Living Easy Where The Sun Doesn't Shine- Black Sabbath's "Past Lives"

"Are you high? Are you HIGH? SO AM I!"

Okay, I'm going to say it- this is the absolute best recording ever released by the lumbering beast known as Black Sabbath. Captured live at their peak in the early-to-mid 1970's, this is the only official live recording of the original Sabbath line-up in their hey-day. Its raw, its distorted, its loud, its out of tune, there's mistakes, there's oodles of feedback, and its exactly the way heavy metal is supposed to sound- fucked up.

On the first disc we get a remixed, remastered, and slightly cleaned up version of the famed England-only live album, "Live At Last". Released in 1980, and only available in the US as an import, legend has it that "Live At Last" charted higher than "Heaven And Hell", Sabbath's newest studio release at the time, which influenced them to record and release 1982's "Live Evil". Kicking off with a slight burst of feedback, the Sabs launch into "Tomorrow's Dream," from the "Volume 4" LP, viciously tearing through it with infinately more speed and energy than on the LP. Despite Ozzy being the figurehead and most well known member of the band, the real stars of this CD become apparent right from the beginning. Bill Ward's intense pounding never ceases to amaze from start to finish, and Tony Iommi's fuzz-soaked guitar oozes out the most devastatingly heavy riffs any of us will ever hear. Unfortunately, much of Geezer Butler's bass lines are lost in the mix, though there are a few instances where a distorted fill cuts through showing us the genius behind Sabbath's backbone. Despite being upstaged by the rest of the band, Ozzy turns in a respectable performance throughout, showing us that he wasn't always the blabbering Saturday Morning Cartoon the world knows him as now. As the final distorted chords of "Tomorrow's Dream" fade, Ozzy announces "a number entitled Sweat Leaf," one of the real gems of this CD. The band lurches into the song, pounding it out at half the speed it was recorded at on "Master Of Reality." If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was Ozzy being backed up by 1984 era Black Flag. Goddamn, goddamn. Next up is an early version of "Killing Yourself To Live" from the then-unreleased "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" LP, with slightly different (and slightly cooler) lyrics, followed by "Cornucopia", and one of the high points of this recording, a mind-numbingly heavy version of "Snowblind." I swear, this makes it worth the cover price alone, and absolutely destroys the LP version. After this assault, Tony Iommi launches into his solo intro to "Children Of The Grave," once again played faster and heavier than on the "Master Of Realtiy" LP. From here we get a decent version of "War Pigs," which starts out sounding intense as all hell, but in the verses the guitar drops in the mix a little. Still a damn fine version of the song, which gets followed up with "Wicked World" from the US version of Sabbath's first LP. Its definately a killer version, but gets diluted with Tony Iommi's overindulgent guitar soloing. During his obnoxious guitar wanking, we get treated to an improvised blues jam, and a rousing jaunt through the first half of "Supernaut," which really makes me wish they'd just played that the whole way through and spared us the Guitar Center bullshit. Closing out disc one, we hear the crowd screaming for more, and Ozzy and boys granting their request with a searing run through the band's biggest single, "Paranoid," from the album fo the same name. While Ozzy sounds a little tired, the band rips through the song with a vengeance, sounding as if they've only just begun to break a sweat. They don't make'em like this any more.

Disc two opens with a well played but plodding version of "Hand Of Doom" recorded in Paris in 1970 which is not bad, but the real meat and potatoes comes with the next track, a blistering run through "Hole In The Sky" from Asbury Park, New Jersey five years later. This is by far the best, most intense, and heaviest track on the entire two disc collection, showing that while at the time Sabbath may have been slacking in the studio, they were still on fire as a live band. Following "Hole In The Sky", we get two more songs from the then-unreleased "Sabotage" LP- "Symptom Of The Universe" and "Megalomania." The former shows the huge debt owed to the Sabs by the legions of speed metal bands (especially Metallica) that would spring up in another few years, and the latter turning in one of Ozzy's greatest vocal performances. From here we return to Paris in 1970, and while the performances are absolutely scorching, there is a little left to be desired in sound quality. While the rest of the two discs are from soundboard recordings, this sounds like a low level bootleg recorded from the audience. Everything is still audible, but it could certainly be better. That said, "Iron Man" shows just how ahead of their time Black Sabbath was, in that is still by far heavier than anything coming out right now, and "Black Sabbath" comes off far gloomier and darker than it ever did in its studio version. the final three tracks, "N.I.B,""Behind The Wall of Sleep," and "Fairies Wear Boots" are all incendiary, but pale in comparison to the collection's higher moments. All in all, this is a loud, dirty, honest depiction of Black Sabbath and heavy metal at its finest. Included is a thick booklet of pictures and information on the band and the recordings, but there's nothing you can learn from reading about the band that you can't from listening, so what are you waiting for? Turn off your computer and buy this, now.