November through December 2004
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The WHAT'S NEWS page should be your first place to check on this site for the latest news on all things Sabbath! This section will feature the more interesting news items that come up, as well as links to articles of special interest to Sabbath fans. If you feel you have something newsworthy I should post on WHAT'S NEWS, send your e-mail's and suggestions to Rob here. Revisions and site updates now have a separate home in the Revision History section. |
December 22nd, 2004STOLEN GOLD DISC AWARDS FOUNDAssociated
Press (December 22) - LONDON - Stolen gold and silver discs won by
Ozzy Osbourne's band Black Sabbath were recovered Wednesday after
thieves dumped them behind trash cans. The discs were
reported missing last week after a burglary at the home of
Osbourne's former manager Patrick Meehan, in southeastern
England. Special thanks to Donna Arnold and Joe Knipes for letting us know! LONDON 6/10/78 tape surfaces!
The first tape is from Sabbath's 1st appearance at the Hammersmith Odeon in London for the NEVER SAY DIE tour - June 10th, 1978. It is a 'good' quality audience recording with some slight distortion around the edges, but clear enough to be enjoyable. Like their many other Hammersmith gigs, it's a spirited show in front of an enthusiastic London audience. I'm still in the process of carefully scrutinizing this recording, but it does appear to be complete. The set list is the same as the 6/19 show, with no real surprises. Intro-Supertzar, Symptom Of The Universe, War Pigs, Snowblind, Never Say Die, Black Sabbath, Dirty Women, Bill Ward's Drum Solo, Rock 'N' Roll Doctor, Tony Iommi's Guitar Solo, Jam, Electric Funeral, Iron Man, Fairies Wear Boots, Children Of The Grave, Paranoid Van Halen's opening set was recorded too, but is of slightly lesser quality. They performed one song that has never appeared on an official album called "Down In Flames". The intro for that song (Eddie's volume swells) was later used for "You're No Good". Guillaume Roos has already created some cover art for the new London 6/10/78 show, which can be seen below.
A second show at the Hammersmith on June 11th was postponed just prior to show time, due to "an intolerable amount of feedback in the PA", which the road crew was unable to fix in time for the show. Sabbath made up this now legendary show on June 19th, which was filmed professionally and later released commercially under various titles (most recently NEVER SAY DIE). Due to touring obligations in Japan, Van Halen was unable to appear at the makeup gig. A lesser known act named Tanz Der Youth provided the support for the June 19th show. Special thanks to Brian C. for bringing this show to light! |
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December 9th, 2004WE'LL MISS YOU 'DIMEBAG' DARRELL...When I awoke this morning at 7 AM, I heard some of the early reports on the shooting tragedy in Columbus, OH. Initially, CNN didn't say which bands were involved. A camera shot of the club's marquee only showed Hatebreed's name (whom I'm not real familiar with), so I continued my morning routine. The headlines were repeated at 7:30 am, this time mentioning Damageplan, which featured ex-Pantera brothers 'Dimebag' Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott. This realization woke me up quicker than my coffee ever could have. When Robin Mead told of how the guitarist was shot 4 times by this crazed patron, I knew the terrible possibilities that lied ahead. By 8 AM, my worst fears were confirmed as Robin told us that 'Dimebag' Darrell was in deed no longer with us. It was kind of odd hearing his name read aloud so uncomfortably by these newscasters, most of which probably didn't have a clue how much this guy meant to us. As I type this at 1:45 PM, we still don't know the full extent of this tragedy. It is rumored that yet another band member was shot (possibly Vinnie Paul) and could be the same person that is in critical condition. I'm sure you can find the latest reports on any news site, but I have found a number of good ones on the Blabbermouth site. You can also check the Pantera homepage for more news items, since the Damageplan is currently walled off by a picture of Darrell. I felt this news would also be relevant to Sabbath fans since there are some common bonds here. Pantera had opened for Black Sabbath MANY times over the years. The first time was at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Reggio Emilia, Italy on September 12th, 1992. They would later join them for the Ozzfest '97 tour, which I witnessed myself in Charlotte, NC. Pantera drove the