Black Sabbath - Sabotage - 5 LPs!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Cranny, Apr 9, 2021.

  1. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    It is a good deal. I came close to ordering, but then was reminded of how little archival material is really being issued here. Even for $36, I am not sure it is justifiable to acquire yet another remaster, a handful of unreleased live cuts, and the bizarre 4th disc. It is tempting because it is such a great album, but I am not sure the actual content justifies it.
     
    supernaut, Purple and Greenalishi like this.
  2. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    Hard pass. I’ve the 2016 cd and the Asbury Park set. I’m good.
     
  3. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Megalomania 2021 Remaster. What's everyone else's verdict? I listened to it via this link through my Polk towers and wasn't disgusted. Some parts are a bit more upfront, perhaps a little fuller. It's not as bright as the WB cd. My only other cd is the 96 Castle, which isn't terrible, but isn't as good as the WB. I did compare the three (via youtube) and would probably give a slight edge to the 96 Castle over this one, with the WB getting the chicken dinner!
     
  4. GRompre68

    GRompre68 Vive le Prog Quebecois

    Location:
    Colombus, Ohio
    Sabotage has shipped, says Rhino!!
     
  5. OzzyIsDio

    OzzyIsDio Maniacal Sabbath Fanatic

    That's great I get mine through a Record shop as I like to support them and try to keep them alive, so few of them now, I should be getting mine next week a few days early, like I always do.
     
    GRompre68 likes this.
  6. You know something's off when the phrase "I wasn't disgusted" is used as an actual compliment. The 1996 Castle isn't a reference for me at all. The original WB CD sounds very close to the original US and UK LPs. If you find it too bright, you should check out the 2009 Sanctuary, that's a great mastering and significantly darker than the original WB CD. IMO it is the only real competitor outside the original WB CD and side 2 of the 1986 Castle.
     
    John Bliss and izgoblin like this.
  7. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I got a shipping notification yesterday from BullMoose for the CD set.
     
  8. pexie

    pexie Forum Resident

    On the contrary, SBS to my ears is the better mix. Much more even. Every version of Vol 4 is a pain to listen to. It's just tolerated because the songs are so good.
     
  9. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    After MoR, each successive album became more ambitious in terms of laying down additional/overdubbed tracks. Iommi started toying with this on Vol IV and ramped way up for SBS and even more for Sabotage. You can hear increasing layers of electric and acoustic guitar parts, and he worked very hard on this. Oz also added more vocal parts, particularly on Sabotage.

    The problem is that their engineering did not keep pace with their recording ambitions. There was absolutely no attention to detail when mixing all the tracks together, and some tracks seem to be polar inverted relative to other tracks, so the recording becomes increasingly muddied as more tracks are used in the mix.

    Maybe Steve or some other expert could weigh in as to whether it would be possible to go back and unearth the original tracks to properly remix Sab's classic albums, and not just remaster them. That could be a total revelation. I suspect it would enable Vol 4, SBS and Sabotage to have the same sonic clarity and dynamic impact as the earlier stuff. I don't think any of it was badly recorded; I just think there was no recognition of polar inversion and therefore no attempt to correct for that when mixing.
     
  10. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    I must be lucky. I think the original Sabotage that Iommi and Mike Butcher mixed is one of the most incredible sounding records of all time. I can’t imagine any remix ever outdoing it. In fact it wouldn’t even interest me.

    Vol. 4 is a different beast, but as I’ve long said, every track is different. “Snowblind” is just about perfection to my ears. “Wheels” is a mess.

    SBS was a bit varied but its high production points are solid. “Spiral Architect” in particular, is so well produced, IMO. A better integration of rock group and strings doesn’t come to mind.
     
  11. wrat

    wrat Forum Resident

    Location:
    29671
    I want the book .....Im sure the completist in me will pick this up at some point, bring on the extra super special deluxe deluxe super SBS!
     
