Black Sabbath
Live Evil
[Warner Brothers]
"Live Evil" is not an album a lot of Sabbath fans like. The main
reason usually cited for this is the fact that while Ronnie James
Dio was technically a better vocalist the Ozzy "bellow like a cow"
Osbourne, his renditions of (Ozzy era) Sabbath classics left a lot
to be desired as far as most people were concern. I personally
believe that Dio's performance (of Ozzy material) while sub-par,
wasn't the most horrific thing ever laid on vinyl, and that the
problem lies in the fact that so many of us are so used to hearing
Ozzy do them, anything else will sound strange no matter how great
the performance might be. Another big hurdle for this album is that
while it was the first "official" live Black Sabbath album ("Live At
Last" was never actually authorized by the band), it isn't really
a live album when all is said and done. A lot of rumours circulated
around the time of the release of "Live Evil" (and it's generally
accepted that this album was the straw that broke the camels back
and resulted in the departure of Dio), all over the fact that the
Tony, Geezer and Dio were accusing each other of sneaking into the
studio behind each others backs to re-record their individual parts
and to pump themselves up in the mix. The end result is an (mostly)
studio album with some bits and pieces of live material thrown in
(if I remember correctly, the majority of the vocals and drums are
live, with almost all of the bass and guitars parts being
over dubbed). Still, all that said, I find it to be an enjoyable
listen, and I can still remember the excitement I felt being 12
years old and picking this up on vinyl (one of the first albums I
ever bought) and holding it's really swank gatefold sleeve in between
my fingers...
The albums starts off with "E5150", a 2 1/2 minute synth piece that (presumably) was used to introduce the band. The first real track is "Neon Knights" - a Sabbath classic, and it appears here in very fine form indeed, with Dio giving it his gut-busting all. "N.I.B." follows, and it's one of the better Dio renditions of an Ozzy song - he takes some liberties with the vocal melodies, but remains faithful for the most part, and whether or not one enjoys Dio, it has to be admitted that his vocals are VERY powerful on this track (actually, throughout most of the album - I think he sounds even better on "Live Evil" than he did on the studio albums, no small feat indeed). The pace slows down a bit on the next track, "Children Of The Sea" - this was always one of my favorite Dio era tracks, and while I don't think this version holds up to the studio version (it loses some of it's complexity), it's a fine song none the less. "Voodoo" is up next, and while it was never an exceptional track to begin with I do feel that this live version has a lot more energy than the original. The classic "Black Sabbath" follows (starting with a minute long (semi-classical) guitar intro that I've never heard used before), and this is one of the low points on the CD IMHO. As I said, it could be because I'm just so used to hearing Ozzy singing this, but I really feel Dio botched it up with an overly melodramatic delivery. "War Pigs" follows, and again this suffers from the same problem - Dio's vocals just don't fit into the track and his vocals come off almost as a parody of Ozzy's (well, during the slower segments at least...the quicker passages are acceptable as Dio reverts more towards his own sound). Apart from that, the actual music behind it is really great (although the drumming leaves something to be desired - Bill Ward this is not). "Iron Man" starts up next and comes off pretty good - Dio manages to both capture the feel of the original as well as adding enough of his own style to balance it out. After swapping CDs, the second half of this album begins - "Mob Rules" is up first, and it's a faithful version...it doesn't really hold a candle to the original, but it rocks regardless (I credit this to Dio's phenomenal performance). Next up is a 2 track medley of "Heaven And Hell / The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell" (two tracks because it was so long on the original vinyl, they had to split it 1/2 way though). In my opinion, this is the highlight of the album - both tracks are excellent to begin with, and when combined the result is something even far greater...a fucking classic moment in metal history. This is also the track with the obligatory "crowd participation" segment, and while those tend to be generally very cheesy, it works well here (as does Dio's on stage banter, which has become very prolific by this point). Unfortunately, this complete master piece is followed up with the worst possible song , the definitive Osbourne track "Paranoid" - Dio didn't stand a chance...there was no way for him to step out from under the shadow of the Ozzmeister on this one, and while he gives it his all, the result is still a shambles - and things are only made worse when 3/4 the way through the song they break into a reprise of "Heaven And Hell". The logic must have been that this would somehow make it more palatable to older fans, but it fails miserably and ends up ruining it even further. Granted, "Paranoid" is a classic Black Sabbath song and they HAVE to play it live at every appearance, but wouldn't it have been a wiser move to have omitted this from the album? Oh well, onward to (the second to last track) "Children Of The Grave" - I feel it works, but this could be because almost anything would have sounded great after the butchering they had just finished on "Paranoid"...a solid effort, but nothing to write home about. Finally, closing up the album we have a very very short (1 minute) version of "Fluff" - a nice touch as it's a fairly quiet and sombre piece and finishes things off nicely.
A few last words on this: it's not an essential album by any means, but if you enjoyed the early 80s Dio fronted Black Sabbath and can grimace through the few rough patches on it, you'll probably think it a worthwhile purchase. Ozzy fans would be better off picking up "Live At Last".