place into a FRENZY during "Walk" and pretty much blew away all of the other openers. They also opened several shows during the Europe '98 tour (Budapest, Vienna, Milan, Prague, Milton Keynes) and the entire 1st leg of Sabbath's 1999 U.S. tour for REUNION. They've always regarded themselves as huge Black Sabbath fans and even covered "Planet Caravan". This post is probably more of a personal aside than an actual news item, but to hell with protocol today. I've been stunned and depressed ever since I first heard about Darrell's murder and still have several stages of grief to pass through. What did 'Dimebag' mean to me? I was first introduced to Pantera in music school (Atlanta Institute Of Music) by a friend named Kelley Shelton. Kelley turned me on to Pantera's POWER METAL album, which was recorded when they had just taken on Phil Anselmo as a vocalist. Their music at the time was turbo-charged like their name and not unlike the stylings of Judas Priest. Darrell's over the top soloing and killer guitar solo was obviously what we were turned on by, so we were a bit more forgiving of the lyrical shortcomings of that particular record. But it was COWBOYS FROM HELL that truly blew down the doors for me and many other soon-to-be Pantera fans. COWBOYS is a complete metal classic. The production values were SO tight and bone-crushingly heavy. Songs like "Domination", "Cowboys From Hell", "The Sleep" and "Primal Concrete Sledge" were simply amazing to behold. For many, it was as if this amazing band came from out of nowhere. My friend Kelley had actually known of them much longer, having opened for them at a show in Texas when he was in his teens. He would tell me stories about how Darrell carried about all of this intricately wired processing equipment to help him get that monstrous guitar tone. There were also tales about 'suitcase full of drugs' too, but there's no need to get into that here! Anyhow, Pantera came to Atlanta on November 7th, 1990 with Prong. They were playing downtown at a small club called The Masquerade. Being the ever faithful taper, I brought my Walkman and convinced Kelley to check out the 'new' Pantera with me. Prong didn't fare so well that night, mainly due to sound difficulties. On the other hand, Pantera kicked serious butt and played the majority of their new album, but NO older Pantera songs. Phil's off the cuff stage remarks were often hilarious and unpredictable. Darrell played like he was possessed, regardless of how much alcohol he had probably already consumed. After the show, we both got to spend a little time at the bar with Darrell. Kelley was trying his best to get Darrell to remember him, but he was way too shitfaced to know OR care. I remember Darrell whipping a beer bottle against the back of the bar area and screaming at the bartender for "MORE!!!" Vinnie was much more calm and collected, being ever the gentlemen when I briefly got to meet him. Kelley was a little disappointed and perplexed about our meeting with Darrell, but I found the whole thing rather amusing. It was likely that 'Dime' had to be carried from the club on this particular evening! A year later, I was in the studio with Fear Itself in upstate New York. This was a short-lived speed metal project, which featured Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner on drums. When it came time for me to do my parts, I remember telling the engineer (Scott Featherstone) that our rhythm guitar tracks weren't tight enough. "Let's make this sound like the COWBOYS FROM HELL album, okay?" Darrell's playing and incredible guitar sound were a great inspiration to me personally as a guitar player. It's difficult for me to completely fathom his loss right now, since the wound is still so fresh. Let me just say that I will truly miss the presence of 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott in our music scene...and in our world. So let's honor his memory by playing those Pantera albums today, okay? I know I'll miss him... |
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December 8th, 2004FIVE MORE LOST AUDIENCE RECORDINGS?As if the news about the NYC '74 tape wasn't enough, Lars Bernstroem tells me that there might be at least another FIVE audience recordings waiting to be heard. Lars Bernstroem: "Yesterday I got a mail from a Swedish trader that asked about these recordings:
