Black Sabbath

There are those who will go out after reading this review and burn effigies of your humble reviewer: the two albums that Sabbath made after Ozzie self-destructed are better than almost anything they made with him in the front.
Finally, Tony Iommi had a vocalist who could really put over a metal number with more than a strangled shriek and Ronnie James Dio really does put over the sturm and drang of Sabbath with power and majesty; not bad for a shortarse!

The Mob Rules (5*) is imperious and features a few of Sabbaths best ever numbers in ‘The Sign Of The Southern Cross’, ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Falling Off The Edge Of The World’ plus the brilliant ‘E5150’. The title track ain’t half bad either!
The band sound fresh and aggressive and the whole album positively bristles with adrenalin and positivity – Geezer Butler sounds almost jazzy at times and Bill Ward’s drumming has all his power but more brio than the last couple of albums with Ozzie.
The live tracks on the Deluxe edition are terrific and really feature the band at their best with the sound as crisp as I remembered it from the time.

Heaven & Hell (4*) was the first post-Ozzie album and while it kicks butt the tracks were written with Ozzie in mind and Dio learning to play with the others. Lots of good material and the live versions are fiery and stand up well against the album versions.

Live Evil (3*) is a bit of a disappointment as the tracks that also feature on ‘The Mob Rules’ live accompaniment are better there as are the ‘Heven & Hell’ versions. On the other hand you do get a massive ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man’ at its peak. By this time Vinnie Appice was drumming and I really would rather hear Bill Ward but he was not a well man by this period so Vinnie does the trick.

As ever with these Deluxe boxsets the remastering is excellent and the little trick of keeping the original album in one piece is a good move.