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Live EviL Cover Art Live album by
Black SabbathReleased - December 1982
Recorded - 23–24 April, 12–13 May, 1982 in Seattle, Dallas and San Antonio
Genre - Heavy metal
Length - 83:27
Label - Vertigo/Phonogram - Warner Bros. (US/Canada)
Producer - Black Sabbath
Professional reviews
• Allmusic [1]
• Blender [2]
Live Evil, released in 1982 (see 1982 in music) and in January 1983 in the UK, is the first "official" live album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, the previously released Live at Last (1980) not having been sanctioned by the band. It was recorded with Ronnie James Dio singing and is a document of the Mob Rules World Tour, that ran from 15 November 1981 to 13 August 1982. The 2007 limited-edition release Live at Hammersmith Odeon is from this same tour.
The sleeve states that "Live Evil" was recorded in Seattle, San Antonio and Dallas, but doesn't give the venues or recording dates for the individual songs. Indeed, the sleeve doesn't give dates for those shows but it is known that Black Sabbath played Seattle on 23–24 April 1982, Dallas on 12 May, and San Antonio on 13 May, 1982. However, to further confuse matters, during a radio broadcast of his band Dio, recorded live in 1983 in Fresno, CA, Ronnie James Dio says, 'Just in case you didn't know, the album "Live Evil" that we (RJD & Vinny Appice) did with Black Sabbath here last time was recorded at Fresno.' It is not unreasonable to assume that many of the shows were recorded with a view to the live album (see the aforementioned Live at Hammersmith Odeon) but whether any of the tracks recorded at Fresno, where Sabbath played 18 April 1982, made the final cut is unknown at present.
Already having tense relations with the other band members, Dio and drummer Vinny Appice abruptly left the group sometime in October 1982, during the mixing of the album, amidst rumors that they had sneaked into the studio late at night to mix the drums and vocals higher. All parties have since denied that this occurred and laid the blame on the engineer, who was 'telling tales'. In what Dio has called retaliation for him and Appice leaving the group, on the back of the album, Dio is listed as "Ronnie Dio" instead of his stage-name of "Ronnie James Dio," and Vinny Appice is listed as a special guest rather than a member of the band. Production credits were ultimately for Iommi and Butler and whilst the band sound well-mixed, the crowd is all but inaudible. It is interesting to note that when the "Neon Knights" single was released in 1980, it was Iommi and Dio who had produced the live version of "Children Of the Sea" which was the B-side.
One of the most popular tracks on the album is a near 20-minute long medley that includes "Heaven And Hell" (with its extended break-down section and additional lyrics), "The Sign of the Southern Cross", a guitar solo, and finishing off the ending of "Heaven and Hell".
The 5th track, "Voodoo" features an ad libitum part from Dio, enhancing the song with additional lyrics not to be found on the studio version.
Another favourite is an extended War Pigs which featured a drum solo from Appice whose playing more closely resembled John Bonham than original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's jazzier style.
At one point Dio says 'Not only are we filming this one...', although the footage has never been commercially available, (the show in San Antonio was filmed), but some bits have been shown on YouTube. (It is not the footage on the Black & Blue video, laserdisc and ultimately the DVD pulled before general release, which was recorded on the Heaven and Hell tour on 17 October 1980.)
It peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.[3]
The album is included in the Black Sabbath box set The Rules of Hell.[4]
Contents• 1 Album cover
• 2 Track listing
o 2.1 Side one
o 2.2 Side two
o 2.3 Side three
o 2.4 Side four
• 3 Personnel
• 4 Release history
• 5 References
Album coverThe album cover shows a group of beings that each represent specific Black Sabbath songs. They are:
• a screaming man in a straitjacket ("Paranoid")
• a voodoo shaman ("Voodoo")
• an angel and a devil ("Heaven and Hell")
• a knight with a sword emitting an eerie glow ("Neon Knights")
• a hooded man ("Black Sabbath"/"N.I.B.")
