CD Odyssey Disc 1824: Black Sabbath

Let’s go check out an iconic band of my youth, albeit with a less than iconic lineup.

Disc 1824is…Cross Purposes

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1994

What’s up with the Cover? If you like an epic story, then this cover might be an angel at the end of the War of Heaven, realizing that backing Lucifer might not have been the best choice.

If you are just here to party, then maybe this angel just stood too close to a candle while getting a beer from the cooler on the deck. She’ll be fine – certainly not damned to hell - just singed and a little embarrassed. Help put her out and then get that seraph a drink!

How I Came To Know It: Despite being a long-time Black Sabbath fan (my first Sabbath review was way back at Disc 6!), this era of Sabbath was never on my radar. Then recently my friend Spence was exploring these albums. I was intrigued and that intrigue – plus the aforementioned house money – resulted in an impulse buy.

How It Stacks Up: With the purchase of two new Sabbath albums I now have 12. Of those 12 I put “Cross Purposes” in at…#11. So not last.

Ratings: 2 stars

The key to enjoying “Cross Purposes” is recognizing that Ozzy is long gone. Ronnie James Dio is also gone, and this time he’s not coming back. Absorb that reality and make peace with your grief.

Don’t feel too bad. You can still enjoy this record, but you’re going to have to lower your expectations a bit. OK, are they lowered? Then let’s proceed safely and judge “Cross Purposes” on its own merits

Tony Martin is not a bad vocalist. He’s actually a good one. If he were a James Bond he’d be Timothy Dalton. Dalton’s never gonna be Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. He’s probably not gonna even by Roger Moore. But he’s got a couple of movies in him and they are watchable. Enjoyable, even.

So no, Tony Martin is not the mad genius of Ozzy Osbourne, and while his anthemic vocals are in the style of Ronnie James Dio, there is only one Dio. It took me a couple of listens to get over this, but once I did I appreciated Martin’s talents. In most metal bands he would be great but standing as he does in the massive umbra of Ozzy and Dio, he’s going to draw comparisons that aren’t his fault.

But make no mistake, dude can sing. When “Dying for Love” came on at track six it caught me in mid-step (OK, mid-bite, I was eating a plate full of chicken). The song is stripped down and slow. The kind of song that will quickly expose an average singer. Martin rises to the challenge, soaring up and over the melody with gusto and easy power.

As for the rest of the band, with apologies to the more than capable drumming of Bobby Rondinelli, I found myself missing both Bill Ward and Vinnie Appice. They are co-equals for me in Sabbath drumming greatness. Rondinelli is…not.

Iommi and Geezer hold down guitar and bass perfectly well, but the songwriting doesn’t do them a lot of favours, sounding both of its time and occasionally derivative. When Soundgarden plays, I often hear the echoes of Sabbath in their work, but on a few “Cross Purposes” tracks (“Back to Eden”, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”) reality was reversed and I heard Soundgarden in Sabbath. That ain’t how it is supposed to work.

For all that, on standouts “Cross of Thorns” and “Immaculate Deception” the band recaptures some of the old Sabbath magic. All that creepy majesty returns, and you get that doomy, crunchy riff action and arcane “is something important happening?” lyrics that reminds me favourably of the Dio years.

As I wrapped up my third listen of the week, decision time descended upon me. My overloaded CD shelves looked down at me threateningly – did I dare take up precious space with this record? Would I ever play it again?

I considered the reissue that I had purchased. Packaged as it was in a modern cardboard case, it was noticeably skinnier. Yes – it would definitely take up less space! As I sat on the knife-edge of a decision that helped save “Cross Purposes” from the resale pile.

If it had been an old school jewel case it might’ve been screwed.

Best tracks: Cross of Thorns, Immaculate Deception, Dying for Love, Evil Eye

CD Odyssey Disc 1327: Soundtrack

The weekend is here, and Christmas is just around the corner! Let’s celebrate with a music review, shall we?

Disc 1327 is… The Heavy Metal Soundtrack

Artist: Various artists

Year of Release: 1981

What’s up with the Cover? That, my friends, is a Tarakian. No, not the giant lizard with wings, the woman. What is a Tarakian you ask? Basically, she’s part of an ancient race of warrior women who guard the universe from evil green balls of hate. Kind of a cross between Wonder Woman and Red Sonja.

How I Came to Know It: The movie “Heavy Metal” came out in 1981. It was rated R and I was only 10 or 11. More importantly back then the theatres actually enforced R ratings and you needed an adult with you to get in.

Fortunately, my brother was 18 and therefore passed for an adult. In a classic awesome big brother moment he got me in, and I watched my first R rated movie in the theatre. It was awesome.

My brother also owned the soundtrack to the movie, which I remember was a double album that folded out majestically and where the Tarakian was many times the size of the puny cover photo you see above. A Tarakian that size leaves an impression on a young boy, I can tell you.

Knowing the album as a kid, I still managed to resist it for many years as an adult. Then I finally broke down about two years ago and bought a used copy on the cheap.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 34 soundtracks, which I admit is a lot, but who doesn’t like a soundtrack? It’s a “best of” record thematically constructed around a movie plot. I expect the percentage of soundtracks in my collection is far lower than the average.

Anyway, I’ve got 34 of them and “Heavy Metal” is not one of the better ones. I’ll rank it…24^th. I’d give you an updated list, but I’ve still got one more to review.

Ratings: 2 stars

Warm and fuzzy childhood memories aside let’s get real; “Heavy Metal” is an average record at best. It is a mix of songs I already owned but am always glad to hear again, songs I simply had to have, and songs that range from boring to atrocious. It is a grab bag of cheap jewelry at a vintage fair, worth buying for the one or two pieces you really want, and as for the rest – that’s what the ‘skip’ function is for.

On the CD Odyssey there is no skip function – a full listen, monkey! With this in mind I have divided the album into the three categories alluded to above. Note that I will not be commenting on all songs, so consider the partial lists below a sort of musical synecdoche.

Category 1: Good Songs I Already Had

Blue Oyster Cult’s “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”: One of my favourite songs growing up as a kid, and a favourite still. VotPW is off the classic 1981 album “Fire Of Unknown Origin” (reviewed back at Disc 751). Of course, it is the WRONG song to anthologize from an album that had a song titled “Heavy Metal: Black and Silver” and another – “Vengeance (The Pact)” – which literally tells the story of the Tarakian in the film (which admittedly would have made it only suitable for the end credits, but still). “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” is co-written by fantasy author Michael Moorcock and is about an entirely different fictional character, Elric of Melnibone. But whatever, it is a killer song.

Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules”: Off of the album of the same name (reviewed back at Disc 157), this song is a killer metal track from the underrated second Sabbath record with Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals.

Honourable mention: Journey’s “Open Arms” (original album reviewed at Disc 212). The circumstances of this song’s appearance in the film is one of the reasons it was rated R. I think it was a sex scene between a cabbie and a damsel in distress, but I can’t be sure because Youtube wants me to log in to confirm my age to check, and I won’t do it. I feel like my brother already vouched for me back in 1981.

Category 2: Songs I Had to Have

Sammy Hagar’s “Heavy Metal”: Balls-out rock and roll, without necessitating a full album full of music by Sammy Hagar. Hagar has drenched this song in a laundry list of whatever he thought was cool back in 1981. The list includes “head bangers in leather”, “sparks fly in the middle of the night”, and “tight pants and lipstick”. It sounds ridiculous but take my word for it; it all comes together. Don Felder also has a song on the album called “Heavy Metal” which is pretty cool, but there is nothing that competes with the phallic fury of the Hagar offering.

Riggs’ “Radar Rider”: A killer track with a surging energy built for driving a car fast down a lonely highway. Or in the case of the film, for an astronaut to drive his 1960 corvette convertible in space. The song would be brilliant all on its own, but I won’t lie – the intergalactic corvette helped.

Grand Funk Railroad’s “Queen Bee”: The song is a classic early eighties anthem, full of majesty and vaguely creepy attempts at romance (“I’m gonna steal you from your hive/steal you away from every man alive…”. The song has a slow building bombast that seems so natural you forgive it all its excess. The film version has neither bees nor (thankfully) abductions but it does feature a naked Tarakian going for a swim that was no doubt a second reason I needed adult accompaniment to see the movie.

Honourable mention to Devo’s brilliant cover of Lee Dorsey’s “Working in a Coal Mine”. Like their cover of the Stones’ “Satisfaction” Devo takes a great song and makes it better.

Category 3 Dear God, No…:

Donald Fagan’s “True Companion”: Here Fagan is without his erstwhile companion Walter Becker (they were on a break) but just like a united Steely Dan, this song gargles balls, combining the worst that prog noodling and Holiday Inn jazz lounges has to offer. Dicken’s Fagin merely corrupts the morals of young children; Steely Dan’s Fagan makes them listen to his music. I remain scarred.

Riggs’ “Heartbeat”: That’s right, dear reader, not all Riggs’ offerings on the “Heavy Metal” soundtrack are revelations in driving ecstasy. This one is all plodding guitars and over-production with no substance. It feels like a Soulless Record Exec’s attempt to manufacture “the sounds the kids are really into these days.” Not even a joy-riding spaceman could have saved this one.

For good and for ill, this album represents the most bombastic ridiculousness that hard rock had to offer in 1981. I always put Heavy Metal on thinking it will be better than I remember it, but it never is. However, it is still fun enough in places to earn a place on the hallowed shelves of my collection.

Best tracks: Heavy Metal – Sammy Hagar, Devo – Working in a Coal Mine, Blue Oyster Cult – Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Don Felder – Heavy Metal (Takin’ A Ride), Riggs – Radar Rider, Grand Funk Railroad – Queen Bee, Black Sabbath – the Mob Rules

CD Odyssey Disc 601: Black Sabbath

I have now randomly rolled three Black Sabbath albums out of the last seven, which is a statistical anomaly to say the least. I know for certain it can’t happen again, though, because this is the last Sabbath album in my collection. Fitting that it should be a live record I suppose.

I should be taking a nap right now, since I have company tonight and an early day tomorrow, but I want to get this review written while it’s hot in my blood. Even if it weren’t, I’ve a hankering for something other than the mighty Black Sabbath and the Odyssey doesn’t release me from the thralldom of one album until I start the next one.

Disc 601 is….Live Evil

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover? I loved this cover as a kid. It depicts a bunch of the Black Sabbath songs featured on the record. From left to right we have Paranoid, Voodoo, Heaven and Hell, Neon Knights, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, War Pigs, Children of the Grave (and possible Children of the Sea as well) and The Mob Rules. I used to have the Neon Knight done in purple on a big silk screen that hung over my bed.

How I Came To Know It: I knew this album when it came out. I believe my brother was a fisherman at the time and he used to come in off the boat and buy about 10 albums with his pay cheque – when he let me, I’d borrow them when he was back at sea. This was one of those.

How It Stacks Up:  I have ten of Black Sabbath’s studio albums and I recently reviewed the last one and stacked the up (back at Disc 598). As a live album, “Live Evil” kind of exists apart from those, so while I’ll rate it, I’m reluctant to stack it up.

Rating:  3 stars

I’ll always regret not seeing Black Sabbath live in their heyday. While you can argue their heyday was years before, the 1982 edition of Sabbath for “Live Evil” with Ronnie James Dio singing and Vinny Appice on drums this is still an impressive lineup. Also, the title is a palindrome – nifty!

Since I’ve already reviewed my other ten Sabbath albums, I won’t dwell too much on the individual tracks too much.  I will note that when you have a live album of a band that has been around for twelve years, choosing which songs to include in a performance is part of the art.

Personally, I like about one-third classic hits, one-third obscure stuff for the hard core fans and one-third stuff off of your new album. For the most part, “Live Evil” met my expectations, although it was a bit light on the obscure stuff. Also, while I know it is hard to pick just what classic songs to include, not choosing a single track off of their best album (“Volume 4”), is a huge oversight. I was particularly bummed not to hear “Supernaut” one of the all-time great riff-tracks. That said, “N.I.B.” was able to fulfill the monster riff requirement fairly well.

The production is not as meaty as I would have liked, but that is part of the live album experience (and why I tend to prefer studio albums as a general rule). No matter how good you sound, the production will never match the studio unless you’re cheating (Yes, I’m thinking of you, Kiss Alive!).

Dio clearly relishes singing the new (i.e. ‘his’) material, and he delivers great live versions of “Children of the Sea” and “Neon Knights.” That said, the best thing about “Live Evil” for me is hearing how some of the early Sabbath tracks are re-invented for Dio’s vocal style, which is so different from Ozzie’s.

