Customer Reviews:
Just my 2 cents worth.......2006-10-25
I was at the Hammersmith Odeon at this gig in the second row of the circle (in the middle) and my memory of it was that Black Sabbath were tired, bloated and blown off stage by Van Halen who were the support band for that tour. I remember that Van Halen did 2 encores and Sabbath only did 1, proof, if we needed it, that their time was up. Don't get me wrong, I love old Sabbath stuff but this tour was far from their best.
NEVER SAY DIE!.......2006-08-10
I must disagree with my friend KoKy, who - by the way - reviewed DVD I bought. :)
I understand him in a way - we all want perfect sound. BUT...
I believe most of you will agree with me that quality of sound/picture/menu/sleeves is - after all - still the FORM. And what is more (and the most) important is - after all - the CONTENTS.
So let's start from the contents of this DVD.
This video was originally released as VHS, some quarter of a century ago. :) It features Sabbath's concert filmed professionally at legendary venue Hammersmith Odeon in London, on June 19, 1978. Unfortunatelly, this video does not contain complete concert, but it still has most of it, with all the most important songs. (A few songs which are missing were probably not recorded at all.) The concert was part of the "World tour 1978", the last Sabbath tour with Ozzy.
And now for the most important issue of all - Black Sabbath are fuckin' BRILLIANT at this concert! Ozzy is great, Geezer is great. Tony is... well, Tony. And Bill Ward - like reviewer ncassar said - "just blows you away"!!
My favourite part is the begining of the show - "Supertzar" intro with the first song "Symptom of the Universe", which fitted together perfectly. But the whole concert is awesome, I can't describe it with words - you have to see it for yourself.
Now, the sound quality is not so great - although not so disastrous as KoKy wrote. But here is the main difference between his and mine way of looking at the things. He wrote: "What's the point ... when the sound is terrible?" And I say: for the good sound, you have albums (CDs), and the POINT of this DVD is not the sound, but the picture. This DVD is important because we can SEE Sabbath live on stage. Great sound quality would be more than welcome, sure - but here, sound is less important than the video. (Video quality is not perfect, but still quite good.)
So... the concert, Sabbath performance itself - gets 5 stars, no doubt about that. But I will took one star away for the bad sound quality. Furthermore, I will took another star away because the sleeve and menu of this DVD are so incredibly cheap, and without any extra stuff, and without almost any information about the show!
So... that leaves us with 3 stars for this DVD. But now I will ADD one star for the fact that THIS IS THE ONLY OFFICIAL SABBATH LIVE DVD (for the 1970's era)!
With more good will from producers/publishers of this DVD, I believe this COULD be much better edition. This band... this show... deserves better. With that in mind:
4 stars ... highly recomended.
"WE LOVE YOU ALL!!"
Great picture and performance, but awful sound.......2006-01-31
I'm very merciless when writting review of any music-featuring DVD that doesn't serve its primarily purpose well - THE SOUND.
What's the point in fact that this is one of rare official DVDs that feature full concert performance of Black Sabbath, that the setlist is impressive or that the picture quality is pretty good (although including some camera-artifacts and flashing), when the sound is terrible?
It is as some guy in the crowd was recording simply using only a microphone, connected to a pocket casette-recorder.
Even with most primitive knowing of audio editing tecniques, like equilising, producers of this DVD could've enhanced the sound immensely. But, no! Just put it quickest way you can in one black plastic box, and launch it on the market, counting on all those deluded Black Sabbath fans!
Two songs of this DVD (Symptom of the universe, Snow blind) are featured on "Black Sabbath: Story 1" DVD, where they have surpassingly better sound - not just volume. Which is a proof that you can do it, if you want - and if you respect your customers. This should've been a professionaly done DVD, and it even doesn't demonstrate a good intention to make things work, which sets it below any bootleg DVD. I could bear the fact that this concert was not pro-recorded back in 1978, but c'mon... this is clearly producer's flaw, since these 2 songs sound pretty well on the Story DVD.
I don't recommend this DVD at all. It sets me down as a customer, and as Black Sabbath fan.
Not a bad show... Not bad at all.......2005-11-25
Never Say Die - a great gig if ever there was one. The show itself covers favourites from Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol 4 etc. It is one of the few or only DVDs you can get with a full Black Sab show with Ozzy. Although it might be said that Ozzy struggles a bit to hit those high notes but that pales in comparisson to the overall energy of the show. Geezer slams on his bass like it had called him a rude name. Bill smacks the living proverbial out of his drums one minute then shows us what an excellent percussionist he is the next. Tony leaves us all for dead with his massive riffing, twiddly widdling and finally grabs our hand as he flys us into a jazz odyssey (dont let that put you off). Ozzy harasses the audience with his famous "come on!" shout and screams out the lyrics right from the heart. Now what more could you possibly want in a DVD, I ask ya? Well a few extras would have been nice, oh well.
This comes highly recommended from me, someone you've never met (so you know its worth your money).
Customer Reviews:
Never Say Die (DVD/VHS).......2003-12-23
Never Say Die was recorded live in 1978, the last year of Black Sabbath's original line-up (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler & Bill Ward). If you have any knowledge on Sabbath's career at this particular point in time you would know Iommi has demanded centre stage for this last tour, so Ozzy's performance is restricted to the side of the stage, and therefore pretty disappointing. It is painfully obvious to see the tiredness not just Ozzy (soon to be fired), but all the others are under too. The performances are good (I mean, it's Black Sabbath, afterall) but not brilliant, probably due to the sound levels and Ozzy's voice not being anywhere as good as it usually is, which was really disappointing for me. If you're a Sab fan, you'll buy it regardless of any review (just as I did). It's good to see the how the band performed towards the end of the original four-piece.It's nowhere near as good as the Sabbath Story : Volume One (which infact features two excerpts of the same Never Say Die concert), but I would still strongly recommend it to any Sabbath fan, because we can all take the bands problems at the time into consideration. Theres some worthwhile performances on here, plus rare concert songs such as Dirty Women, Rock & Roll Doctor and Never Say Die, as well as the classics (War Pigs, Paranoid, Children Of The Grave, Snowblind, Symptom Of The Universe, Electric Funeral & Black Sabbath). There aren't any extras on the disc, but my guess is you're not contemplating buying it for those anyway. It's worthwhile for any Sabbath fan to have it in your collection.
A MUST HAVE.......2003-03-21
This is the only sabbath live dvd.You can see them at thier best.Bill Ward just blows you away.In this live DVD you can see the last days of sabbath.Its just a pitty that this is the real end of BLACK SABBATH.
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