Geezer Butler has referred to this album a few times in interviews as “Live in the Studio Evil”, a reference to a lot of the overdubs on it. Tension, however, had been building for some time between the band members, with rock journalist Steffan Chirazi observing in 2008 that the story behind the creation of Live Evil is one of "quiet yet savagely visceral turmoil and a band collapsing under their weight of silence, unspoken accusation, and an unforgiving schedule. Listen to ‘voodoo’ ‘children of the sea’ and ‘heaven and hell’ ,metal doesn’t get much heavier than that. Overall, a great set with a great sound (remix) - don’t forget it is a live album (never listened to the OG version, so cannot compare).

Ronnie certainly has the vocal chops, if not the same everyman charm, to handle the Osbourne classics, but his incessant banter between (and during!We were working on the Live Evil record in Los Angeles, and in fact we nicknamed him 'Little Hitler. I can now say I’ve heard everything on Live Evil including the Ozzy era songs because I heard them during the times I saw Black Sabbath between 1997 and 2013. Ronnie had started to take over a little bit too much and was becoming a bit of a Hitler," Iommi explained to Steve Gett of Guitar for the Practicing Musician. The UK cassette release had, as its first side, sides 1 and 3 of the vinyl release, with side two of the cassette being vinyl sides 2 and 4. This album was bought for me as a birthday gift by one of my best friends when I was in high school.

The first UK CD release omitted "War Pigs" (or "Warpigs" as it was titled in the explanation for its cutting, printed on the rear of the tray-insert), so as to fit onto a single CD. citation needed] Iommi also contends that he and bassist Geezer Butler were concerned about Dio already rehearsing with other musicians for a proposed solo album offered to him by Warner Brothers Records. After that there was no point due to Dio’s ageing voice (which was still great, but not matching a decade ago) There you have the REAL story. A DVD released was talked about with studio overdubbing, but, sadly, it never happened due to quarrels within the band during this release and up to Dehumanizer.The extra space allowed for the inclusion of War Pigs from the vinyl version, which is not on the original Vertigo print. Dio steadfastly denied that he altered the mix and accused Iommi and Butler of fabricating the story.

Dio's account attributed the breakup to a misunderstanding arising as the result of Iommi's drug abuse. In the liner notes to the 2008 retrospective The Rules of Hell, vocalist Ronnie James Dio remembers, "It was an excellent tour. It contains some of Tony Iommi’s finest moments and I was very impressed with Vinny’s drum solo after Warpigs.The first is the vinyl original, then the CD back covers for the 1996 Castle version, the 2008 Rhino/Warner version, and the 2010 Deluxe Edition. The first was the 1980 release of the unsanctioned Live at Last album, and the second was former lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's 1982 release of a live album consisting entirely of Black Sabbath songs. I knew it would be better than the other two and put it on the stereo and was really pleased to hear (properly) Sabbath live. In his 2011 memoir, Iommi was considerably less harsh in his summation of Dio's behaviour, stating "By then Ronnie did come over a little more.

The Southern Cross is a constellation that can be seen only on the Southern Hemisphere and kinda tells you where the South is. As usual this “super deluxe” box set is filled with all manners of Dio era Sabbath goodies, poster, book and I believe a tour booklet?The kids on the ocean does symbolize “Children of the Sea”, but they’re using a coffin as their boat – hence, “Children of the Grave”, too. AllMusic states that " Live Evil does benefit from a crystal clear, in-your-face sound, and by showcasing even amounts of both Ozzy and Dio material, effectively documents Black Sabbath's renascent tours of the early '80s. Iommi, in his drug-addled state, misunderstood what he was being told and came to the conclusion that Dio was not only mixing the album without him, but was trying to push his own vocals much too prominently in the mix. Two years later we made the move to our present address, 35 The Headrow, where we have remained ever since.