As I noted back when I reviewed the album “Heaven and Hell” at Disc 565, my first experience with Black Sabbath was with Dio as the singer, and my first experience with a lot of the earlier songs was off of “Live Evil.” At the time I just assumed that is how the songs sounded. Later I discovered the joy of Ozzie Osbourne, and I admit his original versions are overall better. That said, Dio does solid work on the classics, and on “War Pigs” I think he equals the original. It is less bluesy and grimy than the Ozzie version, but it has a dreadful importance that only Dio’s operatic style can deliver.

The album falls down a bit near the end, where the band goes a bit overboard with “Heaven and Hell.” I love this song but despite Dio’s exhortations, you can’t really hear the crowd singing along as he instructs them. Later the band switches to “The Sign of the Southern Cross” and then they blend it with “Heaven and Hell.” This works OK, but when they decide to do it again with “Paranoid” they lose me. It feels a bit like they can’t decide if their triumphant end should be a Dio-era song or an Ozzie-era song. Guys – the fans came out to see you, so they already like you. Don’t overthink it.

So this album has some warts, but it is well played and performed, and it is hard to go far wrong when you are working with a wealth of material this good. While not a great live album, it is certainly a good one.

Best tracks: These are chosen based on how much I like the performance, rather than if they are merely a good song, since the album is full of good songs: Neon Knights, N.I.B., Children of the Sea, War Pigs

CD Odyssey Disc 598: Black Sabbath

When you work Monday to Friday there’s a tendency to wake up Sunday morning feeling like the weekend is over, when really, you’ve still got a whole other day to fill with fun.

My Sunday is starting with writing this review, which is a fine way to greet Day Two of the weekend as far as I’m concerned. The Dice Gods have favoured Black Sabbath lately, which is fine by me as well.

So here we go, and when I’m done I’ll get to work on the laundry – because as relaxing and enjoyable as I plan for my Sunday to be, greeting the work week with no clean underwear is never a good idea.

Disc 598 is….Sabotage

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1975

What’s up with the Cover? The boys from the band demonstrate their magic powers.  Behold! We can have our reflections look the same direction as us.  Don’t be afraid, dear readers, it is all done with (you guessed it) mirrors.

Instead of a giant mirror, the band should have considered spending their photo shoot money on a new wardrobe.  With the exception of Ozzie’s resplendent gown and platform shoes, the other guys look ridiculous.  Geezer Butler is dressed (and posed) like a grandmother living in a care home, Tony Iommi looks like a trucker who dreams of working in porn and as for Bill Ward, no leather jacket can make up for wearing your pajama bottoms in public. You are the founding fathers of heavy metal, gentlemen, have some pride.

How I Came To Know It: This was just me drilling through early Sabbath albums, I think in this case on the recommendation of my buddy Spence.

How It Stacks Up:  As just noted when I reviewed “Dehumanizer” at Disc 595, I have eleven Sabbath albums, ten studio and one live.  Of the ten, “Sabotage” is on the weaker side of the ledger, slightly better than “Dehumanizer” but still only good enough for eighth spot.

And although I still have one Black Sabbath album remaining to review, it is a live album and so can’t really stack up against the studio records.  Given that, this is as good a time as any for the full recap on how they each rank.

1. Volume 4: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 6)
2. Paranoid: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 194)
3. Self-Titled: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 105)
4. Heaven and Hell: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 565)
5. Master of Reality: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 270)
6. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 300)
7. The Mob Rules: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 157)
8. Sabotage: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
9. Dehumanizer: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 595)
10. Born Again: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 434)

As you can see by the rankings, I really like Black Sabbath. OK, on to “Sabotage”:

Rating:  3 stars but almost 4.

Sabbath fans viewing the album list above will see it is missing two albums from the Ozzie Osbourne era, “Technical Ecstasy” and “Never Say Die.”  I’ve heard both those albums and while they have their moments, I like to think of “Sabotage” as the last great Sabbath record of the Ozzie era. In my record collection, it is anyway.

Apparently fractures in the band were starting to form during the recording of “Sabotage” but you’d never know by listening to it. The band is still as tight as ever, and Tony Iommi demonstrates time and again that he is the master of writing a killer metal riff. Iommi’s guitar riffs seem so simple they make you wonder how come no one else had done it already, but Sabbath’s charm has always been to take fairly basic song constructions and fill them with doom and glory that lades them with a dread import.

Ozzie’s lyrics on “Sabotage” felt to me like a throw-back to 1971’s “Master of Reality”; a mix of moralizing and Lovecraft-like eldritch evil. Listening to “Hole in the Sky,” I had a hard time telling if Ozzie was talking about an ancient primordial god about to devour the world, or just the Christian Rapture. I suspect that for Ozzie the concepts are interchangeable. One thing that is certain is that under all of his drug-addled vision questing, Ozzie remains a moral and thoughtful man.  “Hole in the Sky” ends with this accusatory stanza:

“I’ve watched the Gods of War enjoying their feast

I’ve seen the western world go down in the east

The food of love became the greed of our time

No now we’re living on the profits of crime.”

The album has a lot of different musical influences lurking amid its proto-metal riffs. On “Don’t Start (Too Late)” Iommi does a little guitar instrumental in a flamenco style which is pretty enough, but doesn’t hold up to similar songs on earlier records, such as “Fluff” off of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.”  A second instrumental, “Supertzar” adds in a full classical chorus to good effect, although I kept wanting the song to develop into something more than it does.

The albums centerpiece is “Megalomania,” which is a ten minute song that has you wishing it were fifteen.

Like so many Sabbath classics, “Megalomania” is not content to have just one amazing riff, but instead varies its tempo and structure back and forth very much like classical music does. Each section is a reflection of its counterpart, providing the light and shadow a long song needs to hold your attention as it unfolds. The song tells the tale of a man slowly but inexorably losing himself to dark powers that subtly poison his soul with his own sense of self-importance. It is a timely song for a band at the height of their powers, and about to descend into a period of confusion and conflict.

“Sabotage” is not a Sabbath album that is the first off of someone’s tongue when discussing their great records.  However, that is more a function of how exceptional the band’s catalogue is, and not an indictment of the record itself. Most bands could only dream of having an album as good as this one, despite it being only eighth on my list.

