Released: 1976
Tracks: Black Sabbath; The Wizard; Paranoid; War Pigs; Iron Man; Tomorrow’s Dream; Fairies Wear Boots; Changes; Sweet Leaf; Children of the Grave; Sabbath Bloody Sabbath; Am I Going Insane (Radio); Snowblind; N.I.B.
Best track: Black Sabbath
Tracks to skip: Changes, Am I Going Insane
The 2CD set, Symptom of the Universe, would probably be a little bit more desirable than this, but if you want a cheap and easy introduction to Black Sabbath, then this is it. I don’t listen to this near as much as I used to, but it’s still pretty good. Sabbath were a pretty important band, esp. on heavy music. This stuff isn’t all ground-breaking, but it’s enjoyable. Mostly, the songs are pretty good. The first one (also the first track on their debut) is probably the greatest thing they ever did. It’s still just the heaviest riff ever and such a creepy song. It’s an excellent song and the perfect choice for the opening of this.
There’s always going to be some songs that don’t quite measure up (Changes, Am I Going Insane), but most of these songs are pretty good and deserved classics. Changes is really bad though. I mean, it’s a freaking love song! The same damn band that writes “Black Sabbath” also comes up with this AWFUL love song. I could at least give it some points if it were a good song, but it’s really just bad. The piano part is really basic and the mellotron is SO drippy. Too cheesy for me. Am I Going Insane is a really dumb song as well; it reminds me of the bad Kiss songs from the late 70’s. I don’t care for Tomorrow’s Dream too much either, but the chord progression on the chorus is pretty cool. I like Snowblind as a composition, but Tony Iommi’s guitar sounds horribly out of tune. It hurts to listen to it.
While I’m going on about the negative stuff here, the lyrics (I assume all written by Ozzy?) are uniformly bad. OK, they get points for War Pigs, but most have bad lyrics. Iron Man may be the worst (besides Changes). I still really dig the music, but the words are very bad in a hilarious way. Lyrics aside, the music parts of the songs are all pretty well written and I that’s what I focus on anyway. Most of these songs are really good. There are some omissions on this, but it’s a great place to start. I enjoy it.
Rating: 85
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