BLACK SABBATH: Nine-Disc Box Set To Be Released In The Fall

According to Joe Siegler at the unofficial BLACK SABBATH web site www.black-sabbath.com, the long rumored nine-disc BLACK SABBATH box set looks like it's being released this fall. After speaking with one of my contacts yesterday," Joe writes, "he informed me that a box set containing new remasters of the Ozzy-era BLACK SABBATH albums ('Black Sabbath', 'Paranoid', 'Master of Reality', 'Volume 4', 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', 'Sabotage', 'Technical Ecstasy', & 'Never Say Die') are to be released on October 28th. There will be a 9th disc — a DVD to go along with it.

"Now, when I asked about content on the discs (meaning extras and the like),he did not know. Although my gut feeling is that he did know, and didn't want to say. That seems more likely when I say that I've been told that the cover art and the DVD content has not been finalized. With a tentative date of Oct 28th looming, the fact that the package has not fully been decided upon tells me that the date of Oct 28th will probably be missed. But we shall see. I did ask about the track 'Blow on a Jug''s appearance on 'Sabotage'. We both agree that it's not likely it will be on this set, because of the fact that it didn't appear on the original Warner Brothers versions of the album, and that's the source for these remasters (it's the same remastering work that was done for last year's 'Symptom of the Universe' 2-CD set. The 1996 Castle remaster does have 'Blow on a Jug', but since it's remaster source is the same, it could explain why 'BOAJ' is not on the Warner original. My contact did state that he doesn't know for sure, but it doesn't seem likely, given the master source. He also wasn't sure about the inclusion of both 'Wicked World' & 'Evil Woman' on the first album, but given the inclusion of 'Evil Woman' on the 'Symptom' set last year, I think it probably will be there.

"Also, he tells me the tentative name of the set is 'Black Box'. Some might remember one of the rumored names of SABBATH's 1995 'Forbidden' album was 'Music from the Black Box'. But that's of no real consequence, just something silly I remembered when writing this."

In other news, BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward will, once again, be the "in studio" co-host with Mike Stark for "Rock 50" (web site),heard exclusively on WPMD Radio (web site),Cerritos College from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Bill returns after an emotional July show that was dedicated to the memory of BLACK SABBATH's road manager — Bobby Thomson. Don't miss another very special program from this heavy metal original.

WPMD on the Internet and WPMD-AM 1700 originates from the campus of Cerritos College, Norwalk, California, home of the best college radio curriculum in Southern California. WPMD features an eclectic programming mix of news, talk, sports and music, presented by students, Cerritos College community members and radio professionals.