He had found them on an old trade list from 1982!! The Swedish trader asked if I had any clue if they were real or not. What could I say? He says these shows were included on huge list from an American trader dated 1982. Are these fake? Real? I do hope they are for real and sooner or later (sooner!!) is back in the trading circle." You and me both! The list appears to be legitimate based on the gig dates, since these were all shows that Sabbath played. The Manchester '78 date is different from what I have (5/22), but could be correct for all I know. Keep on hunting, Lars! Update - After speaking with George Berk on 1/7/2005, I learned a few more details that may give us some closure on this mystery. This Phoenix based trader went under the name S. Romanghi (although that wasn't his real name). George had traded with this guy several times back in the early 80's, but many of his RARE titles turned out to be different shows than what they were claimed to be. Based on that fact, it seems unlikely to us both that the 5 shows in question are legimitate. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure. I am told he was busted for selling bootlegs during the fall of '83, so much of his collection was probably confiscated. 'S. Romanghi' later approached many of his trading buddies to sign a petition to help him get his collection back. Most of these traders wisely declined to sign the petition which may have been a trap to ensnare more collectors in some sort of bootleg dragnet! |
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December 4th, 2004NEW AUDIENCE RECORDING FROM 1974 U.S. TOUR SURFACES!These are the sort of letters I love getting. Robert von Bernewitz came forward today to tell me how he saw Black Sabbath at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY back on February 25th, 1974. What's more, he taped it! Here's what he wrote: “A recording of this show does exist – possibly 2 or 3 different sources. I was at the show and recorded it with a hand held palm style recorder and my friend at the time also recorded the show. I did also see somebody on the floor with a reel to reel recorder.” “Bedlam, Cozy Powell’s band, opened the show. The original Lynyrd Skynyrd followed and had dead silence after numerous songs. One track of Skynyrd's set survived. The biggest applause they got is when a cross was lowered in back of them as they were playing. I understand they were a late replacement for Blue Oyster Cult. The promoter should have been shot putting them in with Sabbath.” “Trouble followed shortly after Skynyrd’s set when there was about at least an hour delay possibly more. It appeared for a while that Sabbath would not come out. Fires started springing up everywhere. Chairs caught fire and a bonfire was created in the middle of the general admission floor. Fire hoses were brought in from the concourse level and sprayed into the floor. I thought for sure the show was to be cancelled. “The floor was ugly with a lot of drugs and booze. I was 15 at the time. Sabbath finally came out and Ozzy warned everybody he was sick with a cold. My original master was lost, but I made a copy. Since then tape has been eaten by tape decks a few times. Most of the recording survived and is about C quality. Tony’s solo was most excellent and had been extended due to Ozzy's condition. I finally found my long lost friend who also had a recording at one time, but he says everything is in storage and he is not getting it out anytime soon.” Robert's tale is further backed up a review in England's NEW MUSIC EXPRESS. Dated March 9th, 1974, the reviewer tells a very similar story to what Robert shared with us. Click the picture below to read a full-sized PDF version.
I'm still awaiting further details on what the Long Island '74 tape contains, but the NME review gives us at least a few clues of what the band played. ("Tomorrow's Dream", "Killing Yourself To Live", "Sweet Leaf", "Snowblind", "Iron Man", "Paranoid") |
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November 29th, 2004SHORT IOMMI ARTICLE ON ROLLINGSTONE.COMGreg Prato recently spoke with Tony about THE DEP SESSIONS and what it's like to work with Glenn Hughes again. Tony also hasn't entirely given up on the idea of another Sabbath record with Ozzy. "I'd like to think that we'll be doing another album," he says. "With Sabbath, things just happen. We weren't supposed to be doing the last Ozzfest, but we did." Thanks to Greg Prato for the head's up! |
