Note: I have no idea what [TBA] means. This is a review of the Live at Last CD.

I have been a Sabbath fan for eons but only heard this CD two years ago. Let me tell you, I wasn't missing much. Live at Last is a compilation of some live gigs Sabbath played in 1973 in support of Vol. IV. It wasn't released until 1980, after Ozzy had already been booted from the band and Sabbath was trying to start anew with Ronnie James Dio at the helm. The only person happy about its release was the band's former manager Patrick Meehan, who reaped all the profits and put the album out without the band's consent (Meehan also reissued all of the early Sabbath records on NEMS, messing around with the track order and giving us even worse production than on the Warner Brothers versions. DO NOT BUY ANY NEMS RECORDINGS!)

So, what's wrong with Live at Last? Here's a list

Ozzy: way off key on most of the tracks and yells out stupid things to the audience. Messes up the lyrics on several songs as well (most notably on "War Pigs" and "Snowblind")

Wrong Key!: Black Sabbath's first two studio albums were in standard tuning (guitar tuned EADGBE), then they went for a deeper, rumbling sound (C#F#BEG#C#). It appears they weren't aware of this or just didn't care because the songs "War Pigs", "Paranoid", and "Wicked World" all end up too low for Ozzy's range. They must have had enough cash to have extra guitars in standard tuning sitting around on stage, right?

Sound Quality: Actually good and loud, but Geezer Butler's bass lines are awfully muddy. There is also this piercing wail every time Tony Iommi turns his guitar up (must have had some very cheap pick-ups). Last but not least, the drums sound muffled.

Tempo Issues: "Sweet Leaf" is supposed to be slow, yes, but not this slow. Same with the verses of "Wicked World". Would probably be cool to hear them play it like this in concert, but the ultra-slow tempos do not translate well onto a recording.

Pointless soloing: "Wicked World" is stretched out to nearly 20 minutes, a good deal of which is Tony Iommi playing an endless trill. Yaaaawwwwnnn. Also, Bill Ward gets a drum solo where he keeps hitting the crash cymbal on beat one: far too predictable. And dull.

Killing Yourself to Live: This is one of my favorite Sabbath songs, but the lyrics on this version (recorded before Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was released) are beyond silly. Some examples:

"They say you're stupid 'cause you get so high. Pretty soon you're gonna hit and die"

"C'mon baby, let's ***k all night"

Uggghh! Also, the music doesn't work as well live: no harmony guitar parts and the chords disappear when the solos come in (similar problem with "Snowblind").

Ok. A couple of good things

Children of the Grave: They turn the tempo up more than a few notches here. The faster tempo combined with the barbarous production makes this a better version. Also, the guitar solo kicks at this speed, where it sounded kind of dull on Master of Reality. Ozzy does a good job singing as well.

Hello, Mr. Montgomery!: Tony Iommi gives us a cool cat jazz solo with nice interaction between himself and Bill Ward on "Wicked World". A twelve-bar blues thing chock full of Wes Montgomery licks and Geezer playing a walking bass line. It's a good thing Iommi didn't play like this all the time because it's obvious that he runs out of ideas after a while, but most of it is very good.

Sometimes I'm Happy: Another insert in "Wicked World" (they also give chopped up versions of "Supernaut" and "Into the Void" in there). A song they never included on a studio recording. Has a great groove and killer riffs from Iommi. The only thing that bites about it: the lyrics are just about as awful as on "Killing Yourself to Live"

Hey! These are good songs! Yep. I like the tunes, pretty good selection, just bad versions.

-------------------------THE BOTTOM LINE------------------------

Well, Sabbath fans might want this just because, but I would advise them to wait until Past Lives comes out on 8/20/02. It will include a remastered version of Live at Last as disc one and previously unreleased bootlegs on disc two. I'm ticked that they are putting Live at Last on there (just seems like a way to make you dish out more cash), but oh well, I'm nothing but a pawn in the hands of the evil Sharon Osbourne (no, not evil, just has business savvy)

Tracks
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

Recommended: No