into Wichita, KS to be the assistant on the Black Sabbath portion of this tour. The original merchandise crew stayed with Blue Oyster Cult going elsewhere.”

“Immediately, things started going wrong when Sabbath’s drummer, Bill Ward, had suddenly quit the band. We were stuck in Wichita for four days waiting for Bill to return.
It was so hot that the hotel pool was closed after the sun burned the chemicals out. I believe that the Wichita, Kansas was scheduled for August 5th. I remember that at least 2 other shows were canceled around that time.”

“Then we had to haul ass to Hartford leaving Wichita on the 8th to get to the Hartford, CT show [which took place on the 9th]. Yes, Shakin” Street and Sammy Hagar were the opening acts after B.O.C. went their own way. In fact, we had to stop in Pittsburgh on the 13th to drop off Sammy Hagar merchandise for a show at a theatre there. Bill Ward did leave the tour for three days in august because it messed up my vending percentages at the cancelled shows. I was real upset and broke. Bill Ward came back for Hartford and stayed until Vinny Appice replaced him.”

“I stayed on that tour until we rejoined Blue Oyster Cult at the Rockford Speedway in Rockford, IL. I was with them only till Rockford, which was my last show on the merch crew. At that point, the crew that was doing Blue Oyster Cult merchandising took back the combined BLACK & BLUE tour from us.”
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“Being the assistant, I did not interact with the band directly. But when Ronnie James Dio came out to the merchandise truck one evening, I was introduced to him. Five years later, when I was in charge of merchandising on Dio’s SACRED HEART tour, Ronnie remembered me! Dio is one of the most intelligent people I have gotten to know well in this business. It was hot, hard work, but very rewarding, both financially and otherwise. This was only my second tour and only lasted a few short weeks.”		 "Big Bob" Costin
1/24/2003 More info on the ESSENTIALS + Brandon gets me all wound up again! Brandon has some additional information and thoughts regarding the new Ozzy ESSENTIALS compilation that I mentioned on 1/22:

“The new Ozzy greatest hits compilation does feature the new re-recorded versions of the Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman songs. Here are my thoughts on the new reissues (even though this IS old news). If the Ozzy fans have the original Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman (more than likely they do) with the original bass and drum parts, then who cares about the new remasters? I know I didn’t, because I had the original releases already. Although it is interesting to hear the new remasters, it was still a terrible thing to do. The packaging is really good, but it is all black and white pictures inside the booklets. I could really care less, but I bought them anyway before I knew they were re-recorded.”

Okay, Brandon. I’m glad to see another point of view on the subject, since most of the mail I’ve received about these remasters has been overwhelmingly negative. Maybe some people will enjoy these CD’s without the feeling the sort of betrayal and outrage that readers like Richard Baines felt about them.

But for many of us who were listening when these albums first hit the record stores, they are an important piece of hard rock history. And this sort of revisionism is outrageous to me, especially when the new version REPLACES the original. It was released as an alternative version, I would be as bothered by the new version. It’s the fact that people don’t even realize what they’re buying unless they’re keeping up with the latest Ozzy news. Can you imagine walking into a record store to buy some classic album by some band like Led Zeppelin, only to find out later that the bass parts were re-recorded by Flea? I don’t have any issue with Flea, but I’d still be pissed that it wasn’t John Paul Jones!

I know I’m a broken record now, but I know I will never be able to listen to these re-monsters (or re-bastards, as Richard calls them) without getting annoyed. Why did they have to make a private dispute a public mockery? And I’m not sure who is being insulted more, Bob & Lee or the fans!		 Brandon Napier
1/25/2003 MORE Cover Work - San Jose '99 This is custom art work for Sabbath's '99 San Jose show. Bobby actually sent me these back in November, so I thought it was about time I got 'em up! Thanks Bobby! Bobby Front Cover
1/25/2003 Correction on the VOL 4 release dates, comments on ALMOST FAMOUS and more. Once again, Brandon has some things to share with sabbathlive.com!

“According to the new liner notes of the new SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE box set, VOL. 4 was released September 25, 1972.”

