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Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Audio CD

A fair review of the Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Black Sabbath reviews here, or go back to the Black Sabbath tabs.

Band: Black Sabbath
Title: Black Sabbath
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-05-31
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Black Sabbath 2: Wizard 3: Behind the Wall of Sleep 4: N.I.B. 5: Evil Woman 6: Sleeping Village 7: Warning 8: Wicked World

The studio album does more justice to the band 66.6/100
Having listened to their debut album, I think I can point the finger at why I found that to be the case: when you buy a greatest hits albums, well, you want many of the songs to sound like greatest hits.
A while back I reviewed Black Sabbath's two cd best of compilation ("The best of Black Sabbath") and found it wanting. To me, their compilation lacked that, except for a few songs.

So, whilst the greatest hits experience was underwhelming, it's when you buy a studio album and have no expectation of the songs having to measure up to some ideal, that you can appreciate the music more.

Last week I bought this album, and Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album. This was because I wanted to explore the origin of heavy metal. Both these albums can be considered the foundational heavy metal album, according to whatever music critic you listen to. Just posted up a revew of Led Zeppelin's debut album today. Not for Black Sabbath:

Unlike Led Zeppelin's album, I can't really point to this or that song as being worthy of a spot on a greatest hits album. I can say that this is not necessarily a bad thing. That's because the entire album has a sense of unity of purpose. It's an album experience you get, in other words, not a great (or lame, as the case may be) 'greatest hits' experience.

Some songs of interest include:

Black Sabbath: I liked the ambient introduction to this song. . . rain, thunder and bells. It has a melodramatic, gothic guitar riff to it. This riff maybe has some overlap with a track from that Led Zeppelin album I reviewed today. This is a band where they don't drown out the bass player, which is good.

The Wizard: I enjoyed the harmonica playing on this, by lead singer "Ozzy" Osbourne. It has an other worldly quality to it. The guitar riff is quite heavy.

Behind the wall of sleep: bluesy lead guitar (blues is an influence on this album, and Led Zeppelin's). Bass guitar. Grinding guitar. Viking melody, so to speak, and an intersting drum outro.

N. I. B: funky bass intro, heavy, jarring hard rock riff. Another nursery rhyme type vocal style by Ozzy. The lead guitar solo does have a whiff of heavy metal.

Evil woman: bass run all the way through. Short, sharp and nasty riff. Actually, the intro reminds me of a Boz Scaggs song! Can't remember which. . . "Lido shuffle" for the bass?

Sleeping village: I like the introduction to this song-very reminiscent of a later song by heavy metal outfit Helloween, specifically their terrific song "Immortal". Helloween have a good pop/melodic sensibility with that song. . . a trait not shared with by Black Sabbath so much.

The warning: longest track at 10 1/2 minutes long. Bluesy lead guitar, bassy, bass runs. Near the end of the track, there is guitar playing which I guess could be described as "shredding". No expert on this though. . . I know that metal fans often talk about "shredding" with approval. I like the lead guitar playing near the end of the song.

Wicked world: has a jazzy drumming intro. Bassy. Vocals seem unintentionally distorted. Quite a riffing track, and sometimes bluesy.

Hmmm. . . seem to have discussed every track on this album!

I'm giving this album 66. 6/100. Mainly for the occultish reference signified in this score. The album is occultish at times. . . which may signal that this album was the first heavy metal album. . . at least as far as that aspect of metal goes (I mean the fascination with the occult).

Seeing as I tend to like songs which fit better into the 'greatest hits' kind of mould, I can't say that I like this album enough to give it more than what I have scored it here. In fact, pretty much the only songs that I really liked on that compilation of mine came from their album "Paranoid". If I get around to reviewing that, I think I may be inclined to give it a much higher score than I have for anything else that I've reviewed by them here.

Lastly, must say how pleasantly surprised I was by the sound quality on this album. Not exactly sure which version of this album I have-the one with all the songs I've listed here, obviously (other versions have slight variation in track listings)-but this album SEEMED to sound cleaner than on my compilation. Was expecting this album to maybe be not proper stereo, as stereo was a new invention around this era. The ambient noise on the title track here seemed to be much better in quality than my compilation album. Just going on memory here. . . haven't listened to that compilation for a long time.

A solid album, and more heavy metal, taken as a whole, than Led Zeppelin's debut album. .

