Bootleg Rodeo: Black Sabbath’s Paranoid In New Jersey (2025)

Album of the Day: Black Sabbath’s Paranoid In New Jersey, a dodgy copyright gap “import” album documenting an August 1975 performance in Asbury Park. Really, anything from Sabbath’s first six LPs (through Sabotage) is aces with me, and the performance here rocks AND rolls! Sadly, although the cover states that this is sourced from a FM radio broadcast, the sound quality is shite. 

Even given the early era of the recording, my ears tell me that it’s a crappy audience tape, not a soundboard or FM capture. My recently-acquired Sabbath Live In Paris 1970 CD sounds a 1,000 times clearer and balanced, even when using more primitive recording tech. ‘Tis a shame, too, with songs like “Killing Yourself To Live,” “War Pigs,” “Snowblind,” “Children of the Grave,” and “Paranoid” this could have been a real banger!