A new version -unreleased- of Black Sabbath’s “Heaven And Hell”, recorded in 1979 during the pre-production sessions of the homonymous album, has seen the light.
The track, which includes former keyboardist for the band Geoff Nicholls, on bass, was posted by his stepson, Gary Rees, on YouTube.
Rees has explained the following about this recording of “Heaven And Hell”, captured during rehearsal:
“Geoff Nicholls passed away 4 years ago, 28th January 2017,” shared Rees. “This upload is a tribute to him. I recently found this SONY C-90 tape cassette amongst the thousands in Geoff Nicholls’ archive. On the inlay card is written ‘ ON & ON HEAVEN & HELL ORIGINAL VERSION GEOFF PLAYING BASS’. Inside the cassette case was a Maxell UD 90.”
“The B side is written ‘On + On HEAVEN HELL ORIGINAL GEOFF ON BASS’. Nowhere does it say that this is Black Sabbath on the cassette. ‘On And On Heaven And Hell’ may have been the original working title.”
In the two albums, ‘Black Sabbath, Never Say Die, 1979 – 1997’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, The Battle For Black Sabbath’, Geoff stated that he had contributed to the composition of this song by composing its bass line.
Nicholls initially joined Black Sabbath in Los Angeles temporarily but, according to his account, although he came to collaborate with the band for two weeks, Tony Iommi asked him, as he arrived, to join the group permanently.
Geoff, however, never appeared in the album’s credits for his alleged contribution to “Heaven And Hell” or any other contribution to the music of Black Sabbath during the first half of the ’80s.
Keep going for the video below: