Thursday 29 April 2010

Review - Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (Deluxe Edition)

Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (Deluxe Edition)

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8 out of 10

Everyone raves about Heaven and Hell (the album), not least Heaven and Hell (the band). The recent 'deluxification' of that classic was something of a disappointment - something that has, thankfully, been rectified with this release. Mob Rules was a nigh-on perfect melding of Sabbath's original proto-metal sounds with Ronnie James Dio's elvish lyrics and RAWK vocals, which suffered from a rather feeble final mix (certainly on CD). This reissue makes good on that. We're back to one of those albums for which no stereo is loud enough - one of the signs of greatness, in my opinion.

Disc two's live recording, while an interesting document of the band at the time, suffers in a similar way to the recent reissue of Live Evil. Dio never seems fully comfortable with the old classics and falls back on his rock-frontman ad-libs too often for my liking. He does make a good go at an English accent, though, saying 'ta' in-between a few numbers and gets a good sing-along going towards the end. No, it's disc one you'll be wanting, so go on - make the sign.

Listen: www.heavenandhelllive.com

Tracklist:
Disc One

1. Turn Up The Night
2. Voodoo
3. The Sign of the Southern Cross
4. E5150
5. The Mob Rules
6. Country Girl
7. Slipping Away
8. Falling Off The Edge of the World
9. Over & Over
10. Die Young (live)
11. The Mob Rules (alternative version)

Disc Two (Live at Hammersmith Odeon)

1. E5150
2. Neon Knights
3. N.I.B.
4. Children of the Sea
5. Country Girl
6. Black Sabbath
7. War Pigs
8. Slipping Away
9. Iron Man
10. The Mob Rules
11. Heaven & Hell
12. Paranoid
13. Children of the Grave

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