Rob: Thanks for the info, Brandon. I had this down as simply September ’72 on the timeline, so this helps! Strangely enough, Sabbath toured the states from July 7th through September 17th, which was before the new album even hit the shelves yet! That’s usually not the way you’d want to do it…

Brandon: “Another note on the movie ALMOST FAMOUS: On your site, you mentioned that if the Sabbath concert was based on an actual show, it would have been the 9/10/72 San Diego Sports Arena gig. You're right on the information that the movie plays songs that weren’t appropriate to that year. In fact, while the guitarist and William go to that party where the guitarist of Stillwater drops acid, they play the Deep Purple song “Burn”. In fact, “Burn” wasn’t released until 1974 and the movie takes place in 1973. The person who wrote or directed that movie needs to get their facts straight. Only a true classic heavy metal fan would notice these goof ups.”

Rob: Or people like us who have way too much time on our hands! It was Cameron Crowe, husband of Heart’s Nancy Wilson, who wrote ALMOST FAMOUS. His resume also includes such films as FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, VANILLA SKY, SINGLES and THE WILD LIFE. The movie was loosely based on his experiences as a young journalist working for Rolling Stone magazine, but the names had been changed to protect the guilty! My guess is that the band STILLWATER represented a band such as LED ZEPPELIN, whom Crowe had traveled with.

While I did enjoy ALMOST FAMOUS for the most part, it did annoy me that Crowe didn’t take enough care to detail when it came to keeping the soundtrack genuine to the time period. This happened several times in the movie, such as when a 90’s AC/DC song was played during the 80’s. Augh!

Brandon: “I was thinking about the e-mail that I sent to you about the first Black Sabbath record. Yes, I think the lyrics to “Under The Sun” illustrate the Black Sabbath philosophy perfectly. I've been listening to Black Sabbath ever since I was 10. I'm now 16, believe it or not (my point is most 16 year old kids nowadays don’t particularly listen to Black Sabbath)! The first Black Sabbath album I ever had was PARANOID. My dad had the cassette and I remember listening to it when I was 10 years old and I thought either this is the scariest music I ever heard or maybe the loudest!”

Rob: “Well, it sounds like you’re off to a good start then! I started listening to Sabbath when I was 13 years old and it wasn’t necessarily the “in thing” in 1982 either, but I did think it was some of the heaviest music out there. While my peers listened to the pop music of the early 80’s, I was digging through older 60’s and 70’s hard rock titles in my Uncle’s record collection! My Uncle Scott kept raving about this singer named Ronnie James Dio and shoved a copy of Rainbow’s ON STAGE in my face and told me to “LISTEN!” I didn’t get it at first, but after a few listens, the music hit me like a ton of bricks. Hearing that rendition of “Kill The King” still gives me shivers! But hearing Ronnie belt out songs like “The Mob Rules” took it to another level entirely. Sabbath had become even more brutal and ferocious!

Brandon: “Another comment on the lyrics. “I don't think that Black Sabbath is satanic. If you've read about them, the 4 band members of the original band (Geezer, Ozzy, Bill, Tony) say they distanced themselves from Satanists that showed up to their shows. I really like the first album and it is more blues influenced than anything. I also like HEAVEN AND HELL, SABOTAGE and VOL. 4. Thanks for putting my comment about the first album on your site. Those are my feelings and I hope most Black Sabbath fans agree with me.”

Rob: No argument about the ‘satanic’ thing from me. I think we’ve covered that topic pretty well this month. Thanks for writing, Brandon!		 Brandon Napier
1/25/2003 Remembering two Ottawa shows! Derrick Bell of Trenton, Ontario, Canada sent me and Tapio Keihanen his memories of two Dio era Sabbath shows in Ottawa. Derrick wrote: “Very interesting website. I attended two Black Sabbath concerts in Ottawa, Ontario in the early eighties and was trying to determine the actual dates.”

“The 1st was on 21.11.81 and the venue was the Civic Center Arena. The opening band was Alvin Lee, which was worth the price of admission to my friends and I. The only thing that stands out in my mind about this concert was the large moccasins which Ronnie James Dio was wearing. About a month or two later I went to see Ozzy at the same arena. I had to go alone, none of my friends wanted to go.”

