Earth: The Legendary Black Sabbath Lost Tapes Unearthed

Brace yourselves, Black Sabbath fans—this is the holy grail of heavy metal history! A long-buried vault of rare early recordings from the original lineup—Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward—is finally being unearthed. Titled Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes, this long-lost archival release drops July 25 via Big Bear Records, delivering a raw, electrifying glimpse into the band’s gritty blues-rock origins, just before they thundered into history as the inventors of heavy metal.

For die-hard Black Sabbath fans and rock historians, Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes isn’t just an album drop—it’s a resurrection of mythic proportions. These are the raw, formative sounds of a band on the cusp of making music history, finally seeing an official release after decades in the shadows. The long wait is over. The origin story of heavy metal now plays on vinyl and in hi-fi.

Before they became Black Sabbath, the band went by the name Earth, gaining momentum on the British club circuit in the late ’60s. But when they discovered another band using the same name, fate intervened. Around this pivotal moment, Geezer Butler penned a haunting song called “Black Sabbath”, inspired by an eerie horror film poster and his fascination with the occult, marking the first steps toward a seismic musical shift.

“These recordings clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced right from the very beginning. We recorded these tracks at Zella Studio in Birmingham in 1969, but held back from releasing them as their style was evolving so quickly.”

Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes was recorded in 1969 at Zella Studio in Birmingham, captured by legendary music promoter Jim Simpson, who would become the band’s first manager. While snippets of these tracks have floated around online over the years, this is the first official release, remastered and polished for true fans to fully experience.

“Now, some 57 years later, the recordings assume a greater importance, illustrating how these four young men from Birmingham, barely out of their teens, were excellent musicians and a fine band, fully deserving of all the success that was to come their way.”

So what’s inside this sonic time capsule?

Prepare for rare blues-heavy covers like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Evenin’,” and “Wee Wee Baby”; two alternate versions of “Song for Jim”—one showcasing Tony Iommi’s signature guitar work and the other featuring a surprising flute performance. You’ll also get early proto-metal gems like “Untitled,” “Free Man,” “Wicked World,” and “Warning,” laying the foundation for the genre they were about to invent.

Is this a legit release? According to official sources, “This new album is a venture by former Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, who financed the original 1969 recordings. While the band members are not directly involved, they’ve been informed and will receive royalties from any sales.”

The artwork feels underwhelming—generic and lacking the visual drama that a proper Sabbath-sanctioned release would no doubt command. If the band had been directly involved, you can bet the presentation would’ve been more epic, more iconic. Still, while the packaging may fall short, there’s real hope the audio itself—professionally remastered from the original 1969 recordings—will rise above the grainy YouTube clips and bootlegs fans have had to settle for all these years.

Here’s hoping these “lost tapes” finally sound the way they were meant to be heard—loud, unfiltered, and alive.