When the Black Sabbath were blues: the first engravings are out
When the Black Sabbaths were not yet the Black Sabbath, even before becoming the godparents of Heavy Metal, There were the Earth. The band, formed by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward from the ashes of their previous project, the Polka Tulk Blues Band, moved their first steps by building A mainly blues repertoire. The young training began performing in various rooms playing covers of Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer, Beatles and Cream, and then engraved In 1968 the first demo Being able to have a fair success, thanks to the enterprising of manager Jim Simpson. After a short period the name of the band was changed Because there was another group called “Earth” and, thanks to an idea of Butler, it was adopted “Black Sabbath”. The rest, as they say, is history. Of that first period of blues musicnot everything has been lost and now, an entire Earth recordings album has been found and will be published next month with the title “The Legendary Lost Tapes“. The disc will be released on July 25th In cd and vinyl for Big Bear Records.
“Before becoming the Black Sabbath, the band was known as Earth – a powerful reality led by the blues that was already making a name”, Jim Simpson explainedthe first manager of the Sabbath, in a press release taken from “Loudersound”: “This new publication proposes rare recordings dating back to that eraremastered by long -standing ribbons. “He added:
“These engravings clearly demonstrate the excellent music they produced from the beginning. We recorded these songs at the Zella Studio in Birmingham in 1969but we decided not to publish them because their style was evolving too quickly.
Now, 57 years later, these recordings take on an even greater importance, demonstrating how these four young people from Birmingham, as soon as they came out of adolescence, were already excellent musicians and a value band, fully deserving of all the success they would then have achieved “.
The album includes Three cover of Blues classicsincluding “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Evein ‘” and “Wee Wee Baby”, together with Four original songs: two versions of “Song for Jim”, “Free Man”, “Wicked World” and “Warning”.
Jim Simpson also stressed: “These recordings trace the evolution of the Earths: from their debuts as Blues Band, passing through an experimental period, to the threshold of music that would have projected these four young people in the spotlight and defined the Heavy Metal “.
In the press release, on the fact that it is or not a legitimate and official publication, it is reported: “As far as we know, this new album is a project by the former Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, who paid for the recordings in 1969. No band member is directly involvedeven if they have been informed and they will receive any royalties deriving from sales. It was not ‘approved’ by Sharon Osbourne. The members of the band seem to be indifferent. But, beyond all this, The ribbons are owned by Jimwhich will be happy to pay the rights “.
Previously, in 2012had already been published Other Earth recordingscollected in “Sabbath Early Sabbath – Outtakes ’69 –’71”. The year before, moreover, an acetate engraved at the Zella Studio of another recording of the Earths had been sold on eBay for 35 pounds, “The Rebel”.
The news comes a week before the event “Back to the Beginning“, Which will represent both a reunion of the classic Black Sabbath formation, and the last show by Ozzy Osbourne, and will see the participation of Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Guns N ‘Roses, Tool, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Rival Sons and many others.