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November 23rd, 2004BILL WARD & MIKE STARK LISTEN TO "WHEN I CAME DOWN"Bill Ward made another guest appearance on Mike Stark's weekly 'Rock 50' program last Saturday. Mike Stark is best known by Sabbath fans for his 1998 book 'An Oral History Of Black Sabbath'. You can read more about Bill & Mike's association here. Mike had quite a surprise in store for Bill on the last show when he played him the 53-second sample of Sabbath's unreleased 1969 demo of "When I Came Down". Judging from Bill's reaction, he hadn't heard this track in YEARS. His memory of this particular session wasn't all that good, but you can tell that he was very fascinated to be hearing this song again. Here's an MP3 clip from that show of that very moment. Be sure to listen in when Bill returns to 'Rock 50' on December 11th. The show can be heard live via the Internet here. Just about ever self respecting Sabbath fan has at least heard about this long obscured demo by now. Here's what I've learned about this song to date... Recorded at Birmingham Arts Lab in October 1969, "When I Came Down" was actually a re-titled version of the Norman Haines song "When I COME Down". Norman was the keyboardist/vocalist for manager Jim Simpson's band Locomotive. The song was tried out as a potential single to help launch the band, but it said that the band wasn't all that enthusiastic about the song. Norman later included his own version of the song on the 1971 album DEN OF INIQUITY (which is available on CD if you look hard enough). Long shrouded in mystery, the song finally re-surfaced in June 2003, thanks in large part to collector Joe D'Agostino. Ever since that fateful day when he wrote in to SABBATHLIVE to tell me of his amazing find, it has been something of a mission for us to learn the full backstory on this song. The Sabs have probably faced numerous inquiries about the song since then. When Ozzy and Tony guested on ROCKLINE back in April 2004, it was Joe D'Agostino himself who popped the question about "WICD" to them! Here's a clip of that conversation from the radio broadcast. About a month ago, Joe D. also phoned up ex-Sabbath manager Jim Simpson to ask him about the track. Simpson confirmed that it was actually HIS own handwriting on the label of the acetate! The 53-sample of "When I Came Down" (a digital clone of the aged acetate) first appeared in trading circles in early 2004 as an unlisted bonus track on a CD-R fan release of the newly discovered Sheffield '71 show. An MP3 version of the song began making the rounds more widely after it was posted on Ozzyhead.com a few months ago. But the complete song and it's flip side (a primitive demo of "The Wizard") remain uncirculated to date. Special thanks to Mike Stark & Joe D'Agostino for sharing this special moment with SABBATHLIVE! OZZY WRESTLES JEWELRY BURGLARLONDON, England -- Ozzy
Osbourne fought off a burglar in his country mansion before the
intruder jumped from a second-floor window and escaped with an
accomplice and a "large amount" of jewelry. From CNN.com - 11/23 @ 6:40 AM |
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November 22nd, 2004OZZY'S BUCKINGHAMSHIRE MANSION ROBBEDLONDON, England (Reuters) -- Burglars broke into the
English country home of rocker and reality TV star Ozzy Osbourne
Monday and stole a large amount of jewelry, police said. Posted by Reuters News - 11/22 @ 3:05 PM NEW ARTICLE ABOUT 'CALIFORNIA JAM I' VIDEOPhil Hall has penned an article for Filmthreat.com about the California Jam video and those missing-in-action master tapes. It includes interview excerpts from the minister of Cal Jam himself, Scott Lifshine, and a good overview of the ABC-TV broadcast. Although Mr. Hall thinks that these masters may be long gone, I'm fairly skeptical of that point. Deep Purple was able to come up with plenty of good stock footage for their own DVD release. I've also heard rumors that Emerson Lake and Palmer have long considered doing the same. Recently, collector and Sabbath sage George Berk related me that he had spoken to Tony Iommi and an ex-fan club manager about 10 years ago. When George popped the question about the Cal Jam video, the consensus was that Sabbath had the complete show on film. Apparently, the audio portion of the film has some 'issues', so it was deemed unfit for commercial release. This doesn't completely add up, given that the film could easily be synched with an alternate audio source, such as the long circulated soundboard recording. Nevertheless, you can see some color footage of "Children Of The Grave" on THE BLACK SABBATH STORY - VOLUME I DVD. Three others songs ("War Pigs", "Paranoid" and "Killing Yourself To Live") from the original ABC-TV broadcast are floating around in 'good' to 'VG' quality copies at best. [Special thanks to Scott Lifshine for the links!] |