One more thing - by now you've all seen the Black Sabbath re-issues being put out by Castle/Grimcastle, and I would highly suggest you grab those versions of all the Black Sabbath back catalog...EXCEPT in the case of "Live Evil". Why you ask? Well, in order to fit the album onto 1 CD, they've decided to cut out "War Pigs". Now, this might not be important to you (especially as the version is somewhat lack lustre anyway), but I feel sort of cheated when record companies do this sort of thing - couldn't they just have released this as a double CD as Warner Brothers originally did? The choice is yours - superb packaging, linear notes, and re mastered sound minus "War Pigs", or the *complete* albums in a bare bones presentation.
© 1999 chorazaim
The albums starts off with "E5150", a 2 1/2 minute synth piece that (presumably) was used to introduce the band. The first real track is "Neon Knights" - a Sabbath classic, and it appears here in very fine form indeed, with Dio giving it his gut-busting all. "N.I.B." follows, and it's one of the better Dio renditions of an Ozzy song - he takes some liberties with the vocal melodies, but remains faithful for the most part, and whether or not one enjoys Dio, it has to be admitted that his vocals are VERY powerful on this track (actually, throughout most of the album - I think he sounds even better on "Live Evil" than he did on the studio albums, no small feat indeed). The pace slows down a bit on the next track, "Children Of The Sea" - this was always one of my favorite Dio era tracks, and while I don't think this version holds up to the studio version (it loses some of it's complexity), it's a fine song none the less. "Voodoo" is up next, and while it was never an exceptional track to begin with I do feel that this live version has a lot more energy than the original. The classic "Black Sabbath" follows (starting with a minute long (semi-classical) guitar intro that I've never heard used before), and this is one of the low points on the CD IMHO. As I said, it could be because I'm just so used to hearing Ozzy singing this, but I really feel Dio botched it up with an overly melodramatic delivery. "War Pigs" follows, and again this suffers from the same problem - Dio's vocals just don't fit into the track and his vocals come off almost as a parody of Ozzy's (well, during the slower segments at least...the quicker passages are acceptable as Dio reverts more towards his own sound). Apart from that, the actual music behind it is really great (although the drumming leaves something to be desired - Bill Ward this is not). "Iron Man" starts up next and comes off pretty good - Dio manages to both capture the feel of the original as well as adding enough of his own style to balance it out. After swapping CDs, the second half of this album begins - "Mob Rules" is up first, and it's a faithful version...it doesn't really hold a candle to the original, but it rocks regardless (I credit this to Dio's phenomenal performance). Next up is a 2 track medley of "Heaven And Hell / The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell" (two tracks because it was so long on the original vinyl, they had to split it 1/2 way though). In my opinion, this is the highlight of the album - both tracks are excellent to begin with, and when combined the result is something even far greater...a fucking classic moment in metal history. This is also the track with the obligatory "crowd participation" segment, and while those tend to be generally very cheesy, it works well here (as does Dio's on stage banter, which has become very prolific by this point). Unfortunately, this complete master piece is followed up with the worst possible song , the definitive Osbourne track "Paranoid" - Dio didn't stand a chance...there was no way for him to step out from under the shadow of the Ozzmeister on this one, and while he gives it his all, the result is still a shambles - and things are only made worse when 3/4 the way through the song they break into a reprise of "Heaven And Hell". The logic must have been that this would somehow make it more palatable to older fans, but it fails miserably and ends up ruining it even further. Granted, "Paranoid" is a classic Black Sabbath song and they HAVE to play it live at every appearance, but wouldn't it have been a wiser move to have omitted this from the album? Oh well, onward to (the second to last track) "Children Of The Grave" - I feel it works, but this could be because almost anything would have sounded great after the butchering they had just finished on "Paranoid"...a solid effort, but nothing to write home about. Finally, closing up the album we have a very very short (1 minute) version of "Fluff" - a nice touch as it's a fairly quiet and sombre piece and finishes things off nicely.
A few last words on this: it's not an essential album by any means, but if you enjoyed the early 80s Dio fronted Black Sabbath and can grimace through the few rough patches on it, you'll probably think it a worthwhile purchase. Ozzy fans would be better off picking up "Live At Last".
One more thing - by now you've all seen the Black Sabbath re-issues being put out by Castle/Grimcastle, and I would highly suggest you grab those versions of all the Black Sabbath back catalog...EXCEPT in the case of "Live Evil". Why you ask? Well, in order to fit the album onto 1 CD, they've decided to cut out "War Pigs". Now, this might not be important to you (especially as the version is somewhat lack lustre anyway), but I feel sort of cheated when record companies do this sort of thing - couldn't they just have released this as a double CD as Warner Brothers originally did? The choice is yours - superb packaging, linear notes, and re mastered sound minus "War Pigs", or the *complete* albums in a bare bones presentation.
© 1999 chorazaim