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

Note for all there is a European version and a North American version of this album.

I'm not sure how much or if they're different, but things seem to diverge at the end of side 1 and into side 2.

I'll try to review the 7 track European version, and I can get "N.I.B." and "Evil Woman" off "The Ultimate Collection" on Spotify.

Either that, or I'll drop by Bimbo's for a listen to the classic vinyl and a single malt sampling. 2am BST isn't past my bedtime in the States. ;-)

Per wiki:

European edition
Side A, Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "Black Sabbath" 6:20
2. "The Wizard" 4:24
3. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" 3:37
4. "N.I.B." 6:08
Side B
No. Title Length
5. "Evil Woman" 3:25
6. "Sleeping Village" 3:46
7. "Warning" 10:28

North American edition
Side A, Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "Black Sabbath" 6:20
2. "The Wizard" 4:22
3. "Wasp / Behind the Wall of Sleep / Bassically / N.I.B." 9:44
Side B
No. Title Length
4. "Wicked World" 4:47
5. "A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning" 14:15
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Note for all there is a European version and a North American version of this album.

I'm not sure how much or if they're different, but things seem to diverge at the end of side 1 and into side 2.

I'll try to review the 7 track European version, and I can get "N.I.B." and "Evil Woman" off "The Ultimate Collection" on Spotify.

Either that, or I'll drop by Bimbo's for a listen to the classic vinyl and a single malt sampling. 2am BST isn't past my bedtime in the States. ;-)

Per wiki:

European edition
Side A, Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "Black Sabbath" 6:20
2. "The Wizard" 4:24
3. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" 3:37
4. "N.I.B." 6:08
Side B
No. Title Length
5. "Evil Woman" 3:25
6. "Sleeping Village" 3:46
7. "Warning" 10:28

North American edition
Side A, Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "Black Sabbath" 6:20
2. "The Wizard" 4:22
3. "Wasp / Behind the Wall of Sleep / Bassically / N.I.B." 9:44
Side B
No. Title Length
4. "Wicked World" 4:47
5. "A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning" 14:15
Click to expand...
Thanks for this as I just listened to the US version on my ride home and wondered why it didn’t comport with the track listing on Wiki I glanced at.
 
For clarity - (hopefully!) the original vinyl track listing is as follows:
A1Black Sabbath
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		6:22
A2The Wizard
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		4:25
A3Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		3:37
A4N.I.B.
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		6:07
B1Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me
Composed By – Waggoner*, Wiegand*, Wiegand*		3:27
B2Sleeping Village
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		3:46
B3Warning
Composed By – Dunbar*		10:33
Wicked World was added as a final bonus track when the CD version was first issued. This is a great tune but for me feels out of place as the final track.
 
GornikDaze said:
For clarity - (hopefully!) the original vinyl track listing is as follows:
A1Black Sabbath
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		6:22
A2The Wizard
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		4:25
A3Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		3:37
A4N.I.B.
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		6:07
B1Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me
Composed By – Waggoner*, Wiegand*, Wiegand*		3:27
B2Sleeping Village
Composed By – Ward*, Butler*, Osborne*, Iommi*		3:46
B3Warning
Composed By – Dunbar*		10:33
Wicked World was added as a final bonus track when the CD version was first issued. This is a great tune but for me feels out of place as the final track.
Click to expand...

I am listening to the cd, with "Wicked World".

I never owned a vinyl copy of the album but an early addition to my collection was the double compilation album "We Sold Our Souls For Rock N Roll", which included 5 tracks from their debut, including "Wicked World".

I played that compilation an awful lot so I've long been very familiar with most of the album.
 
OB1 said:
I am listening to the cd, with "Wicked World".

I never owned a vinyl copy of the album but an early addition to my collection was the double compilation album "We Sold Our Souls For Rock N Roll", which included 5 tracks from their debut, including "Wicked World".

I played that compilation an awful lot so I've long been very familiar with most of the album.
Click to expand...
I’ve got that album as well - always thought it was a decent early compilation, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath being one of my personal favourites.
 
At some point someone must have discovered the refreshing joy of natural spring water. In my mind’s eye I like to think it would have been a young peasant girl (looking coincidently not entirely unlike the young Emmanuelle Beart in Manon Des Sources) stumbling across the wonderful wellspring but it was more likely I imagine to be a sweaty Neanderthal or some sort.

