Well, if everything has gone as planned, Back To The Beginning has arrived, and I must be in Birmingham. Obviously, I finished this review before I left and am planning on posting some photos and insights into the show at some point. Hopefully we will get some sort of physical release to commemorate at least some portions of the show. It will be interesting to see if labels try to do some unofficial versions based on the live stream (they will), but I am hoping we’ll get some good official material out of this. With such an epic lineup, and the final shows by both Black Sabbath and Ozzy himself, you would think the powers that be will make sure we have great documentation of the most important heavy metal / hard rock music event of all time.
In a bit of other quick Sabbath news, Jim Simpson, the original manager of Black Sabbath from way back in the day when they were still called Earth, has announced Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. It may be old news by the time this article is published, but I think it’s worth mentioning here anyway. It seems like a lot of Sabbath fans are getting excited about this without knowing what it really is. First of all, this is not an official Black Sabbath release. Jim Simpson must own the copyright, which means he can do with it what he wants, but that doesn’t make it official in any capacity. It’s coming out on his Big Bear Records label, and the cover design leaves a lot to be desired. If you want to see it, there are a few ads up for it already.
I’m not exactly sure who these “legendary tapes” were lost to. Certainly not to us collectors, who have been able to buy them as bootlegs for literally decades. With tracks such as “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Song For Jim” and “Wicked World”, most of us have seen this fish before. Many times. If you haven’t heard this material and want to check it out, it can be found on YouTube. I have no idea what any potential new mastering will sound like, but unless it’s totally astounding, this is just more of the same old thing. There’s no doubt that Jim will be just the first of many looking for a way to cash in on this latest round of Sabbath Mania, but if a vinyl or CD copy of this thing interests you, they are already available for pre-order. I have to add that there are already some awesome versions of this material out there, and I have covered a couple of them already.
So on to the record! When I was looking through my shelves of yet to be listened to vinyl to come up with something that might be appropriate to mark this occasion, I came across 02 Academy “Birminghan” 2012. Yes, you read that correctly. Right out of the gate, they misspelled Birmingham. Not a great start, but the cover was certainly cool, and it’s kind of rare to find Sabbath shows of any kind on just a single LP. I knew, of course, that the actual performance at 02 was way longer than what could fit on a single record, so I figured it was going to basically be a highlight reel, which is alright with me. I know a lot of people aren’t into anything that isn’t a full show, but I can get into it sometimes.
This probably won’t surprise many people, but I had never heard of Strings Music before. I picked this record up online from a shop in Chilie after I saw someone else post a picture of it. It’s a couple years old, but still pretty widely available if anyone decides they might want a copy. I remember it took a while to get to me, but it arrived in nice condition, and I was impressed with the quality of the release. Until I looked too closely, that is. The record itself is nice and heavy. Just guessing, I would say it’s at least 180g, and jacket itself is nice quality. The labels also look great, and I couldn’t see any physical problems with the LP. It was heavy and totally flat, which is what we want.
After a thorough cleaning, I popped “Birminghan” 2012 back onto the shelf, where it sat for a few months. When I finally decided to give it a spin, I was initially impressed. There is little to no surface noise, and no doubt that the pressing itself is quite good. I can’t find any information on the audio source, but it sounds like an audience recording to me. The crowd noise is what gives it away, but I will say this is a top-notch audience recording if I’ve ever heard one. The bass can be a little overpowering at times, but that’s to be expected. Otherwise, I think most people would be pretty happy with the quality here. No two songs run together, but the cutting and fading done in between tracks is professional, and on par with what one would expect on a professional live release.
