Black Sabbath - Live Evil (40th Anniversary Edition) (4 CD, 2023) [FLAC]

Black Sabbath made a two-pronged comeback in 1980 and 1981 when Ronnie James Dio joined their ranks as their new lead singer for the platinum albums, Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules. On the 1982 Mob Rules U.S. tour, they decided to record shows to create the first official Black Sabbath live album. With material drawn evenly between songs written with Ronnie as well as older classics such as “War Pigs” and “Iron Man,” when Live Evil was released at the end of 1982, it represented an accurate and powerful memento of Black Sabbath Mk2 on their second world tour.

Black Sabbath - The Ten Year War [8 CD, 2017] [24-96]

 

‘The Ten Year War’ brings together their eight Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath albums, plus many other rarities, all housed within exclusive artwork created by renowned street artist, graphic designer and activist Shepard Fairey.

• Bass – Geezer Butler
• Drums – Bill Ward
• Guitar – Tony Iommi
• Vocals – Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath - Complete Studio Albums 1970-1978 (8 CD, 2014) [24/96]

Disc 1 - Black Sabbath 1970

Disc 2 - Paranoid 1970

Disc 3 - Master of Reality 1971

Disc 4 - Vol. 4 1972

Disc 5 - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 1973

Disc 6 - Sabotage 1975

Disc 7 - Technical Ecstasy 1976

Disc 8 - Never Say Die 1978

Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (1981/2014) [24-192]

 

After a steady decline in both inspiration, mental stability, and commercial appeal throughout the second half of the '70s, metal icons Black Sabbath were reborn with 1980's Heaven and Hell. The album would be their first with new vocalist Ronnie James Dio, whose passionate, controlled wail broke new ground for the band and helped drive a comeback. 

1981's Mob Rules was a quick follow-up to Heaven and Hell, continuing the momentum of that record's energy as well as its shift away from dark metal to more commercial hard rock.

 

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (Deluxe Edition, Remastered) [1980/2022/FLAC]

BLACK SABBATH's Ozzy Osbourne-era undoubtedly changed rock music and expedited the rise of heavy metal with the landmark work they released in the early '70s. That lineup however had been running on empty with their last two albums. 1976's "Technical Ecstasy" and 1978's "Never Say Die" were solid rock albums with a few catchy songs here and there but were not befitting of what they had built with their previous records. Ozzy Osbourne's 1979 firing put an exclamation point on that decline. Ronnie James Dio's vocal energy and lyrical craftsmanship was the exact injection of life that was needed to guide BLACK SABBATH into the 1980's, and Rhino's new Deluxe Edition of "Heaven And Hell" celebrates over forty years of the record's legacy with its new remaster, released with a generous helping of bonus live tracks spotlighting the greatness of that short-but-legendary chapter of the BLACK SABBATH story.

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy (Super Deluxe Edition) [4 CD, 2021/FLAC]

 Black Sabbath embraced change in 1976 when the heavy metal innovators started managing themselves and began exploring different sounds on the band’s seventh studio album, TECHNICAL ECSTASY. The record reached #13 in the U.K. and was certified gold in the U.S.

In the summer of 1976, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward headed to Miami to record TECHNICAL ECSTASY at the famed Criteria Studios. The band was coming off a world tour for their previous album, SABOTAGE, that had found their live performances evolving to include keyboards and synthesizers. These newly incorporated instruments and sounds were then introduced into the recording process on Technical Ecstasy.  The new songs encompassed a wide range of styles from the hard charging “Back Street Kids” and ballad “It’s Alright,” to the funky “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” and progressive “Gypsy.” The album also featured the single “It’s Alright,” which was the first Sabbath song to feature lead vocals by Ward. The Deluxe Edition presents a newly remastered version of the eight-track album, along with an entirely new mix of the album created by Steven Wilson using the original analog tapes.

This new collection includes a newly remastered version of the original, a brand-new mix by Steven Wilson, plus more than 90 minutes of previously unreleased outtakes, alternative mixes and live tracks. 

