Earth (Black Sabbath) Demos 1969

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Murph, Sep 10, 2019.

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  1. Murph

    Murph Enjoy every sandwich! Thread Starter

    Apologies if this has been posted somewhere else (I didn't see it). Real interesting stuff

     
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  2. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    This is indeed interesting, and pretty darn good too.
     
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  3. Murph

    Murph Enjoy every sandwich! Thread Starter

    Theres some sort of free form jazz exploration going on in there
     
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  4. ArpMoog

    ArpMoog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Thank God this is not the direction they went in
     
  5. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Yeah, who'da thunk? A bit of a King Crimson vibe in there somewhere too. The heavy barroom blues stuff is played well. Lots of directions they could have gone in and done it well. As ArpMoog says, good job they didn't.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2019
  6. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Ironically "The Rebel" kinda sounds like Coven - it has a sort of "One Tin Soldier" vibe. "When I Came Down" is a pretty good song - if they'd recorded it better it could have fit well on the first album. "Thomas James" sounds like they wandered into the Fun House sessions. "Early One Morning Blues" sounds pretty much like I expected Earth to sound.

    Ozzy's voice is interesting on these tracks. His enunciation is pretty poor but there's still that certain plaintive, emotional Ozzy thing encoded into the vocals.
     
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  7. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    Thomas James was real interesting. If that was Ozzy on trumpet I’ve developed a new respect for him.
     
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  8. hi_watt

    hi_watt The Road Warrior

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    I've heard the other demos before, but this is the first time I've ever heard When I Came Down. I love it!
     
  9. hi_watt

    hi_watt The Road Warrior

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Oh man, @10:42 in the clip (Thomas James), the main riff for Black Sabbath appears. :drool:
     
  10. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Amazing!
     
  11. RAZORMADE

    RAZORMADE I crawled out from the bottom in the dark...

    Location:
    Canada
    Love these recordings! Needs an official release!
    "The Rebel" could easily be a tune off Queen's first album! ... but holy **** "When I Came Down"!!!
    Although a good splice heard here, the full version needs to be issued!
    Should have been on the first album!
     
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  12. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    I’m sure Linda (@blacksabbathrainbow) can chime in and confirm but my recollection is that Thomas James was established to likely not be Sabbath and maybe even an attempt by someone to sound a bit like Sabbath.

    The other three tracks are of course legit. The two demos are still unavailable in anything but MP3 quality. Some guy paid a fortune for the acetate if memory serves but probably only the band have access to it in full quality.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  13. Perfectly correct. Thanks for pointing it out. It is annoying that this fake track keeps getting shared along with the true demos, so the idea that it were a real Sabbath/Earth recording will, alas, never die.

    1* The rebel- 0:00 - This is a real early Sabbath - or Earth - demo, likely recorded on August 22, 1969. As Rob Dwyer puts it: "Although the actual acetate credits the recording to BLACK SABBATH, the song was recorded during a transitional period." It was "written by "Norman Haines. Norman played keyboards in Jim's band Locomotive. Haines also took part in this session, playing organ and piano." Rob's article (incl. complete lyrics for "The Rebel") is archived here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080325232722/http://www.sabbathlive.com/tours/70BS/art/the_rebel.html

    2* When I came down- 2:48 - Another real early Sabbath demo, again written by Norman Haines. I've been told it was recorded on Onctober 7, 1969. Originally titled "When I Come Down" and retitled "When I Came Down" for the Sabbath version. See the following article by Rob Dwyer and Joe D'Agostino: https://web.archive.org/web/20080324181908fw_/http://www.sabbathlive.com/tours/70BS/art/wicd.htm The incomplete 0:54 min snippet of WICD is all we have for now. There's a seemingly longer, 2 min, version circulating, but it's just the 0:54 min snippet repeated.

    3* Thomas James- 4:53 - Fake indeed - NOT a Sabbath or Earth recording.

    4* Early one morning blues- 12:45 - I read somewhere that this is in fact a cover of Elmore James' song "Early One Morning" with slightly changed/butchered lyrics. The band playing it on this recording is Sabbath, but it isn't a demo. In fact, it was taped by Alex Wilson on their now-famous concert in Dumfries, Scotland, UK, on November 16, 1969:

    Here's some very valuable comments on the true and fake Earth/early Sabbath demos made by my friend Rollerjoint a while ago:

    Source:
    a song for jim..
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  14. The 0:54 min snippet of WICD that was originally shared as bonus track to the January 14, 1971 Sheffield live bootleg is lossless I think.
     
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  15. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    I sure wish the band would properly release both of these along with “Song For Jim.”

    Part of the problem is that with the Haines songs they seem to have memories of being pushed to record them while they were still being told their originals were just too “out there” to have any appeal. I suspect that makes it all the less interesting for them to have this material be released.
     
  16. ...and having been sued by Simpson in the mid-1970ies (as I just read in "How Black Was Our Sabbath") probably doesn't help either. At the same time, some 50 years later and with all the success they have had, I really think they should get over it. And at least release some previously unreleased stuff that they do have rather good memories of.
     
  17. CowboyBill

    CowboyBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Utah
    Sounds like Mott The Hoople to me. Interesting listen!
     
  18. Song for Jim live in Dumfries 1969:


    Yep, a release of a studio version would be great.
     
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  19. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Well, they are at peace with Simpson. He was at Tony’s 70th Birthday dinner and has been very active in their Birmingham history in recent years in terms of TV appearances, exhibitions and what not.

    Simpson deserves as much credit as anybody for ramming their true sound down the throat of labels until he found a taker in Phonogram. He was a jazz musician and knew that underneath it all they were simply remarkable in their interplay and had swing. And tbh he had every right to sue them. They were lured away by Patrick Meehan and his big time London management and Don Arden always seemed to figure out a way to have a hand in things despite them initially not wanting him that involved, but they broke their contract with Simpson.

    Simpson has a new book out that I really need to pick up.

    [​IMG]

    https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Worry-B...mpson+Sabbath&qid=1568211319&s=gateway&sr=8-1
     
  20. Smokin Chains

    Smokin Chains Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashua, NH

    Wow the first album demoed!!! I can't believe they haven't released any of this stuff!
     
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  21. I agree with you about Jim's positive role, and I agree he was right to sue them. It was not my intention to bash Jim at all. I wasn't aware they are at peace with him now though, that's why I imagined they might have bad memories.
     
  22. Regrettably, they are pretty good at not releasing great studio sessions and live recordings.
     
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  23. Michel_LeGrisbi

    Michel_LeGrisbi Far-Gone Accumulator ™

    It certainly does....

     
  24. They sure were original, especially in the beginning.
     
  25. TDSOTM

    TDSOTM Forum Resident

    Interesting. Tony plays a lick at 1:57 and 2:33 that would later show up on War Pigs.
     
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