“2nd was at Lansdowne Park, but I don't remember if it was on the 25th or 27th of Aug 82. [A ticket stub confirms this as the 25th]. I had my ticket stubs for years but I can't seem to find them now. I was also reasonably sure that Johnny Van Zant did play, and do not recall any rain at all, just that it was windy in the stands. My cousin was visiting from New Brunswick and my friends and I wanted to take him to see Black Sabbath. He had a great time and was jumping all over the seats.”		 Derrick Bell
1/25/2003 Ozzy, Jack & Kelly star in a new Pepsi commercial? Yep, that’s right. More media exposure for Ozzy! This time, Ozzy is featured in a Pepsi commercial slated for the Super Bowl weekend in progress. The clip has been in heavy rotation on CNN all day long. The ad itself is for the new lemon flavored Pepsi twist. It includes appearances by Ozzy, Jack, Kelly, as well as Donnie & Marie Osmond and Florence Henderson.

In the clip, Jack and Kelly announce themselves as imposters, only to unwrap their faces and show themselves to be…..Donnie and Marie Osmond?! Of course, Ozzy has give his now patented look of utter bewilderment before yelling “SHA-RON!!!!”

In the final scene, Ozzy thinks he’s in bed with Sharon, only to find that she is really Florence Henderson. Hmmm, okay! The clip is both amusing and disturbing to Ozzy fans at the same time.		 Pepsi, I suppose…
1/25/2003 Bizarre cover for THE LAST SUPPER bootleg is actually part of a popular urban legend. I found the inlay cover for THE LAST SUPPER particularly bizarre, so I asked Chris about this. He wrote: “The croc is on the back. It's a man, a golfer actually. The story is rather gruesome. Down in Florida, there was an old American crocodile. Yes, the rare kind. Golfers would occasionally see the crocodile on the golf course sunning himself. They always made the way around him, so he was a minor attraction of that golf course.”

“Then one day, these four golfers go out to play and one of them got ahead of the rest. They thought that he had went on home, but they went back to the golf course and found his car still there after being notified that he was missing. They finally convinced the game warden that the croc must have got him and the game warden killed the croc. Then they opened the croc up and there was the missing golfer. The front cover is a crazy or starving or both cannibal lady cooking a child in a pot.”

Well, it turns out this tale is actually just an urban legend, but you can read more about this by clicking the link to the right. The crocodile is real, but this was no Florida reptile		 Chris and Rob Read
1/25/2003 2 more covers, both with wrong gig info! More cover art that I've been hanging on to. Hausladen sent me 2 interesting covers, bot which contain confusing wrong info about the shows they represent. LOS ANGELES '74 alleges to be from Los Angeles 6/4/74, but is obviously just another version of the 4/6/74 Cal Jam tape. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN dates the NYC gig as 12/12/76, but it actually happened on 12/6. Nevertheless, thanks to Hausladen for adding these to the cover art archive! Hausladen Covers
1/25/2003 Ticket Stub from Hamburg 'Big Gig' Open Air Festival This little scrap of paper is one of the earliest ticket stubs that I've been able to find for Sabbath. This was from a festival show they performed at in Hamburg along with bands such as Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and Humble Pie. Rob Old Stub
1/25/2003 8 new bootlegs added to cover art archive! Chris is THE man when it comes to researching known bootlegs of Black Sabbath. I know he’s been working hard to locate cover art for many different shows. And thanks to him, we now complete cover art scans for 8 different boots! These include ALL IOMMI ALL THE TIME (Miami ’76), HAMMERSMITH OF THE GODS (London 1/13/76), IOMMINATOR (compilation of Iommi rarities), MONDAY’S SCAR (live compilation of 4 different shows), SAVAGE PSALMS AND POISON POEMS (Pittsburgh 6/12/99), SCARY DREAM #1 (Birmingham 5/22/2001), SCENES OF SALEM (Stockholm 12/14/99) and THE LAST SUPPER (Helsinki 12/12/99). All of these can be viewed in the temporary gallery I have created for Chris’ submissions OR the regular cover art archive. Chris Slenker New Covers
1/25/2003 Some research uncovers more details on an early festival show from 7/10/70 in Aachen, Germany! I’ve done quite a bit of research on this festival and was surprised to discover what a truly big show this was. What made it difficult research was all of the different names that people have attributed to the festival, venue and city. My most educated guess is that the shows took place at Reiter Stadion in Aachen, Germany. It was a three-day festival than spanned July 10th through 12th, 1970. It has been called the ‘Euro-Pop Festival’, ‘Tivoli Pop Festival’ and ‘1st Open Air Festival’, but all of these shows appear to be the same event. The venue has also been attributed to Soerser Stadium and Stadium Alev, neither of which appears to be legitimate.

