Black Sabbath - Never Say Die (Live) (DVD)

A pro-shot Black Sabbath show from their Never Say Die! tour has been released several times over the years as a home video, but not officially on DVD (and in the U.S.) until 2003, under the title of Never Say Die: Live in 1978. Recorded at a stop at England's Hammersmith Odeon during the original lineup's final tour together (before reuniting 20 years later), the hour-long DVD is a fine summary of the show, but if you're a hardcore fan, you'll wonder why the missing selections weren't restored. Although Ozzy's voice isn't all it should be on most tracks (he strains and screeches through the first few numbers), the rest of the band is in fine form -- especially guitarist Tony Iommi, who gives a virtual 101 course on how to master the heavy metal guitar riff. Most of the expected favorites are here -- "Paranoid," "War Pigs," "Black Sabbath," "Children of the Grave," and so forth -- but the main attraction of the DVD is the inclusion of such rarely performed, uncommon numbers as "Never Say Die," "Rock n' Roll Doctor," and especially, "Electric Funeral," which could possibly be the set's high point (despite the ending being annoyingly cut off). With quite a few Sabbath and/or Ozzy DVDs already in the marketplace, Never Say Die: Live in 1978 is recommended to those looking for an adequate (albeit truncated) performance of Sabbath during the first go-round.