Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Advantages: Rock supremo singing + best band EVER
Disadvantages: Erm, where to begin...

...So there was I about to start tidying/packing for my leaving on Friday when I suddenly realised that there was a Black Sabbath album that I hadn't listened to in ages....then the thought of a review came upon me and alas my room will remain a pigsty and my bags will stay unpacked for the next wee while.... ************* Background ************* Okay, so hands up who doesn't know who Black Sabbath are...any offers? If so then for early background I've written more Black Sabbath reviews then anything else, and pinkmatchstick also has several brilliant ones. To get to the point, Black Sabbath were originally fronted by the self-titled Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne for the first 8 albums (the first 6 of which are ALL classics, the next 2 are just reasonable), then Ozzy left and Ronnie James Dio, him of small stature... Read review

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Advantages: sees Sabbath beginning to experiment successfully with new textures
Disadvantages: lots of instrumental

...BLACK SABBATH VOL.4 1: Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener (8:14) 2: Tomorrow's Dream (3:12) 3: Changes (4:46) 4: FX (1:43) 5: Supernaut (4:45) 6: Snowblind (5:31) 7: Cornucopia (3:54) 8: Laguna Sunrise (2:52) 9: St. Vitus Dance (2:29) 10: Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes (5:50) Yet another groundbreaking powerhouse recording featuring some excellent guitar work. This includes great classics like Tomorrow's Dream, Changes, Supernaut, Snowblind, and Laguna Sunrise Black Sabbath VOL. 4 is a must have addition to any Black Sabbath collection released: early september 1972 the album features some of Sabbaths most memorble tracks and sees Sabbath beginning to experiment successfully with new textures such as strings, piano, orchestration and multi-part songs.. Yet the classic Sabbath sound is still very much in evidence... Read review

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Advantages: The noble exit of the original headbangers.
Disadvantages: New material mediocre at best.

...Black Sabbath -the name itself should be more than enough to send a delightful shiver down the spine of any metal fan. The name is steeped in musical legend - Black Sabbath were the first, and the greatest, heavy metal band. Everything which came after them is just pale imitation in comparison. But even so, this album, while it should send me into paroxysms of delight, actually awakened a faint unease in me when I first heard that it was the original line up reformed. There was a faint niggling doubt at the back of my mind. What if they weren’t very good any more? To start with let me say that this album crackles with live energy. If anything that has improved with time, and Ozzy has an almost electric ability to communicate with the crowd. It is an impressive feat that the producers manage to bring across that kind... Read review

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