0
A cornerstone of British, nay, all that is metal, Black Sabbath have a back catalogue that stacked by a domino wizard could create a small island. The history of the band is, to borrow a phrase, a long and winding road . . .
The Birmingham four-piece, masters of their own reality through the 70’s, a decade in which they changed the future of metal, ended the same period in disarray.
Following a near ten year album-tour-album cycle the battle weary veterans released what would be their last album with the illustrious frontman Ozzy Osbourne in the form of Never Say Die in september in 1978.
With such an iconic and distinctive vocal now gone, it would have hardly seemed worth trying to maintain the band and instead simply do something else. That is until you hear the lions roar attributed to the ‘new guy’ … the rock legend himself: Ronnie James Dio.
Following his departure from Rainbow [the band he founded previously] after rocking them up to platinum status, Dio was invited to meet, of all places, in the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Boulevard with none other than a certain Mr. Iommi.
He was invited to join the remaining members of Black Sabbath for an impromptu rehearsal and within 15 minutes and one brand new song Children Of The Sea, a new era of the mighty Black Sabbath was set upon the world.
Over the next few years the resulting creations offered by the band confirmed that this was indeed a match made in heaven (… and erm…hell … sorry couldn’t resist.)
The flag of Black Sabbath was carried forward into the fray, with Vinnie Appice to soon also join replacing the inspirational sticks-man Bill Ward.
With great chemistry and an ambition to match, this line-up has been through two reformations since; the second of which occurred in 2007 with the name taken from the release of Black Sabbath’s new lie-up, the groundbreaking Heaven and Hell in 1980 [Ronnie James Dio, Toni Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward]
The follow up Mob Rules in 1981 featured the mentioned substitute of Bill Ward with new drummer Vinnie Appice and otherwise remains largely the same line-up.
In addition to the albums, the Deluxe Expanded Edition features a bonus disc of live material for both of the above.
The final third of this Black Sabbath/Dio era release comes in the form of the powerful 1982 album Light Evil, catching the band at the top of their game with flawless performances aplenty.
The Deluxe Expanded Editions of Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Live Evil are released through universal music catalogue on April 5th and will also be available on deluxe CD.
The full track listing for all three deluxe editions is as follows:
HEAVEN AND HELL
DISC ONE:
Neon Knights
Children Of The Sea
Lady Evil
Heaven And Hell
Wishing Well
Die Young
Walk Away
Lonely Is The Word
DISC TWO:
Children Of The Sea (Live)
Heaven And Hell (Live)
Lady Evil (Mono Edit)
Neon Knights (Video – Live)
Die Young (Video – Live)
Neon Knights (Live, Hartford, CN, USA, ’80)
Children Of The Sea (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ’80)
Heaven And Hell (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ’80)
Die Young (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ’80)
MOB RULES
DISC ONE:
Turn Up The Night
Voodoo
The Sign Of The Southern Cross
E5150
The Mob Rules
Country Girl
Slipping Away
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Over And Over
Bonus Tracks:
Die Young (Live – 12″ version)
The Mob Rules (Alternative Version)
DISC TWO:
E5150 (Live)
Neon Knights (Live)
N.I.B. (Live)
Children Of The Sea (Live)
Country Girl (Live)
Black Sabbath (Live)
War Pigs (Live)
Slipping Away (Live)
Iron Man (Live)
The Mob Rules (Live)
Heaven And Hell (Live)
Paranoid (Live)
Voodoo (Live)
Children Of The Grave (Live)
LIVE EVIL
DISC ONE:
E5150
Neon Knights
N.I.B.
Children Of The Sea
Voodoo
Black Sabbath
War Pigs
Iron Man
DISC TWO:
The Mob Rules
Heaven And Hell
The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell (continued)
Paranoid
Children Of The Grave
Fluff
* Original Dio crowd interaction and audience noise restored *