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nunoni
Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 150
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 Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| vinyl is the best you can have!!! Much better sound than anything else on the planet, with exception of the real thing - Ronnie James Dio with Black Sabbath live in concert! |
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Bobby66
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 439
Location: Hades
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:03 am Post subject: |
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Sabbath 2.0 gets its own box set. Does it do anything for their legacy or is it just another thrown-together afterthought?
I did a brief stint writing for 411 last year and ironically, a couple of the reviews were on Black Sabbath product that was out at the time. One was the limited edition Hammersmith Odeon show from 1981 that Rhino Handmade issued. This was limited to a run of 5000 copies and it sold out before it was even released. At the time, I rated it better than the Live Evil CD contained in this box set even though they’re both from the same tour (this will be important later in the review). The other release was The Dio Years compilation that compiled key tracks from that era along with three new songs. I was fairly harsh on it – mostly because of some tracks that were omitted but also because the album really wasn’t a necessary addition to their catalog. The music is the most important thing about a review for me, but sometimes you have to call it like you see it and take other things into account. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be any kinder to this new box set just because it’s (OMG!) Black Sabbath, who I am a huge fan of (just so you know – I own every recording, even the ones with Tony Martin and a few random bootlegs).
(Somewhat) Brief History
I almost hate to even bother with this as it’s hard for me to fathom anyone reading this review not knowing the basic history of Black Sabbath, but here goes. Black Sabbath (Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, Tony Iommi – guitars, Geezer Butler – bass and Bill Ward – drums) came together in the late 60s in England, taking inspiration from other contemporary blues-based rockers such as Cream and Blue Cheer. Sabbath took that blueprint, jacked up the bass, slowed down the tempos and tossed in an element of supernatural themes to forge a sound of their own. Oft cited as the founders of “heavy metal” (debatable, since the phrase has been used for centuries in chemistry/metallurg y with the first pop culture reference being used by William S. Burroughs in 1962 and the first recorded reference being used in Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild” in 1968), they certainly were one of the earliest contributors to the genre.
Dominating the heavy music scene from 1970-1978, Sabbath released an onslaught of successful but dark-themed albums, six of which typically garner 4-5 star ratings on most music lists (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Masters Of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath & Sabotage). After that, drugs and creative differences took their toll, leading to a couple of lesser albums (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die – the latter causing the band to do just the opposite of the title) before Ozzy was out of the band.
Historical footnote here: I saw Sabbath for the first time on their last tour with Ozzy in 1978. Aside from the fact they were past their performance prime, they made one tactical error – they took an unknown band from America named Van Halen as their opening act. Perhaps you’ve heard of them? I believe they went on to have some success of their own. Seriously, this was a huge mistake as Van Halen’s first album was already becoming a huge success. Perhaps Sabbath hoped to draw some new fans in on the success of the opening act. What happened instead was a huge embarrassment as Van Halen basically killed the old warhorses on stage each night. I believe Van Halen learned something on this tour also as I never saw them once take a band on tour as their opening act during the 70s/80s that anyone had ever heard of or that went on to have any success afterwards, save for the one-hit wonders, Autograph.
As Sabbath was imploding, another British band wasn’t far behind. That band would be Rainbow. Rainbow’s de facto leader was Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist extraordinaire and former member of Deep Purple (another heavy metal pioneer in their own right). Blackmore’s ego had grown too large for Deep Purple, so he set out on his own, absorbing the band Elf into his new band Rainbow. Elf was nothing special, but they did have one thing going for them – a singer named Ronnie James Dio. Dio’s vocal style and theatrics perfectly meshed with Blackmore’s dungeons and dragons riffing and resulted in a handful of albums in the late 70s that continued Blackmore’s legacy and brought Dio exposure to a large audience. Dio also came with his own ego and eventually got tired of clashing with Blackmore (or vice versa) and this led to Dio striking out on his own while Blackmore attempted to replace him with a succession of lesser singers (Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner) before scrapping Rainbow altogether and eventually reuniting with Deep Purple.
Enter Iommi, Butler & Ward looking to start fresh, post-Ozzy, and Dio was a perfect fit for them. Typically when a band loses a lead singer, that’s a hard thing to rebound from, but this is one of the few times it’s worked (another example being the aforementioned Van Halen). Sabbath enjoyed a resurgence of success and popularity with two studio albums and a live album, only to have Dio leave for a solo career after egos again flared. Dio rejoined for one album in the early 90s, only to leave again after a clash erupted over Sabbath opening for Ozzy (who was enjoying greater commercial success at the time and was also on the first of his annual “retirement” tours).