Free (featuring Paul Rodgers), Traffic and Black Sabbath were among the headliners for the 1st show on the 10th. Deep Purple headlined on the following day, which also featured an early live performance by electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. On the final day (July 12th), Pink Floyd performed. Other bands included Taste (featuring Rory Gallagher), Atomic Rooster, Status Quo, Edgar Broughton Band, Tyrannosaurus Rex (better known as T-Rex), Van Der Graaf Generator, Hardin And York, Keef Hartley, If, Fat Mattress (featuring Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience), Champion Jack Dupree, Quintessence, Caravan, Golden Earring, Amon Duul II, Kevin Ayres & The Whole World and Black Widow.

Some remarkable soundboard recordings of at least 4 bands have been making the rounds for years. One of the most notable recordings was of Deep Purple, which has become something of a legendary live bootleg recording called “SPACE”. In fact, it was so good that the band officially released it a few years ago as part of a “Beat The Boots” campaign. Here are some remarks on this show from www.purplerecords.net:

“After an open air show at Bedford's football ground, followed by a major London gig at the Lyceum, Deep Purple slipped across to Germany. When Purple arrived at Aachen on July 11th, it was already the second day of a three-day festival, the bill including Pink Floyd, Free and Tyrannosaurus Rex. With the chaotic organization that surrounded the festival, it is perhaps not surprising that enterprising bootleggers were able to record many of the acts at the festival. History has it that the tapes were taken direct from a feed on the stage. There were two pressings issued fairly quickly. The first was titled "Space" and was available either as a double (two discs in a single card cover) or as two single discs.”

Other common bootlegs from the festival include recordings of Pink Floyd, Free and Traffic. Now with all of this taping being done, didn’t someone capture Sabbath’s set? We can only hope!		 Rob
1/25/2003 John Peel 1970 session must have taken place before PARANOID sessions Another issue of contention is the actual date of this performance. Some seem to believe that this was done on 11/29/1970, but it seems quite obvious that the session must have taken place before the recording of PARANOID in June of ’70. Why? For one, this rendition of “War Pigs” contains the complete original lyrics for the song, which was originally titled “Walpurgis”. And while Ozzy has flubbed the words in later shows (like Paris ’70), it does not sound at all like he is improvising or flubbing the words here. Also, Tony’s fills are slightly different in spots, so it sounds as if he is still nailing down his parts as well.

Paul Jarolimek inspired me to take a closer look at the date, since he himself had arrived at late April ’70 as the most likely time it was done. I concur with Paul’s estimation here, but it is not yet possible to nail it down to an exact date. It could have taken place anytime between March 1970 and the recording sessions for PARANOID, which began in mid-June. Keep in mind that Sabbath played “Walpurgis” live at Koln, Germany on 4/3/70. The 11/29/70 date that is being bandied about was probably a broadcast date.		 Paul Jarolimek
1/26/2003 "Plumpton Mystery Tape" essay - What it could be and what it isn't! In my write up regarding the Euro-Pop Festival show that Sabbath played in Aachen, Germany on 7/10/70, I made light of the fact that several bands were recorded at that show. Paul Jarolimek prodded me about the whole Berlin ’70 controversy again , so I decided to revisit this issue again and propose some new theories. Let’s bring everyone up to speed on this mess first!

Bootleg CD's: Live At Plumpton [LP/CD - Best version, but incomplete], Return To 1969 [CD: Songs are not in the original running order and incomplete], Live At The Fillmore East [CD-R: Bad quality and incomplete; Avoid!] Kiel 7-5-70 [CD-R: Complete?]

When the ‘Berlin ‘70’ tape surfaced, it was actually attributed to a show at Plumpton Racecourse in Plumpton, England on 8/9/69 (as mentioned in the back cover of ‘RETURN TO 1969’). There was a lot of excitement about this recording, due to the fact that it was the earliest known complete live recording of Black Sabbath in concert. While the quality of this tape isn’t remarkable, it is clear and as good as we could expect from a 30+ year old audience tape.