  12. hi_watt

    hi_watt The Road Warrior

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    It will be a hell of a task to remix Sabotage, as I also feel it is a great recording. The atmosphere, for lack of a better term, on the acoustic portion of Symptom Of The Universe especially is amazing. Can't get any better than how they produced The Writ originally either. Good luck with that remixing engineers.
     
  13. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    I’m baffled there are no studio outtakes/demo’s/rehearsals for an album that took the best part of a year to record.
     
    John Bliss, ODShowtime, Joe W and 6 others like this.
  14. The only one of the first six Sabbath albums I would like to see remixed is Vol. 4. I am perfectly satisfied with the sound of the other five. As you probably know if you've watched the Vol. 4 Super Deluxe Edition thread, Steven Wilson was already prepared to remix Vol. 4 when he was (apparently falsely) told that they didn't find the multitracks, so in the end he only remixed a few unfinished alt. takes rather than the album proper. According to one well-informed fellow forum member, Tony and Geezer were involved and didn't want the album to be remixed, even though the multitracks still exist. Given all of that, it seems very unlikely that a Sabbath remix series like the one you're wishing for will happen anytime soon.

    I don't think it is clear they don't exist. A scenario at least as likely as that is that they do exist, yet Tony doesn't want to release them.
     
    Queezma, John Bliss and supernaut like this.
  15. Anthrax

    Anthrax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    One of the Vol. 4 tracks that has always frustrated me from a sonic standpoint is Under The Sun. Getting to hear how those recordings could sound much better is one of the best things about the recent box.

     
  16. OzzyIsDio

    OzzyIsDio Maniacal Sabbath Fanatic

    Got my LP and CD Sabotage box sets today!!!!
     
  17. dixiedixie69

    dixiedixie69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Derry, Ireland
    Well done! Does it look well?
     
    MetalPatchesVinyl likes this.
  18. OzzyIsDio

    OzzyIsDio Maniacal Sabbath Fanatic

    They look beautiful!
     
    dixiedixie69 likes this.
  19. slipkid

    slipkid Senior Member

    I think someone already posted that ImportCDs has this for a very good price ($28.90), but today I also got a 10% off coupon code from them in email (HAPPY10), which although works out to only like $3 off, that is also their shipping cost, so that convinced me to cancel my $48 amazon preorder and get it from ICDs. Their customer service leaves much to be desired should something go wrong but I felt saving about $20 was worth the risk.

    Note that their code said it was good ONLY for IN STOCK items so I was not sure it would even work yet (since release date is supposed to be tomorrow) but it worked.

    P.S. I'm speaking of the CD version above. I do not know if they carry the LP version or how much they ask for that if they do carry it.
     
    izgoblin likes this.
  20. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    More importantly, how do they sound?
    Can you confirm the bonus live disc is indeed Asbury Park 1975? 99.9% certain it is but be nice to know.
     
  21. Anthrax

    Anthrax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Enough with the questions. Don't you know they look beautiful? :D
     
    ArpMoog and blacksabbathrainbow like this.
  22. My lp set just arrived. Hoping to play it tonight. Very similar to the Vol 4 box. The live lp is a triple gatefold with embossed cover. Very nice. The Sabotage lp is in a beautiful textured cover. I’ve never seen an original so it is a nice surprise. They even put the 7” single in a quality plastic cover over the Japanese sleeve.

    The live credits only say ‘from the North American tour ‘75’ . No mention of Asbury park. Will spin this first when I get the opportunity.

    edit- I just put in side 1 of the live… it’s the Asbury show (so far)
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2021
    John Bliss, slipkid, animaux and 3 others like this.
  23. OzzyIsDio

    OzzyIsDio Maniacal Sabbath Fanatic

    I haven’t finished listening to it yet Gus.
     
    Gus Tomato likes this.
  24. MetalPatchesVinyl

    MetalPatchesVinyl Forum Resident

    I'm getting pretty excited about this. I got my shipping notification from PopMarket today, and my vinyl is on its way.
     
  25. animaux

    animaux Bababooey!

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Enjoy! Amazon billed my card today but still shows delivery date of July 9... :-(
     

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