• a metallic-skinned man flexing his muscles ("Iron Man")
• a pig dressed as a sergeant ("War Pigs")
• a group of children inside a casket ("Children of the Grave") floating on the water ("Children of the Sea")
• a man with a whip ("The Mob Rules")
• lightning in the shape of a devil's head ("E5150")
• (On the back of the sleeve,) an acoustic guitar washed up on the shore ("Fluff")
• (On the back of the sleeve) the Southern Cross in the sky ("The Sign of the Southern Cross")
Track listingSide one1. "E5150" (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler) – 2:21
2. "Neon Knights" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward) – 4:36
3. "N.I.B." (Ozzy Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 5:09
4. "Children of the Sea" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 6:05
5. "Voodoo" (Dio, Butler, Iommi) – 6:07
Side two1. "Black Sabbath" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 8:39
2. "War Pigs" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 9:19
3. "Iron Man" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 7:29
Side three1. "The Mob Rules" (Dio, Iommi, Butler) – 4:10
2. "Heaven and Hell" (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 12:04
Side four1. "The Sign of the Southern Cross/Heaven and Hell (Continued)" (Dio, Butler, Iommi/Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 7:15
2. "Paranoid" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 3:46
3. "Children of the Grave" (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) – 5:25
4. "Fluff" (Iommi) – 0:59
The packaging was far from the lavish presentation fans were expecting to mark Sabbath's first live album. In the UK the 2LP set was released in a gatefold sleeve but with plain, generic Vertigo inners, rather than the photo-inners that graced the live-album of many other bands.
The cassette release had, as its first side, sides 1 and 3 of the vinyl release, with side two of the cassette being vinyl sides 2 and 4. It seems this was not a mistake, rather a money-saving exercise, since the running-times of the two sides of the tape were more-or-less equal in this configuration.
For fans, this disappointing state-of-affairs continued when the album was released on CD. The first UK CD release omitted "War Pigs" (or "Warpigs" as it was titled in the explanation for its cutting, printed on the rear of the tray-insert), so as to fit onto a single CD. The 1996 UK remaster restored this track but cut much of the stage banter, so as to again fit onto a single CD: this reduced the 'live' feel of the recordings.
In the US Warner Brothers released a 2CD set, which matched the running-order of the vinyl. Each of these WB CDs came in its own jewel-case, complete with artwork, rather than a 2CD jewel-case.
Personnel• Ronnie James Dio – vocals
• Tony Iommi – guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Vinny Appice – drums
• Geoff Nicholls – keyboards
Release historyRegion Date Label
United States December 1982 Warner Bros. Records
United Kingdom 18 January 1983 Vertigo Records
Canada ??? Warner Bros. Records
United Kingdom 1996 Castle Communications
United Kingdom 2004 Sanctuary Records
References1. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Review Live Evil
". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wifpxqq5ld6e~T1
. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
2. ^ Mitchell, Ben. "Review Live Evil
". [[Blender (magazine)|]]. Alpha Media Group. http://www.blender.com/guide/new/52434/live-evil.html
. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
3. ^ "AllMusic Billboard albums
". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wifpxqq5ld6e~T3
. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
4. ^ Welte, Jim (2008-04-22). "Legends align for Metal Masters Tour
". MP3.com. http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/11191.html
. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
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Notes on this release:
New vinyltransfer using the original first Dutch pressing (Vertigo/Phonogram).
Despite all the rumours and comments from fans of the band that were disliking the albums sound, I have always been pretty much in love with it. Though the CD-releases surely leave much to desire soundwise, the vinyls did smack the hell out of you when played at the appropriate listening level. Regardless of the hours spent on mixing editing overdubbing and whatelse this album sounds really live and in your face. And the comment in the above printed article about the low level of audience, well, it simply sounds like they did that to make the almighty Sabbath sound larger than life. Makes sense and for me it works. It gives the album experience something grotesque. Like it was a huge battle field on which the event took place. All in all one of my favourite live albums of all time, maybe even THE favourite!
Quality of the records is pristine. They have been barely played before this rip because when I bought my albums back in the day I usually made a copy to a Nakamichi tapedeck (truly miss that beast some days!) and played that.
My transfers are straight rips and I never use any EQ - NR - or level changes on my rips - unless otherwise noted –
*
Note: In this case I used the advanced ‘trainable’ Noise Reduction tool in iZotope’s RX to remove vinyl humm or murmur as I call it. I thought it was necessary to do so on the intro and outro of the album because although this vinyl plays dead quiet you always hear the murmur-ing of the friction between the vinyl and the stylus. It depends on the quality of the vinyl how much you hear but since the intro starts so frail and quietly I thought it was worth it to try this nifty tool. It turned out to be a keeper!
Enjoy!
EddylitE - december 2009
©2009 -
Hipper than Hell Records *
Eddy_litE appears courtesy of himself * You have been Aped
"The music in these files was originally recorded on analog equipment.
We have attempted to preserve, as closely as possible, the sound of the original recording.
Because of it's high resolution, however, these files can reveal limitations of the source."
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Turn Me Up!™
To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this record is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up! (www.TurnMeUp.org)
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