Either way, over time the natural spring water became hugely popular, and people started bottling it and doing all sorts to it, carbonating it, adding fruits to it, sticking electrolytes in it and adding all manner of unnecessary accoutrements (yes well may you look ashamed Messrs Ibanez and Schecter).

But that was ok, many people came to love the added strawberry and kiwi fruit and jojoba nut extract varietals. They made them happy, and in turn their happiness should be a source of happiness for us all.

But nonetheless, for some people these additions were considered unnecessary. They could receive all the refreshment they needed just by sticking with the unadulterated original spring water. For those people, in many ways the unadulterated nature of the spring was the thing that made it all the more refreshing.

8/10

(and at some point I might actually write a review)
 
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Black Sabbath is the fifth studio album from rock gods Cream and the first release on the now legendary Temu record label. Black Sabbath answers 4 important questions:
1. What if Marty Mcfly had become so traumatised by travelling back in time that instead of adding rhythm to the blues he added homicide, murdering Biff and wearing his skin at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance?
2. What if Madam Lisa Giocondo had been born in the midlands instead of Florence? Now she lives alone on a farm with only stuffed animals for company.
3. What if Jimi Hendrix had had no chill?
4. What if Ozzy was not a repressed homosexual?

All of these questions are answered in the genre spawning album Black Sabbath. Did Black Sabbath intend to create metal or is necessity the mother of invention tied up in the cellar? That's a fifth question but a pertinent one. This is to all intents and purposes a Cream album played on crappy instruments. Not instruments played crappily - there is a lot of skill on display but the nature of the sound makes it feel like its coming from your uni room mates bedroom. He might be autistic and he keeps stealing your underwear. You asked him about it once but he didnt answer; instead choosing to stand by the fridge for 12 hours straight without blinking before drawing a pentagram on the floor with tomato ketchup. You've not mentioned it since.

I wrote that the charm of Definitely Maybe is that it felt like your mates had made it to share their favourite tunes with you. Black Sabbath is similar - it feels like something you could do if you knew what you were doing. The bass tones sound like what you'd get from a preset on a cheap multi fx unit and the guitar is dark, fitted with old strings and plugged into a small amp. The drums were recovered from a skip with skins made from the animals found splatted on the road outside the studio. The players have the skill but not the tools and it's charming and exhilarating and worthy of some attention even when it's over long. It shouldn't really exist in this state but the ability of the musicians carries it.

So far this is a solid 7.5 and what I want from a classic album. It's derivative enough to sound familiar and influential enough that you hear bits of it in later works. The big problem is the bat eating goth vibrating in the closet.

Ozzy at least sounds like a real person but his performance is over the top and lacks the finesse of the rest of the band. It's like he's found a balloon full of helium whilst out trick and treating and reciting poetry. I have big problems with the lyrics that seem to suggest he's gay for satan although the opening track implies it's satan that's gay for him and Osbourne is the unwilling recipient i think the lady doth protest too much. On Evil Woman he's far too certain that he's not father of the womans baby chiefly because he's not attracted to women also known as the Billie Jean defence. By the time of the final track, Warning, he's in prison seperated from his true love by the iron bars of his cell that now resides in his heart. Imagine if all of metal was invented because Osbourne couldn't come out.

Sleeping Village is an ok vocal performance as Osbourne stops pretending and, as the album artwork alludes to, just admits he wants to retire to the country and cosplay as the Mona Lisa. The band are suitably embarrased by the jews harp at this point and go on an extended jam session. At times it does feel like the band just want to play to minimise the impact of Osbourne.

Warning feels like an attempt by the band to find a genre Osbourne can sing as if the band are trying to tune a radio - dropping into snippets of songs to find anything that fits. It starts as a pastiche of Folsom City Blues before an extended Jimi Hendrix style solo that even might think was a bit long. Throw in a spot of Paint it Black and 10 minutes later you have the end of almost a masterpiece.

Best song for me was N.I.B starting with a low quality bass solo played expertly before becoming a great reinterpretation os Sunshine of Your Love which may also be the best vocal performance BUUUUUUUUTTTTTTT it's damaged badly by the "Oh Yeahs" and stupid stupid i heart satan lyrics. The double tracked guitar solo ending is great.

Ultimately the nature of the recording process means there is little variation in the sounds which i think does a huge disservice to the band and i'd like this much much more if it was just an album of instrumentals. Opening track and the best on the album, Black Sabbath, would be a monstrous track if it had no vocals - musically it conveys the same menace that the lyrics are trying to invoke. You can absolutely hear why it's ground zero for metal.

