BLACK SABBATH – Purple Sabbath Definitive Edition

Black Sabbath – Purple Sabbath Definitive Edition (CDR bootleg)
Recorded: November 4, 1983 at The Centrum in Worchester, MA

1. “Captured Live Intro” … 1:12
2. “Black Sabbath Intro” … 2:20
3. Children of the Grave” … 5:05
4. “Hot Line” … 5:01
5. “War Pigs” … 7:30
6. “Iron Man” … 8:59
7. “Zero the Hero” … 7:46
8. “Heaven and Hell” … 8:42
9. Guitar Solo … 8:42
10. “Digital Bitch” … 3:51
11. “Black Sabbath” … 7:52
12. “Smoke on the Water” … 5:18
13. “Paranoid” … 3:51

Band:
Ian Gillan – Vocals
Tony Iommi – Guitar
Geezer Butler – Bass
Bev Bevan – Drums
Geoff Nicholls – Keyboards

With all of the singers Sabbath has had, it’s very interesting to listen to them having to cover each other. In this bootleg of Captured Live radio show featuring a performance in ’83, we not only get to hear then-current singer Ian Gillan sing a few his own killer songs from Born Again (and Deep Purple!), but also the works from Ozzy and Dio. He does a very good job on “War Pigs” especially, I think. I’ll take a live Gillan version of “War Pigs” over the Ozzy studio version any day (yes, my dislike for Ozzy knows no limits).

I even enjoy the lengthy guitar solo. I don’t see how so many rock fans can hate it when solos come up. I often think they’re the most interesting part of live performances. You already know the songs by heart, you don’t want to listen to some different and live that you’ve never heard before? There’s also a fine performance of “Smoke on the Water”, from Gillan’s old band Deep Purple. Apparently, this cover didn’t go over well with the Sabbath fanbase at the time when they would play it at concerts, but I don’t see what the big deal was.

It’s really unfortunate that after this tour Gillan ended up leaving Sabbath to rejoin Deep Purple (even though they would would deliver a great comeback with Perfect Strangers) because this line-up produced some great live performances and one of Sabbath’s best (and heaviest) albums. It would’ve been really interesting to see where they went from here.

Highlights: “Hot Line”, “War Pigs”, “Zero the Hero”, “Heaven and Hell”, Guitar Solo, “Smoke on the Water”, “Paranoid”

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