Reunion
Live album by
Black Sabbath
Released19 October 1998[1]
Recorded4–5 December 1997 (live tracks)
April–May 1998 (studio tracks)
VenueNEC (Birmingham)
StudioA&M (Hollywood)
GenreHeavy metal
Length107:36
LabelEpic
ProducerThom Panunzio (live tracks), Bob Marlette (studio tracks)
Black Sabbath live albums chronology
Cross Purposes Live
(1995)		 Reunion
(1998)		 Past Lives
(2002)
Singles from Reunion
  1. "Psycho Man"
    Released: 20 October 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment Weekly(B+)[3]
NME7/10[4]
Pitchfork2.1/10[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

Reunion is a live album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 19 October 1998. As implied by the title, the album features a reunion of the original Black Sabbath lineup of vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. The album represents the first new release featuring that version of the group since 1978's Never Say Die! and Osbourne's subsequent firing the following year. Black Sabbath received their first ever Grammy Award in 2000 for the live recording of "Iron Man" taken from Reunion.[7]

On 13 October 2023, the album was released, remastered from the original source tapes and released world-wide with the two studio songs remastered by Danny Saber.[8][9]

Background

Six years after founding member Ozzy Osbourne departed Black Sabbath under less than amicable circumstances, he briefly rejoined his former bandmates for a single performance on 13 July 1985 at the Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia, and again in 1992 for the climax of his No More Tours farewell tour.[10] Much to the dismay of fans, neither brief reconciliation had resulted in a full-fledged Black Sabbath reunion resulting in a new album and tour. A serious attempt at a reunion in 1993 proved fruitless as the band members lamented the reappearance of old animus. In 1997, Osbourne, Iommi and Butler reunited for the 1997 Ozzfest shows as Black Sabbath. Ward was absent due to health issues, and he was replaced by Faith No More's Mike Bordin. Ward had made a brief return to Black Sabbath for a short South American tour in 1994, but it was with Tony Martin fronting the band. Anticipation for a full and meaningful reunion of the Osbourne-era version of the band was high.

Recording

By late 1997, all four original members put aside their differences and misgivings and two shows in their hometown at the NEC were booked. On 4 and 5 December 1997, the four original members of Black Sabbath performed together with the shows recorded for a highly anticipated live album release. Ward had a heart condition, and concern regarding his health and ability to perform at a high level meant that another former Black Sabbath drummer, Vinny Appice, was on standby for the two homecoming shows. "We hadn't done a show with Bill for 18 years," remarked Iommi. Ward made it through both shows – albeit not without incident:[11]

Bill hit a gong and it fell on him, I creased up. His arm was black and blue in the morning, because those things weigh a ton. When it hit him and fell onto the kit, it sounded like someone was throwing pots and pans around. We were waiting for something like that to happen.

— Tony Iommi

Along with live versions of classics such as "Paranoid", "N.I.B.", "Black Sabbath" and "Iron Man", the double album also included two newly recorded studio tracks: "Selling My Soul" and "Psycho Man". These two new tracks were also released on a CD single in the United States. Music critics applauded the band's decision to surprise fans by including unexpected songs which had not been played live in many years, such as "Spiral Architect" and "Behind the Wall of Sleep".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward, except where noted

Disc One
No.TitleLength
1."War Pigs"8:28
2."Behind the Wall of Sleep"4:07
3."Bassically/N.I.B."6:45
4."Fairies Wear Boots"6:19
5."Electric Funeral"5:02
6."Sweet Leaf"5:07
7."Spiral Architect"5:40
8."Into the Void"6:32
9."Snowblind"6:08
Disc Two
No.TitleLength
1."Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"4:43
2."Orchid/Lord of This World"7:07
3."Dirty Women"6:29
4."Black Sabbath"7:07
5."Iron Man"8:21
6."Embryo/Children of the Grave"6:30
7."Paranoid"4:28
8."Psycho Man" (Iommi, Osbourne)5:18
9."Selling My Soul" (Iommi, Osbourne)3:10

Personnel

Black Sabbath
Additional personnel
Technical personnel
  • Thom Panunzio – producer, engineer (live tracks)
  • Bob Marlette – producer and engineer (studio tracks), mixing at Rockfield Studios and A&M Studios
  • Greg Hackett, Barry Clempson – engineers
  • Phil Ault, John Aguto, Phil Hopkins – assistant engineers
  • Andrew Garver – digital editing
  • David Collins – mastering
  • Glen Wexler – cover design and photography

Charts

Album

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[13] 6
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] 29
French Albums (SNEP)[15] 65
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 40
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[17] 29
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 59
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[19] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[20] 41
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[21] 2
US Billboard 200[22] 11
2023 chart performance for Reunion
Chart (2023) Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] 32
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 84

Singles – Billboard (North America)[25]

Year Single Chart Position
1998 "Psycho Man" Mainstream Rock Tracks 3
1999 "Selling My Soul" Mainstream Rock Tracks 17

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Silver 60,000‡
United States (RIAA)[28] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "New Releases" (PDF). Music Week. 17 October 1998. p. 28. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Black Sabbath Reunion review". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Farber, Jim (27 November 1998). "Black Sabbath Reunion review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  4. ↑ Udo, Tommy (20 October 1998). "Black Sabbath Reunion review". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Sandlin, Michael. "Black Sabbath Reunion review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "Black Sabbath: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "Reunion". Allmusic. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  8. ↑ "Reunion Grammy Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  9. ↑ Entry at Discogs
  10. ↑ youtube.com/watch?v=GlA_IPXBMWw
  11. ↑ Elliott, Paul (February 1998). "Paranoid? Who's asking?". Q #137. p. 27.
  12. ↑ "Black Sabbath Online: Reunion". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "Black Sabbath Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Black Sabbath: Reunion" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Black Sabbath – Reunion". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Black Sabbath – Reunion" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  17. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  18. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Black Sabbath – Reunion". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Black Sabbath Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Black Sabbath – Reunion" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  24. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Black Sabbath – Reunion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  25. ↑ "Reunion Billboard Singles". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  26. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Black Sabbath – Reunion". Music Canada.
  27. ↑ "British album certifications – Black Sabbath – Reunion". British Phonographic Industry.
  28. ↑ "American album certifications – Black Sabbath – Reunion". Recording Industry Association of America.
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