So final rating of 6.5 with the highlight being The Wizard with some great bass work from Geezer Butler particularly in the verses which i'll probably try and learn one day.
 
threespires said:
At some point someone must have discovered the refreshing joy of natural spring water. In my mind’s eye I like to think it would have been a young peasant girl (looking coincidently not entirely unlike the young Emmanuelle Beart in Manon Des Sources) stumbling across the wonderful wellspring but it was more likely I imagine to be a sweaty Neanderthal or some sort.

Either way, over time the natural spring water became hugely popular, and people started bottling it and doing all sorts to it, carbonating it, adding fruits to it, sticking electrolytes in it and adding all manner of unnecessary accoutrements (yes well may you look ashamed Messrs Ibanez and Schecter).

But that was ok, many people came to love the added strawberry and kiwi fruit and jojoba nut extract varietals. They made them happy, and in turn their happiness should be a source of happiness for us all.

But nonetheless, for some people these additions were considered unnecessary. They could receive all the refreshment they needed just by sticking with the unadulterated original spring water. For those people, in many ways the unadulterated nature of the spring was the thing that made it all the more refreshing.

8/10

(and at some point I might actually write a review)
Click to expand...
it's far too hot for this type of review. i'm stuck in the office and now i want to search for liquids
 
mrbelfry said:
it's far too hot for this type of review. i'm stuck in the office and now i want to search for liquids
Click to expand...

Less a review, more a dehydrated ramble.

Am currently looking at an office fridge bereft of water and calculating if I can be arsed to walk the 3 minutes to get some. On balance, as I've started hallucinating visions of Emmanuelle Beart circa mid-80's, I think I'll just sit here for a while.

I'm guessing you and the Fogman might be in agreement about Mr O.
 
Last edited:
threespires said:
At some point someone must have discovered the refreshing joy of natural spring water. In my mind’s eye I like to think it would have been a young peasant girl (looking coincidently not entirely unlike the young Emmanuelle Beart in Manon Des Sources) stumbling across the wonderful wellspring but it was more likely I imagine to be a sweaty Neanderthal or some sort.

Either way, over time the natural spring water became hugely popular, and people started bottling it and doing all sorts to it, carbonating it, adding fruits to it, sticking electrolytes in it and adding all manner of unnecessary accoutrements (yes well may you look ashamed Messrs Ibanez and Schecter).

But that was ok, many people came to love the added strawberry and kiwi fruit and jojoba nut extract varietals. They made them happy, and in turn their happiness should be a source of happiness for us all.

But nonetheless, for some people these additions were considered unnecessary. They could receive all the refreshment they needed just by sticking with the unadulterated original spring water. For those people, in many ways the unadulterated nature of the spring was the thing that made it all the more refreshing.

8/10

(and at some point I might actually write a review)
Click to expand...

Out of interest, are fruit flavored sparkling drinks bad ? or healthy'ish?

I love the Rubicon Spring drinks but can see they contain some additives and flavorings.
 
threespires said:
Less a review, more a dehydrated ramble.

Am currently looking at an office fridge bereft of water and calculating if I can be arsed to walk the 3 minutes to get some. On balance as I've started hallucinating visions of Emmanuelle Beart circa mid-80's, I think I'll just sit here for a while.

I'm guessing you and the Fogman might be in agreement about Mr O.
Click to expand...
I doubt I'm on his radar. I'm a minnow amongst the big cods he rolls with
 
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BlueHammer85 said:
Out of interest, are fruit flavored sparkling drinks bad ? or healthy'ish?

I love the Rubicon Spring drinks but can see they contain some additives and flavorings.
Click to expand...

BH I apologise if I gave the impression that any of the shit I spout on here was based in any form of knowledge or even faint grasp of reality on my part. So I can't really help. However I do like to try...

So I've just googled the Rubicon Springs drinks and if the packaging is anything to go by I imagine if you drink enough of them they'll turn you the same colour as the packaging itself, a bit like Sunny Delight used to turn kids orange. They seem to major on their "natural flavours" which begs the obvious question, what constitutes "unnaturally flavoured" spring water?
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Out of interest, are fruit flavored sparkling drinks bad ? or healthy'ish?

I love the Rubicon Spring drinks but can see they contain some additives and flavorings.
Click to expand...
I would imagine that they are pumped full of sugar and all manner of unnatural crap. Apart from that, there's no harm.
 
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