Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Black Sabbath
Label: Sanctuary Records
Release: 2002
Rating: 4/5
This re-release is a one-of-a-kind document of the beginnings of the metal earthquake that shook the music world. We’ve got a double disc here. The first is the original live release of the album “Live At Last” from 1980. The second has rare “live” cuts played between 1970 and ’77 on various stages and tours, with Ozzy on vocals, of course. Counting the live Reunion album from 1998, disc two has a handful of songs that have never before been released as official live versions. They are: “Hole In The Sky”, “Hand Of Doom”, Symptom Of The Universe” and a special surprise, a monstrous doom-crusher called “Megalomania”.
The original and, for many, the only true lineup of Osbourne / Iommi / Butler / Ward took a huge step forward with “Vol. 4” compared to their debut. So a live album was planned. To that end, the band recorded a few shows on the European leg of the tour in March 1973, smack in the middle of Great Britain. Sadly, the live album never saw the light of day. In 1980, when Ozzy was just a fond memory for the band and was busy carving his own path with a solo career, “Live At Last” finally came out. The chemistry that only that original lineup could conjure worked fantastically on stage and really stands out in songs like “War Pigs”, Children Of The Grave” or “Sweet Leaf”. Black Sabbath, or the revolution that lives on today in every riff of every metal band across planet Earth. Ozzy. A young guy with a hollow voice, a hollow stare, and still the charismatic synonym for a true frontman, letting out a few ear-splitting screams that prove what kind of shape he was in back in Dec. Of course, with his banter he constantly provokes the audience and pushes it toward original sin. Ozzy the way only Ozzy can be (was).
The two discs are completely different in content, which is an extra plus. The magic of Tony’s fingers is one of a kind, and in the intro of the song “Black Sabbath” it shines especially majestically!
Lineup
Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
Tony Iommi – guitar
Terence “Geezer” Butler – bass guitar
Bill Ward – drums
Track list
CD 1.:
1. Tomorrow’s Dream
2. Sweet Leaf
3. Killing Yourself to Live
4. Cornucopia
5. Snowblind
6. Children of the Grave
7. War Pigs
8. Wicked World
9. Paranoid
CD 2.:
1. Hand of Doom
2. Hole in the Sky
3. Symptom of the Univers
4. Megalomania
5. Iron Man
6. Black Sabbath
7. N.I.B.
8. Behind the Wall of Sleep
9. Faries Wear Boots
Album length: 117:00