Best tracks: Hole in the Sky, Megalomania, Thrill of it All

CD Odyssey Disc 595: Black Sabbath

I am a big admirer of my country’s sportsmanship on the international stage.  At this year's Olympics one Canadian speed skater gave up his spot in a race so that his friend could have a chance at a medal.  A Canadian coach ran out to help a rival with his ski so he can finish a cross-country race.  These are proud moments.

But I also love our absolute and unflinching will to take no prisoners in the sport of hockey.  This morning I watched our men’s hockey team come out and completely dominate Sweden in every phase of the game.  We Canadians are a modest and polite bunch, but not when it comes to hockey.  As a result, we’ve got another gold medal.  Yeehaw!

OK, now back to music.

Disc 595 is….Dehumanizer

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover? A very bad robot, who seems to be channeling equal parts Grim Reaper and Emperor Palpatine is transforming some unfortunate metal-head into a robot.  Apparently being a robot means that you overheat easily, because the unfortunate victim is tearing his own tee shirt off, and Emperor Reaper seems compelled to walk around with his robe open at the front.  Dude – get a sash and cover that mess up.

How I Came To Know It: I have always been a fan of the Dio years in Black Sabbath, and I bought all three remastered in a boxed set.  I already owned a non-remastered version of “Heaven and Hell”, but I passed that along to a friend for the updated copy, and got “The Mob Rules” at the same time.  “Dehumanizer” was the final disc in the set, and a bit of an afterthought.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 11 Black Sabbath albums, including one live record.  Of the 11, “Dehumanizer” is near but not at the bottom. I’d say tenth best.

Rating:  3 stars

The last and weakest of the three albums with Ronnie James Dio fronting the band, “Dehumanizer” is still a quality metal album.

Dio had left the band after 1981’s “The Mob Rules” (reviewed back at Disc 157) to pursue a solo career, amid considerable acrimony between him and guitarist Tony Iommi.  Despite Sabbath being a legendary band, I’d say Dio had the better of them in terms of fame and fortune through the eighties. However, music fans were the real losers regardless, and I’m glad that they somehow patched it up sufficiently to put out one more record together.

The result is ten more songs that ably blend Dio’s operatic vocal style with the crunchy, doom-laden riffs of Sabbath. Vinny Appice drums in place of Bill Ward, which suits me just fine.  Nothing against Ward, but Appice’s fast and furious style suits the more true metal sound of the record, as opposed to Ward’s more bluesy style on earlier Sabbath.

The record is the most purely ‘metal’ album in the Black Sabbath catalogue, and while everyone else in 1992 was getting their grunge on, it is refreshing to hear Sabbath cutting against the grain. “Computer God” and “Letters from Earth” are particularly thick and plodding, filling you with dread both lyrically and musically.

Thematically, it is a dark album, with a lot of focus on the sins of humanity, and technology as a means to hasten our own self-destruction. Sometimes singing about technology can be laughably dated when heard years later, but for the most part “Dehumanizer” stands up very well.

Like most metal fans, I like my lyrics a bit nerdy, and “Dehumanizer” delivers, with songs about a dystopian future full of computer gods and time machines (the latter being used in the movie “Wayne’s World”).  “Time Machine” is a fairly good song, but “Dehumanizer has both an ‘album’ version and the song as it was used in the film.  They are so similar in sound and length that I’m not sure why they bothered to record two in the first place. It feels like overkill, and I’d have preferred they stuck to just one version.

Other than that mistake, there aren’t any truly bad songs on “Dehumanizer” – they are all pretty solid.  Conversely there aren’t any standout classics like “Children of the Sea” or “Mob Rules” either.

What you do get is a record with plenty of overall energy, and songs that are well constructed, played by a group of musicians that have honed their craft well over many decades.  This album got me going and is a worthy, if often overlooked entry into the Black Sabbath collection.

Best tracks: Computer God, Letters from Earth, Too Late, I

CD Odyssey Disc 565: Black Sabbath

As winter approaches I have become keenly aware that my best suit was built for warmer temperatures.  I got it on an end of summer clearance, or I never could have afforded it and it looks amazing, but it is getting damned cold.  Pretty soon I will have to break down and get out a winter jacket, but for now I am delaying as long as possible.

Disc 565 is…. Heaven and Hell

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1980

What’s up with the Cover?  “Smoking Angels” by artist Lynn Curlee.  This is one of my all-time favourite album covers, answering that eternal question “what do angels do when they are on a break?”  Have a smoke and play cards like everyone else, it would seem.  I even have a t-shirt featuring smoking angels which I like in large part because it reminds me of this album cover.

How I Came To Know It:  Through my brother, Virgil.  This was the first Black Sabbath album I ever heard, so my first introduction to Sabbath so as a ten year old, I assumed that Ronnie James Dio had always been their lead singer. I only later learned about Ozzy Osbourne.

How It Stacks Up:  I have eleven Black Sabbath albums, including one live album.  Dio is the singer on four of them, and “Heaven and Hell” is the best of the four.  It also stands up with the best of the Ozzy albums as well.  I had originally planned to put this record second overall, but after listening I must reluctantly admit that both “Paranoid” (reviewed at Disc 194) and their self-titled debut (reviewed at Disc 105) are slightly better, so I am moving them up, and dropping “Heaven and Hell” into fourth.

Rating:  4 stars but ever so close to 5

After ten years of records with front man Ozzie Osbourne, “Heaven and Hell” was Black Sabbath’s first record with a new vocalist.  They chose former Rainbow front man and metal god Ronnie James Dio.  Surely the powerful personality of Dio and the equally opinionated and talented Tony Iommi could never collaborate?  Yeah, tell that to Jagger/Richards or Lennon/McCartney.  Like them, it caused both artists to rise above.

The wheels would eventually come off the creative vehicle of this incarnation of Black Sabbath, but here in the opening discovery of just what they could do together by turning their individual talents into something greater, the results are truly awe inspiring.

Ozzie had sung along in bluesy style, aligning his vocals on the beat with the rhythm section.  Of course his stoner-savant lyrics and delivery had made the Sabbath sound classic.  Dio chose instead to soar above on the melody like an opera singer.  He instead augments Iommi’s guitar riffs, both complimenting them and competing with them.  The result changed Sabbath’s sound, but was no less awe-inspiring.  If anything, “Heaven and Hell” breathed new life into a band at a time when the quality of their records was starting to tail off.

