Black Sabbath: Live Evil (1983)

What I find amusing currently in the world of rock is the fact that Journey is a band that is suing each other.

Neil Schon and Jon ‘The Preacher’ Cain are there night after night up onstage yet (collecting huge paycheques) they are both being pissy with each other over finances or whatever it is they are haggling over.

I tell you all as an outsider I love reading this stuff as those two guys are millionaires yet they are tweaked sideways with each other for whatever reason.

Old Man Rock Drama… It’s the best!

So now you’re probably going “why is deKe yakking about Journey?” Well, kids its simple as back in  82 a whole lotta  pissy pants rock drama went down with Sabbath while mixing this album.

So the Sabs were riding high with Ronnie James Dio fronting the band and his pal Vinny Appice on the drums along with of course Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. So it was decided that Sabbath would record some shows (Seattle, Dallas and San Antonio) for a live album titled “Live Evil”(perfect title for a live Sabbath record if you were to ask me).

From what I have read the tensions were building on the “Mob Rules” tour as the and was divided into two camps. Tony/Geezer on one side and Vinny/Ronnie on the other.

Guess things really boiled over when the band was mixing this live record as Tony and Geezer were coked out of there heads and didn’t show up to the studio whereas Ronnie and Vinny did and due to a breakdown in communication the band blew apart before “Live Evil” hit the shops. (you can read about this online its everywhere if you are looking for a more detailed account)

So by January ’83 when the double live record hit store shelves this incarnation of Sabbath was done.

A shame really as I prefer the Dio fronted Sabbath as “Mob Rules” (studio album) was my entry point into their world back in 81.

Love that gatefold and the 14 songs presented here is a great cross section of material during not only Dio’s time in the band but also Ozzy’s time as well.

How much fixing up did this record undergo in the studio? I have no idea and I really don’t care as this is a great time capsule of a band that had put out two stellar studio albums and one live album in under three years and yet they were done.

Dio does the Ozzy tunes justice and in his own style whereas Tony, Geezer and Vinny drive the band with they’re musical muscle chops.

Now in regards to this live album when it hit the stores Tony and Geezer really laid out Ronnie and Vinny under the bus. Look at the credits on the back cover pictured below.

Has there ever been any Dio release (Rainbow or solo) where the credits have the singer listed as Ronnie Dio and no James in the middle?

How about Vinny Appice being listed in smaller print under the “Special Guests” on the album below the Keyboardist (Geoff Nicholls) who was offstage on the tour.

Ouch…

Course the album was produced by Tony and Geezer as well so there’s that issue I’m sure with Dio at the time.

The reason why I brought up Journey drama at the top of the page as it would have made for some great reading if back in ’83 there was social media like Twitter and FaceCrack so these guys could have been verbally been taken cheap shots at each other. But just like the Journey fiasco I could have sat at home and read about the silliness pettiness between millionaires.

In saying all that I have never owned this album in any format until a few weeks ago when I came across it in my local record shop (Spins) for $15! (I had it taped for me on cassette tape back in high school from a fella named Dave Kumas who was a huge Sabbath fan). So for me this album is so worth it now to own on vinyl.

deKe’s Vinyl Score of Live Evil….8.5/10

 

 

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