Some time ago, a reader hepped me to the existence of a Black Sabbath bootleg DVD, Live in Paris 1970. The date was December 20, the venue was the Olympia Theater, and the footage was broadcast on British TV in two parts. People have ripped this footage to YouTube. These rips vary in quality, coming from VHS and DVD. “burtonbcell1″ graciously ripped the DVD in HD. This is the best rip I’ve seen of the footage. I present it below in its entirety, with commentary. This is hands down one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I wasn’t even there. Black Sabbath as a hungry, young band – it doesn’t get much better than this.
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00. Intro
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In two parts. First, the band goofs off before the show. Then it sets up its gear. If the video had been shot today, it would have been edited much more actively. Instead, we get unadorned shots and few cuts. It is refreshing to see Black Sabbath presented so plainly.
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01. Paranoid
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“Thank you, good evening, we’re Black Sabbath, thank you!”
A basic rule for up-and-coming bands: tell the crowd the name of your band. This is important, especially in 1970, when there is no Internet to find out who blew your socks off last night. You remember some details, though. The guitarist was left-handed. Some geezer punished the hell out of his P-Bass. Those two wore crosses around their necks. The singer was a babyfaced wildman. And the whole band really went for it. Come payday, you’ll wander down to the record store to look for their new LP, Paranoid.
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02. Hand of Doom
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This song is all Geezer, except for Bill Ward’s funky-as-a-Cypress-Hill-sample entrance, and at 3:45, when the two start chopping with ruthless precision. Ozzy’s having trouble hitting the high notes. Why does he look away from the microphone between lines? Maybe he’s as enthralled by Geezer as we are. Ozzy may be babyfaced, but his skin is awful. Ward’s shirt leaves me literally starry-eyed. This is the closest most of us will ever get to Sabbath.
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03. Rat Salad
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Straight into “Rat Salad”, just like on Paranoid. Bill Ward: holy shit! His fills could shoot down planes. You can see the homemade thimbles on Tony Iommi’s right hand. I imagine that would be like playing with bandages permanently welded on. Condoms for the fingertips, loss of all feeling. Yet Iommi wrote the metal playbook with those. We are truly not worthy.
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04. Iron Man
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That’s one way, I guess, of playing “Iron Man” – lead the crowd in a daft clap-along at its start. Did they know what they were getting into? When Iommi’s bend of doom tolled, did they think, “Wait, this isn’t a happy song”? When Ward and Butler kicked the door down, did they think, “This is one of the most amazing rhythm sections ever”? Some great camera work is going on.
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05. Black Sabbath
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You haven’t heard “Black Sabbath” until you’ve heard it like this. Tony Iommi sketches out a classical-flavored intro, which sets the table for BAM! A power chord, in every sense of the term, and a great beast lumbering into motion. The band really puts its back into this one. Ozzy delivers a rousing performance and a hell of a freakout. Stay ’til the end for a little backstage footage.
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06. N.I.B.
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I love it when bands reach a point live where they feel invincible. They know it, the crowd knows it, and the show narrows in scope like tunnel vision. Ancillary things – cognizance of crowd members, concern over technical details – fall away. The show becomes light, heat, and sound. Every band worth its salt has its own stories about such experiences. Maybe Ozzy, post-years of, well, being Ozzy, remembers that in 1970, his band played Paris, and that during “N.I.B.”, the whole room lost its mind. From 2:36 to 2:46 are ten of the most magical seconds ever committed to videotape. Ozzy whips his hair around, Ward rat-a-tat-tats with verve, and the bass drum vibrates the truth: SABBATH, SABBATH, SABBATH.
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07. Behind the Wall of Sleep
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Black Sabbath may be the funkiest band of white boys ever. Check out that drum break at 3:40! This live version of “Behind the Wall of Sleep” is more driving and aggressive than its recorded version. Maybe it’s how this show is EQ’ed, but Ward and Butler have been carrying the day here, so much so that when Iommi solos, the weight doesn’t let up. With a rhythm section like that, who needs a second guitar?
Also note how the crowd is not a codified hessian horde, but a bunch of perfectly normal-looking Parisians.
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08. War Pigs
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Stupendous. The doom is doomier, the rock is more rocking, and a song zooms from overplay back into a thrilling, throbbing present. Watch Bill Ward’s eyes. He is so in the present. He’s looking at Iommi for cues, because guess what? The band has no monitors. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, recorded or otherwise, and the band has no monitors. The Parisians go nuts. I agree.
