|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Live-Evil should have been,
By
This review is from: Live At Hammersmith Odeon (Audio CD)
This limited edition disc was recorded at a series of shows at London's Hammersmith Odeon in December 1981 and January of 1982.A few months ago I looked up the Rhino Records website for information about the Dio Years disc and signed up to purchase this disc for $19.99 plus $7.00 s/h. Boy, was I glad I did.This is the recording that should have been released instead of the poorly mixed "Live Evil" back in 1982.
The thing that jumps out at you is the power and volume of Vinnie Appice's drumming.I saw the Mob Rules tour in L.A. in 1982 and Appice's drums were so loud I could feel the bass drum in my bone marrow. This starts out with a kickass version of "Neon Knights" with Tony Iommi's excellent guitar work. "N.I.B" is next. I dont really like Dio's interpretation of the old Ozzy numbers.His endless oohing and aahing during Iommi's leads gets on my nerves. When Iommi is shredding you don't need Dio constantly crooning "my, my, my" over the solo.As far as the straight lyric style of the song itself, it just doesn't need such melodramatics. "Children Of The Sea". Very good version as Dio sounds strong and the band hammers it out.Appice's drums are so awesome. He had to have been at the top of his game on this tour. "Country Girl". Never heard this one live before as they had eliminated it from the set by the time I saw them.Sounds bassically the same as the studio version except for a slightly different guitar solo. "Black Sabbath". This is ,in my opinion, the Ozzy era song that Dio sounded best on.He kept the melodramatics to a minimum and didn't try to change it. Iommi's guitar intro has a creepy feel to it and he shreds on the solo at the end. "War Pigs". This is an awesome version if you can get past Dio's melodramatics during the opening chords. Geezer Butler's Bass and Appice's drums really drive this song home. Iommi plays a completely different solo on the lead break than the studio version.Dio sounds weird on it but he is belting it out at full power. 'Slipping Away". Quick vehicle for Appice's edited drum solo. "Iron Man". Played at sludge speed with Appice's fills and rolls sounding great.Iommi's riff never sounded heavier.Dio sounds alright but I get the feeling he didn't really like this song that much. "The Mob Rules". Excellent high energy version. Iommi really rips on this. "Heaven and Hell". Album and tour's showcase.Sounds edited due to time constraints.Excellent guitar solo by Iommi ina jazzy vein.Dio sound great but the audience participation part sounds weak due to the fact that the crowd noise is so low. Soundboard recording, no doubt. "Paranoid". Necessary song I guess. Unfortunately for Dio, it would be like somebody other than Robert Plant singing Stairway To Heaven. He does his best but he just engages in needless melodramatics when he should just sing the tune.Don't get me wrong, Istill like it. You just can't ignore the inevitable comparisons. "Children of the Grave". Real good version as Iommi's bone crunching riff destroys everything in its way.Dio sounds good on this one as he presents a straightforward delivery. All in all a great recording capturing this line up at the peak of its powers.All audience banter and song introductions are not present due to time constraints which is not a bad thing bercause Dio was not a "I'm a regular guy, party animal dude just like you" kind of performer anyway.His song introductions were always kept short and dignified. The opposite of Ozzy. It's a shame that only 5000 of these discs are in print because it would probably sell a lot more than that. I'm just glad I got one.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You Snooze, You Lose! But There STILL Is Hope....,
By Eric Ericson "RedSabbath" (Venice, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live At Hammersmith Odeon (Audio CD)
"Black Sabbath Live At Hammersmith Odeon" is quite a nice little treat to commemorate the release of Black Sabbath's latest Best-Of CD "The Dio Years" as well as the 2007 World Tour featuring the classic Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice line-up as Heaven And Hell. Recorded during the 1981 Mob Rules tour, this recording takes the best versions of the performed songs from 3 out of the 4 Hammersmith Odeon sold-out concerts (between December 31st, 1981 through January 2nd, 1982) and compiles them seamlessly as one glorious presentation.
