Black Sabbath Reunion is the first officially approved live album of the Ozzy Osbourne Black Sabbath from concerts in Birmingham, England in 1997.
It seems strange to wait so long when their heavy rock rivals from the 70s like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple had such success with their live albums.
Sabbath were very popular when I was at school because they were seen as a local band. They are even more local to where I now live with the band formed in Aston, Birmingham and Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward all born within a few miles of me.
After 18 years since Ozzy left in 1979, this Reunion tour included all four original members with Geoff Nicholls providing keyboards and extra guitar.
I saw Black Sabbath live on their Technical Ecstacy tour in 1976 or 1977 but I wasn’t a big fan then and, despite buying plenty of their albums, I still haven’t made the connection with them except for the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album.
I’ve always been queasy with their devils music image and their heavy, plodding sound compared to the speed of Deep Purple and the contrast of light and heavy with Led Zeppelin.
Songs are often speeded up in concert which I like because it shows the adrenalin is flowing. Don’t worry, Sabbath haven’t done that here. Reunion plods on remorselessly.
