By the time Black Sabbath came to record ‘Sabotage’ they were on the verge of breaking up, with Ozzy only a little way from a complete breakdown. Don Arden had taken over management leading to lawsuits by the dozen and the previous albums had been something less than stellar, Tony Iommi himself saying “We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else which we didn't particularly want to. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really.”
So ‘Sabotage’ was a return to their roots – Iommi again " We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album” and history has shown that Black Sabbath angry are one of the most potent forces on earth. ‘Sabotage’ is still regarded as one of their best ever.
This package is enormous. You get a remastered version of the original album – and a very good remastering job it is too – in a cheap sleeve. Good to listen to but really only a taster for the main contents. CD2 & CD3 cover the US tour of 1975 and CD 4 is the Japanese single of ‘Am I Going Insame & ‘Hole In The Sky’. Add to those a tour book, hardback picture and written scrapbook of the ‘Sabotage’ tours and tour poster.
The main attraction is probably the live material and that is around 100 minutes of well recorded prime Sabbath. Ozzy on good form and Tony Iommi producing those hammer riffs like only he can.
You can never call a package like this good value but for Sabbath completists it is essential and the live material is well worth considering for any committed fan.
