The only live offering from 'Sabbath' featuring 'Ronnie James Dio' on vocals and one which generates a lot of mixed reactions between fans and at the time the band itself. All sorts of accusations were flying around regarding certain members tampering with the mixing, 'Dio' was displeased as he was listed as 'Ronnie Dio' (not his full name) as well as 'Vinnie Appice' only getting a brief acknowledgement. I personally think this is a very good live album, 'Ronnie' works the 'Ozzy' material excellently, although differently, the recording quality is pretty fair and the rest of the band turn in splendid performances. I would have liked to have heard live versions of 'Die Young', 'Turn up the Night' and even 'Lady Evil', but the set list still incorporates a good mix of 'Ozzy' and 'Dio' era.

'Live Evil' opens unsurprisingly with the superb, menacing instrumental 'E5150', this in turn gives way for a splendid run-through of 'Neon Nights', complete with the ripping guitar solo and 'Dio' as always, turning in a flawless vocals performance. 'N.I.B.' is the first of six 'Ozzy' era songs on the album and 'Dio' adds his own little flourishes and characteristics, I think it works really well, the instrumentation is superb throughout and all told an excellent rendition. The pace drops for the intro of 'Children of the Sea', before building into a powerfully sung rendition of a memorable song, while the ripping 'Voodoo' ebbs and flows like the original and is unsurprisingly yet another highlight. Next up is the epic title track from the first album and after a more subtle melodic intro, progresses into the heavy plod of the song we all know, perhaps this takes some adjusting to with 'Dio' on vocals, but he sings it with plenty of menace and I believe it comes off pretty well, albeit a little drawn out. The 'Sabbath' stable 'War Pigs' ensues and is well executed with the exception of the boring drum solo, which is tagged onto the end, shouldn't have made it onto the album in my opinion. Following in fine form is the classic early plodder 'Iron Man', It's hard to imagine 'Ronnie' singing this song, but the man is extremely versatile and overall this makes for a solid rendition. 'Mob Rules' follows and fails to disappoint, despite the loss of a little refinement compared to the studio counterpart. The 'Black Sabbath' magnum opus 'Heaven and Hell' follows and while this is a masterful rendition and probably the album highlight, 15 minutes does seem a little over the top, especially when it continues further after 'Sign of the Southern Cross'. 'Sign...' has always been one of my 'Dio' era favourites and doesn't disappoint here, after the brooding intro, picks-up into a powerful version that concludes with 'Heaven and Hell'. The stable 'Paranoid' succeeds in decent fashion and also closes with a few bars from 'Heaven and Hell'. While 'Children of the Grave' is perhaps the biggest surprise, I truly believe 'Dio' makes this his own, this really rips with his vocals behind it, with lashings of menace that 'Ozzy' could only dream of. Last up is 'Fluff', well it should be, it just doesn't appear to be present on my CD?

I personally think this is a very respectable live album and while 'Ozzy' die-hards will criticises 'Dio's' working of his material, this is still a good account of 'Dio' era 'Sabbath'. If you do like this album checkout 'Dio's' 'Inferno Live at Last', which includes 'Sabbath', 'Rainbow' and 'Dio' classics that benefit from crisper recordings and less drawn-out renditions than we have here.