The change in sound is never more apparent than on the opening track, “Neon Knights.”  On top of the churning guitar-driven riff that defines Black Sabbath enters Dio, with his power metal vocals blasting away.  Dio’s bizarre lyrics about ill-defined magic and mythology are in full display:

“Cry out to legions of the brave

Time again to save us from the jackals of the street

Ride out, protectors of the realm

Captains at the helm, sail across the sea of lights

“Circles and rings, dragons and kings

Weaving a charm and a spell

Blessed by the night, holy and bright

Called by the toll of the bell”

What the hell is he talking about?  As usual I have no idea, but it sounds very cool and important.  This song really appealed to me when I was a kid.  In fact, my main bedroom decoration growing up was a four foot square black satin flag above my bed depicting a purple “Neon Knight” from their “Live Evil” album with matching “Black Sabbath” lettering beside him.  I loved that tapestry and it is a good thing I don’t know what happened to it, because I’d probably lobbying to put it up somewhere in the house.

While I may have downgraded this album to #4 overall, it has some of my all-time favourite Black Sabbath songs.  The second track is the best on the album. “Children of the Sea” is perfectly played and perfectly paced.  It starts with an almost gentle combination of Iommi plucking guitar notes, and Geezer Butler filling in the bass behind but soon launches into a full-bore churning maelstrom of malice and roiling rock and roll.  The song sings of a doomed civilization that strongly reminded me of the Innsmouth stories in H.P. Lovecraft’s horror novels.

In those stories, the grim-faced people of Innsmouth make a dark deal with demonic people from the ocean’s depths, in return for their wealth and power, but find themselves slowly transformed into monsters themselves:

“We made the mountains shake with laughter as we played

Hiding in our corner of the world

Then we did the demon dance and rushed to nevermore

Threw away the key and locked the door

“Oh they say that it's over, yeah

And it just had to be

Yes they say that it's over

We're lost children of the sea”

There are other sections of the song that suggest it is about some other doom entirely, but screw it.  I love this song and I love Lovecraft, and that’s what it means for me.

The other great five star song on the album is the title track, which is more traditional Sabbath fare in terms of its song structure and sound, albeit with Dio’s new voice.  The song is a seven minute journey through inspired guitar riffs, the thick pounding of Bill Ward’s drum style.  It has a lot of layers of sound, but is expertly mixed.  Care to focus on the bass for a while?  It is there for you.  Basic guitar riff got your groove?  Thrash away.  Or maybe you prefer the clever little melodies Iommi inserts further back in the mix.  You can have that too.  No matter how I approach this song, I can’t find anything wrong with it.

In the past, I couldn’t find anything wrong with the whole album, and I was a bit nervous when I rolled it.  I have just reviewed two five star albums and adding a third would have made it look like I was getting soft.

This time around, however, I found a few minor imperfections on the record.  The first side, composed of the above noted songs, plus the furiously played “Lady Evil” is beyond reproach.  On the B side, there are a couple of lesser tracks, however.  “Wishing Well” is beautifully played, but not a great or memorable song and “Walk Away” has a bit of a later eighties metal sound that edges close to the cheesy.

I know what you’re thinking – those earlier lyrics aren’t cheesy?  All I can say is sometimes sheer greatness can transcend cheesy, and even make it awe-inspiring.  It is a tough thing to deliver for a complete record, but “Heaven and Hell” comes within a hair of pulling it off.

Best tracks:   Neon Knights, Children of the Sea, Lady Evil, Heaven and Hell, Die Young

CD Odyssey Disc 434: Black Sabbath

The CD Odyssey has been stalled due to a whole slew of after work events this week, including going to the opening of a new pub/restaurant space (upstairs at Smith's pub in downtown Victoria - and quite nice, go check it out) and then to see my friend Missy's spoken word poetry performance "Where's My Flying Car?" which by the way, is funny, insightful, and only in town until Saturday (but heading to Vancouver for my readers over there).  

In any event this review was written whenever I had fifteen minutes to spare because I needed to get it done and move on to something different.

Disc 434 is…Born Again

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1983

What’s up with the Cover?  It’s a horrible, clawed demon baby.  This cover always reminds me of that awful 1974 movie “It’s Alive” about a monstrous baby with giant claws.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve known this album since it came out, and my brother bought it on vinyl.  I actually came to really know Black Sabbath around 1980 and so, “Born Again” was the third album that I heard.  At thirteen, I was blissfully unaware of the whole “Deep Sabbath” controversy.

How It Stacks Up:  I have eleven Black Sabbath albums, including one live record.  Sadly, “Born Again” resides at the bottom of that illustrious pile.

Rating:  2 stars

This album had me thinking of George Lazenby.  You know – that guy who played James Bond for the one movie, and that we’d all just as soon forget.  It wasn’t that George was terrible at being Bond but he just doesn’t feature during Roger Moore/Sean Connery debates apart other than as an aside.

When it comes to Black Sabbath that same debate is the Ozzie Osbourne/Ronnie James Dio debate.  Ozzie was the classic original, like Connery.  Dio was the guy who put a new spin on the band and still managed to keep it awesome, like Moore.  The lead singer for Born Again is Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, and he is the George Lazenby of this story.  He appears for one record only, isn’t terrible but still falls far short of the other two guys.  We’d all wish we could forget him.

Except, as I’ve stated above, when I was thirteen I didn’t give a fig about the Black Sabbath/Deep Purple controversy – I just knew I liked heavy metal music and wanted to hear more of it.  “Born Again” delivered for me at the time.

That said, even at thirteen I knew this record was a step down from the two by Dio that preceded it (“Mob Rules”and “Heaven and Hell”).  It isn’t all Gillan’s fault, although he does try a little too hard, with many a maniacal rock n’ roll scream (although on songs like “Disturbing the Priest” he tries way too hard, and comes off sounding like a hippy having a bad trip).  Gillan is actually pretty good on the album’s two really good songs, “Trashed” and “Zero the Hero.”  He connects Deep Purple’s proggy rock sound to Tony Iommi’s guitar licks and the combination is essentially quality mid-eighties metal.

“Trashed” is a cautionary tale of drinking and driving – a party that gets out of hand early, and ends with an inebriated car wreck.  My favourite line is:

“So we went back to the bar and hit the bottle again

But there was no tequila.

Then we started on the whisky just to steady our brains

Because there was no tequila.”

