01. Black Sabbath Paranoid 1970 (Vertigo)
Heavy Metal
How to bludgeon the listener into submission.
Overview
In September 1970 Black Sabbath released their second set
Paranoid and in the few months since the release of their debut album (at no.6 on this list) they had managed to refine their sound significantly.
Paranoid would quite simply launch Black Sabbath into the major league and finally deliver 'heavy metal' to the masses. As one of the most famous album in metaldom,
Paranoid just about makes a high position on just about every best metal and guitar list out there. For the actual recording of the album, gone would be the extensive jamming and filler that had plagued side-two of the their debut, to be replaced by far tighter and more focused songs, songs that would go on to become timeless metal classics. The band also had the foresight and the good fortune to release the title track of the album, before the release of the album proper, thus giving them the perfect launchpad for the album itself. I've often read how the song "Paranoid" was just a last minute addition to the album itself as they were actually short of a song, Tony Iommi had the riff and the rest of the band worked off that. It often seems, the rock is littered with great songs which often came from last ditch efforts. Also the song "Paranoid" was one of the lighter efforts on the album and therefore was an ideal choice for a lead single. As for the album itself, the music would now be far more focused and tightened up in every aspect. The band greatly extended their subject matter beyond that of the occult that had dominated on their debut album and they now included subjects such as death, war, nuclear annihilation, the supernatural and drug abuse. The album would again be produced by Rodger Bain, who had been on production duties on their debut and again the compositions would be real band efforts. The album itself was originally going to be called "War Pigs" but with the label fearing a backlash in the USA due to the then ongoing Vietnam War, they refrained from using that name and went with "Paranoid" instead.
Ozzy Osbourne- Vocals
Tony Iommi- Guitar
Geezer Butler- Bass
Bill Ward- Drums
Production- Rodger Bain
Album
War Pigs- The opening track on the debut album started off with church bells, these are now replaced with with an air-raid siren for "War Pigs". The song gradually picks up before going through a series of amazing stop-start dynamics lasting around 7 minutes, it's an anti-war song and also a band classic.
Paranoid- The title track/lead single is catchy and instantly infectious, an amazing 2.50 minute blast of a song.
Planet Caravan- Sabbath quite often would mx up their trademark bludgeoning sound with softer numbers and none came more trippy than this song, another essential.
Iron Man- The slow opening pounding of "Iron Man" must have amazed listeners at the time, with its ultra slow and highly original opening. The song then gradually picks up the pace and eventually finishes up by going into one of metal's most identifiable guitar riffs, possibly the best track on the whole album.
Electric Funeral- Almost seems like a continuation of "Iron Man" with it's doomy feel and subject matter, another album favourite.
Hand of Doom- Another slow intro and a song about drug abuse and the Vietnam War. The song finally jumps up another gear in pace, I could listen to this song all day.
Rat Salad- The band had got their lengthy jamming sessions wrong on their debut album, but here they get it just right and some great drumming by Bill Ward.
Fairies Wear Boots- Delightful title which came about after a cannabis session, the song again has quite simply an amazing pace with a throbbing rhythm section throughout, before an amazing phase out section to finish the album......and you know you've just heard a classic. I swear Van Halen swiped that opening few seconds from the song intro.
Verdict
An album perfect in every aspect and a 'bona fide' metal classic without any shadow of a doubt, that is full of stellar tracks and some amazing playing by the band. The leaps and bounds that the band made in such a short period of time since their debut was outstanding and in many ways reminiscent of what the Beatles had achieved a couple of years earlier in terms of musical progress. The tightness of the songs, the playing and the diversity are at times simply outstanding. Music critics have in hindsight, often pointed to other material by other bands around at the same time, that had a similar musical content as Sabbath around this time, but none of these bands did it as well as Sabbath and they certainly didn't have an album's worth of the same quality material either. No other band could match the dark subject matter that Sabbath were putting out around this time either. As stated above, the band were covering topics in their songs such as death, war, nuclear annihilation, the supernatural and drug abuse. Other bands throughout the decade would touch on these areas but it wouldn't be until the arrival of thrash in the 1980s, that metal could ever sound so evil again. On a musical level, the stop start dynamics, along with the slow-fast feel of most of the songs, were beyond what any of their rivals were doing. It was on this album that I feel that Tony Iommi earned his title 'The Godfather of Heavy Metal'. The rhythm section of both Geezer Butler and Bill Ward on certain songs, are just simply throbbing with raw power and Ozzy just seems at one with practically every song on the album. The album quite often gets lauded as one of metal's most revered works, if you doubt that for one minute, then give this album a listen and you'll see why.