STUNNING 1980 DIO ERA BROADCAST FROM JAPAN
Following Ozzy Osbourne being sacked from Black Sabbath in 1979, after the band’s Never Say Die tour, Ronnie James Dio, formerly of the band Elf, was asked to replace him. Geezer Butler also, temporarily, left the band in September 1979 for personal reasons. The new line-up returned to Criteria Studios in November to begin recording work, with Butler returning to the band in January 1980.
Produced by Martin Birch, Heaven and Hell was released on 25 April 1980, to critical acclaim. The new record peaked at number nine in the United Kingdom and number 28 in the U.S., their highest-charting release since Sabotage. The album eventually sold a million copies in the U.S., and Sabbath embarked on an extensive world tour, making their first live appearance with Dio in Germany on 17 April 1980.
Black Sabbath toured the U.S. throughout 1980 with Blue Öyster Cult on the Black and Blue tour, with a show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, filmed and released theatrically in 1981 as Black and Blue.
On 18 August 1980, after a show in Minneapolis, drummer Bill Ward quit the band. Geezer Butler stated that after Ward's final show, the drummer came in drunk, stating that "he might as well be a Martian". Following his sudden departure, the group hired drummer Vinny Appice.
The band completed the Heaven and Hell world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album, but among the very finest shows on the Black and Blue tour was Sabbath’s performance at the Nakano Sunplaza, in Tokyo, on 18th November ‘80. A truly stunning event which was also recorded for live FM broadcast across Japan, the entire show is now finally released on CD here for the very first time. |