Because as we all know, what you need to steady your nerves when you’ve finished off the tequila is more hard liquor.  Yikes.

“Zero the Hero” is basically a nasty attack on the rich and indigent.  Society’s most privileged are a common target in metal music, and I admit hearing Gillan deliver an attack on a do-nothing silver spoon type suited me well in the day.  What really makes “Zero the Hero” so amazing is the heavy-assed Iommi riff that drives it along, sluggish and deep, just like the river that the heroes of the song sit down by while they eat raw liver (hey – it’s what they do).

According to the liner notes, this riff is heavily borrowed for Guns n’ Roses “Paradise City” which I kind of heard, in the same way you can hear secret messages on a record played backward after someone tells you what to listen for.  However, on the subject of the liner notes, the ones for “Born Again” are excellent, discussing many fans’ dislike this album openly, including the odd fit of singer Gillan in the mix, but also giving the record fair praise where deserved.  If only all liner notes were so even-handed, rather than the empty toadying that is usually featured.  But I digress…

Back to the album which apart from “Trashed” and “Zero the Hero” is mostly forgettable.  The other songs are pedestrian eighties metal fare.  It isn’t awful, but I expect more from Black Sabbath than that.

Worst of all is the production, which is painfully fuzzy.  Over the last few days, I’ve played this album both in the car and on headphones, and I enjoyed it much more in the car.  I think one of the reasons for that is that in traffic the fuzziness of the production is drowned out by background noise.  On headphones I could really hear the shortcomings of this record.  The fuzziness works on “Zero the Hero” giving it a proto-grunge sound that was well ahead of its time.  “Trashed” sounds tinny, but the song is strong enough to rise above it.  The other songs aren’t good enough to poke their heads out of the sludge.

Almost thirty years later, I still don’t care about the controversy around this album.  I like Deep Purple just fine (although they’re no Sabbath), and as I noted earlier, there are a couple of songs on this record that are well worth your time.  I might only listen to it selectively these days, but it brings back good memories of my heavy metal meat-head youth, so for that I’ll give it a reserved two stars.

Best tracks:  Trashed, Zero the Hero

CD Odyssey Disc 300: Black Sabbath

For the third straight day, I have another review. This is the result of me not having a job and being increasingly fidgety. Also, I have finished my first book's rough draft and am awaiting feedback before moving forward, making me even more fidgety.

Lastly I had some driving around town, giving me a chance to get through another album. I guess whether you are driving around doing chores, or fidgeting about uselessly at home, it is good to do so with a record like this next one.

Disc 300 is...Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1973

What’s Up With The Cover?: A man is tormented by demons - whether in his sleep or awake isn't clear. I think going to sleep in a bed with a headboard adorned with "666" he probably had it coming. I'd say these demons are succubi - spirits that use sexuality to corrupt the souls of men. A bed with a "666" headboard is like their home field.

I'd also say that although in 1973, this cover was probably more than a little controversial, nowadays it wouldn't likely cause anyone to lose sleep. OK - maybe Tipper Gore.

How I Came To Know It: As this is my 6th Black Sabbath album review, I've previously covered how I more generally got to know Sabbath. This particular album was always on my 'to get' list, but many years ago my friend Casey brought it over and I got a chance to hear it. This caused it to move up the list considerably.

How It Stacks Up: I have 10 studio albums by Sabbath, and 1 live album. Excluding the live album from the equation, I'd put "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" in at 6th. Bottom half, but only because of intense competition at the top. Since I've already reviewed 4 of the 5 albums that top it, you'll know why (or you can look - that's why there's a sidebar sorted by band name, jerky!)

Rating: 4 stars

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is Black Sabbath's fifth studio album in only four years, and in many ways represents the end of their initial creative explosion (it would be two years more until "Sabotage" - a good record as well, but not on par with what came before).

All of Sabbath's main elements are here - the crunchy sound, heavy bone-jarring Tony Iommi guitar riffs that sound as timeless and fresh in 2011 as they did nearly forty years ago, and topics heavily featuring the occult and designed to generally frighten mothers around the globe.

Songs that deliver this signature sound on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" include the title track, and "A National Acrobat" a song that slowly chugs its way forward, complete with lyrics by Ozzy that sound like some dreadful combination of sex ed class and a story by H.P. Lovecraft:

"I am the world that hides the universal secrets of all time
Destruction of the empty spaces is my one and only crime
I've lived a thousand times, I found out what it means to be believed
The thoughts and images the unborn child that never was conceived."

The lyrics only get weirder from here, and it is better for the sanity of both writer and reader if I impart no more of them. Let's just say Ozzie is beginning his final descent into the crazy and strangely insightful world he now inhabits (albeit sober, in more recent days).

Layered on top of this traditional sound, Sabbath is working early synthesizers on tracks like "Killing Yourself to Live" adding a thick fuzzy sound that legions of Seattle grunge bands like Soundgarden would draw inspiration from twenty years later.

And amidst all this heavy metal thunder, the almost classical sounding instrumental "Fluff" appears. A quiet little song that would be more at home on a British folk recording from the sixties. "Fluff" demonstrates Iommi's range with the guitar, showing he can be as gentle as Leona Boyd when he wants to - and yet miraculously avoid sucking. Iommi also plays piano on this, and other tracks on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and acquits himself admirably.

There are only a couple of songs that are lesser, principally "Sabbra Cadabra" a love song, which takes on an ominous tone because of its title. When Ozzy sings:

"Lovely lady, mystifying eyes
Lovely lady, she don't tell me no lies
I know I'll never leave ya
I'm never gonna leave ya anymore no more."

I found myself thinking of the album cover filled with succubi, or any other kind of vampiric spell that takes away your will. That said, despite the promising idea, the music doesn't stand as strong as the other tracks on the album.

While I couldn't go quite as far as to give this record the coveted 5 stars, it came close. A testament to the consistently high standard of art that Black Sabbath was still putting out, five records into their career.

Best tracks: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, A National Acrobat, Fluff, Killing Yourself To Live, Looking For Today

CD Odyssey Disc 270: Black Sabbath

Today I had to go to work just to start clearing out my office. I thought it would be depressing but it was actually OK.

Helping me along both there and back, was yet another kick ass album from the great Black Sabbath. Everything these guys touch turns to rock.

Disc 270 is...Master of Reality

Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1971

What’s Up With The Cover?: Band name, album title, and that's about it. I like this album cover's simplicity and seventies vibe.