Even from the beginning, it was evident that the date of this show was incorrect to the real Sabbath scholars. For one, the show didn’t take place in 1969, as the ‘RETURN TO 1969’ bootleg would have us believe. But they DID play a show at The 10th National Jazz & Blues Festival at Plumpton Racecourse at Lewes in East Sussex, England on August 8th, 1970. It appears that the bootleggers were off by a year and a day in their estimations there!

But even with this correction made, many were still unconvinced that this was the origin of this tape. The fact that Ozzy botches (or forgets) the lyrics to several PARANOID era songs led some believe that this tape was from their other Plumpton appearance at the Whitsun Festival on 5/23/70. But this guess is obviously wrong, since “Paranoid” wasn’t written until the recording sessions for the album in mid-June. But traders were dating the show THREE different ways. At this point, you may want to fetch something to drink, ‘cause it only gets more confusing…

Later, Alexander Rack of black-sabbath.de (who has specialized in researching Sabbath bootlegs) pointed out that the audience was speaking German! In this transcript of the so-called “Plumpton tape” done by Chris Slenker, Ozzy addresses the GERMAN audience:

OZZY: “We'd like to start off with a new, new song which will number as a single, I hope.”

YELLER: [???? / jawoll]

OZZY: “…in England. So no one has sent a release in Germany though. Song called “Paranoid”.

Clearly, Alexander and Chris have helped us establish that the “Plumpton tape” was more than likely NOT from either festival at Plumpton OR in England whatsoever. So, which German gig did this take place at? Alexander speculated that it was probably recorded at Audimax der Freien Universität in Berlin, Germany on June 26th, 1970. This was just 7 days after the PARANOID recording sessions had concluded. This gig can be substantiated for certain and I even own an original handbill for this concert that I bought from a seller in Berlin.

But why did Alexander pick Berlin? Sabbath also performed at the Hamburg “Big Gig” Festival on June 21s and maybe even the 22nd. According to an itinerary from Jim Simpson dated April 27th, 1970, Sabbath was also scheduled to meet with a German film crew to record some performances for TV and radio between June 22nd and 24th. There is also mention of a June 25th show in Kiel, which has not been confirmed yet.

What makes me doubt the Berlin 6/26 even more is what Ozzy says in his intro for “Paranoid” about it being their new single in England. “Paranoid” was officially released in the U.K. as a single on July 17th, 1970, just a month after the album was recorded! The complete album wouldn’t hit the shelves until 2 months later on September 18th.

A stronger possible source for the “Plumpton mystery tape” would be their show at the Progressive Pop Festival in Kiel, Germany 7/5/70. This would seem to be a much more realistic guess since this was closer to the release date of the “Paranoid” single, although it was still 2 weeks prior. It is also likely that recording was done at this show, since something about a “double-live album” from Kiel was mentioned in a trade advert. But we must keep in mind that our tape is sounds as if it is from an audience source.

At first, this theory only served to confuse traders into thinking that this was another new and unique” recording altogether. The quality is also a bit more degenerated than the “Plumpton” bootlegs, so it’s really not an upgrade in that respect. However, there are two additional tracks, “Fairies Wear Boots” and “Wicked World”, which did not appear on previous versions of the tape! And this prompted a whole discussion about whether or not these songs are really from the same show.

Jan Hoel of Oslo, Norway examined this issue in a 2002 letter to sabbathlive.com. He wrote: “Regarding Plumpton/Audimax/Kiel show, The Plumpton source tape ends just after the conclusion of “N.I.B., where Ozzy says “Thanks” and the tape ends. But on the Kiel tape, which does sound like the same exact show to my ears, the tape doesn’t fade out. Instead, Ozzy says a few extra words, one of them being 'violinist' or something?!? When the next track starts, sounds like someone placing a phonograph needle down onto record. Again, you hear the final extra words from “N.I.B.” before Ozzy says: “Wicked World” and the song starts. Now, I have the “Fairies” track and “Wicked World” does not sound cut at the end, which is what I’ve seen every tape trader list to claim!”

Yet ANOTHER theory appears to simply be some sort of bootlegger scam. There is a bootleg circulating as “Live