Welcome to another “Album by Album Challenge.” For those that are new here, the “Album by Album Challenge” is where I take a band’s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol’ face melting.
This time around I’m doing one of my most challenging Album by Album Challenges to date: The Black Sabbath catalog. That’s right, I have made it a point to sit down and listen to every official studio release by Black Sabbath from the 1970 debut to 1995’s Forbidden. This was a really fun challenge for me. While doing this challenge I found many pleasant surprises and I also found some things that I wish I would’ve never found. This challenge will be in a few different installments to cover the different singers of Black Sabbath. Let’s get started with the Ozzy Osbourne era of Black Sabbath. There is a lot of great stuff here but don’t feel so safe because things do start to get a little ugly at times towards the end. Oh hell. Enough of my rapping. Let’s get started shall we?
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Release Date: February 13, 1970
The Good: Black Sabbath, The Wizard, Behind The Wall of Sleep, N.I.B, Wicked World, Sleeping Village, The Warning
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
The first Black Sabbath album is every bit as good today as it was when it was originally released. At 38 years old, it still feels like the first time every time I listen to it. I can remember the first time I ever heard this album. It was 1985, it was a cold November’s day (just before Thanksgiving), I was home alone, and it was thundering, lightning, and raining outside. The opening number scared the living shit out of me but it made me want more. This album is so full of awesomeness and it’s an album that even with the songs being good on their own, you have to listen to it from start to finish. It’s a total listening experience that totally needs headphones. The older I get, the more I find myself appreciating the deep cuts on this album. Songs like “Wicked World” and the trippy “Sleeping Village” have become favorites of mine but it’s “The Warning” has become my all time favorite on this album. The songs are full of these long, instrumental jams that really showed just how much jazz influence Black Sabbath had as a band. Hearing Bill Ward swinging on those drums like the old jazz drummers is nothing short of amazing. This album just never ages. It’s forever young and forever awesome.
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Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Release Date: September 18, 1970
The Good: War Pigs, Paranoid, Planet Caravan, Iron Man, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom, Rat Salad, Fairies Wear Boots
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
Paranoid was released so close behind the heels of Black Sabbath that these songs very well could’ve been part of that debut. Matter of fact, I like to combine these two albums into one playlist just so I can pretend that it’s one long kick ass album. This is the album that put Sabbath on the map with songs like “Paranoid”, “War Pigs”, and “Iron Man.” Even as overplayed as those songs are, I still really enjoy listening to them. As a kid I would just listen to those songs over and over again but much like with the debut album, the older I got the more I found myself gravitating towards those deeper cuts. “Hand of Doom” is a song that I never liked before but now I absolutely love. It’s a song about heroin that sounds like what it must be like to be on heroin. “Rat Salad” is an amazing instrumental leading in to “Fairies Wear Boots” but it’s “Planet Caravan” that serves as my all time favorite off of this album. This unassuming acoustic piece has some of Ozzy’s best vocals to date and it’s a really ethereal listening experience. There are so many subtle sounds and effects going on that you just may be better off being in a “special” frame of mind while listening. Another classic, timeless release from Black Sabbath.
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Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Release Date: July 21, 1971
The Good: Sweet Leaf, After Forever, Embryo, Children of the Grave, Orchid, Lord of This World, Solitude, Into the Void
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
I would have to say that Master of Reality is where Black Sabbath became a metal band. As heavy as those first two albums were, there was still a lot of that psychedelic jazz infused 60’s inspired jams. While those were amazing to hear, this is the album where things go heavy. “Sweet Leaf” (their ode to the mighty green plant) is probably the biggest song from this album but like their other pieces, there isn’t a bad tune in the bunch. “After Forever” is such a unique song with an upbeat, happy keyboard tinged intro that totally distracts you from the fact that in a minute or so you’re going to be pummeled in the face by a monstrous groove. My personal favorite on this one is probably “Into The Void” which pretty much solidifies Black Sabbath as the reigning kings of sludge metal. That song is so heavy and groovy. I love Iommi’s instrumental pieces (“Embryo” and “Orchid”) as they always add this little bit of class just before kicking your ass. It’s like having someone serve you a cup of tea and biscuits and then just as you finish you get your ass kicked all over the place. This album is just monstrous and probably my favorite one of this era.
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Black Sabbath – Volume IV
Release Date: September 25, 1972
The Good: Wheels of Confusion, Tomorrow’s Dreams, Supernaut, Snowblind, Cornucopia, Laguna Sunrise, St. Vitus Dance,
The Bad: FX, Changes
The Indifferent:
Volume IV pretty much gets heralded as one Sabbath’s finest moments if not hands down their finest moment. Volume IV picks up where Master of Reality left off by being yet another powerhouse heavy metal album. At this point, the blues and jazz infused songs were starting to disappear and instead were being replaced by these heavy, ploddy, sludgy riffs, chunky guitars, and bombastic drums. “FX” is pretty much an absolute waste of nearly two minutes and “Changes” is just too much of a sore thumb. I never liked this song. While I always loved Sabbath’s need to change gears and take the listener by surprise, I feel like this is way more effective with “Laguna Sunrise” which I think is the “Planet Caravan” of this album. It’s an amazingly gorgeous piece of music and it and hearing it somewhat makes me wish that Sabbath would’ve at one point made an all instrumental album. While this album is considered the bee’s knees of Sabbath albums, I’ll have to disagree. It’s a great album but it’s nowhere near as great as Master of Reality in my opinion. I almost feel like this is where the band began to lose focus.
