Live Evil (40th Anniversary)

Product Information

We carry a broad range of CDs and vinyl (7”/12” singles and LPs) and specialise in indie, alternative, rock, punk, metal plus a few other genres. While waiting for their bandmates at the studio over a period of several days, Dio and Appice passed the time by listening to the recordings and frequently experimented with the mix by asking the engineer to adjust the levels of various parts. The liner notes state that the album was recorded in Seattle, San Antonio and Dallas during the 1982 tour in support of the Mob Rules album, but doesn't give specific information on which songs were performed in which location. We were working on the Live Evil record in Los Angeles, and in fact we nicknamed him 'Little Hitler. These next two images are what was inside the vinyl gatefold for the album’s original release back in 1982.

The US cassette release has, as its first side, sides 1 and almost all of 2 except for "Iron Man" which fades out at end of Side 1. Ok, some gripes,the drums are very low in the mix plus the audience is mega distant, but the power of the guitar and bass wall of crunch is just beautiful. I always liked the ‘Live at Hammersmith Odeon’ album better; I feel it has a more stronger sound but Joe I’m pretty sure your aware of the Live Evil video footage, do you know if any release was intended in ’82 or if any future release is coming out?At the time, Sharon was severely at odds with her father Don Arden, who was managing Sabbath and was attempting to steer Osbourne away from his deal with Arden's label, Jet, and on to a new deal with Jet's distribution company, CBS. I knew it would be better than the other two and put it on the stereo and was really pleased to hear (properly) Sabbath live. Iommi also admits that the band had to cancel a show at Madison Square Garden when the bombs blew out the tubes in all the amps during the first note of the first song "War Pigs".

Hammersmith does sound better, and the tracks were re-mixed in 2007 using modern technology, not 1983 technology and a producer that was aware of the mistakes made while producing the other two Sabbath live albums, namely Live Evil and Live at Last. Listen to ‘voodoo’ ‘children of the sea’ and ‘heaven and hell’ ,metal doesn’t get much heavier than that. In the liner notes to The Rules of Hell, Appice states, "I knew things were coming to a close from some of the things that were happening on the road.The first is the vinyl original, then the CD back covers for the 1996 Castle version, the 2008 Rhino/Warner version, and the 2010 Deluxe Edition. War Pigs" contains a drum solo from Vinny Appice, and "Heaven and Hell" contains a guitar solo from Tony Iommi. Tension, however, had been building for some time between the band members, with rock journalist Steffan Chirazi observing in 2008 that the story behind the creation of Live Evil is one of "quiet yet savagely visceral turmoil and a band collapsing under their weight of silence, unspoken accusation, and an unforgiving schedule. On the Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven and Hell DVD, both Dio and Appice claim the mixing sessions were scheduled to start in the early afternoon but, on the third day, Iommi and Butler didn't show up until much later.

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. Geezer, Tony, Ronnie James Dio, and Vinny as Black Sabbath created some perennially popular rock / metal music in the years between 1980 and 2009, and performed many memorably exciting live shows, leaving fans with happy memories of a band that never delivered less than 100% on stage or on record. It included the original album remastered and a remix of the album from the original analogue master tapes by longtime band associate Wyn Davis across four compact discs and four LPs.Iommi, in his drug-addled state, misunderstood what he was being told and came to the conclusion that Dio was not only mixing the album without him, but was trying to push his own vocals much too prominently in the mix.