 

Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll (2 CD, 1976/FLAC)

 We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll is a compilation album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, originally released 1 December 1975 in the UK and 3 February 1976 in the US.

When Black Sabbath signed with NEMS, the label which would release their 1975 album Sabotage in the UK, NEMS acquired the band's back catalogue and wasted little time compiling this release. Authorized without the band's awareness by their previous manager, Patrick Meehan, the band would make no money whatsoever from the release. Although the band had six studio albums to its name at this point, this compilation drew heavily on the first four albums: this would also be a feature of most of the Osbourne-era compilations later released.

The original UK gatefold album, with a matte finish, had centre pages featuring shots of the band but this was omitted on reissues, which came in a glossy-finish sleeve. Additionally, the original record retained Geezer Butler's bass solo before "N.I.B.", but this would be edited from later issues. Some US copies of the LP do not actually include "Wicked World" on the label or on the record itself, though it does appear on the cover. In the UK, "Wicked World" had been only a B-side and was relatively obscure.

Despite the album being an official release, Iommi has been quoted as saying that the first time the band knew of it was when asked to autograph copies which fans presented after concerts.

Geezer Butler - Manipulations of the Mind: The Complete Collection (4 CD, 2021/FLAC)

 Collected together for the first time, ‘Manipulations Of The Mind – The Complete Collection’, assembles the entire solo works of founding Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler across four CDs.

Featuring the albums ‘Plastic Planet’ (1995), ‘Black Science’ (1997), and ‘Ohmwork’ (2005), with a bonus 4th disc of rare and largely unreleased material, ‘Manipulations Of The Mind’ shines the spotlight on a creative force who, as chief master of the heavy metal originators heavyweight bottom-end and the lyrics that gave voice to the monolithic riffs, didn’t rest on his laurels and created three solo albums of forward-thinking new music throughout those years.  

The 4th bonus disc is a treasure trove of unreleased demos, studio outtakes, single edits and three live tracks captured at the Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI, February 1996, alongside the song ‘Beach Skeleton’, only previously heard on the Japanese edition of ‘Black Science’. 

 

Black Sabbath - The Ozzy Years - Complete Albums Box Set (10 CD, 2010/FLAC)

 

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward – four names that resonate throughout Rock’s recorded history as clear and sublime as the haunting bell that tolls the opening to their eponymous debut album from 1970.

Collectively, they formed Black Sabbath and forged the most haunting and hypnotic rock sound of all time. From humble beginnings, the Birmingham quartet enslaved the minds and souls of millions of rock fans around the world and continue to do so into the new millennium. The musical genre they created inspired countless musicians and spawned countless bands. Hailed as Metal’s originators, their musical contributions to the world are still formidable and current forty years later. Their unique sound still echoes in many of today’s greatest Metal bands. Black Sabbath, established now in the forever of Metal’s ongoing musical progression, beckon and await you to enjoy their triumphs within.

This deluxe box set contains all the Ozzy era Black Sabbath albums housed in a Black Cross, the box also contains a 100 page exclusive Illustrated discography featuring rare covers from throughout the world.

Black Sabbath 1970

Paranoid 1970

Master Of Reality 1971

Volume 4 1972

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 1973

Sabotage 1975

We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'N' Roll 2CD 1975

Technical Ecstasy 1976

Never Say Die! 1978

Black Sabbath: Radio Documentary 2010

Master Of Reality: Radio Documentary 2010

Paranoid: Radio Documentary 2010

Black Sabbath - Vol.4 (4 CD Super deluxe, 2021/FLAC)

 

Black Sabbath unleashed the group’s fourth album in two years in 1972 with Vol 4. Stacked with classic tracks like “Supernaut,” “Changes,” and “Snowblind,” the record harnessed the group’s surging popularity to reach the Top 10 on the Albums Chart in the U.K. and the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., on its path to being certified platinum by the RIAA.

