Customer Reviews

Story I [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this tape and Vol. 2 back in 1997, a few years after they had been first released. (I remember being overjoyed to discover that now I could get Black Sabbath on VHS.) It is absolutely essential for anyone who calls themselves a Black Sabbath fan. I don't mean this as demeaning to those fans who don't have it, it's just that I had thought that I knew the whole Black Sabbath story and still learned new things about the way they were during Ozzy Osbourne's tenure with them.

In this video, we get great performances from Black Sabbath doing some of their best songs, such as "N.I.B.," "War Pigs," "Paranoid," and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." Actually, my favorite video is the last one: a BBC Top Of The Pops performance of "Never Say Die" from their 1978 album of the same same name, their last one with Ozzy. There are many insightful interviews, especially with Tony Iommi, who gets credit only for being a great guitarist but not enough for being an intelligent, throughtful and well-spoken individual. He is quiet-mannered, yet is forthcoming when talking about the band, and reveals some very interesting information which showed how much I didn't know about them. Drummer Bill Ward and bass guitarist Tony "Geezer" Butler are also very forthcoming, the latter in particular about his drug abuse. And yes, one of the videos shown is the Bill-Ward sung "It's Alright!" THE BLACK SABBATH STORY really is essential for helping you understand the whole story about one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

MOST RECOMMENDED, FOR FANS AND CURIOUS ALIKE

I love the footage they showed, however the makers of the dvd cheated the public. The back of the disc say the aprox running time 85 minutes. It's actually 60 minutes. Somone said Vol. 2 of the DVD is 45 minutes. Don't you think they could have released both volumes in one disc? I think so. Talk about milking the fans for cash.

Black Sabbath fans will be very disappointed. While the VHS versions were great, these DVDs are presented in "fake widescreen," meaning they just stuck black bars on the picture, actually COVERING UP the upper and lower portions of the screen. No joke.

You wind up with headless shots of Tony Iommi, shots of Ozzy singing with only his nose and mouth visible, etc. It's absolutely ridiculous. Stick to the VHS versions.

The interview with Geezer and Tony is interesting while it gives a "human" view of their incredible performances. The best moments are from early live concerts. Parts are in Paris and include NIB. My preferred moment is a very poor quality black and white shot of Children of the Grave in the US. Only the mediums survived on the sound track ... which is again sad for Bill and Ozzie that have most of their part outside this frequency scope. I would hope that at some point better vintage material will come out, but in the meantime this is extremely valuable.

I bought this video on VHS over 10 years ago and nearly wore it out. Great footage of the original Sabath line - up. We get to hear a new song called "War Pigs" from the "new album", with Bill Ward playing a single bass drum kit. The whole band wears jeans and sneakers in early footage and in a few short years Bill has a double bass and the band is wearing platform shoes w/satin (?) pants. This is the best overview of Sabbath from the 70's. The interviews are apparently from the era before the Reunion when apparently they didn't anticipate Ozzy returning. It's actually a pleasure hearing the interviews with Tony and Geezer without Ozzy's big mouth. Another great thing about this video is that the interviews are in between songs not during them and now that it's on DVD you can actually skip over the parts that you don't like. Also includes bonus track "A Hard Road" not on the VHS version. Tony and Geezer tell Ozzy stories and reminince about the early days. Personal favorite is the one about Ozzy beating up a doped up fan who was beating up his little boy in the audience. Overall, it seems short and will make you want to rewind (skip backward) to hear it again. This isn't one of those documentaries that drags on forever (e.g. Some Kind of Monster - ugh), but rather keeps you watching and holds your interest. Also it doesn't contain any back biting or bad mouthing just good natured remininces from Tony and Geezer.

This is a must for any Sabbath fan. Especially interesting were some of the less famous cuts performed live- like a vocal number by Ward. The downfall is only Butler and Iommi are interviewed here -cool stories though. Input from Ozzy and Ward should be crucial. Also the Video clips are poor. It would be better if a more thorough job was done documenting the band. (past interviews, recording footage etc.)

I'm a fan but this was a gift for a friend. He loves it! Great coverage of the band and their tumultuous ties with Ozzy. Interviews, videos live shows it's got what you're looking for!

I am a collector. So, I had to have this and it's a good documentary. Really cool to watch. If your a new fan and want to get an overview of how the started. This is a good one to get.

Enjoy!

The footage on this isn't too bad. Some great songs, however there could be some better ones as well.
It is a must have for SABBATH fans.
There is an interview with the old manager that is pretty insightful.
Lots of little tid bits that none of us would have ever known about
early SABBATH history.
There is a cool story about OZZY beating up
a police officer when he was younger.
The sound quality is great, except its not really in wide screen.
It appears as if production added some cheesy looking black bars to the top of the screen.
Drummers will love all of the close ups of BILL WARD pounding
on his set.

It was great seeing, firsthand, the early Black Sabbath days, before the split up, fighting and he said, he said! I loved it!