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

Another of my old man's albums from the late 60's/ early 70's.

And one I could never get my head around. Yes I know of it's significance and yes, I love a bit of metal, but it's a very slow and morbid record. It's not one to liven the spirits. There's nothing really jumping out at me apart from the realisation that I've never really got Ozzie's voice. A bit droney.

Still, it was nice to put his battered copy on my player again.

6/10
 
BimboBob said:
Another of my old man's albums from the late 60's/ early 70's.

And one I could never get my head around. Yes I know of it's significance and yes, I love a bit of metal, but it's a very slow and morbid record. It's not one to liven the spirits. There's nothing really jumping out at me apart from the realisation that I've never really got Ozzie's voice. A bit droney.

Still, it was nice to put his battered copy on my player again.

6/10
Click to expand...
You lucky lucky bastard… my dad was partial to Herb Alpert and Klaus Wunderlich!!
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Unburdened as I am from the iconic influence this record had 54 years ago, I feel I can be very objective. And I think this record is slow and boring and kind of stupid. Influential? It’s unmistakeable. The Halloween-esque aura may be KISS-like in what is was supposed to convey rather than real, but that’s fine — and if it was new at the time, more power to them. But the endless blues solos? The insipid lyrics? The tempos mired in the mud? Ozzy with absolutely no sense of humo(u)r? Is this enjoyable or just heavy? To me it’s just heavy — and heavy means lugubrious, not impactful. Why do I like “Paranoid”? Because the BPMs are at least 150. Hell, they’re at least 50! It’s light on its feet. As with Metallica whose big fat hits made them worth it as a novelty, so goes Black Sabbath — here and there they hit me in the gut, just not on this record. Blues played loudly and competently and occasionally innovatively is fine. But I walk away unable (maybe more like unwilling) to get anything out of a single song. And while their sound is their own, it’s as comforting as the potholes I know will show up on San Francisco streets every February, meaning I endure it begrudgingly. So I won’t deny the accomplishment of something new at the time nor the influence on countless bands. But, simply put, I don’t have any desire to hear this again. Especially when I can hear “I Don’t Know” or “Over The Mountain” and chuckle (either with or at Ozzy) and marvel at the spectacular talent Randy Rhoads was.

4/10. I debated giving an extra point for one of the great band names of all time. But this record put me in a foul mood, so they get nothing. Sorry all.
Click to expand...
It almost feels like you typed that review up after coming straight off typing a response to Dax. Something also guranteed to put you in a bad mood.
OB1 said:
My singing is so bad that I don’t even sing Blue Moon. Mind you back then it wasn’t just Scousers that sang YNWA IIRC.
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To my reading that isn't a total denial and I would almost suggest that colleagues going to the next match with you may walk a couple of steps in front or behind so as not to be ssen with "the one who sang "that song".

As for this weeks selection I'm afraid it just wasnt my cup of tea. Like @FogBlueInSanFran I did think it a little bit doom laden for the sake of it, although of course it was something new at the time. That said I did keep on thinking is this "heavy metal"? As I did keep on returning to the idea that this could have been Mssrs Baker/Bruce instead of Ward/Butler. Rhythm aside and appreciation that Mr Iommi can play guitar 3 listens and I have had enough.

Perhaps the only fairly decent one for me was "The Wizard". and on that basis I was going to give it a 4 alongside my other least enjoyed (or appreciated) scores. However, I did also detect the quality use of a cow bell in The Wizard and for that reason I shall elevate this to a 5 from the Derry jury.
Not sure the cowbell will bring me back to listen to this again though.
 
GornikDaze said:
You lucky lucky bastard… my dad was partial to Herb Alpert and Klaus Wunderlich!!
Click to expand...

That post should have come with a trigger warning. You forgot to mention Mantovani !! I'd completely forgotten about Klaus Wunderlich...the Kaiser of the easy listening Hammond.

Actually @RobMCFC your Dad was a Hammond organ man wasn't he? If he looked anything like this...
1000011657.jpg
and used to disappear for days on end then this is what he was up to...
1000011656.jpg
 
threespires said:
That post should have come with a trigger warning. You forgot to mention Mantovani !! I'd completely forgotten about Klaus Wunderlich...the Kaiser of the easy listening Hammond.

Actually @RobMCFC your Dad was a Hammond organ man wasn't he? If he looked anything like this...
View attachment 127492
and used to disappear for days on end then this is what he was up to...
View attachment 127491
Click to expand...
Is that Keith Emerson’s Dad?
 
threespires said:
That post should have come with a trigger warning. You forgot to mention Mantovani !! I'd completely forgotten about Klaus Wunderlich...the Kaiser of the easy listening Hammond.

Actually @RobMCFC your Dad was a Hammond organ man wasn't he? If he looked anything like this...
View attachment 127492
and used to disappear for days on end then this is what he was up to...
View attachment 127491
Click to expand...
He didn't look like that but the Hammond wasn't far off.
 
threespires said:
That post should have come with a trigger warning. You forgot to mention Mantovani !! I'd completely forgotten about Klaus Wunderlich...the Kaiser of the easy listening Hammond.

Actually @RobMCFC your Dad was a Hammond organ man wasn't he? If he looked anything like this...
View attachment 127492
and used to disappear for days on end then this is what he was up to...
View attachment 127491
Click to expand...
Shudders!!!
 
OB1 said:
Listening to Emerson, Lake and Powell on the commute today. Lovely stuff; had to leave Pirates part way through.
Click to expand...
When they were good, they were very good. First album and PAAE were my favourites. One of the big acts of that time I didn't see live. Have always regretted that.
 
