May 1970 and the world is dealt the debut album by Tony Iommi(guitar),Bill Ward(drums),Geezer Butler(bass) and Ozzy Osbourne(vocals). I’m sure if you dig deep into the real roots of Metal there may be bands that came before them but for myself this album is the beginnings of Metal! Slow,brooding riffs courtesy of Iommi (and his missing fingertips that he lost in a factory accident),Geezer’s fuzz like distorted bass blasted thru his amps,Bill Wards drum jazz like playing fused together with Iommi and Geezers sonics all meshed together with a very young Ozzy many years before he Barked At The Moon. Playing the role of a actual frontman before Hollywood and Sharon drove his stock into the toilet until he regrouped in the studio with Sabbath for there ripping good time all things doom classic 13 album back in 2013!
My first foray into Sabbath was late 1981 I was onboard with the Dio fronted Mob Rules but a fellow that me and Tbone hung out with at the time named Dave Cunis(MIA) had all the Sabbath and once after I came out from behind Kiss’ Flop A Roo album The Elder and I hear Dave telling us how great Sabbath is (and sure they and still are but I will tell Ya all now that I appreciate these guys more now at age 48 than I did 30 years ago at age 18!) Perhaps one reason I didn’t wrap my noggin around the Sabbath fronted Ozzy at the time was he was out of Sabbath back in 1978 and I was drooling over the awesome Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman albums featuring Randy Rhoads(RIP) slaying and shredding on his guitar that were recorded with Ozzy! Why go back? Ummmm yeah dumb ass move on my part!
Sabbath has forged a place,there own niche so to speak so perhaps it’s time to toss down some Yammering on some Sabbath and please feel free to read along as I go through each Sabbath album….
Starting……Now!
BLACK SABBATH-Audio sonics of pelting rain and thunder well basically a real dose of doom and gloom! There’s Iommi and his crack of doom riffs that begin followed by the crash of Bills drums and Geezers bass. The song gears down to a halt and here’s Ozzzzzzzzzzzy! “What is this that stands before me’? sings Ozzy. Yikes! This is creepy metal! Black Sabbath the tune sets the table folks it limps along dragging my senses into a fog hazed drug induced tonic of wham bam thank you Satan mam into a different musical land! Like many other Sabbath tracks this song ramps up and chills back down. Pure genius! 1970 and Sabbath are driving stakes thru the hearts of a hippie generation!
THE WIZARD-Is that seriously Ozzy on Harmonica? Say whaa!? The Wizard drives along and picks up pace after the opening song! Sabbath tosses down the gauntlet that it’s not all gonna be dooming and glooming but there can be a little bit of a uptick in the beat (just a bit). The Wizard is a damn good catchy song! Watch the video posted and yup that’s the album cover of Black Sabbath! What a eery creepy cover but it’s kinda cool with the witch n all!
WASP/BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP/BASICALLY/N.I.B- Bill Ward plays some doom like jazz drumming with a Satan Shuffle tossed in for good measure along with Iommi and Geezer laying down some serious law on guitar and bass respectively. 9 minutes 44 seconds of all things heavy! Ozzy is first heard in the right side of your speaker than the left side than both sides! Trippy dudes these cats! The rawness of the music is really something with Tony nailing solo after solo and Geezer slamming down bass line after bass line! Bill keeps the beat a grooving until a fade out at which time Geezer is heard riffing that famous bass intro to N.I.B!
WICKED WORLD-Quick like drum shuffle along with guitar and bass! Lots of different time signatures going on here. Almost a Jazz tune but played at loud volume while Ozzy loads up literally and belts it out.
A BIT OF FINGER/SLEEPING VILLAGE/WARNING-Acoustic guitar begins this 14 minute song. Ozzy man sounds in pain vocally here but that was probably the vibe he was shooting for and before long the acoustic is gone and here’s Sabbath jammimg electric. This is a different Sabbath as there doing long jams but they don’t bore you as a listener!
EVIL WOMAN- Dig the interplay between Geezer and Tony along with Bill and Ozzy! Snappy little chorus! Ozzy sings Evil Woman don’t play those games with me” The guitar sound is pretty raw on this album but it’s got a great sound to it considering this album is 46 years old this year! That’s nuts!
Up next ……PARANOID!
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