CD Odyssey Disc 105: Black Sabbath

Happy 40th Birthday, Black Sabbath! Black Sabbath turned 40 on February 13th - and here's the album that got it all started.

Disc 105 is...Black Sabbath (Self-Titled)

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1970

How I Came To Know It: As I noted in my review for Vol IV way back at Disc 6, I've known Sabbath all my life, but the early years were rekindled by my friends Nick and Spence. This album always makes me think of Nick, who loves the opening lyrics of "What is this that stands before me?/Figure in black that points at me." As openings go, that is a good one.

How It Stacks Up: I have 11 Black Sabbath albums. I'd put this one probably 4th. That isn't really fair though, since almost all Sabbath records are great, and hard to rank.

Rating: 5 stars

What can you say about the album that arguably invented an entire genre of music - heavy metal. You can say thank you.

Thank you, Black Sabbath.

I really love this album. From its famous (and oft-noted) opening chords, through the incredible bass lick that opens "N.I.B." all the way to the last song, "Wicked World", which features some furious drumming by Bill Ward.

I don't usually like to contextualize an album in terms of its place in music history. I prefer to take each album on the Odyssey on its own terms, free of an excess of background information that more often than not drowns out the pure enjoyment of a record.

However, in this case, it has to be noted what a huge influence this album was to the music world - and how amazing this sound is for 1970. For the past forty years (coinciding nicely with my entire life) this album has had a ripple effect on heavy music that has not - and will likely never - end. So yeah, it is a big deal.

Musically, I think this is some of Sabbath's best stuff - I particularly enjoyed Iommi's guitar and Ward's drums on this record. In terms of sheer rock grandiosity, this record's crowning achievement is "N.I.B.", which has one of the greatest guitar riffs, one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. It also has that rarest of achievements - someone going "oh yeah" and it not sounding like they didn't know what lyric to put in (are you reading along, Shania Twain?).

I have no idea what "N.I.B." stands for, and I'm not even sure it has ever been fully determined. For me, it represents one of Sabbath's top three riffs, alongside "Sweet Leaf" and only slightly behind the incomparable "Supernaut".

The only criticism I have of this record is a slight tendency to noodle overlong, a la Led Zeppelin. In particular "The Warning" has the makings of a couple of good songs, that were instead fused together into one overlong jam session. To this was added a whole bunch of other sounds and solos that sound like studio tailings that never became complete songs. It is too bad, because if you shaved "The Warning" from its current 10:33 to a more modest 7:30, I think it would rule.

I almost gave this album 4 stars, because I was determined not to judge it on its place in music history, but only on the music itself. Still, after a couple of listens, and even with the noodling, there is no denying this record is a 5 star affair. If I added its importance to music, giving this album 5/5 would sell it short.

Best tracks: The Wizard, Behind the Wall of Sleep, N.I.B., Evil Woman, Wicked World