Even though this was released AND sold-out as a numbered limited edition of 5000 copies only on May 1st 2007, it was available for pre-sale at Rhino Handmade since early April 2007, and did NOT go outta print till it's first official release day, so the "snooze, you lose" motto sorta applies here. But more on that later, let's get to the actual disc. Man, this CD is more than I ever coulda hoped for a huge life-long Black Sabbath fan like myself. I probably didn't even have this recording before as a bootleg (I don't recognize it audio-wise). Rhino majorly cleaned up this recording. True true soundboard, remastered excellently, this thing deserves to be in stores next to Live Evil! In fact, it might even be better than Live Evil....well maybe that's pushing it, but it's way up there. Thing's long too (79:52)! Those rare live tracks, Country Girl, Slipping Away, as well as Iommi's shortened solo on this make it so worthwhile. Even Dio on this one says "P**S OFF, I'm gonna burn in Hell with all of you!" instead of the usual "Go Away, I'm gonna burn in Hell...". I've got a lot of Heaven And Hell live versions with Dio & he never said it like THAT before! Cool! I do wish they did the entire "Slipping Away", instead of going to the drum solo in the middle. That part where Tony & Geezer trade licks on the studio version is great live, I have a boot of them doing it all somewhere, but not on here like that. It's just too bad they stopped doing "Sweet Leaf" live by this time too, that would have been the cherry on top. Oh well, can't have it all. Concerning though the new battle between Black Sabbath fans "Which Is Better:Hammersmith or Live Evil?", truthfully "Live At The Hammersmith Odeon" is a great "addition" to any Sabbhead's library, but it's not as "essential" as Live Evil. First off, Live Evil is classic due to it's 25 year old existence this December (wow, has it been that long!). If Hammersmith came out in 1982, then Live Evil in 2007, maybe. But that's not the case. Second, Live Evil is a fuller representation of a complete Black Sabbath concert, LATHO is not. Lemme explain. When Castle Communications reissued/remastered Live Evil in 1996, they edited out things like Ronnie banter, crowd noise, and some of Tony's solo to make it fit on ONE disc, instead of the original two. LATHO was done in the same way. Don't believe me, think about it, how long is the crowd applause in between the tracks....it's two or three seconds each...that's not realistic. Ya mean Ronnie didn't talk to the audience at that show between songs? C'mon. And Iommi didn't do a full blown eight minute plus solo either? Sure they did, Rhino Handmade just edited it out from the master to make it fit on one disc, while Live Evil was always meant to be a two record/two CD release, hence as much filler as possible resulting in a complete show, solos, banter, crowd, and all. But don't get me wrong, LATHO has some of the best editing I've EVER heard on a live recording! But the editing is quite apparent to fans like me with a ton of boots in our collections already. But trust me, in a way it's sorta nice to get to the point with this recording, compared to times when I have to wait 30 seconds to get to the next song on Live Evil (LATHO's editing is way better than what Sanctuary Records did on Disc Two of Sabbath's Past Lives CD), but the average fan will never notice, but to most of us it's apparent pretty early on yet acceptable due to the quality it was done here. Finally, Live Evil was recorded in the intent of a worldwide audio release, LATHO was not. It's more as a library recording for the band and management. Even though the remaster job on LATHO is excellent, you can tell that the instruments weren't mic'ed for that purpose. Also, some parts of LATHO wouldn't cut it for a major/first live representation of a band like Sabbath. The feedback during N.I.B., the "trying to get the girl in the front row to sing Heaven And Hell and failing", and other bits like that show this is basically for collectors only, hence why it's on Rhino Handmade at only 5000 copies and not on Rhino's main label at your local store in millions. But all this shouldn't be stopping you from trying to find a copy, but now it's gonna be a little harder and more expensive to do so. Thanks to Amazon's "New & Used" section or perhaps EBay, this album is still listed for purchase by independent sellers who knew this would sell-out fast, so if you really want it, thank these people for offering it to ya still, even if their prices are somewhat, well, insane. But who knows, since this release was Rhino Handmade's quickest selling out title in their history, maybe it will be re-released in that dreamed about "Black Box II" CD Box Set we Sabbath fans have been demanding. Stranger things have happened....especially to Sabbath! Thanks for reading! P.S.: If you look at the images section on the page's above left side, you'll see my CD booklet back cover explaining the position of the actual numbering on each disc created. The notes explain how you found it and where. Enjoy and thanks again!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rejoice! This album (if it's the music you want) actually is available!,
By
This review is from: Live At Hammersmith Odeon (Audio CD)
A short review of the album: yes it is edited to fit onto one disc. The part I like is there is very little crowd noise or talk between songs. That is all fine for when I'm at the concert but when listening to a CD I don't need it. Musically it was very exciting to hear and I immediately wondered why this wasn't released instead of Live Evil. I love it and was very fortunate to pre-order it for $25 which is a bit pricey for one CD but much less than it was auctioning off for afterwards. But the most important of this review is to inform everyone that this album is the 2nd disc of the new deluxe edition of Mob Rules. There are no reviews for that album on here yet but I went to Black Sabbath .com to find that it is indeed the exact same disc, minus the packaging for Hammersmith of course. For people who want the music (and that's the most important thing) it is now available for far less than people are trying to sell the limited edition.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Passionate about music?
Learn more at SoundUnwound, the personal music encyclopedia, or challenge your friends with our music quizzes.
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