How I Came To Know It: After Nick and Spence re-ignited my passion for Sabbath many years ago, this was just me drilling through the collection.

How It Stacks Up: As I've noted in previous reviews, I have 11 Black Sabbath albums. Competition is fierce among these great records, so "Master of Reality" could only manage to lodge itself in at 5th, but that's pretty good.

Rating: 4 stars.

There's not much more to say about Black Sabbath that I haven't said before, so I'll quickly recap (the Father of all heavy metal, one of the greatest rock bands ever) and then move on to "Master of Reality" in particular.

The first thing that jumped out at me was Bill Ward's drumming on this album. He really hits them hard, and more often than not is delivering a complicated rythym that is just as important as Tony Iommi's guitar in creating the driving riffs on this record. This is particularly noticeable on "Children of the Grave" and during the bridge of "Sweet Leaf" which is one third Iommi guitar solo, one third Ward drum solo, and one third of them both hammering away at the same time - each making the other sound more interesting.

That is the great thing about listening to Sabbath - even after years of play, there is always something new coming out of their music. They would be great with their guitar riffs alone ("Sweet Leaf" has one of the best riffs ever written), but they are not content with that. They usually have two or three incredible riffs in one song, each of which feeds off the others thematically. Add in complex basslines, the aforementioned drums and the staccato rock chant of Ozzy Osbourne's voice and it is a modern day symphony.

Lyrically, this album is the source of much internet debate; chiefly with respect to "After Forever" which fans and critics alike tend to argue over.

The song's lyrics admonishing people for being hostile to religion, and warn that you'll have to answer for such decisions in the afterlife. I am not a religious persion, but this is certainly Ozzy delivering some of his best stuff. My favourite section:

"I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ.
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced.
Will you be sure when your day is near say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down now you can't retrieve."

I have heard this song many times, and I can't see it being a satirical attack on religion - at most it is Ozzy speaking 'in character' as someone truly devout, warning us of a life of sin. What's more, the theme of making good moral choices - and living with poor ones - is further developed in "Lord of this World", which is a song from the perspective of Lucifer:

"Your world was made for you by someone above
But you choose evil ways instead of love.
You made me master of the world where you exist
The soul I took from you was not even missed."

The best part about both is that it doesn't matter if you are a devout Christian, or a sworn atheist - the songs are incredible. I just wish critics would stop trying to twist Ozzy's lyrics to suit their own worldview, simply because finding themselves at odds with their idols is off-putting. Just accept the art on its own terms and enjoy it.

OK - here endeth my Modernist lesson for the week. While I'm sermonizing, remember to hate Nickelback - listening to Nickelback is a cardinal sin under any ethical code.

On a lighter note, this album is best known for "Sweet Leaf" which is Ozzy's lovesong to marijuana. These lyrics can also be taken at face value - and certainly seem like they were written by someone under the influence of his subject matter. My favourite lines are "you introduced me to my mind" (something Ozzy has a hard time with in recent years) and "I love you sweet leaf - though you can't hear." This last line is second only to Neil Diamond's "And no one heard at all - not even the chair" as greatest lines commenting on the inability for inanimate objects to hear.

The two instrumentals on this album "Embryo" and "Orchid" are both good - typical of Iommi, as he demonstrates his ability to play a light, folksy guitar. I didn't love them, though, and they don't compare to classics like "Fluff" from "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath".

Overall, this album is a work of art, and its only real sin is that it has to stand alongside the many other great Sabbath albums that are giants not only in their own right, but beacons in the history of rock itself. For this reason, I went with 4 stars, but if I allowed half stars it would have made 4.5.

Best tracks: Sweet Leaf, After Forever, Lord of this World, Into the Void

CD Odyssey Disc 194: Black Sabbath

I'm taking a rare break from watching football to do this review. I finished listening to this record on Friday afternoon, but I've had a busy weekend and haven't gotten around to doing this until now.

Besides the Dolphins have already won (23-20 over Green Bay - Yeehaw!) and the three afternoon games all feature teams I don't like (MIN/DAL, SF/OAK, and NYJ/DEN).

So, without further ado,

Disc 194 is...Paranoid
Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1970

What’s Up With The Cover?: I have often wondered this. It looks like a guy in a subpar Halloween costume waiving a plastic sword around. If this is supposed to represent the visions of a paranoid mind, it does a poor job of it.

How I Came To Know It: As I've noted in previous Black Sabbath reviews, I've known the band since I was ten. I knew a lot of the songs off of Paranoid, but never owned it until Sheila bought it for my birthday shortly after we got together (mid-nineties).

How It Stacks Up: I have eleven Black Sabbath albums and "Paranoid" is one of the best in a strong field. I'll say it comes in third.

Rating: 5 stars.

"Paranoid" is a staple in the collection of anyone serious about hard rock or heavy metal. It is one of those albums that everyone owns - if you don't own it, then please don't admit it - why embarrass yourself like that?

Chronologically, it comes second after their self-titled debut earlier the same year. It has a more fully realized sound than the first album to my ear, and avoids the small amounts of noodling that exist on its predecessor.

True, the first song, "War Pigs" is eight minutes long - should we sound a noodle alert? No, we should not - my only regret is that "War Pigs" isn't twelve minutes long.

In fact, with "War Pigs", "Paranoid" and "Iron Man", this record has three of the greatest, most instantly recognizable rock songs ever written.

On this listen I paid closer attention to the lyrics of "Iron Man", which are far more subtle than the whole "heavy bolts of lead/fill his victims full of dread" stuff that we all loved as teenagers. Here's the part that caught my attention this time:

"He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he travelled time
For the future of mankind
Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfold."

I found it interesting that he was supposed to save the world by travelling through time, but once he is transformed, he is shunned by humanity. In doing so, they incite his hatred. Hence by travelling through time to save the people, he actually sets of the string of events that will doom them (and sets himself up as the facilitator of that doom).

More importantly, the song has a kick ass riff, and a Tony Iommi's guitar solo near the end is the master at his best.

Other standouts on this classic are "Hand of Doom" (about drug use, and how it will eventually kill you) and "Fairies Wear Boots" which I believe tells of a fight with some skinheads.

There are no bad songs on this record - its only range is from good to perfect. Sometimes a couple of months after I give a five star review I have second thoughts that I was too generous (Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia" comes to mind). There is no danger of that here. "Paranoid" remains one of the world's most perfect rock albums, and sounds as fresh and interesting today as it ever did, forty years after it was first released.

