The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

GoatersLeftShin said:
It's an absolute classic album and like you say Rob, I can't imagine hearing this when it was released. It really does sound like something unleashed from the underworld!

It's such an iconic album and one you can argue starts "heavy metal". Even now nearly 60 years later it brims with menace! It really is iconic.

9/10
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I can understand why you would say that and it's true their sound was different. However the period 69 - 71 was peppered with some very heavy music that predated Sabbath. Zeppelin 1 and 2 predated this album as did albums from the likes of Wishbone Ash (a guilty pleasure of mine) Groundhogs and obviously Cream. All of them played heavy blues but Sabbath still sounded very different. Definitely the guitar sound of Tommy Iomi does it. His plodding dinosaur riffs are totally unique. Endlessly copied but he is the original.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I can understand why you would say that and it's true their sound was different. However the period 69 - 71 was peppered with some very heavy music that predated Sabbath. Zeppelin 1 and 2 predated this album as did albums from the likes of Wishbone Ash (a guilty pleasure of mine) Groundhogs and obviously Cream. All of them played heavy blues but Sabbath still sounded very different. Definitely the guitar sound of Tommy Iomi does it. His plodding dinosaur riffs are totally unique. Endlessly copied but he is the original.
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I don't think it is so much the weight of their sound, more the doomy gloom of it. To me at least, that sounds different from the other bands you mention. And that later bands borrowed.
 
Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut is a classic. This is the start proper of Heavy Metal music because Sabbath were the first Heavy Metal band although this album was probably intended to be a heavy blues rock album. The purity of the metal would come on the following albums.

The opening title track is archetypal Sabbath. Spooky and mysterious from the off with its thunderstorm opening heralding the onslaught of Tony Iommi’s tombstone riffing, which cleaves through the air like Thor’s hammer. Ozzy’s vocals are doom laden and Hammer Horror is duly evoked. Then, part way through, both the riff and pace change and Iommi delivers the first of many blistering solos.

Ozzy blows the harp on The Wizard, a heavy blues rocker driven by Bill Ward’s dynamic and inventive drumming and Iommi’s staccato guitar. Reminds me of being on Alderley Edge.

Nativity In Black opens with Geezer Butler’s iconic bass solo and humungous riff. Like the opening track it is a metal classic, head-banging heaven, that remained part of the band’s set until the End, which I was privileged to attend.

Evil Woman is virtually a pop song.

Sleeping Village is basically Mr Iommi trying out riffs for size (I wonder if Golden Earring took inspiration from one of them?) and The Warning is an opportunity for him to really show off.

The albums production is so basic but you can hear everything and appreciate the musicianship.

The lyrics are hokum and Geez is no Neil Peart but he has his moments. I was a Sword and Sorcery and Horror fan so I have no issue with them and they helped to give Sabbath an identity.

Sabbath refined their craft and music as they progressed from album to album but their debut remains on of my favourite albums. I love it.

9/10
 
I’ve just recalled a story about the first time I saw Sabbath, which was on the Technical Ecstasy tour. It was a really good gig but I confess the most memorable thing was before the gig, which was also my first visit to the Cow Shed (A.K.A. New Bingley Hall, Stafford), which meant it was 10,000 plus people standing. My school friend (another Blue) and I got a lift form to older guys he knew that had a car.

We arrived well before the gig so that we could be in the queue to get reasonably close to the stage (how naive and British and as one learned over time, a waste of time). At some point well before the doors opened and when there was a sizeable, another fan produced a dead rat from somewhere (perhaps he had been planning to make a salad to eat in the queue) and launched it into the air and once it landed someone else threw it along the q. This went on, to cheers, for a little while until it landed where a security guard could grab it and confiscate it, which produced a very large chant of “we want the rat back”. You had to be there but Ozzy would be proud.

Talking of Ozzy, did I mention the time I met him?

The next time I saw Sabbath, they had a little known band from California supporting them who simply blew Sabbath away. Mind you, those young Americans did go on to be the U.S.A.’s greatest rock band.
 
OB1 said:
I’ve just recalled a story about the first time I saw Sabbath, which was on the Technical Ecstasy tour. It was a really good gig but I confess the most memorable thing was before the gig, which was also my first visit to the Cow Shed (A.K.A. New Bingley Hall, Stafford), which meant it was 10,000 plus people standing. My school friend (another Blue) and I got a lift form to older guys he knew that had a car.

We arrived well before the gig so that we could be in the queue to get reasonably close to the stage (how naive and British and as one learned over time, a waste of time). At some point well before the doors opened and when there was a sizeable, another fan produced a dead rat from somewhere (perhaps he had been planning to make a salad to eat in the queue) and launched it into the air and once it landed someone else threw it along the q. This went on, to cheers, for a little while until it landed where a security guard could grab it and confiscate it, which produced a very large chant of “we want the rat back”. You had to be there but Ozzy would be proud.

Talking of Ozzy, did I mention the time I met him?

The next time I saw Sabbath, they had a little known band from California supporting them who simply blew Sabbath away. Mind you, those young Americans did go on to be the U.S.A.’s greatest rock band.
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Van Halen ?
 
OB1 said:
I’ve just recalled a story about the first time I saw Sabbath, which was on the Technical Ecstasy tour. It was a really good gig but I confess the most memorable thing was before the gig, which was also my first visit to the Cow Shed (A.K.A. New Bingley Hall, Stafford), which meant it was 10,000 plus people standing. My school friend (another Blue) and I got a lift form to older guys he knew that had a car.

