Midweek Megalomania

Welcome to Wednesday and a classic 40-year anniversary special to blow up your box.

Every so often I like to put a definitive member of the "100 greatest bootlegs ever" list up here, and today is the right day for that. 

This was recorded 40 years ago tonight, at the famous Asbury Park Convention Center where a million brilliant live records were taped, such as King Crimson's USA live album from 1974.

It documents a tour I have featured here before: the Sabotage excursion, aka the 1975 Black Sabbath rampage across America. Whereas before it was just a couple of tunes from Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, today we have a complete hour-and-a-half-plus set from the Heavy Metal progenitors.

Why this was taped no one knows. It wasn't recorded for radio broadcast, but spectral analysis shows it to be from the mixing desk, possibly even a multitrack recording. Perhaps it was captured for a live record that never happened? We'll never know but it don't matter cuz it's a beast any way you slice it.

Remastered by audio boffin of legend "thir13en" for maximum metal motivation, this one oughta get your Hump Day humpin' real good, I'd say. Watch out for the completely sick version of Megalomania that closes out the first half of this epic concert.

Black Sabbath
Convention Hall
Asbury Park, New Jersey
8.5.1975
'thir13en' remaster

01 Supertzar/Killing Yourself to Live   
02 Hole In the Sky   
03 Snowblind   
04 Symptom of the Universe   
05 War Pigs   
06 tuning
07 Megalomania   
08 Sabbra Cadabra/Jams

09 Supernaut 
10 Iron Man 
11 Orchid/Rock and Roll Doctor/Don't Start (Too Late)   
12 Black Sabbath   
13 Spiral Architect   
14 Embryo/Children of the Grave   
15 Paranoid   

Total time: 1:40:11
disc break can go after track 07

Tony Iommi - guitar
Geezer Butler - bass
Ozzy Osbourne - vocals
Bill Ward - drums

Gerald "Jezz" Woodroffe - keyboards
 

soundboard recording, remastered by thir13en

719 MB FLAC/August 2015 archive link

This is probably the thing I most put on when I wanna hear these guys... it's quite definitive, really. As thir13en says in his notes, as heavy as their records are there is no indication of the power of Sabbath in their studio LPs that approaches them live, especially the original four. This show may be 40 years old, but I'm sure you'll agree that it hasn't lost a step!--J.