So, what’s the problem? Well, aside from the spelling mistake on the title (which is repeated every single time the title is mentioned, by the way), we also have errors in the track list. When I originally picked this up, I was expecting to hear some of my favorite songs because, you know, they were listed as being on the record. The problem is, there are massive discrepancies between what’s listed and what’s actually pressed. On Side A, the track listed as “The Wizard” is actually “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”, and the track listed as “N.I.B.” is actually “Fairies Wear Boots”. Once we get to the B Side, we are promised “Sweet Leaf” but only get a few seconds of it (right before the solo) before it switches into a bit of “Symptom of the Universe” (also another misspelling here). Thankfully, the rest of the songs are ok, but as you can see, the track listing is just a mess. Here is it, including my corrections:
Live Recording – 02 Academy – Birmingham, UK – 19th May, 2012
A1 Snowblind
A2 Black Sabbath
A3 The Wizard (Actually “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”)
A4 N.I.B. (Actually “Fairies Wear Boots”)
B1 Sweet Leaf / Symptom Of The Universe (Just a few seconds of “Sweet Leaf”)
B2 Iron Man
B3 Children Of The Grave
B4 Paranoid
Outside of missing and partial songs, what we do have is good for the most part. The opening track of “Snowblind” sounds a little slow to me tempo wise but overall is a great rendition. I was happy this one was actually on the record, since it’s been my favorite Sabbath track for quite a while now. There is some volume fluctuation in “Fairies Wear Boots”, but it’s not terrible or unlistenable. By its very nature, “Black Sabbath” sounds sparse during the verses, and lends itself well to hearing the crowd interact with Ozzy. The recording captures the atmosphere pretty well and really gives you a good idea of what it must have been like to be at the show. “Iron Man”, “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid” are all spot on and are a good way to close out the record. I imagine these were also the last songs at the actual show, but I would have to dig out my CD copy and check.
It also has to be mentioned that, as indicated on the front cover of the record, this version of Black Sabbath consists of Ozzy, Geezer and Tony, along with Tommy Clufetos on drums. Tommy is a great drummer, but obviously, things just aren’t the same without Bill Ward. From how Ozzy has made it sound over the years, one of the main reasons he wanted to do a final show like Back To The Beginning was simple to be able to play as a full band again, including Bill. From the pictures that the band has released from rehearsals, Bill looks like he’s doing well, and it’s very exciting that we’ll get to hear them together one last time. That being said, Tommy has always been great filling in for Sabbath, and his work here is excellent.
I would say that overall, I did enjoy listening to this record, but I can’t wrap my head around some of the errors. It seems obvious that the problem is partly a translation issue. Words like Lado (instead of Side) remain, but most everything else has been translated to English. Usually, people tend to keep song titles in whatever language they were originally published in, so it’s hard to believe that this could have caused the misnamed tracks. My guess is that whoever did the jacket was not a Sabbath fan and was just winging it. Mistakes like this always boggle my mind. If you are going to pay the money to produce a nice release like this, and take all the associated risks that come with it, why not get someone to spellcheck? The pressing, audio and packaging are all quite good, so why blow it on something so simple?
Even with its faults, I can still see fans wanting to pick this one up as long as it’s found at a fair price. Mine was very affordable, and most of the copies I’ve seen for sale right now are too. If you can get past the typos and incorrect song titles, this record actually does sound pretty good. I don’t mind the edits between songs since they are well done and intentional, but if you really dislike that sort of thing, it would probably be best to skip this one. There are way better and obviously more complete versions of this show out there, so if you like what you hear, they may be worth tracking down. Still, if you enjoy a good “best of” sort of live album once and a while, and just ignore the track listing, I think this vinyl version can still be enjoyed for what it is.
The pressing itself is a 10/10. The disc is heavy weight, flat and has no defects at all. The audio source is about 7/10. It’s a great audience recording, but I’m not sure why so much of “Sweet Leaf” is cut out. If that’s the best they had for that track, why not just skip it and include something else? As far as the jacket goes, I’ll give it a generous 4/10. The physical quality is good, but it’s absolutely littered with errors that could have been prevented with just a tiny bit of care and effort. In any case, hopefully we will have a new recording out of Birmingham soon! Until then, wish we luck on getting back into the States.