Black Sabbath

It's a great album, especially to be their first one. Band Personnell:
Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
Tony Iommi - Guitars and Keyboards
Geezer Butler - Bass
Bill Ward - Drums

The very first Sabbath album, the name came from a song that Butler wrote when the band was called "Earth", because of this they managed to call the band "Black Sabbath" too and the first album was titled after the artist name, it includes two cover songs such as "Evil Woman" and "The Warning".

In the Beginning...
All hard rock and heavy metal that is in existence today, whether the artists performing it know it or not, is indebted to this classic. Quite simply, this is probably the most influential debut release ever. The question is: how does it hold up today, 36 years later? The answer: better than almost every hard rock or heavy metal album released since.

1. Black Sabbath-5/5. This song is superb. I can only imagine what was going through people's minds the first time they heard this song in 1970. It starts with a thunderstorm and a faint church bell and blasts into one of the most recognizable riffs in history. Slow and doomy, with some of the greatest lyrics ever. Perfect song.
2. The Wizard-5/5. Very cool bluesy song with some great harmonica playing by Ozzy. The lyrics are excellent and the vocals are superb.
3. Behind the Wall of Sleep-5/5. This one has a hard driving beat from Bill Ward on drums. The music isn't that heavy, but the beat is great and the lyrics are trippy. Great vocals, too.
4. Bassically-4/5. An excellent bass solo by Geezer. Just goes to show just how great of a player he really was back then, and he has only gotten better since.
5. N. I. B. -5/5. My personal favorite Black Sabbath song. The riff is super heavy. The lyrics are excellent and the vocals are perfect. This song really epitomizes heavy metal. Meant to be played REALLY loud.
6. Evil Woman-4/5. I don't particularly care for this song very much. It's a cover song that, I think, was forced on them by the powers that be in Britain, considering that it was not on the American release. A little wimpy, but they attempt to make their own.
7. Sleeping Village-4/5. A slow and sludgy song that's mostly instrumental. Great music that is played perfectly.
8. Warning-5/5. A bluesy, obscure cover song. The lyrics fit Sabbath perfectly. Instead of covering the song and leaving it at that, they use the opportunity to open the song up a bit and showcase how great the musicians, particularly Tony Iommi, the guitarist, really are. A little long, but never boring.
9. Wicked World-5/5. Another bluesy, but heavy, song. Really heavy riff by Iommi and great vocals by Ozzy. Excellent.

This album holds up perfectly. In fact, it may even be better than it was 36 years ago, because at the time, the only thing to compare to was Deep Purple's "In Rock. " This just blows that release out of the water. In sheer heaviness, it can still compare to much of what is being released today. Highly recommeded to any fan of classic rock and modern hard rock or heavy metal.

Hail Satan! Black magic and Rock and Roll . . .
In 1970, Satan become hip with other bands delving into the dark side, to wit, Coven and Black Widow. This is one of the coolest album covers ever -- and the music ABSOLUTELY lives up to the graphic image which graced the album cover. If preachers dismissed rock with their banal ravings, then living up to the accusation of perfroming the Devil's music proved too enticing to avoid. The atmosphere of the USA after the grizzly Manson killings produced Esquire Magazine's notorious March 1970 issue which was almost completely devoted to the growing trend among flower children with the black arts. One L. A. policeman interviewed for the article went on and on about "Satanic dope fiends", and on the heels of Altamont it looked as if the counter-culture was finally gonna stick it to the ultimate authority figure: Jesus Christ.

So, with bands like Coven staging Black Masses complete with a roadie hanging from a cross only to jump off and invert it, it's easy to see how Black Sabbath's first tour was delayed. But they eventually arrived while the other bands fell by the wayside.

This album along with Black Widow's "Sacrifice" and Coven's "Witchcraft" prove once and for all that not ALL long hairs from 1970 dug Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, many were ready to "Hail Satan!" their way across America, pointing out that God fearing American's supported Vietnam.

Hail Satan!!! .

Get the Vinyl!
I found a mint copy (vinyl) on the internet and if you play it on high quality equipment with a kick A$$ turntable you will only then realize what this album truly means to the metal Genre. The CD (whatever version you may have) does not match up to the original Warner vinyl release I bought at the age of ten (and hid from my mom). Believe me, this album rocks! They recorded it in an afternoon! There's no stops between tracks, they just kept on rocking. This is by far the best album Black Sabbath ever came out with, by far. You must listen to the vinyl version to understand what I'm trying to convey. Every track is very important to the album. This is a must have classic for vinyl rock collectors. For those of you who don't know about vinyl - shame on you!

G Force.

You can see a complete list of all Black Sabbath discography, or go back to the Black Sabbath tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.