Heaven and Hell- Live at Radio City Music Hall
(SPV 98102 DVD)
From Aural Innovations #38 (Jan 2008)
I guess everyone who reads this knows that this is the reunion of the Black Sabbath Line up with Ronnie James Dio.. What is unique is that they only play DIO era Sabbath songs and a damn cool selection of tracks as well and amazing sound as well. Interestingly, I think the 5.1 DVD has a far superior sound to the normal 2CD version. It was filmed live in NYC and is really well shot but it still annoys me that when Tony does a guitar solo that they bugger off to show the drummer and DIO, keep the fucking camera on the master for the whole solo.. none of this quick MTV editing shit… It is not that bad but it could be better. DIO is the master as well and sound amazing for 63 years old, I believe. Killer versions of a lot of the songs and a long stretched out version of Heaven and Hell. The Dehumanizer material sounds excellent as does the two new songs.. The Sign of the Southern Cross is my favourite and nice to see it not squished in the middle of Heaven and Hell like they did on the 1982 tour. Anyway, a lot of classics like Mob Rules, Falling off the Edge of the World, Die Young including the long guitar solo intro, Neon Knights, Voodoo and many others... A great DVD, one of the best released in 2007!
Check out the label web site at: http://www.spv.de
Check out the band web site at: Http://www.black-sabbath.com
Reviewed by Scott Heller