BLACK SABBATH – Live Evil 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

June 13, 2023 Bryce Van Patten Album Reviews, Reviews 2
BLACK SABBATH - Live Evil 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition cover art
  • 8.6/10
    BLACK SABBATH - Live Evil 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition - 8.6/10
8.6/10

Summary

Label: Rhino/Warner Records
Release date: June 2, 2023

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40 years ago Black Sabbath was touring to support their highly successful recent albums Heaven and Hell, and The Mob Rules, when they recorded several concerts to release their first official live album: Live Evil. When the album came out, the band had split as Ronnie James Dio was fired for supposedly “mixing” the album behind Tony Iommi’s back. Though that is in itself a long and debated story, the resulting album had some very good performances, but with a less than desirable mix. Dio’s voice was down in the mix, as was the bass guitar. Even so, fans were excited to finally have a live album from the band, and even with its poor sound quality, it was a fan favorite.

Dio Live

40 years later, and we finally have a remix of the album that addresses the problems of Dio’s voice being buried, and the overall sound quality of the band, thanks to Rhino Records and engineer/producer Andy Pearce. Rhino has released the super boxed set in vinyl and CD format, both chock full of goodies enough to make any Black Sabbath fan drool. Live Evil 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition was remixed from the original analog multi tracks by longtime associate of the band, Wyn Davis. The vinyl packaging includes a 40-page hardback book featuring a newly commissioned 12,000-word essay, a tour poster, the new remix as a double LP, as well as the newly remastered original double album. The CD edition includes the four discs, the poster, and the 60-page hardback book.

Image of the vinyl boxed set of Black Sabbath - Live Evil 40th Anniversary Edition Boxed Set
What you get in the vinyl boxed set.

Final Notes

It’s hard not to recognize the importance of how Ronnie James Dio changed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal when he was in Black Sabbath, and the original mix of this album never did him justice. For the one reason that we finally get a decent mix of this Black Sabbath lineup live is worth the price of the boxed set alone. Add to that all of the bonus goodies, and either vinyl or CD package are actually a bargain. The remastered original mixes on disks one and two could be skipped, since if you A/B the songs of of the remixed disks you won’t want to hear the original. This is an excellent rerelease that every Black Sabbath and Dio fan should have in their collection.

Image of the contents of the boxed-set for Black Sabbath's 40th Anniversary Edition of Live Evil.
What you get in the CD boxed set.

Live Evil Lineup

  • Ronnie James Dio – vocals
  • Tony Iommi – guitar
  • Terry “geezer” Butler – bass
  • Vinnie Appice – drums

Tracklistings

Disc: 1

  1. E5150 (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  2. Neon Knights (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  3. N.I.B. (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  4. Children of the Sea (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  5. Voodoo (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  6. Black Sabbath (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  7. War Pigs (2023 Remaster)
  8. Iron Man (Live) [2023 Remaster]

Disc: 2

  1. The Mob Rules (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  2. Heaven and Hell (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  3. The Sign of the Southern Cross / Heaven and Hell (Continued) [Live] [2023 Remaster]
  4. Paranoid (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  5. Children of the Grave (Live) [2023 Remaster]
  6. Fluff (Live) [2023 Remaster]

Disc: 3

  1. E5150 (Live in Seattle, April 24, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  2. Neon Knights (Live in Seattle, April 24, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  3. N.I.B. (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  4. Children of the Sea (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  5. Voodoo (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  6. Black Sabbath (Live in Dallas, May 12, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  7. War Pigs / Drum Solo (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  8. Iron Man (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]

Disc: 4

  1. The Mob Rules (Live in Seattle, April 24, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  2. Heaven and Hell (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  3. The Sign of the Southern Cross / Heaven and Hell (Continued) [Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982] [20
  4. Paranoid (Live in San Antonio, May 13, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  5. Children of the Grave (Live in Fresno, April 18, 1982) [2023 Remix]
  6. Fluff (Live in Fresno, April 18, 1982) [2023 Remix]

Author

  • Bryce Van Patten

    Bryce is an audio engineer and a graphic designer here at Metal Express Radio. From the day he purchased his first album (Machine Head by Deep Purple), he has had a passion for heavy music, which has influenced his whole life. Bryce is from the great Pacific Northwest in USA, and has played in metal bands like Babylon, Holy Terror, The Wild Dogs, Warhead and Egypt through the 80s. He had his first interview for the Portland, Oregon publication The Rock Rag with guitarist Paul Gilbert in his Racer X days. Then he was honored to get to have drinks, and talk for an hour with the legendary Dan McCafferty of Nazareth for his second interview. In 2013, he spent an amazing hour talking to Andi Deris of Helloween, which was the high point of his heavy metal journalism.   In the year 2001, he formed Man in Black Music Publishing. They released recordings by several local bands, and in the spirit of the old Metal Massacre compilations, he created a 2-album series called The Defenders of Metal. The albums featured classic styled Metal bands from all around the world, with bands from Australia to England, and from Argentina to Russia. Currently, he is the producer/creator/vocalist of the Metal band The Black Tuesdays.

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2 Comments

  1. The tracks on the remix were the same tracks used on the original Live Evil album with a few noticeable tweaks,mainly on guitars.I take it the remixes were the’original’1982 concert recordings before overdubs were added prior to remastering.

    Reply

    • Exactly, John. It’s amazing what the same tracks sound like with a better mix. Ronnie’s vocals are definitely up in the mix from the original. At the time of the original release, there were ego issues that resulted in Ronnie not getting even invited to the mixing sessions, or having a say in the finished product. Iommi and Butler were put off by all of the attention Ronnie was getting in the press, so as I said, egos got literally involved “in the mix”. Thank you for the comment 🙂

      Reply

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