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November 20th, 2004SABBATH SCORES TWO ENTRIES IN THE 'RS' 500 GREATEST SONGS POLLThe countdown craze continues. The December 9th, 2004 issue of Rolling Stone magazine is a 'Special Collectors Edition' which counts up the 500 greatest songs of all time. This list was compiled from a poll taken of various music business figures, journalists, musicians. Even our own Ozzy Osbourne took part in the polling! I'm not going to recount the results for you here, since you can read that elsewhere. I'm reporting on how the Sabs fared in this recent poll. Of the 500 songs that made the cut, only TWO Black Sabbath songs rose to the top (as far as these people are concerned). And should it be any surprise which songs these were? The following comments are from ROLLING STONE: #250 - "Paranoid": After Sabbath's first U.S. tour, guitarist Tony Iommi hunkered down at Regent Studios in London, trying to write one more song for the group's second album. "I started fiddling about on the guitar and came up with this riff," he said. "When the others came back [from lunch], we recorded it on the spot." "Paranoid," a two-minute blast of protopunk, became Sabbath's biggest single. It is also proof of the short distance between heavy metal and the Ramones. #310 - "Iron Man": When an industrial accident left guitarist Tony Iommi without the tips of his fingers, it seemed like death for Black Sabbath. But he fashioned replacements out of pieces of a bottle and developed a playing style that would yield the riff that would define heavy metal forever. Mixed in with listing of the alleged 'greatest songs', there were also a few celebrity top 10's. Two musicians had enough taste and respect to acknowledge their musical fathers. James Hetfield's #8 pick - "Black Sabbath": "This song scared the shit out of me. It makes you think, but not too hard." Slash's #8 pick - "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath": "One of the heaviest riffs ever recorded." And finally, they even listed Ozzy's top 10 greatest songs picks: 1. "A DAY IN THE LIFE" - THE BEATLES: "It takes me back to a magical time in my life." 2. "IMAGINE" - JOHN LENNON: "This song will never get old for me." 3. "LIVE AND LET DIE" - PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS: "A fucking great song. I love it!" 4. "MONEY" - PINK FLOYD: "Reminds me of my LSD days. I'm just glad I survived." 5. "MISSISSIPPI QUEEN" - MOUNTAIN: "This one brings back memories of my very first U.S. tour with Black Sabbath." [Uh, that would have been your SECOND U.S. tour, Oz...] 6. "HEY JUDE" - THE BEATLES: "Hands down one of the greatest songs every written." 7. "YESTERDAY" - THE BEATLES: "I would have loved to have heard the working-title version, 'Scrambled Eggs.'" 8. "DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD" - THE ANIMALS: "It's always been a favorite of mine." 9. "DAZED AND CONFUSED" - LED ZEPPELIN: "My world stood still the first time I heard this." 10. "GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD" - ELTON JOHN: "Great melody. Great lyrics. Great song. I love Elton John!" In the Editor's Notes (on page #28), there is also the following comment: "The Prince Of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, is fond of windy ballads ("Candle In The Wind", "Wind Beneath My Wings") (!). |
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November 19th, 2004ROCK LEGENDS DOCUMENTARY TO AIR TONIGHT IN THE U.K.I've just received this "head's up" on the re-broadcast of this recent documentary about Tony Iommi. It also happens to contain some very interesting footage that many Sabbath collectors have been after. But I'll let Jason tell the rest of the story... Jason Abbott: "The documentary that featured footage of Dave Walker singing with Sabbath on Look Hear is called Rock Legends. It's presented by Noddy Holder, former lead singer of British rock legends Slade, and it chronicles music stars from the Midlands. The show in question was specifically about Tony Iommi, but obviously Sabbath was a big part of the show. British visitors to this site that live in the Midlands might be interested to know that the show is being repeated tonight (Friday November 19th) on ITV1 at 11.35 p.m. Glenn Hughes is also interviewed, but curiously, Tony Martin is not even mentioned as having been in Sabbath. |
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November 14th, 2004CLASSIC ROCK REVISITED INTERVIEWS TONY IOMMIJeb Wright recently interviewed Tony Iommi for the Classic Rock Revisited site. Among the topics discussed were the DEP SESSIONS album with Glenn Hughes, the OZZFEST 2004 tour, the unfinished Ozzy/Sabbath album, his fake fingertips, playing with Jethro Tull, Ozzy's 1978 dismissal, HEAVEN AND HELL & the LIVE EVIL mixing sessions fiasco. You can read the complete interview here. SILENT FOOTAGE FROM MYPONGA FESTIVAL '71
