PAST LIVES

PAST LIVES is a post-millenium live album of Sabbath shows recorded at various times in the 70's. It seems that each of the first six Sabbath albums other than SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH (why is that?) is bountifully represented with a few live cuts. Obviously, the production is scratchier than any studio album could provide, but the band proves that they could play well and Ozzy actually sings quite well throughout the album. Unfortunately, I'm not so fond of live albums as most others are (this is me coming from the i-Generation). The only song I find superior here as opposed to a studio album is ''Hole in the Sky''. Still, this is a non-essential live album Sabbath fans should pick up; they're like Rush in the sense that the live performances mostly stick note-for-note in line with the studio version except for the we-never-needed-it-this-long ''Wicked World''.