After the success a few years back of the Black Sabbath-Black Box, compiling the albums released during the Ozzy years, Rhino has now decided to try and capitalize on the recently reunited Dio-era Sabbath (playing under the name Heaven & Hell due to “legal reasons” i.e. Sharon Osbourne).
So what’s in the box?
Packaging
Basically we have a slipcase made from sturdy cardboard a bit larger than your standard CD jewel case. The front has an elaborate cross on it and in silver lettering, Black Sabbath (in Gothic font! – surprise!) and underneath in smaller letting, The Rules Of Hell (and really, who came up with that title? – I know they’re all heavy and supernatural, but seriously?). Spine has the same lettering and then each disc title with corresponding number. The back has some sort of embossed design in silver surrounded by a larger embossed design in black with some crosses. I’m guessing it’s Celtic. A cardboard tray inside the case slides out and contains the four albums side by side. Other than that, nothing. The discs are remastered so the sound is somewhat upgraded over the older versions and there are supposedly new liner notes in each album, but I didn’t do a comparison to check for any differences.
Albums & Songs
So here we are at the backbone of the package. We get the cream of the crop first: Heaven + Hell was the first and best of the batch of Dio-era Sabbath albums. Outstanding songs from here would be the hard-charging “Neon Knights”, the epic “Children of the Sea”, “Die Young” and the centerpiece title track. Among the other songs, there’s really not a bad one in the bunch and this is easily one of those albums you can listen to front to back with no complaints. Also notable is this was Bill Ward’s last album with Sabbath (for awhile) as his health forced him off the road.
Mob Rules is the follow up and though it can’t quite match it’s predecessor’s level, it still delivers the slamming title track, “Turn Up The Night” (a wannabe “Neon Knights”), the slinking “Voodoo” and the majestic “Sign Of The Southern Cross”. For me, this album has a solid beginning but stumbles a bit towards the end. Still, it’s a worthy addition to the Sabbath repertoire. It’s also where Vinnie Appice took over for Bill Ward and that is significant when talking about the next album.
Next up is the notorious Live Evil. Black Sabbath had never released an officially-endorsed live album up to this point. There was the knockoff import/bootleg from the 70s entitled Live At Last, which wasn’t bad, but never really got any mainstream circulation since it was never officially issued by a major label. Even though this was not the original Ozzy lineup, fan anticipation was still high for an official live Sabbath album, especially since the fans had been so accepting of Dio stepping into the role. So what happened? - Sabbath fucked it up. A killer live album would have helped cement their legacy. Instead we get a tag team wrestling match but instead of titles being at stake, it’s the live album. Depending on whom you believe, either Dio or Iommi/Butler were turning various parts of the mix up and/or down during the sessions. Whoever did what, the outcome was Dio quitting/being fired and promptly taking Appice with him to begin his solo career, leaving Iommi and Butler with their version of a live album. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of this album. It’s not bad, but I think had harmony prevailed, it could have been much better. That said, it’s got all the key tracks from the aforementioned albums and a handful of old Sabbath standards (“War Pigs”, “N.I.B.”, etc.) with Dio’s stamp on them.
Finally we get to what I consider the dregs of the Dio/Sabbath canon with the horrendous Dehumanizer. Where to begin? Problem one – the material is just weak. Try as they might, they cannot craft anything resembling the classic material from ten years gone by. Problem two – Dio takes on writing duties on lyrics instead of Geezer (Geezer wrote a lot of the lyrics for Sabbath V 1.0, for those that weren’t aware). While Dio's writing on the first two albums was very good, here it is uninspired compared to the earlier material. Normally you’d think a lead singer should be able to write some decent lyrics but Dio craps out with drivel like “Computer God” and “TV Crimes”. Problem three – lingering tensions from the first breakup. Face it, at this point, the Sabbath name was not a draw and Dio’s solo career was tanking, so someone pitched the idea of a reunion and everyone took the bait. I’m sure money was made for all, but it was a sorry note to go out on when compared to the illustrious career that had come before.
Packaging (pt. 2) – What should be in there
For starters, this is a box set, so it should be pretty much all-encompassing of the material that is available. That said, in this day and age, how often is video content a part of things? Even your basic CDs are coming bundled with all sorts of bonus DVD footage – live shows, videos, etc. So why has one of the greatest metal bands of all time got not one, but two box sets out now, neither of which has any video content? I won’t go back and rag on Sabbath’s Black Box (though it deserves it as there is footage of old Sabbath readily available but not included in that set other than a couple of random clips from German TV in the very early 70s) but Sabbath 2.0 was in the 80s – you know, the MTV era – and video was more and more the norm. As a matter of fact, there’s this little film called The Black & Blue Tour. It was shot in 1980 at Nassau Coliseum in New York and it was a joint tour between Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Supposedly this was officially released at one time, but I never have seen an official copy. Bootlegs exist of this and judging from the footage I’ve seen, they are taken from something that was professionally filmed, so where is it? Why wasn’t it included in this package?
