Black Sabbath - Munich, Germany September 22nd, 1983

 

Black Sabbath
Munich, Germany
September 22nd, 1983

It is a weird time; it is the weirdest of times. Ian Gillan, legendary former lead singer for Deep Purple, fronts English hard rock and metal forefathers Black Sabbath. The smirking and relatively jovial rapscallion agree to the gig after a night of heavy drinking with Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi and the following sessions for the band’s sole studio album Born Again is none too sober. Returning drummer Bill Ward, newly sober, soon decamps again following a relapse. Despite the rock press greeting the new release with a mix of incredulity and derision, Born Again is not a commercial failure.

 

The following tour, spanning two continents, is a truncated success. Strong if not excellent performances distinguish the European leg while the North American shows are marred by increasingly throwaway Gillan performances. Bev Bevan, a fine drummer in different contexts, wears out his welcome as the tour rolls on and illustrates, more and more, is unsuitability for the position. It is no fault of his own. There is an enormous stylistic gulf between Electric Light Orchestra and Sabbath. Moreover, Bevan is not Mr. Right, but Mr. Right Now as Ward’s sudden departure on the eve of the tour forces Iommi and Butler to scramble for a replacement.

 

The recording for the September 22^nd, 1983 show in Munich, Germany features ten tracks, four from the new album. It is an audience recording and the sound is good though some will wish Gillan’s vocals are crisper. The ambient “Stonehenge” instrumental opens the show and the band kicks things off with a muscular “Children of the Grave”. Iommi drops brief flourishes into his guitar playing. Gillan’s approach to phrasing is much different than his predecessors Ozzy and Ronnie James Dio and his take on the track works well. It freshens up a setlist staple without marring a classic.

 

“Hot Line” follows, the first of the four Born Again songs, and rates among the recording’s finest moments. The band excels with the new material despite finding their mark with a number of earlier tracks and Bev Bevan, in particular, sounds much more comfortable with the new songs than the band’s classics. It is the continuation of a new era for the band however. Gone is the swing powering similar efforts in the band’s past and, in its place, the one-time bell bottom clad street kids metamorphized into black leather and straight-ahead power drumming with minimal fills. Iommi plays another fiery solo in the song’s second half.

 

The second track from Born Again, “Disturbing the Priest”, builds up tremendous energy in a short amount of time and realizes its live potential despite Iommi dropping the song’s solo. The success of the track hinges on Sabbath breathing life into its atmospherics and both the instrumentalists and vocalist are on point with their individual and collective performance. “Zero the Hero” opens with Geezer’s ambient instrumental “The Dark”. His effects laden bass sets a dramatic prelude for the track and Iommi’s juggernaut riffing that follows. Gillan misses some of the lyrics but never enough to tear down the performance; his voice is in good shape and he belts out the words like a man in an all-out brawl. Iommi plays a magisterial solo that puts an exclamation point on the performance.

 

We hear a snippet of the extended “Heaven and Hell” jam before the opening bass notes of “Born Again”. It is an album highlight and one of the consistent peaks of the tour’s European leg. It is one of the better marriages of lyric and music excepting the “retards” line later in the track and another cut leaning on the band’s talent for invoking atmosphere. It’s an instrumental showcase in some ways – Bevan’s drumming is freer than elsewhere and Iommi plays a brief yet impassioned solo. The addition of “Supernaut” to the band’s tour set list is inspired. Iommi’s wah-wah laced guitar doesn’t have the same clean punch of the album version, but he rips out the classic riff with the right amount of energy. The recording ends before the band finishes the song.

 

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor” has its merits, resurrecting this moribund classic from Technical Ecstasy shows the band thinking outside the box if nothing else, but recasting it as a metallized golden oldie rock workout sans the original’s piano riffing is a mistake. Gillan gives it his best, but even he can’t save this leaden butchery. Iommi plays the album solo with impressive fidelity; it’s the high point of this performance. “Smoke on the Water” is such a crowd-pleaser, especially with Ian on vocals, it plays in any form. Black Sabbath adding it to the Born Again tour setlist is a case in point. The band plays it as a straight-forward bash and thud slab of hard rock instead of laying it down with the same bounce Ian Paice built into the iconic track. Gillan is as game as ever and Iommi serves up a desultory solo.  It’s a throwaway.

 

The band redeems the last two performances with a rousing finale. “Paranoid” steamrolls listeners and finishes fast. Sabbath segues into “Heaven and Hell” riff to close the show and Gillan offers some affectionate parting words for the audience. The sound quality is listenable during each song and, though there are cuts and omissions, the ten tracks included on this bootleg are representative of one of the better European shows. They have gained considerable confidence as an onstage unit since the tour’s first show in Stockholm. The performance is excellent overall though there are some weak moments arriving at key points during the concert. Iommi and Butler consenting to play “Smoke on the Water” live undercuts their claim they hoped the lineup achieved credibility. Ian Gillan manning the mic stand for Birmingham’s hard rock and metal gods still lingers in memories like a year long hallucination, but it was a weird time; it was the weirdest of times.