Best tracks: War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Hand of Doom, Fairies Wear Boots.

CD Odyssey Disc 157: Black Sabbath

The latest disc was so enjoyable, I was glad yesterday when I got home with one song still to play, because it meant I got another full listen today.

Great summer driving music, and the opposite of embarrassing with the top down.

Disc 157 is...The Mob Rules
Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1981

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is totally awesome, that's what. The cover is by artist Greg Hildebrandt who did all kinds of fantasy and sci fi art back in the eighties. Here we have the mob (faceless, of course) and clearly they've been up to no good, as mobs usually are.

How I Came To Know It: I was a big Sabbath fan during the Dio years, and I loved this record. My brother introduced me to it, as he owned it on vinyl, so I played it that way whenever he'd let me. It great to have on disc, but last year I found a copy in good condition on vinyl so I bought. It is good on CD, but it was made for vinyl, and sounds better that way.

How It Stacks Up: I have ten Black Sabbath albums, including one live album. Of the three studio albums with Dio as the lead singer, "The Mob Rules" is second. Put up against all nine studio albums, I'd put it seventh. It isn't bad, it is just that the competition is tight.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I may have mentioned in previous Sabbath reviews, I actually came to know Black Sabbath in this period first, and I will always have a soft spot for Ronnie James Dio.

Dio was an amazing artist that accomplished what now seems impossible; he successfully stepped in for Ozzy Osbourne. Dio didn't just try to emulate Ozzy though - he brought his own unique talents to the band. He made them different - not better, not worse - just gloriously different.

I saw a great piece on Sabbath once that suggested Ozzy sang along with the beat, but Dio sang over top of it. It makes a lot of sense listening to this record.

This album also has a different drummer, with Bill Ward being replaced by career journeyman, Vinny Appice. I really love Appice's drumming, and while not as overt as Dio, he makes his own unique contribution to this record.

Of course, the driving force remains Tony Iommi, and this album has some signature metal riffs. With Dio's operatic style, these riffs lose something of their bluesy quality, but they pick up a hard metal sound that really works. The way Iommi's guitars change when playing with Ozzy to playing with Dio approaches alchemy.

The song "Mob Rules" is a classic, and was used in the movie "Heavy Metal" in a scene where a bunch of bad guys sack a city. I remember when "Heavy Metal" came out it was an R rated animated movie, but my brother took me (he was seven years older, so he got me in). I think he told me not to tell Mom there had been animated sex in the film, in addition to a very large amount of blood and gore. Whether he told me that or not, I'm certain I never told her.

"The Mob Rules" was far and away my favourite song on this album in junior high. I still love it, but I'm also partial to "Country Girl" these days, which takes a traditional English sounding folk tune and morphs it into a furious metal riff.

Despite riffs that are the equal to anything Sabbath recorded, the album slips a little at the end, and "Falling Off the Edge of the World" and "Over and Over" which close out the album are merely very good, but not great.

"The Mob Rules" is not the masterpiece that "Heaven and Hell" (Dio's first Sabbath album) is, but it is an excellent record, and holds a worthy place in the band's discography, and my disc odyssey.

Dio died earlier this year, and I for one am going to miss him. He was one of the good guys in the music industry, and always seemed to stay grounded despite his fame. What's more - the guy could write a great song, and boy could he sing it.

Best tracks: Turn Up the Night, The Sign of the Southern Cross, The Mob Rules, Country Girl, Slipping Away

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

CD Odyssey Disc 6: Black Sabbath

Disc 6 is a desert island disc. One of the greatest records ever made. Without further ado...

Disc 6 is...Vol 4



Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1972

How I Came To Know It: Although I've been a Black Sabbath fan since a tender age, I have to admit that I came to Black Sabbath in the Dio Years and my first love was "Heaven and Hell". I always admired the classic Sabbath, but it wasn't until my buddy Spence (with Nick tag-teaming me in the other ear) reminded me to give the early stuff a new listen. Wow.

How It Stacks Up: I have 11 Sabbath albums (6 Ozzy, 4 Dio and 1...er...Ian Gillan). Vol 4 is the greatest Sabbath album ever made. And that is saying a lot.
Rating: 5 stars, but only because the system only goes to 5.

Vol 4 has everything you could want in a Black Sabbath album - everything that makes them arguably the founders of an entire musical movement (Heavy Metal) and unquestionably one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Ozzy is at his peak, Iommi's guitar solos are awesome, and Bill Ward's drums have that precise, but somehow ominously hollow drums beats. Geezer also great.

Many of Vol 4's greatest tracks have this incredible riff, followed by another completely different, equally incredible riff in the same song, perfectly playing off one another back and forth. Then, in the midst of this perfect balance comes heavy drum or a guitar solo. And the solos do not soar pointlessly over the top of the song - they form a part of the song. Half the time you find yourself listening to the solo, half the time the driving riff. You can just slip back and forth seamlessly, or take it all in together - it just depends on what you want right then.

The opening of Wheels of Confusion is this otherworldly sound that puts you a little off, and then rescues you with driving guitar. 8 minutes later the song has gone through at least 3 separate stages, each one of which would stand alone as an incredible rock piece. At this point, you are only 1 track in.

"Changes" reminds us all of the confusion of a broken heart when we are new to the experience. It is on a level with Alice Cooper's "18" in capturing the emotional intensity and directionless of a young man who first sees the world stripped of romance. It is disillusionment, it is deep, dark and painfully raw. It is Sabbath on piano.

Track 5 is quite simply one of the greatest driving rock songs ever written, from the opening high hat, through the dirty guitar, to Ozzy's screeching vocals honouring a space traveler that is too cool to be an astronaut - he could only be...a Supernaut. Every time I hear this track, I want to be a Supernaut, and every time my wish is granted.

Tomorrow's Dream, Snowblind, St. Vitus Dance - all tracks that on any other album would be the greatest track available. On Vol 4 they are just another great track - as Sabbath unrelentingly lays down excellence.

Vol 4 is 37 years old. It is still as heavy an album as anything the world has heard since. Later bands have been busier, they have been angrier, and they have been louder - but none have been heavier.

If you don't own this album - go buy it. If you own this album, go put it on. Seriously, stop reading this and go put it on. You're welcome.

Best tracks: All tracks.