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My Review This Tuesday brings the
release of the Black Sabbath box set "Black Box: The Complete
Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978". What is it? It's a 9 disc
collection (8 audio CD's, one DVD) comprising all the of the songs
the original Black Sabbath released from 1970-1978, which is
considered by a lot of music fans to be some of the most dominating
and creative albums ever released by anyone ever.
I know a lot of people are going "What? Another Box set?" Well,
let's examine that.
A little background. In the United States Black Sabbath's record
label was Warner Brothers from 1970-1987. When CD's started showing
up in the 80's as a commercial product, Sabbath's Warner Brothers
albums were put out on CD (well, most of them - but that's the non
Ozzy stuff, a story for another time). As the format was new, it was
great! Folks loved them. I loved them. There were also some CD
releases by Castle Communications in Europe, with some extra live
tracks on them (which were taken from the Live at Last unofficial
album). In 1996, Castle Communications released their own remasters.
These releases had a few minor problems (a 1 second sound dropout in
the song Fairies Wear Boots is the most notable). These remasters
were "remastered" from an unknown source, and while they were
sonically better than what was out before, I always felt that a
definitive version was to come, from the Warner originals. In 2002
we got a glimpse of that with the 2CD set "Symptom of the Universe".
That was a remaster from the Warner original source. And it never
sounded better. It was tantalizing thinking what a full set of
Black Sabbath albums would sound like completely remastered like
they deserved to be.
What's this have to do with previously released box sets like "The
Ozzy Years" or "The Ten Commandments" or any other number of
releases? Well, none of them were "Official Band sponsored items".
Black Box is the first box set released under the guidance of the
band itself, and wasn't something put together by a record label
person. That's one of the beefs I have with all those "other"
releases - it confuses the average fan into thinking "Sabbath is
just out for the cash, with all these releases", when Sabbath
themselves didn't have anything to do with the vast majority of
these things.
MAKE
NO MISTAKE. Black Box is by far the most definitive version of the
original eight albums Black Sabbath has released. PERIOD.
The albums themselves
have an unbelievable sound quality never heard in these recordings
before. It's not like we have new songs here - these are after all
the same songs released before. But they've never been heard like
this before. I cannot stress how great these discs sound. I've been
listening to Black Sabbath since 1981. I know these songs extremely
well - EXTREMELY well. So much so that the slightest change is
noticeable. Well, the sound range here is far more powerful than
I've ever heard it before. Ever put in an old CD in your player, and
it sounds flat, and a newer one you put in has a really rich,
vibrant range? That's the kind of thing I'm talking about here. In
addition to the songs just sounding more powerful and cleaner,
individual instruments are more noticeable here. There's tons of
places where I've heard drum fills by Bill Ward that I've never
heard before. It's very cool finding new bits in songs you've heard
God knows how many times over the years. Most of the more noticeable
stuff for me is Bill, although there's new things noticeable on the
other instruments, too.
I could go into a specific list of new items here, but there's just
too many of them. Just understand that on Black Box, I've heard
things in these songs I've never noticed before. Coupled with the
fact that it's got a sonic power that I can't recall the songs
having before make this by far the version to get - even if you
already own these albums.
That brings me to another point. The notion that Black Sabbath is
just "out for money" by releasing this set without a ton of extras.
In running my Black Sabbath site at www.black-sabbath.com I see a
lot of feedback on various things, and ever since Black Box was
originally announced ages ago, the #1 thing I think I've heard is
something along the lines of "Where are the rarities? Where are The
Rebel, and Song for Jim? What kind of cheap ass set is this without
the extras?" No, they're not here. In fact, the only "oddity" songs
on this set are "Evil Woman" from the first album, and "Blow on a
Jug" from Sabotage. In fact Blow on a Jug isn't listed anywhere -
it's just tacked on the back end of the Writ. Which it's always been
- BOAJ has never been it's own listed track ever (it wasn't on all
releases of that album). Anyway, if you're looking to buy this based
on the recent trend of other box sets to include rare songs and
things like that, you WILL be disappointed. But if you're interested
in how the songs SOUND, then my god, this is for you.
And that's just the music. There's other stuff here, too. The ninth
disc is a DVD which contains what's known as the "Beat Club
footage", which comprises four songs. The four songs are "Iron Man",
"Paranoid, "Black Sabbath", and the rather loose cover of "Blue
Suede Shoes". This footage (well, not Blue Suede Shows) is also used
on MTV as "videos" and the like, most of this stuff won't be new to
most people, but it's nice to have it here. It does appear to be a
bit cleaner than the VHS release of this stuff that happened some
time ago. Blue Suede Shoes in particular looks a lot better, since
it's not subject to the "blue screen visual effect blurs" the other
three songs have. Might have been nice to have a formal DVD video
release of the Paris 1970 bootleg. Now *THAT* would have been
badass. ;)
The packaging itself is rather Black. I'm reminded of the bit from
Spinal Tap when they were going "How much more black can it be?" :)
I say that because the box itself is Black, and the writing on the
box is also black, so it's not terribly visible when viewed straight
on. When you first take it out of the shrink wrap plastic,
there's a piece of paper on there so folks can see what's on it
without opening it up. That paper is not connected to anything, and
isn't part of the actual box. Inside the box are two smaller boxes,
each containing four CD's. Each of those four CD's are the 8
individual Sabbath studio albums with Ozzy. Each is in it's own
digipak style packaging - it's not jewel case packaging. On the
front and back sides of the individual CD cases are the original
front and back cover art that appeared on the albums as they were
released ages ago. Inside the digpaks are art that I believe
appeared on the original print vinyl sleeves as released originally.
So much so that albums that had lyrics on their original vinyl
sleeves are reproduced here, too (much to small to read without
hurting your eyes). I haven't seen a vinyl print of Sabotage in
ages, and it was funny to see the guys backsides again like that. :)
The CD's themselves have the same kind of "black on black" print
that the exterior of the box has. The logos on the individual
CD's match the lettering used on the original artwork for the
albums, a nice touch - it's not standard lettering across all of
them. Overall, nice packaging of the albums - no complaints
here.
Anyway, the biggest "new" item would be the booklet. It's a 77 page
hardcover booklet, which is covered in black velvet. Let me say
this. When you pick up, don't have your hands dirty. It looks like
it'll pick up dirt pretty easily. It's got a very nice feeling in
your hands. It's got no writing or lettering on the outside, save
for that Sabbath flying angel logo we've seen many times before.
There's a few portions to the book. First is a piece called "Lords
of this World" by Chris Welch. The second is "A Hard Road" by Brian
Ives. Finally there's a "Sabbath Timeline" which has dates for
various events, releases, and whatnot in the history of the band.
There's also lyrics for all eight albums. Finally, some "official"
lyrics. This should put to rest some long standing debates over some
Sab lyrics. The booklet has some nice stories that I haven't heard
before, as well as some photos I've seen before, and a lot I
haven't. There's much goodness in here. Oh, BTW, the bonus DVD is in
a sleeve attached to the inside back cover of the booklet. It was
hard to get out without putting my fingers on the disc itself, which
is something I try never to do. That's my only complaint - the DVD
is hard to get out of the sleeve easily.
That's about it for this set. I have to say, even if you own all
these albums (and who doesn't), it's worth picking up. As I said
before, these albums have never sounded better, both from a sonic
clarity standpoint, to hearing things in the songs I've never heard
before - you cannot go wrong here. This is a wonderful package, both
from the looks to the sounds, to the booklet. Get it. Your ears will
thank you.
I just hope we don't have to wait for "Black Box Part 2: The Non
Ozzy Years". :) |
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