Live at Last (Black Sabbath Album)

Live At Last (Black Sabbath album)

Live at Last is a live album by Black Sabbath. Despite its wide distribution, it was released without any permission or knowledge from the band, and is thus considered "unofficial" in some quarters; however, the release was legal. In the US it was available only as an import. The album was included when the Sabbath albums were issued on CD in Europe by Castle Communications in 1986 and again in remastered and repackaged form in the label's 1996 Remaster series. The most recent re-release was in 2010, by Universal Records in Europe.

The vinyl version and the first CD issue feature the spoken intro of, 'Will you welcome... BLACK SABBATH!' which, oddly, would be edited from the remaster and Past Lives. It should also be noted that the remaster was not a remix and there is no apparent audio difference between that and the original issues.

The album was made from a 1973 concert the band intended to use for a live album. The band was unhappy with the results and shelved the project indefinitely. Later on, in 1980, former band manager Patrick Meehan arranged the release on the NEMS label without the band's consent.

The band eventually came to acknowledge the recording, and released the whole album as part of the two disc live compilation "Past Lives" in 2002. "Past Lives" itself was re-released again in 2010 in a "Deluxe Edition". Live at Last was also released in 2010 as a "Remaster", but what (if anything) has changed on the 2010 recordings is unknown.

The recording is still noted for its early pre-album version of "Killing Yourself to Live", and the long "Wicked World" medley jam. Live at Last was also significant in that its initial release in 1980 prompted Black Sabbath to finally record their first official live album, 1982's Live Evil with Ronnie James Dio.

According to the liner notes from the "Past Lives" CD, the tracks on this album were recorded from a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London, England on the 16th of March 1973.