Black Sabbath
Live At Last


3.5
great

Review

by WarrenZmith USER (1 Reviews)
February 4th, 2007 | 9 replies


Release Date: 1980 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Altogether, this is a goodish album. Certainly not one Sabbath's best but if you like Black Sabbath LIVE a lot you should get it.

For all of you that dont know Black Sabbath, they are a four-piece line up that are one of innovaters of Heavy Metal. for more click on there > Black Sabbath

In March 1973 Black Sabbath performed a few shows, two of which were fully recorded and then compiled into 'Live At Last' and released in 1980. So some songs were still production or demos when recorded such as 'Killing Yourself To Live' and the jam medley twenty minute version of 'Wicked World'. The whole live album, last just under an hour at 57:04 minutes.

The Line-Up, of the recording was the original of:
Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals.
Described as the godfather of Metal, [by Dave Willaims from Drowning Pool] Ozzy's vocals are among the greatest rock vocals ever. and a great showman. But his vocals can also let him down.
Tony Iommi - Guitar.
Tony is possibly the greatest Heavy Metal guitarist, as he always expresses his talent in lots of and lots of different ways.
Geezer Butler - Bass.
Bass player who is very versatile.
Bill Ward - Drums.
Drummer who has a lot of skill and plays a mean symbal bash.

However by the time of release in 1980, the line-up had changed, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. So it is surprising that they accepted the release as you would assume they wouldnt want to be represented by their last vocalist on a new release, instead of their new vocalist.

01 - Tomorrow's Dream [3:04]
The whole album starts with the crowd cheering, then a squark from the guitar. Then the song begins and Ozzy shouts 'Come On!' with much hype and crowd cheering, the song boasts some great musicality, but is let down by some feedback. But a good opener.
3/5.

02 - Sweet Leaf [5:26]
Ozzy introduces the song, he is a little weak on the verse but makes up on the chrous, This track shows off some immence drumming from Bill Ward espicially on the symbols. And mid song shows Tony Iommi's great skill with a guitar with his solo, but is also credit to Bill and Geezer, as they show a great sense of timing in this from Tony's Solo to go back to the rest of the song is pretty sick.
4/5.

03 - Killing Yourself To Live [5:28]
The playing in this track is pretty bog-standard, however shows occasional florishes of greatness, from all the performers. Espicially Tony's Guitar, and Ozzy's Vocals.
3/5.

04 - Curnucopia [3:57]
There is no definate label you can put on this song, the intro is pretty good but then its very good at all with Ozzy's vocals letting it down, but a good performance from the Bass. The next bit is very sluggish until the pace picks up with Tony charging in with his guitar and then Bill comes in with a very good beat then theres and Ozzy sings to it after his vocals it breaks down to just Tony, then Bill comes back in, then it breaks down to the sluggish part. very hard to judge.
3/5.

05 - Snowblind [4:47]
Like Ozzy says this is from the 'Vol.4' album. It starts off in the heavy way but after that the song is some what lighter than the studio recording and seems to be slightly mellow, which puts a different slant on the song, which to be honest doesnt fit in very well.
2/5.

06 - Embryo/Children Of The Grave [4:32]
Even though the song is titled as 'Children Of The Grave' on the CD that Guitar solo at the start is a little guitar-piece that Tony Iommi created himself and named 'Embryo' which people clapped to. The song opens up with its great Drum intro showing that Bill Ward is a great drummer. But thats not all of great performance the Bass, Vocals and Guitar are also on top form.
5/5.

07 - War Pigs [7:38]
The track starts with 'Iommi' playing on his guitar whilst Ozzy speaks the crowd 'If You wanna get up do it, dont just sit there, we're gonna do one from our 'paranoid' album, its called war pigs.' To which the audience cheer loudly and they stamp their feet.
The song has its sixty-second introduction, and then comes the vocals, guitar and bass all together however that part is slightly let down by some unwanted feedback. The next part is fine and sounds damn good with some great drumming. But is let down by some vocals which keep on changing in quality and a few errors with guitaring.
2.5/5.

08 - Wicked World [18:59]
This littly ditty, slips and slides in various different qualities. Medlelying different songs I assume these songs were demos, covers or even unfinished songs all put together to add to their live shows. As it is so different in qualities, I am not going to rate it.
N/A

09 - Paranoid [3:09]
Here we go, the one that made Sabbath what they are today. It is played slightly faster than normal, which actually sounds darn good. Ozzy however lets it down a little as you can tell hes not finishing the lines properly. But still a good performance.
3/5.


user ratings (117)
3.3
great

Comments:Add a Comment 
rogerebert
February 4th 2007


48 Comments


Average.

blekzebbed
February 6th 2007


65 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Hey, nice for your first review! But I stronly recommend to add some more detail to the songs and to make a conclusion. I have this to (actually Past Lives, but disc 1 is the same). I'm still pissed off it didn't contain the poster I was supposed to get, but it had the great Sabbath pick, it plays holy.

and for all readers: Wicked World is a must have. War Pigs is indeed bugged by the background sounds in the first verse, but I still think it's a great performance (4.5)This Message Edited On 02.06.07

comity
August 25th 2008


30 Comments


only bad thing about this album is ozzy saying "we love you" a lot

ranx
July 27th 2010


3 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

UnHoly crap. I used to have this on cassette back in the day. I didn't buy it.. a friend left it in my car after a night out, perhaps on purpose... some friend he was.



I like most of the songs on this album, but the sound quality was atrocious.

And NO.. it wasn't just because I was listening on cassette or bad speakers.

Somehow this album DID make my Jensen 6 by 9's sound like Kracos, though.



Overall, below average...and I'm only being lenient because it's Sabbath.









mark7477
September 13th 2010


414 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

A decent live album but i think killing yourself to live needed a little work before they performed it live those lyrics sound kind of stupid and the arrangements just dont sense to me.

rockandmetaljunkie
August 9th 2011


9658 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Better listen LAL on the internet or download it. Avoid purchase.

TheNotrap
Staff Reviewer
August 9th 2011


19009 Comments


Agreed

13themount
January 16th 2012


173 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

'However by the time of release in 1980, the line-up had changed, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. So it is surprising that they accepted the release as you would assume...'



This was a cash-in released by the former record company.



Don't think it is very good.

MrSirLordGentleman
September 24th 2013


15343 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

The tracklist really sucks...



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