We arrived well before the gig so that we could be in the queue to get reasonably close to the stage (how naive and British and as one learned over time, a waste of time). At some point well before the doors opened and when there was a sizeable, another fan produced a dead rat from somewhere (perhaps he had been planning to make a salad to eat in the queue) and launched it into the air and once it landed someone else threw it along the q. This went on, to cheers, for a little while until it landed where a security guard could grab it and confiscate it, which produced a very large chant of “we want the rat back”. You had to be there but Ozzy would be proud.

Talking of Ozzy, did I mention the time I met him?

The next time I saw Sabbath, they had a little known band from California supporting them who simply blew Sabbath away. Mind you, those young Americans did go on to be the U.S.A.’s greatest rock band.
Click to expand...
What is it with rock/metal fans? Waiting for Slipknot to take the stage at Sonisphere there was a bag of poo being thrown around to loud cheers - strange bunch aren’t we haha
 
So what to say about this album? To be honest I’m torn a couple of ways. There have been lots of comments around how iconic it is, invented the heavy metal genre, gave birth to a 1000 other bands…..
Whilst I can understand those sentiments, they are only positive attributes if you like what it spawned, and I don’t. Heavy Metal has never done anything for me and I dislike bands from all corners of the earth that play it. It’s dull. It’s derivative. It’s repetitive. There are riffs on this album that populate most of the heavy metal I have ever heard.
So I’m not starting from a positive position. However, there has always been a little corner of my soul that likes Black Sabbath. Despite the fact they were openly mocked by my circle of music listening 15 year olds, I had a copy of Paranoid and played it quite a bit. I laughed at Iron Man and Fairies wear boots but enjoyed the album. It was fun and a relief from Tales of Topographic Oceans.

What days they were. What music we had in that period of early 70s. What choice. Bands like Zeppelin, the Who, the usual prog rock suspects, Bowie, Roxy all at their absolute peak. Or how about a bit of Californian music? Something different? Santana or Zappa or Paul Simon or Joni or Back Door or Wishbone Ash or, or, or. The choices and range of genres and quality of output was astonishing.
So where does that place Sabbath and this album in the great band/album chart that is embedded in my soul/heart/head? Well not very high I’m afraid. But it is a guilty pleasure, I enjoyed listening to it. Tony Iommi is an extraordinary and unique guitar player. I loved the production. The album could run back to back with paranoid and you wouldn’t really notice the join. I haven’t listened to that in decades and I won’t be going back to this anytime soon.

It’s a score of 6 from me as the positives have dragged the score up from where it started. Nice pick though thanks as it did take me back to my youth.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
So what to say about this album? To be honest I’m torn a couple of ways. There have been lots of comments around how iconic it is, invented the heavy metal genre, gave birth to a 1000 other bands…..
Whilst I can understand those sentiments, they are only positive attributes if you like what it spawned, and I don’t. Heavy Metal has never done anything for me and I dislike bands from all corners of the earth that play it. It’s dull. It’s derivative. It’s repetitive. There are riffs on this album that populate most of the heavy metal I have ever heard.
So I’m not starting from a positive position. However, there has always been a little corner of my soul that likes Black Sabbath. Despite the fact they were openly mocked by my circle of music listening 15 year olds, I had a copy of Paranoid and played it quite a bit. I laughed at Iron Man and Fairies wear boots but enjoyed the album. It was fun and a relief from Tales of Topographic Oceans.

What days they were. What music we had in that period of early 70s. What choice. Bands like Zeppelin, the Who, the usual prog rock suspects, Bowie, Roxy all at their absolute peak. Or how about a bit of Californian music? Something different? Santana or Zappa or Paul Simon or Joni or Back Door or Wishbone Ash or, or, or. The choices and range of genres and quality of output was astonishing.
So where does that place Sabbath and this album in the great band/album chart that is embedded in my soul/heart/head? Well not very high I’m afraid. But it is a guilty pleasure, I enjoyed listening to it. Tony Iommi is an extraordinary and unique guitar player. I loved the production. The album could run back to back with paranoid and you wouldn’t really notice the join. I haven’t listened to that in decades and I won’t be going back to this anytime soon.

It’s a score of 6 from me as the positives have dragged the score up from where it started. Nice pick though thanks as it did take me back to my youth.
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Oh well. You will hate some (more) of my future picks.
 
OB1 said:
That is gross. Sadly been at outdoor gigs where bottles full of wee were thrown.
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I scroll back to Queen at Maine Road in 86.

Having had to sit through Belouis Some and Quo, we were on the tarpaulin covered pitch and the dry ice appeared on stage and the pre-show music started.

The crowd naturally surged forward a bit and my mate and I saw an opportunity to get even further forward as a gap appeared in the surge … only to find out it contained pools of freshly produced vomit.

Seeing dozens of people surging forward to then panic and suddenly try and take evasive action at the last minute, caused carnage. Not many of us were focussing on One Vision.

Edit. Oh and yes, having played it back in full yesterday, 7/10 for Sabbath for me ta
 
chesterbells said:
I scroll back to Queen at Maine Road in 86.

Having had to sit through Belouis Some and Quo, we were on the tarpaulin covered pitch and the dry ice appeared on stage and the pre-show music started.

The crowd naturally surged forward a bit and my mate and I saw an opportunity to get even further forward as a gap appeared in the surge … only to find out it contained pools of freshly produced vomit.

Seeing dozens of people surging forward to then panic and suddenly try and take evasive action at the last minute, caused carnage. Not many of us were focussing on One Vision.

Edit. Oh and yes, having played it back in full yesterday, 7/10 for Sabbath for me ta
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I was in the crowd at the Cow Shed for Queen on the Day at the Races tour and some twat puked next to us. Obviously a tightly packed crowd! Great gig though, famous even because it inspired We Are The Champios due to the crowd ver loudly singing You’ll Never Walk Alone before the encore.
 
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