The 1968 Tapes (Mono) (Black Friday 2024)

This product is a Black Friday Record Store Day title and not available to pre-order. It is available to buy in-store at 8am on 29/11/2024 (Black Friday Record Store Day) and online from 8am on 30/11/2024. 

Longtime Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne keys and guitar player Adam Wakeman (as Milton Keanes) is back with Jazz Sabbath – The 1968 Tapes. 8 Black Sabbath songs re-imagined as classic jazz tracks.

Even though the 2 albums Jazz Sabbath recorded in 1969 (if you choose to believe the liner notes) were only just released in this decade, the songs did find their way to millions in the last 50 years. Through a vicious cycle of personal tragedy and plagiarism the songs intended to change the jazz world ended up giving birth to a much darker sound. However, the songs on those 2 albums were not the first ones the band recorded. These are.

In 1968 Jazz Sabbath were an instant hit on the UK jazz scene. It wasn't long until they were offered a record deal. They spent weeks in the studio recording the tracks that got the heaviest reactions at their live shows until they captured their live energy on tape. Unfortunately, the label told them the songs were too experimental and the whole album 'just a labyrinth of noise'. The label manager said there was no way this album could be a hit and told them to record some of their 'easier' tracks instead.

The 2 albums that followed still are classics in their own right, but they were not mistaken in thinking they had recorded their best work in 1968. Like the tracks from their 2 albums, these tracks also found their way to the public through that Birmingham band. Whether they copied them from live bootlegs or if they got their hands on the mix, it doesn't matter anymore. Their popularity, even in the crude 'metal' way they were covered, only proves just how monumental these songs were and how record labels often fail to recognize a visionary artist.

With the truth now finally out there and that Birmingham band exposed as the musical charlatans they are, Jazz Sabbath have finally mastered the 1968 tapes to present their best work to the public.