A rare demo recording of “Heaven and Hell” by Black Sabbath, the first song the band wrote after Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in 1979, appeared online.
On the track are Dio, guitarist Tony Iommi of the founding members of Sabbath and drummer Bill Ward, and bassist Geoff Nicholls, who joined the group in 1979 after founding bassist Geezer Butler briefly left the group. Nicholls, whose estate posted the recording on Thursday to mark the fourth anniversary of his death, later switched to the keyboard and played with the band until 2004.
“I recently found this Sony C-90 cassette among thousands in the Geoff Nicholls archive,” wrote Nicholls’ stepson and performer in the YouTube post, according to Blabbermouth. “The on-card says ‘On & On Heaven & Hell Original version Geoff playing bass.’ Inside the tape box was a Maxell UD 90. Side B is written ‘On + On Heaven Hell Original Geoff on Bass’. Nowhere does it say it’s Black Sabbath on the cassette tape. ‘On And On Heaven and Hell’ may have been the original work title. “
The recording starts with one of the musicians counting the pitch, “two-three-four”, before starting the song’s iconic riff. The bass is discreet, appearing under Dio’s vocals. The letters are basically the same as the most popular version in the Heaven and hell album (1980), except for the interjections “Fool, fool” by Dio in the final version and some of the lyrics after the bridge (notably “the moon is just the sun at night” is missing). Dio’s “ahhhh” bridge is also less pronounced.
Where it differs most is Iommi’s way of playing on the solos, which are more strongly blues, similar to what he played on the recording of the beginning of Sabbath, “Warning”. In addition, when Butler returned to the band, he gave the bass line a more rounded feel and added some of its characteristic filigree.
“Geezer left,” wrote Iommi in his memoirs, Iron Man. “He had marital problems, so he had to go home to work it out and basically leave the band for a while. Ronnie played the bass a little, so suddenly there were three of us: Bill, Ronnie and me. We found out a few things, but that’s when I flew Geoff Nicholls [from England to L.A.]. I said, ‘Let’s just put someone on the spot, who can help while we’re here.’ The first song the four of us played was ‘Heaven and Hell’. I played that riff and Ronnie just sang it for him. It was so instant. And we said to each other, ‘Dude, we like that!’ “
“I think Tony needed to [Geoff] during Heaven and hell”Said Ward once. “He and Tony had been friends for a long time. I think Tony needed a friend who was not a member of the band. It could have been a lonely moment for Tony with the move from Ozzy to Ronnie. I think Tony needed some support and I believe Geoff gave him the support he needed. “
Heaven and hell and your next LP Crowd Rules will be expanded to two disc reissues next month. Although this “Heaven and Hell” demo is not on the tracklist, each reissue contains B-sides and unreleased live recordings, among other rarities.