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09. Fairies Wear Boots
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The idea of sitting down to watch Black Sabbath destroy – it’s ludicrous. But that’s what you’re doing right now. We have the best seats in the house. We’re next to Tony Iommi’s headstock, practically tickled by his uncut strings. We’re looking up at Bill Ward’s right hand as it’s chopping down trees. We’re mere feet in front of Geezer Butler laying down the law. And we’re within spitting distance of Ozzy. No jokes are in sight. He is just another up-and-coming singer, and this is just another show for his band.
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This is awesome! Unfortunately I’m at work at the moment and I can’t spend the rest of my afternoon watching and re-watching this, but I can’t wait to get my teeth sunk in! The way it’s written up, it seems like a really inspirational performance.
Oh my god, this is incredible stuff. I’ve been after this bootleg for so many time…BS are one of my fav bands ever since I was a kid, watching them in this concert is an amazing document.
lml
Well damn, there goes my Monday morning. Brilliant, thanks for posting this all together.
This power cannot be overstated. The War pigs footage of Bill Ward is the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.
Kinda makes every other band seem pointless. Might as well end the blog with this one.
that “hand of doom” version and quality is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!! great stuff.
Awesome! I have an old vhs copy of this somewhere; glad to see it in high quality. Love it when Bill is nailing down his drums!
Outstanding. This performance destroys anything I’ve ever seen from Led Zep or other bands of the era who still manage to get the bulk of the hype and press. It’s amusing what kids and the hipster press consider a “good” performance when compared and contrasted with this masterpiece.
Okay, I’ve only had time to watch Black Sabbath so far, but I’m definitely watching the rest when I get home tonight. Holy shit, this is profound.
My mom always said that back in the day, all the hippy kids were into Sabbath (especially Paranoid), until they got a whiff of the hole Satan thing…which was probably made up by the press, or Rolling Stone. Up until then, Sab was in the same class as Cream or Tull or Zep. Paranoid was definitely their money shot.
David
Holy Crap! One of my fave videos of all time. I’ve watched just about every one I’ve found on YouBoob–Black Sabbath at its swinging-est. The quality is shit, but it don’t matter. Hail Sabb!
man that’s the sickest…i always find that live stuff from this era lets you hear the true power and genius of bill ward; it’s there on the first 6 albums, but it seems to come out way better live. thanks for putting this up cosmo.
Perhaps not Paris in December, but Brussels in October: http://www.black-sabbath.com/tourdates/1971/index.html
Love how Bill Ward (or his roadie) NAILS his drum kit to the stage, by the way.
That moment you described in N.I.B. where “the show becomes light, heat, and sound,” basically describes the entirety of a Neurosis show.
Assuming the 12/20/70 date is true (there is at least one claim out there that it’s not), this performance was the musical accompaniment to my entrance into the world. As a metal fan, that’s a pretty cool coincidence.
Anyway…
Ozzy has so many little performance quirks in this; all these glances back at Tony, etc.
Interesting that they often headbang to the quarter notes in “Iron Man” instead of the half notes of the harmonic motion.
Iommi was married at this point?
At the end of Iron Man, there’s a good shot of the crowd (when Ozzy takes a drink). I’d love to know more about their motivations for attending the show. How much did they know about Black Sabbath beforehand? They seem pretty “respectable” in appearance. Were they intending to see Black Sabbath or was this just a theatre they frequented regardless of what was playing? (Probably not). Were they into other “heavy rock” bands? Which ones?
The fluidity of “heavy” at this point is really fascinating to me. We can’t take anything for granted when we look back from the vantage point of 40 years of heavy metal history. The history is too complex for any sort of straight shot from Black Sabbath up to Protest the Hero or Opeth. Just because we *like to* draw a line backward from Opeth (for example) to Black Sabbath does not mean that whatever went the other way is obvious and simple. It’s the Grand Funk Railroad problem: no one traces any current metal band or style back to Grand Funk Railroad, but they appear throughout the early stories about heavy metal as part of the heavy milieu of the time (along with Led Zeppelin, etc). I’m not arguing for GFR as some long-neglected founder of metal, just that they used to be part of the history of “heavy metal” but no longer are. It was a crazy, post-Counterculture time that’s just begging for more research.
