Surprisingly, Warner Brothers never released a live
Black Sabbath album in the U.S. during
Ozzy Osbourne's years with the band. It wasn't until 1982's double-LP
Live Evil (which featured
Ronnie James Dio instead of the Oz) that Warner finally put out a live
Sabbath album in the U.S. Released in England in 1980,
Live at Last is a single LP that was recorded before
Osbourne's departure but didn't come out until after he had left. Unfortunately, this LP's liner notes are problematic. Nems lets you know that
Live at Last was recorded in Manchester, England, and at the Rainbow in London, but no recording dates are given. And
Osbourne's first name is misspelled "Ossie." As for the performances, the
Osbourne/
Geezer Butler/
Tony Iommi/
Bill Ward lineup of
Sabbath is in decent form on such menacing favorites as "War Pigs," "Paranoid," "Sweet Leaf," and "Children of the Grave."
Live at Last, which made it to American stores as an import, is by no means definitive -- how could it be without "Iron Man"? But even so, fans were glad to finally have a live recording of
Osbourne-era
Sabbath that wasn't a bootleg.