Bolstered by a fresh remastering, Vol 4’s ambitious arrangements and complex grooves have never sounded more inspired and menacing. Originally released in September 1972, the album marked two major changes for the members of Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. While their previous albums – Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality – were produced by Rodger Bain and recorded in England, they instead chose to produce Vol 4 themselves and record it at the Record Plant in Los Angeles

Ozzy Osbourne, vocals
Tony Iommi, guitars, piano, mellotron
Geezer Butler, bass, mellotron
Bill Ward, drums, percussion

Glenn Hughes - Justified Man - The Studio Albums 1995-2003 (6 CD, 2020/FLAC)

 

Glenn Hughes, “The Voice Of Rock”, first came to prominence in Trapeze, a band featuring future Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley, and future Judas Priest drummer, Dave Holland. Following their third album, “You Are The Music, We’re Just The Band”, Glenn joined Deep Purple in 1973 for their “Burn”, “Stormbringer” and “Come Taste The Band” albums. Deep Purple split in 1976, with its members following various solo and side-projects. The first fruits of Glenn’s post Purple career appeared with “Play Me Out” (also available on Purple Records), issued in July 1977. Glenn would go on to collaborate with Pat Thrall in Hughes-Thrall, Joe Lynn Turner in the Hughes-Turner Project, with Tony Iommi in Black Sabbath, plus pursue a prolific solo career through the 1990s and beyond.

Black Sabbath- Paranoid (4 CD Super Deluxe Edition, 2016/FLAC)

 

This new edition uses the 2012 remaster of the 1970 album and includes the 1974 quad mix of Paranoid. Bizarrely, the quad mix isn’t on a DVD (or blu-ray) but on CD. Since CDs cannot deliver audio in a surround sound format, this rare quad mix is ‘folded down’ to stereo. It will still sound different to the master version, but the whole point of quad mixes was to deliver a surround sound experience via four channels – something this CD won’t do. Truly perverse. The other two CDs contain two concerts from 1970, from Montreux (recorded shortly before the album was issued) and Brussels (recorded during the band’s television performance for public broadcaster RTBF). The latter has been widely bootlegged, but for this set, the entire show has been sourced directly from the RTBF master tapes for optimum quality.

Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (40th anniversary, 2 CD, 2021) [FLAC]

 

Mob Rules is the tenth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1981. It followed 1980's Heaven and Hell, it was the second album to feature lead singer Ronnie James Dio and the first with drummer Vinny Appice. Neither musician would appear on a Black Sabbath studio album again until the 1992 album Dehumanizer.

•     Ronnie James Dio – vocals
•     Tony Iommi – guitars
•     Geezer Butler – bass
•     Vinny Appice – drums

Additional performer

•     Geoff Nicholls – keyboards

Black Sabbath - The Rules of Hell [5 CD, 2008]

Deluxe 5-CD slipcase boxed set collects Black Sabbath's complete Dio-fronted catalog: Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil (2 CDs), and Dehumanizer. Each title was recently remastered for the first time ever and features extensive liner notes including new band interviews. Heaven And Hell (1980) is regarded as one of Sabbath's all-time best with its anthem tracks 'Neon Knights', 'Die Young' and the epic title track. Mob Rule's ('81) was the first Sabbath LP to feature Appice on drums (replacing Bill Ward), delivering high octane classics like 'Falling Off The Edge Of The World', 'Turn Up The Night' and 'The Sign Of The Southern Cross'. Live Evil, the group's 1982 double-live set, is an in-concert masterpiece and a testament to the raw power of Sabbath's Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice lineup on fourteen epic tracks. Dehumanizer ('92).

VA - The Many Faces Of Black Sabbath [3 CD, 2014] [FLAC]

 

Black Sabbath is - along with Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple - the most important British hard rock band of all time. With its dark, mystical and obsessive sound, Black Sabbath built a unique brand that has influenced countless groups since its inception in the late 60s until today. As usual, in our series The Many Faces, we will take you into the fantastic and great world of Black Sabbath. We will revisit forgotten collaborations, its best songs and the artists (and even music styles) that the band have influenced.