I remember a conversation I had with somebody who was excited to go see the Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels tour. I didn’t understand, because at that point the band was long past whatever made them vital. The phrase that came up was “going to see the statue, instead of the reason the statue was built.”
This is the stone motherfucking absolute reason the statue was built.
One more thing: Ozzy slips into the old “Walpurgis” lyrics for the last verse of “War Pigs”. I wonder if that was intentional.
This made my fucking day. Bill Ward is a monster, on par with Bohnham in these videos. I get the same feeling when I see some of the live video of Bohnham early in, the dude is juts an animal, a force of nature to be reckoned with. You FEEL ever hit and that kick drum just resonates.
Seriously amazing stuff.
Wow,
this is way better copy than the one I ripped from soulseek. I have looked all over for a dvd copy of this. They should have put this in the box set instead of that worthless dvd they included. This shows why Black Sabbath is the Alpha and Omega of all heavy music.
Fucking epic. Just watched Paranoid – that song is heavy by today’s standards; in 1970 those riffs must have been considered out of this world. Thanks for posting.
THANK YOU for posting this! One of the greatest bands of all times, they set down the gauntlet, so to speak. Created the blueprint, but have never been matched….
Thank you Cosmo.
This just puts everything in perspective. While Black Sabbath may not have invented heavy metal, they were surely the first to take all of the elements, musically, lyrically, sonically and visually, and put them all into a single package. I have done a lot of digging around in heavy music from 1970 this year. It has been a personal journey for me since I just celebrated my own fortieth birthday. There is a lot of great heavy music from that time, but I definitely think Black Sabbath deserve the title of first heavy metal band. Sure there were a number of bands playing some real heavy music, proto-metal even. A lot of whom, are cited as influences to this day, but none so much as Black Sabbath. For my own pleasure I put together a compilation of my favorite songs from albums I feel best represent the birth of heavy in 1970. All of the songs come from albums released in 1970. Yes, I know there was heavy stuff before 1970…but because of what it means to me, I focused solely on that year. I’ll gladly share it with anyone interested. You can download here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YTEDIYE7
It starts and ends with Black Sabbath whose first two albums came out in 1970.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Let me know if I missed any other heavy albums from 1970. I’m always looking to hear/learn more.
Thanks Cosmo! And particularly relevant for me as I just finished re-reading Rat Salad by Paul Wilkinson which is essential reading for all Sabbath fans:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=rat+salad&x=0&y=0&sprefix=rat+salad
And if you’re wondering about those square looking Parisians, there’s a great heavy rock/proto metal comp out there called ‘Tetes Lourdes -Francais Métal de Proto: le super rock serie 1970′ – Aesop (natch) has got your back on this one:
http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2009/10/les-heavy-heads.html
@Jacob – Please don’t mention Neurosis and Sabbath in the same breath, sentence, paragraph or context ever again.
THANX.A.LOT for posting this one collected.
Definitive, this is the best gig BS ever did, the essence of the band is here, BUtler, Ward, Iommi and Osbourne what else can we ask for?
And thanx to invisibleoranges for keeping it real by posting the author in youtube burtonbcell1…
I kinda like it when Ozzy’s voice cracks. I’m weird like that
Funky Black Sabbath? Just throw on “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” from Technical Ecstasy. Nasty.
@ Mike H, for 1970 heavy you’re missing Clear Blue Sky and Dragonfly’s self-titled releases from that year plus check out Iron Claw–I’m pretty sure they recorded some demos in ‘70; may be ‘71, but they’re quite good and “heavy.” And IMO, some of Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s live shows in that year could blow most other bands off stage; Cowgirl in the Sand FTW.
Thanks for posting this, Cosmo! A very nice Christmas Gift by the way since Black Sabbath was the first metal band I liked (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, when I was five)…
thank you so much for this. classic at the end, when they are walking in the basement backstage area Ozzy days, “whattya wanna do now?”
No problem, guys! I envy those of you who were actually around to enjoy Sabbath at that time.
burningdervish – You must be the world’s biggest McCoy Tyner fan. Very cool!
That was soooo sick. Thanks for posting that. Bill Ward absolutely destroyed that set! I’ve seen Sabbath a few times live in the last 15 years or so and it awesome to see them back in their prime (not that I didn’t love every minute of seeing them live).Ozzy was freaking out compared to his stand around and clap thing that he does now. Amazing!
Man, you just made my friday night after a shitty week at work…cheers!
They all got taken down, NO!