• AllMyVinyl #31
• Band: Black Sabbath
• Album Title: Black Sabbath
• Release Date: 13 Feb 1970
• Date purchased: N/A
• Location purchased: Label comp
• Color of vinyl: purple swirl
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

One of the most influential hard rock/metal albums of all time is today’s album on my pilgrimage.  What the hell could I possibly write about this album that hasn’t already been said in the FIFTY FOUR years since its original release?  Not much, but I’ll say a few things.

First off, my history with this album. It was not the first album of theirs I got.  I got into Sabbath in 1981 when Mob Rules was current.  I bought the Ozzy era backwards.  First was Paranoid (at random), and the others came at an order I can’t remember now 40 years later.  Back then it was just CD’s.  I never got this on vinyl until relatively recently.  I had a few different versions on CD.  The US domestic copy, the 1996 Castle remaster, and a 2009 Deluxe edition, plus the version that came in the Black Box set from 2004.  So I have many different versions to choose from when playing this (including my old Warner pre-recorded cassette).  But as this is a vinyl project..  I have two copies of it on vinyl.  One is from the “Ten Year War” set from 2017, and one from the more recent Hand of Doom set where all the albums are picture discs.  Oddly, neither of my copies is a regular black vinyl copy.

What is this that stands before me?

I mean, what can I say?  It opens so well with the thunderstorm sound effect, and leans immediately into Tony Iommi’s guitar sound opening the song “Black Sabbath”.  That first song is just so groundbreaking.  The first song by Black Sabbath on the album Black Sabbath is titled Black Sabbath.  I always loved that.  Such a statement having THAT song be the first one sets the table for everything that comes from it.

The Wizard, the second track is one I always felt was underrated.  The riff, the harmonica, the vocal melody.  This song is spectacular.  I was super happy when Sabbath brought it back for the Cross Purposes tour – was a major surprise.  Love that song.

The rest of the album is pretty awesome with one exception I’ll get into in a moment.  I’m not listing all the songs, because honestly, it will just be me saying “Well, this one was awesome too”.   I do really love the extended jamming in Warning.  There’s some great stuff there.  Sleeping Village has a great sound.  Evil Woman I always thought was weird, like it didn’t fit, but I still liked the song.

Which brings us to N.I.B. – my “hot take” if you will.  The song doesn’t do anything for me.  I can’t tell you why.  It just is one I usually skip over when it comes on (although I did listen today).  I texted this take to a friend of mine earlier when I listened to it and I got beat up by him in text with this…  “That’s a terrible take. NIB is about as flawless of a hard rock song as they come. So that I find totally shocking haha. “We need an MRI of when you’re listening to this so we can learn more! This needs to be studied.”

But bottom line – a nearly flawless album that launches the career of Black Sabbath.  Some amazing playing by Butler, Ward, & Iommi – and Ozzy’s vocals on this album match the music perfectly.  It’s a supremely awesome combination of music, and on the million to one chance you’re reading this and don’t know it, what the hell are you waiting for?  Go listen to this – it’s awesome and might just open your mind to a musical path you’ve never taken before.