THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
If you've read my review of The Black Sabbath Story, Vol. 1: 1970-1978 then you know I have a strong love of the classic Black Sabbath from their first years. This love, however, barely extends through the Seventies and dies a quick, painful death at the end of that decade. Whereas the flawed, amateurish Vol. 1 is good for some classic performances, The Black Sabbath Story, Vol. 2: 1978-1992 has nothing to recommend it. The first sign of trouble comes when the program opens with a list of various band members in the double digits. Revolving door membership is hardly a way to carve out a strong sound. Another sign of doom is that, unlike Vol. 1 where most songs played at length without interruption, Vol. 2 only allows snippets of each dreadful "song" to play before cutting them off. And thank the dark lord for that!

Once Ozzy left Black Sabbath, the band was basically over. Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward may have played big roles in creating the sound but they were not a band on their own. Adding the impish, Medieval Times-esque Ronnie James Dio helped the group limp along through a couple of lame albums, but soon it became clear that the ship had no anchor. Singer after singer came and went along with bass players and drummers until Iommi alone clung onto the Sabbath moniker.

VIDEO:
The video quality here is less excusable. The music video and performance footage is more recent than on the first installment but looks as bad and often worse. Like the first DVD, the widescreen material is just cropped full-frame footage.

AUDIO:
The audio for these later tracks, much like the video, also doesn't match the quality of the earlier cuts. Murky and undistinguished, this Dolby Digital track is the low-fi match of the disc's video track.

EXTRAS:
Yet more boring interviews.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Save your money and pick up some Sabbath compilation CDs. The first volume of the DVD set at least contained good music. This edition is a waste of space.

LINK:
The Black Sabbath Story, Vol. 1: 1970-1978