Black Sabbath made their first visit to Australia in 1971. Oddly, they made this long flight only to perform just one show in Myponga, where they headlined 'The Australian Festival of Progressive Music'. Co-headliner Cat Stevens cancelled at the last moment. Black Sabbath took the stage at 11 PM on Sunday, January 31st, 1971 (the 2nd day of the festival). They were preceded by Fraternity, which included future AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott! Footage from the Myponga show was shown on a music program called GTK by ABC-TV. This 2 minute black & white clip shows the band performing at the festival. The original version included an overdubbed audio track of the "Paranoid" studio track, which didn't even match the footage. The audio has been removed to present the footage more naturally, as well as for copyright considerations. This rare glimpse of the band performing live in 1971 goes by rather quickly, but is still quite a treat to see. Thanks to Shigeru Sato for bringing this to my attention back in 2003 and Rich Grenfell for providing the DVD-R source. |
November 13th, 2004BLACK-SABBATH.COM LAUNCHES NEW MESSAGE BOARDYesterday, Joe Siegler officially launched a message board to complement his web site and regular newsletter, Pilgrims Of Sabbocracy. In the absence of an official web site for Black Sabbath, Joe's unofficial site has been the most successful since it's launch in 1996. Given his long standing contributions to the Sabbath community, the prospects for his new forums appear quite promising. Here is
what Joe Siegler had to say about it on his News page (November 12th): There are several other rather good Black Sabbath related forums on the web (see here), but few have adequately covered the topic as well as Joe's website and newsletters. But it's really up to the fans to make this one work, since good forums largely depend on good conversations. So, I'm encouraging my faithful SABBATHLIVE patrons to pay this one a visit and add your keen insights to make this one a great place to hang out. Joe has asked me if I'd be interested in moderating on the forums. I was initially reluctant about this, since I have a hard enough time answering all of my e-mail for SABBATHLIVE! But I also hated to pass up this opportunity, so I have agreed to take part as much as time allows me to. I'll mainly be handling the TOUR DATES section, so start a thread there if you'd like to get my attention with something interesting. Hope to see you there!
NEW 'WHAT'S NEWS PAGE' LAYOUTI've finally decided to make some long needed changes to the 'Whats News' page you are now viewing. Up until today, this page was an all-purpose news, updates & credits listing. This has made it easier for site visitors to figure out what new work has been done on the site, as well as check in on the latest news, gossip and e-mail's to my site. As I stated in the new header text above, this page should be the first one you check if you want to read the major headlines or visit my lastest recommended links. But from now on, site updates and revisions will be kept in the new Revision History section or at the links in the header. This will list all changes and revisions to the web site, such as adding or updating text on the timelines or adding pictures to the galleries. This sort of stuff really does need its home, since it just clutters up the News page. I've always felt this is one of the better aspects of Joe Siegler's black-sabbath.com that have kept it so tidy and slick. I will still mention major site revisions (like this one), but the smaller details will be kept elsewhere. The new layout is also much less restrictive than the HTML tables I had been using and abusing for so long. I admit to a bit of laziness in adhering to the old table format for this long. But with a project as big as this, you really do have to cut corners where you can! Hopefully, the new What's News format will be much more to everyone's liking. Also - I've gone ahead and posted all of the archived posts from July 2002 through present for the very first time. Previously, I had only kept news items on the What's News page for 60 days, at which time the old posts would disappear from the site. Since I had been adding and updating much of this info elsewhere in the site, some of the posts would quickly become redundant or even outdated and incorrect. But I realize there are also some older links, articles and e-mail that may still be of interest to visitors, so I have decided to restore the old news. These are really a testament to much Sabbath research I've actually done over the past 3 years! Go to the ARCHIVED NEWS section to read the OLD stuff.
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