Background
The sleeve states that Live Evil was recorded in Seattle, San Antonio and Dallas, but doesn't give the venues or recording dates for the individual songs. (Black Sabbath played Seattle on 23–24 April 1982, Dallas on 12 May, and San Antonio on 13 May 1982.) To further confuse matters, during a radio broadcast of his band Dio, recorded live in 1983 in Fresno, CA, Ronnie James Dio says, "Just in case you didn't know, the album Live Evil that we did with Black Sabbath here last time was recorded at Fresno.' It is not unreasonable to assume that many of the shows were recorded with a view to the live album (see the aforementioned Live at Hammersmith Odeon) but whether any of the tracks recorded at Fresno, where Sabbath played 18 April 1982, made the final cut is unknown at present.
Already having tense relations with the other band members, Dio and Appice abruptly left the group sometime in October 1982, during the mixing of the album, amidst rumors that they had sneaked into the studio late at night to mix the drums and vocals higher. All parties have since denied that this occurred and laid the blame on the engineer, who was 'telling tales'. In what Dio has called retaliation for his and Appice's departure from the group, on the back of the album, Dio is listed as "Ronnie Dio" instead of his stage-name of "Ronnie James Dio," and Appice is listed as a special guest rather than a member of the band. Production credits were ultimately for Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler and whilst the band sound well-mixed, the crowd is all but inaudible. It is interesting that when the "Neon Knights" single was released in 1980, it was Iommi and Dio who had produced the live version of "Children Of the Sea" which was the B-side.
One of the most popular tracks on the album is a near 20-minute long medley that includes "Heaven and Hell" (with its extended breakdown section and additional lyrics), "The Sign of the Southern Cross", a guitar solo, and finishing off the ending of "Heaven and Hell".
The 5th track, "Voodoo" features an ad libitum part from Dio, enhancing the song with additional lyrics not to be found on the studio version.
Another favourite is an extended "War Pigs" which featured a drum solo from Appice whose playing more closely resembled John Bonham than original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's jazzier style.
Early in the "Heaven and Hell" medley Dio tells the audience "Not only are we filming this one...", but the footage have yet to become commercially available. The show in Dallas was filmed and some footage can be found on YouTube. This material is different from the footage on the Black & Blue video, laserdisc and ultimately the DVD pulled before general release, which was recorded on the Heaven and Hell tour on 17 October 1980.
Live Evil peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
The album is included in the Black Sabbath box set The Rules of Hell.
Read more about this topic: Live Evil (Black Sabbath album)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)