Also, would this not have been the perfect place to make the Hammersmith Odeon show from 1981 available to everyone rather than the 5000 people who were lucky enough to snag the limited edition version when it was released? As it is, you’ve got rather unscrupulous people that perhaps bought more than a single copy asking $200+ for them on eBay and Amazon. Not only would this have been the perfect chance to give the fans something that few got a chance at, but it would also wreck the price-gouging bastards online. That said, if you are going to pick this box set up, Best Buy has an exclusive version with a bonus disc that contains some, not all, of the Hammersmith show. To my knowledge, they’re the only place that has an “exclusive” and the tracks on the bonus disc are some of the live material from Hammersmith that is only available by purchasing their version. I’m actually surprised some marketing genius didn’t suggest splitting the Hammersmith show into two bonus discs and giving one to Best Buy and the other to Amazon, thus forcing everyone to buy two box sets to get the one show.
Lastly, how about a bonus disc in this box that added the three new tracks that were originally on The Dio Years. I wasn’t that impressed with them myself and I know they were the gimmick to get everyone to buy that set, but including them would have been nice since they are part of the Dio-era Sabbath. Of course then that would effectively kill any reason to own The Dio Years, so you can bet that's why the label didn't include them on the box.
The 411: Sabbath 2.0 was an important era, both for the band and Dio. First, it showed Sabbath was still relevant A.O. (After Ozzy). It also delivered the first official live album in their catalog. Finally, it gave Dio a stepping stone to get out from under Blackmore's shadow and prove he was no fluke as a lead singer, enabling him to launch his own successful solo career. This set showcases all that, along with the bad (Dehumanizer - I still say this was a badly conceived cash-grabbing attempt at relevance in a music scene that, at the time, embraced grunge over the metal of the 70s/80s). My biggest concerns are lack of any decent bonus material and no video content (footage from Sabbath's part of the tour with Blue Oyster Cult would have been an excellent addition). Also, would it have been too much trouble to include a nice booklet with some pictures and maybe some comments from bands that were influenced by this era of Sabbath? I'm also not crazy about the fact they've split the Hammersmith show into pieces and given part of it to Best Buy as a bonus - just make the damn thing available for all the fans and don't hoard it back for some future gimmick to sell another compilation. All that aside, this is certainly a good place to pick up the material that is available from Sabbath 2.0.
Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ] |
"Sabbath 2.0"  That's Mr. Ronnie James Dio featuring Black Sabbath to you ASSHOLE!  
SO WHO IS THE FUCKING DICKHEAD THAT WROTE THIS REVIEW? 
 Read what this idiot says about Dehumanizer! This dumb ass is probably a fucking Boy George Fan! 
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Rhonda Ross
Joined: 30 Oct 2004
Posts: 1066
Location: Los Banos,Ca
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| Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:31 am Post subject: |
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BLACK SABBATH's "The Rules Of Hell" box set has sold around 2,650 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"The Rules Of Hell" is a box set featuring all three of BLACK SABBATH's Dio-era studio releases ("Heaven And Hell", "Mob Rules", "Dehumanizer") and its double live collection ("Live Evil"), each recently remastered for the first time. "The Rules Of Hell" comes packaged in a deluxe slipcase with extensive liner notes featuring all new interviews with the band.
The Best Buy-exclusive version of "The Rules Of Hell" contains an extra CD packed on the outside featuring five live tracks from 1981: "Neon Knights", "The Mob Rules", "Children Of The Grave", "Voodoo" and "Country Girl". The source of these live tracks is the "Live At Hammersmith" release from May 2007. The first four of these tracks (all except "Country Girl") were already released on the UK "tour edition" of "The Dio Years" last year.
BLACK SABBATH/HEAVEN AND HELL members Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Vinny Appice (drums) will sign copies of "Black Sabbath: The Rules Of Hell", at Vintage Vinyl in Ford, New Jersey on Saturday, August 2 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Due to time constraints, the band will only sign copies of "The Rules Of Hell" box set and HEAVEN AND HELL's "Live From Radio City Music Hall" DVD/CD.
Vintage Vinyl
51 Lafayette Road
Fords, NJ
Tel.: (732) 225-7717
Contact the store for further details.
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