Black Sabbath - BBC Sessions (1970)

I'm not a fan of Black Sabbath at all, as I'm not a fan of the heavy metal genre, with a few exceptions. But they're undoubtedly a popular band, and they did perform at the BBC, so I'm including them in my BBC project.

Black Sabbath began in 1969. They had a big year in 1970, releasing two albums that contained many of their most famous songs. BBC DJ John Peel promoted them at first, and even tried to help them get a record deal. The band played a session on his radio show in late 1969, but it seems no recordings of it still exist. 

Then he hosted the band for a short live set in April 1970. That makes up the first five songs. The first four of these were officially released on an Ozzy Osbourne greatest hits album. But the John Peel intros and audience applause weren't included, so they don't sound like the live versions they actually are.

If you're a big fan of the band, you may be interested to know these versions contain some differences from the usual studio album versions. The song "Black Sabbath" contains an extra verse. "Walpurgis" has significantly different lyrics and theme, before it turned into the song "War Pigs." "Fairies Wear Boots" also has some different lyrics.

Peel's support was crucial in getting the band early exposure, but he quickly lost interest in their occult and horror themes. As a result, there are no BBC sessions after mid-1970, so this is the one and only volume I'm posting. (Most other BBC DJs weren't as daring with their guest selections as Peel, so if he wouldn't book them, it's unlikely any other DJs would.) 

If I only included the songs from the one surviving BBC session, this would be a very short album. But luckily, the band also played four songs for the German TV show "Beat Club" in 1970. Those are the last four songs here. These fit nicely, because they're all different songs, with one exception, the song "Black Sabbath." But it's not a problem having two versions of that one, because they're vastly different: the BBC version is nine minutes long, and the Beat Club version is just under three minutes long.

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
02 Walpurgis [Early Version of War Pigs] (Black Sabbath)
03 Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath)
04 Behind the Wall of Sleep (Black Sabbath)
05 The Rebel (Black Sabbath)
06 Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
07 Blue Suede Shoes (Black Sabbath)
08 Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
09 Iron Man (Black Sabbath)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15901534/BlackSab_1970_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

The promotional photo used on the cover is said to date from 1970. I think Ozzy Osbourne is the one kneeling in the front row. He was looking off to the side, so I adjusted his eyes in Photoshop so he's looking at the camera along with the others.