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A joint venture between metal archivists supreme Sanctuary Group and Sharon Osbourne's Divine Recordings, the two-disc set Past Lives is ambitiously billed as the definitive live Black Sabbath collection. What neither of them wants to admit, despite extensive liner notes to support the above, is that disc one is no more, no less than the controversial Live at Last concert. Recorded in Manchester and London during the Sabs' 1973 tour, Live at Last was only released in 1980 and without the band's consent, leading to much critical abuse and recrimination from the players - ironic then that it now constitutes half of this so-called ‘definitive' collection. All such squabbling aside, however, Live at Last is no calamity. Far from it, as it provides a valid snapshot of Black Sabbath's golden years, as they whip through such avowed classics as "Sweet Leaf", "Children of the Grave", "War Pigs" and "Paranoid", while also delving into some of their most unjustly forgotten masterpieces. Among these, we have the crushing "Tomorrow's Dream", an 18-minute jam through "Wicked World" and a positively stunning "Killing Yourself to Live", featuring Ozzy in as fine a voice as you've ever heard. Disc two, on the other hand, is anything but cohesive, as it attempts to tie up all the loose ends with whatever hits didn't make it onto disc one, regardless of their date or location of origin. As such, early numbers like "Black Sabbath", "N.I.B". and the oft-forgotten monster "Hand of Doom", which are taken from the famous 1970 Paris concert (which sounds like it was transferred directly from the video here) are interspersed with later-day favorites such as "Hole in the Sky", "Symptom of the Universe" and "Megalomania" culled from a never released, 1975 King Biscuit performance. All in all, Past Lives may not live up to its ‘definitive' billing in the eyes of Sabbath specialists (then again, it's unlikely anything could), but it still serves as a pretty nice wrap-up for neophytes and everyday fans alike. [The limited edition digi-pack version of Past Lives brings no bonus tracks, but offers a fold-out poster and guitar pick to entice collector-types.]

Past Lives (CD1) review by allmusic.com