The album has a “cold sterility” (I’ve waxed poetically about the fantastic album cover elsewhere here in Sabbath/TE related threads) that, in this case, I find pleasing and appropriate toward the material and the atmosphere of life, at that time (zeitgeist, if you will) that it was conveying.
I have yet to get the Paranoid box set. Vol 4 has me interested. Need to have some time to save for these expensive box sets that everyone wants to release all at once.
Comparing the SACD to the track from the Complete Studio Albums 1970 - 1978 does show a little bit of noise reduction. Doesn't sound terrible to me minus the quirks of the 2014 remasters.
Twenty-twenty-one is looking up. A vaccine in spring and now this. Gotta have things to look forward to.
Yeah, it was on setlist.fm. The thing which struck me was that it said "first time ever" under the title. As if someone with some knowledge made the setlist. Or does setlist.fm place that automatically at the earliest date a song appears? I do hope the live disc comes with an explanation rather than just telling us the tracks are UK '73 and who mixed them.
I don't know if setlist.fm adds that automatically. I see your point. However, I have a hard time believing that Hole in the Sky was already written during the Vol. 4 tour. Tony suffered from writer's block when they were trying to write material for the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album (starting in mid-1973, about 3 months after the show we're discussing took place). It took them a while to overcome the writer's block and eventually put the album together. Why, then, wouldn't they include Hole in the Sky in that album, rather than keeping it unreleased until two years later, if that song was already written at that point? Yeah, detailed and accurate information in the album booklet would be nice for a change!
I wonder if the extra little add on to the coda of ‘Wheels Of Confusion’ that some CDs have will be included?
We cannot rule it out. Anyway, given what we know about Sabbath's policy with respect to live releases, I'd say it is very unlikely that this one will contain new material. But of course I am crossing fingers it will. I don't think there is any way to know that before it gets released.
I'd be curious as to where they got the outtakes for this from. I believe it was noted, or as the story went, that the outtakes on the deluxe s/t and MOR releases were from tapes sent from a studio that had them in storage. Just another comment, its hard to believe that a band as influential as this one doesnt seem to have a grip on, or at least acknowledge what it does have in its posession. These tapes seem to be here, there, and wherever. Very odd. I did a brief look up on google on Richard Digby-Smith. He is currently still active as a freelance music engineer/producer. But it had this info listed under a fairly skimpy bio. He was 19 in 1970 when he began working as an assistant engineer at Island Records. Which would make him 22, if these are the orginal mixes from back in '73. So probably done on the cheap, and par for the course for Meehan or whoever was calling the shots back then. Of course, these may have been done in 1980 as well, when the Live At Last album was released. So as with most things Sabbath, the info is not readily out there. Looking forward to hearing any new comment from any of the 4 Sabs on this release.
The story of the tapes found at Bucks music is told in Popoff's "Black Sabbath FAQ", starting on page 347: Black Sabbath FAQ Those tapes surfaced sometime prior to 2009 when they were looking for potential bonus material for the Deluxe releases. The tapes found at Bucks included multiple takes from the The Rebel and Evil Woman, debut album, Paranoid and MOR sessions as well as the 1970 live recording that fans later identified as Montreux, 31 Aug 1970. And I fully agree with you, it is unbelievable that nobody has ever been able (or motivated?) to sort out the mess that Sabbath's unreleased recordings apparently are. Similarly unbelievable as the fact that they have never ever managed to release one series of masterings of their first eight albums on CD that actually sounds good throughout. The best success ratio they've ever managed were 5/8 (Sanctuary 2009 CDs). Every time, something goes wrong: either they mess them all up with compression or weird EQ or whatever, or they do good work on some of them but ruin the others, or they just leave out some of the albums entirely. And I don't even want to start again about how they manage live releases (and live non-releases). Thank you for your research. Is there anything to suggest that these mixes aren't new? To be honest, I doubt that any of the band members will tell us anything interesting about this release. In the past, they have usually said nothing or talked like someone from marketing when it came to remasters and such. It is always the best with the greatest sound etc. Once again, I hope they'll prove me wrong.
I've always liked that bit but it's peculiar to the NEMS Lps from the 70's and some Castle CD's that were apparently produced from those tapes. It might end up in this set but I wouldn't count on it. I think it qualifies more as an odd mastering decision than an outtake. But it is the first version of "Wheels Of Confusion" that I ever heard, so I definitely am partial to it!
I'd buy those. My thoughts on such sets and live stuff, at least: SBS: no need for a remix, would be a bonus...Cal Jam 1974...hopefully they have the 24 track tapes Sabotage: no need for a remix, would be a bonus...Asbury Park, NJ 1975 Technical Ecstasy: no need for a remix, would be a bonus...unreleased live set from 76/77 Never Say Die...THIS needs a remix, badly. Complete 1978 Hammersmith Odeon concert...the dvd is edited
Yes, I can’t really accept any other version - what an unexpected treat the first time I heard it! It made me even more steadfast in my belief that the 96 Castles were the best thing to ever happen to my cd collection (I’d never heard ‘Blow On A Jug’ either) but this place soon put me right on that score (along with my Maiden, Priest, AC/DC etc remasters!)
I’ve never had any real interest in bonus discs full of demos and outtakes etc, to me it’s a one-time listen and put away for good - I much prefer the finished product. But I have to say I’d love to hear the origins of the ‘Sabotage’ album.
For me it's a treat especially for albums I've heard a lot. I'll usually make an alternate playlist with the most interesting versions of an album to keep it fresh.
The only digital releases on which I have noticed that coda were the 1996 Castle CD and the SACD. Which suggests it is on the master tapes - accidentally, would be my guess. Given that the Vol4 Super Deluxe set is from Rhino, there's a chance that they won't use the UK master tapes but US copy tapes, in which case the coda will likely be missing. Anyway, we cannot be sure about anything. The 2016 Rhino CDs all used the 2012 Pearce mastering which originally came from Europe.