LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH ODEON

This used to be a tough one to find because they made only 5,000 copies but it's been added as a bonus disc to the recently re-issued "Mob Rules" thankfully. Great to hear some live SABBATH from this era with Dio on vocals.The music here was taken from 3 of the 4 nights they played at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England where they played from December 31st 1981 to January 3rd 1982. This disc is packed to the max with almost 80 minutes of live music. I must admit I prefer Ozzy singing on the tracks he did originally with the band but Dio certainly is my second choice and he's in fine form here on such classics as "N.I.B.", "Black Sabbath", "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Paranoid" and "Children Of The Grave". Vinnie Appice is really fantastic on drums here. He was added part way through the previous "Heaven And Hell" tour when Ward backed out part way through due to the death of his parents and alcoholism. Appice was a welcomed choice for Dio as he was a fellow New Yorker and Italian and they became the best of friends. So when Dio left SABBATH after this tour Appice left with him and they recorded the classic "Holy Diver" together while Ward returned to his old band and Ian Gillan came on board for the album "Born Again".

A far as highlights here there are so many. "Children Of The Sea" is probably my favourite track here and it's my fav off the "Heaven And Hell album as well. It not only kicks ass it moves me as well.The title track from "Heaven And Hell" is incredible too, in fact most of my favourites are from that album and "Mob Rules" probably in part because Dio is the original singer of those tracks. Geezer stands out the best for me on "War Pigs" while Dio almost sounds Ozzy-like on "Iron Man". Anyway the music here looks back at their brilliant past while at the same time looking just as much at the then present with most of the 14 tracks coming from "Heaven And Hell" (3) and "Mob Rules" (5).This album was produced and engineered by Martin Birch.