Review of Black Sabbath Story, The Vol. 1 (1970 to 1978)

Introduction

In the seventies, British rock ruled the world, with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple selling millions of records on both sides of the Atlantic, and both groups ultimately utilising a broadly similar pool of artists during their long careers.

The Black Sabbath Story is split over two separate volumes, and this disc contains the story of the first eight years of the band from 1970 to 1978, and includes interviews and archival footage of the group performing during their most successful period. The second disc follows the group through numerous lineup changes during an eighties dip in form with a small resurgence at the end of the decade.

Video

The video comes in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is of variable quality - the modern interview segments are excellent, with no grain or dirt, and a detailed image; however the quality of the live/performance footage is variable and ropy at times; however this does not detract from your enjoyment of the songs.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in both Dolby Digital 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1. The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is adequate, however it sounds totally flat and lifeless compared to the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which sounds very nice (as everyone in my street will probably tell you after I blasted them all with Paranoid...)

The sound quality is dependent on the source material, with the classic Paranoid for example sounding superb, but "Children Of The Grave" (a superb song), a live performance in front of 300,000 people, is not reproduced well, sounding akin to a cassette bootleg rather than a professional recording.

The vocals during the interviews are very crisp and easy to understand, but again the archive interviews are again of variable quality.

Features

Extras include: "The Story of" which provides direct links to the interview segments in the main feature - although unfortunately there is not a "play all" feature, you need to select each individually; track selection - to get to each song in the main feature; "Band History" - a number of extra interviews with people like the late great Cozy Powell; an album gallery (with links to interview segments for the albums) and extra interviews.

This excellent range of extras is accessible via some nicely animated menus.

Conclusion

It makes a nice change to find a music DVD that is outstanding both in terms of musical content, and also in terms of extra materials - this disc is superb, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My only grumble is that both Volume 1 and Volume 2 should be packaged together for £19.99, rather than £15.99 each, which smells of profiteering in my opinion - having said that, each one still represents excellent value when compared to other music DVDs on the market.

If you`re a fan of the band, or of rock music from the era, this is a recommended disc.