When Sabbath had the blues: Black Sabbath's early recordings as Earth to be released as The Legendary Lost Tapes

Earth sitting on a lawn — Earth (Image credit: Jim Simpson)

Before the dawn of Black Sabbath there was Earth. This was the band Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward formed from the ashes of their previous project, The Polka Tulk Blues Band. And now an album's worth of material from Earth has been unearthed and will be released next month as The Legendary Lost Tapes.

"Before Black Sabbath, the band were known as Earth – a blues-driven powerhouse already making a name for themselves," says Jim Simpson, Sabbath's first manager. "This new release presents rare early recordings from that era, remastered from long-lost tapes.

"These recordings clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced right from the very beginning. We recorded these tracks at Zella Studio in Birmingham in 1969, but held back from releasing them as their style was evolving so quickly.

"Now, some 57 years later, the recordings assume a greater importance, illustrating how these four young men from Birmingham, barely out of their teens, were excellent musicians and a fine band, fully deserving of all the success that was to come their way."

The album includes covers of three blues standards – Blue Suede Shoes, Evenin’ and Wee Wee Baby, and four originals: two versions of Song For Jim (named for their then-manager, the second featuring Tony Iommi on flute), Free Man, Wicked World and Warning.

"These recordings trace the development of Earth," says Simpson, "from their days as a blues band through an experimental period to the very threshold of the music that propelled these four young men into the spotlight and defined Heavy Metal."

Is it a legitimate, sanctioned release? "My understanding is that the new album is a venture by former Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, who paid for the recordings back in 1969," says the PR. "No band members are actively involved, although they have been made aware and would get any royalties from sales."

Other recordings by Earth were previously compiled on the bootleg collection Sabbath Early Sabbath - Outtakes '69-'71, released in 2012. A year earlier, a Zella Studio acetate of another Earth recording, The Rebel, was sold for £35 on eBay.

Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes will be released on July 25 on CD and vinyl via Big Bear Records.

Black Sabbath are on the cover of the new issue of Metal Hammer, out now.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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