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The Black Sabbath Story |
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Santa came and what he brought me were things I didn’t want, so I took matters into my own hands and got hold of “Rare performance footage of classic tracks plus the story of Sabbath in their own words”; also known as The Black Sabbath Story. The Black Sabbath Story comprises two volumes, both mixed in 5.1 surround sound (not that I have surround sound!). Volume I takes you from the beginning of the band in the late 60’s to the end of the Ozzy era in 1978. It includes live performances or rare promo footage of all their early classics, including a live performance of N.I.B in Paris in 1970, rare black and white footage of Paranoid from Belgian TV, back to Paris 1970 for War Pigs (which features lyrics you won’t hear on the normal recordings of this song), Children of the Grave performed at the Ontario Speedway California Jam, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, taken from a really wacked conceptual video they made in 1974, and It’s Alright, featuring drummer Bill Ward on vocals. This is really awesome stuff that any Sabbath fan (whether you are enlightened as to the fact that they rule or not) HAS to see – Geezer Butler’s bass playing is truly awesome and always a pleasure to watch, and the rest of the band is also impeccable. Volume I is nicely put together, especially for the person that doesn’t know much about Sabbath, but one thing really bugged me throughout – all the interview footage on this DVD is with either guitarist Tony Iommi or bassist extraordinaire Geezer Butler, and not with Mr. Osbourne. This leads me to believe that the interviews were shot within in the three or so decades that the guys were a bit sour with each other! If you do want interviews with Ozzy and also with drummer Bill Ward, check out black Sabbath’s Last Supper DVD, which also includes live performances shot over six days at the very first Ozzfest. Nevertheless, the videos and interesting “bits" that come out of the interviews definitely earn Volume I a place on your shelf. The ‘are they Devil worshippers’ question is brought up (if you don’t know this by now, the answer is no), and if you ever needed any proof that they do not worship the Devil, then listen to the story about the time they were rehearsing in some ‘haunted castle’ in Wales and were to scared to sleep over, so they drove there and back everyday! Furthermore, the extra features (one of my favourite things on DVDs!) include an interview with Sabbath’s first manager, Jim Simpson, who shares interesting stories from the past, including of Sab’s days as the blues band ‘Earth’. Volume II takes you from when Ozzy left (read: “was fired from” – something I don’t like to talk about!) the band up to 1992. I enjoyed this Volume a lot, mostly because I have never heard any of the stories that are told here, and I have never seen Ronnie James Dio - also of Rainbow and Dio, and quickly becoming one of my favourite vocalists of all time – perform live. It kicks off with the songs Die Young and Neon Knights, both from the Heaven and Hell album. Thereafter you run into some rare footage of Ian Gillian (yes, that Ian Gillian) describing his time in Sabbath (what? You didn’t know he was in Sabbath?), as well videos of Trashed and Zero the Hero, both from the Born Again album. At this stage, only Tony Iommi was left from the original band, so it is very difficult for me to call it Black Sabbath. Nevertheless, if you watch and listen like you would to a new band, rather than comparing it to the wondrous classics recorded with the Prince of Darkness, you will agree that the music is very good. Next up are two songs that really bored me, so their names are insignificant for my purposes (hey, if you don’t like how I write, watch the DVDs and then you write something hehehe), then we launch into Headless Cross, off the album with the same name in 1989. This is a really good song, and the video comes complete with ruins and burning torches, and features Tony Martin on vocals. Into another boring song before my favourite part of this DVD arrives – live studio footage of the band (Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinnie Appice and Ronnie James Dio) recording the Dehumanizer album, as well as a live performance of the song I. Because I regard this as the best ‘Non-Ozzy’ Sabbath album, I enjoyed this part tremendously. You get to see both Iommi and Butler laying down their tracks for the song TV Crimes, as well as Dio doing his bit for Computer God. The bonus features on this DVD include some really funny stories told by Mr. Gillian about their tour together – one being that he was on his knees at some gig and someone shouted “look its Ronnie James Dio” (Dio being called the Evil Elfin for a reason!). It also includes some really interesting facts told by the walking Sab encyclopaedia Hugh Gilmour, who wrote the liner notes to all the remastered Sabbath CDs. Because I don’t want to fill the whole rag with my ramblings about the Greatest Band EVER, this is just a very brief overview of what you can expect from these two excellent volumes. If you want to know more, either buy it, or talk to me. Preferably the first option. Not because I do not want to talk to you, but because you really should have these. Really. |