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Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Released on Friday 13th in February 1970, this is a fitting date given the lyrics, subject matter and endless imitators that it spawned. As if that wasn’t enough, the band, album and first song take their name from a 1963 Boris Karloff horror film. I’m only surprised they didn’t have Ray Reardon on the cover.

I love the rain and thunder sound at the start of this – it reminds me of a couple of rain sound tracks I use to get me asleep sometimes. A really good atmospheric start, a track that knows the value of the space between the notes and Ozzy’s voice is suitably menacing. When he sings “Oh no, no please God help me!” it’s a little unsettling, giving you the impression that he’s seeing something that we are not. And then the guitar that brings the track home is great.

"The Wizard" displays the music’s roots with its blues guitar and harmonica but there’s some nice heavy chords as well and this heavy guitar sound carries through the rest of the album. Tony Iommi's guitar riff that caries “N.I.B.” sounds like it might have laid down the template that J.J.Cale would adapt for “Cocaine” six years later.

"Sleeping Village" has an atmospheric opening with the acoustic, and the jew’s harp made it sound like the start of an Ennio Morricone epic, but elsewhere I felt that the album started to feel bitty. "Evil Woman" is a bit repetitive and didn’t have the spark of some of the other songs and for all the fabulous guitar littered across the last few tracks – Tommy Iommi’s guitar provides most of the highlights on offer – some of them seemed to be the result of an engineer splicing various tapes together because the song construction was a bit haphazard.

I don't think that Black Sabbath necessarily represent a band I wished I'd discovered years earlier, but they clearly represent an important genesis of one of the strands of music that I love: metal and hard rock. So, thanks to @GornikDaze for giving me a reason to listen, and I will get to their "Paranoid" album soon.

I've said before that joining in the music discussion on these forums has led me to listen to a lot of classic music that I've missed in the past. Apart from Dylan, The Doors and CCR, I never usually went as far back as the 60s and 70s when getting into a band or genre. However, @OB1 's Led Zeppelin nomination had me listening to their back catalogue, and I must get around to the other part of the unholy trinity: Deep Purple. Given my love for the Hammond in rock (sadly, not Klaus Wunderlich), plus the fact that I love the few tracks I've heard from Deep Purple, I really should listen to their best albums.

Taking all of this into account, I’m going with 7/10.
 
BLACK SABBATH



I was wrong my OB didn’t have this album it was ‘Paranoid’ and he wasn’t that into BS so he didn’t follow their career after that.Therefore as it’s not a genre I particularly like it was completely fresh to me.I can certainly hear their blues rock influences, Cream etc and on ‘The Wizard’ a bit of John Mayall, I understand this album spawned the Heavy Metal genre but I wouldn’t know much about that, if I want to listen to blues rock Free are my go to band.

I liked the music on this album ,Tony Iommi’s guitar playing is very good, however I’m not keen on Ozzie’s vocals ,RJD who appeared on later albums would appear to be a better choice.I though the lyrics were nonsense as I was never into Aliester Crowley or Dennis Wheatley although I did enjoy watching ‘Hammer House of Horror’ on Tv for amusement back in the day.



A good pick to play loud but a bit average to my ears.



6/10
 
RobMCFC said:
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Released on Friday 13th in February 1970, this is a fitting date given the lyrics, subject matter and endless imitators that it spawned. As if that wasn’t enough, the band, album and first song take their name from a 1963 Boris Karloff horror film. I’m only surprised they didn’t have Ray Reardon on the cover.

I love the rain and thunder sound at the start of this – it reminds me of a couple of rain sound tracks I use to get me asleep sometimes. A really good atmospheric start, a track that knows the value of the space between the notes and Ozzy’s voice is suitably menacing. When he sings “Oh no, no please God help me!” it’s a little unsettling, giving you the impression that he’s seeing something that we are not. And then the guitar that brings the track home is great.

"The Wizard" displays the music’s roots with its blues guitar and harmonica but there’s some nice heavy chords as well and this heavy guitar sound carries through the rest of the album. Tony Iommi's guitar riff that caries “N.I.B.” sounds like it might have laid down the template that J.J.Cale would adapt for “Cocaine” six years later.

"Sleeping Village" has an atmospheric opening with the acoustic, and the jew’s harp made it sound like the start of an Ennio Morricone epic, but elsewhere I felt that the album started to feel bitty. "Evil Woman" is a bit repetitive and didn’t have the spark of some of the other songs and for all the fabulous guitar littered across the last few tracks – Tommy Iommi’s guitar provides most of the highlights on offer – some of them seemed to be the result of an engineer splicing various tapes together because the song construction was a bit haphazard.

I don't think that Black Sabbath necessarily represent a band I wished I'd discovered years earlier, but they clearly represent an important genesis of one of the strands of music that I love: metal and hard rock. So, thanks to @GornikDaze for giving me a reason to listen, and I will get to their "Paranoid" album soon.

I've said before that joining in the music discussion on these forums has led me to listen to a lot of classic music that I've missed in the past. Apart from Dylan, The Doors and CCR, I never usually went as far back as the 60s and 70s when getting into a band or genre. However, @OB1 's Led Zeppelin nomination had me listening to their back catalogue, and I must get around to the other part of the unholy trinity: Deep Purple. Given my love for the Hammond in rock (sadly, not Klaus Wunderlich), plus the fact that I love the few tracks I've heard from Deep Purple, I really should listen to their best albums.

Taking all of this into account, I’m going with 7/10.
Click to expand...

I know you are not a live album fan but “Made in Japan” is awesome.
 
OB1 said:
I know you are not a live album fan but “Made in Japan” is awesome.
Click to expand...
It’s not that I don’t like live albums, it’s just that almost always, I’d rather listen to the studio originals, particularly for a band whose back catalogue I don’t know. But thanks, I’ll add it to the list.
 
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