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Black Sabbath – Sabbath Blood Sabbath
Release Date: December 1, 1973
The Good: Sabbath Blood Sabbath, A National Acrobat, Fluff, Sabbra Cadabra, Killing Yourself to Live, Looking for Today (solo Oz), Spiral Architect
The Bad: Who Are You,
The Indifferent:
This is an album that I always seem to forget about it. Aside from the awesome title track and “Spiral Architect”, I never really pay this album much attention. This was the beginning of Sabbath’s experimental phase. “Spiral Architect” is hands down my favorite. I love the layered vocals and the use of strings and the subtle use of acoustic guitar. This is where the experimentation was a “hit.” On the song “Who Are You”, it’s a total miss with the annoying over saturation of synthesizers. If I got anything about doing this challenge, it was getting to remind myself just how much I enjoy this album. It sounds a bit more focused than Volume IV but it still sounds like they are grasping at straws at times. I’m really curious to see how it goes from here leading up to the departure of Ozzy.
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Black Sabbath – Sabotage
Release Date: July 28, 1975
The Good: Hole in the Sky, Symptom of the Universe, Meglomania, The Thrill of it All, Supertzar,
The Bad: Am I Going Insane? (Radio)
The Indifferent: The Writ
Sabotage is one of those albums that I pretty much ignored over the years but this time around I found it to be a really great listen. Sabbath albums always seem to open with a massive song and “Hole In The Sky” one of my favorites. “Symptom of the Universe” is also a fucking epic tune but what’s up with Bill Ward sounding like he forgot how to play the drums during those little breaks in there? “Supertzar” is Sabbath’s trademark “surprise” moment here as they deliver a beautifully haunting instrumental piece that would go on to serve as the band’s intro music at their live shows. I was most surprised by how much I dug “The Thrill of it All” but “Meglomania” ended up being the song that I enjoyed the most. How did this song go so sadly ignored all these years? Luckily, Sabbath did go on to ignore “Am I Going Insane (Radio)?” What a giant, steaming pile of crap. Sabotage is a great album with only one dud and one totally unlistenable song. Maybe this was the beginning of the decline? We’ll see what happens from here.
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Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy
Release Date: September 25, 1976
The Good: Back Street Kids, You Won’t Change Me, It’s Alright, Gypsy, All Moving Parts (Stand Still), She’s Gone, Dirty Women
The Bad: Rock N’ Roll Doctor
The Indifferent:
Upon my first “full” listening of this album, I just didn’t know what to make of it. I found myself not liking it at all but after a few very vocal friends of mine recommend I go back to with a new set of years, I did so and man am I glad I did. What a brilliant fucking album. Listening to this album I can totally see why it’s not really talked about much because it’s probably the least Sabbath sounding album of all of them. It’s pretty psychedelic in that the band was really experimenting here. This is some of Ozzy’s greatest vocal work to date as well. Instead of being this sludgy stoner metal band, you could hear them dipping into elements of progressive music in the likes of bands like Captain Beyond and Jethro Tull. Some of the songs sound like what Ozzy’s solo material would sound like eventually leading me to wonder if Ozzy maybe did have a small hand in the direction of his solo career. Hell, who knew that “I Don’t Know” was pretty much ripped off from “Dirty Women?” While you’re at it, listen to “She’s Gone” and you’ll hear hints of “Revelation Mother Earth” in there. You can totally hear the elements that inspired Randy Rhoads so much. “You Won’t Change Me” is a kick ass song and pretty much the only one that totally kicks ass. I really like “It’s Alright” mainly because it’s cool to hear Bill Ward singing lead vocals. It kind of sounds like something that The Who might have done. “Gypsy” is a totally epic tune that totally puts them in a new realm while songs like “All Moving Parts” have that classic Sabbath stank groove. While not my favorite album, I feel like I’ve really discovered something brilliant that I totally turned my nose up to. Ya know, sometimes it just takes a couple of listens for something to sink in and this album really did sink in deep.
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Black Sabbath – Never Say Die
Release Date: September 28, 1978
The Good: Never Say Die, Junior’s Eyes, Shock Wave, Air Dance, Swingin’ on the Chain,
The Bad: Johnny Blade, Breakout
The Indifferent: Over To You, Hard Road,
With the exception of that steaming heap of crap “Johnny Blade”, this album is really quite listenable and enjoyable. The only issue with this is that Sabbath should never just be “listenable.” They should be blowing your mind. This album just sounds like it could’ve been any other AOR 70’s rock band. I’m not sure what they were trying to get across with the instrumental “Breakout.” It sounded like they were doing some kind of film noir soundtrack with the cheesy 70’s horn section. This was just a pure waste of space. The title track is just “good” in my opinion but “Junior’s Eyes” and “Air Dance” are two of the coolest fucking Sabbath songs ever. “Swingin’ on the Chain” was pretty damn awesome with Bill Ward once again singing lead vocals. I totally dug this song and it actually sounded like Black Sabbath. This song is probably my favorite songs on the album next to “Junior’s Eyes.” For Never Say Die, the band definitely went with a slicker more radio friendly sound with keys, piano, strings and other tools of the trade from that era. I don’t think it flat out sucks but it just did very little to blow me away or make me feel like I was listening to something special. While my opinion on Technical Ecstasy totally changed with a 2nd and 3rd listen, my opinion on Never Say Die didn’t really change all that much.
STAY TUNED FOR PART II: THE DIO YEARS!
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