Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

© Black Sabbath

© Black Sabbath

Key Facts

Country: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Genre: Heavy Metal

Release Date: 13th February 1970

Record Label: Vertigo

Highest UK Album Chart Position: 8 (7th March 1970)

Band Members:

Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals, Harmonica

Tony Iommi - Guitar

Geezer Butler - Bass

Bill Ward - Drums

Production Personel:

Roger Bain - Production

Tom Allom - Engineering

Barry Sheffield - Engineering

Marcus Keef - Graphic Design, Photography

Review

Rating (Out of 5 🤘): 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Favourite Track: The Wizard/N.I.B

Where to start with this monolithic piece of heavy metal history? An album that is considered the birth of heavy metal, an album that has influenced so many bands and artists with its doom laden grooves and heavy blues riffs. For me though, and to be completely cliche, it is the lighting of a very passionate fire that still burns very brightly to this day. Black Sabbath paved the way for so many of us and 50 or so years on, still resonating with old and new audiences alike.

My uncle introduced me to Black Sabbath alongside Led Zeppelin and the guitar god Jimi Hendrix at around about the age of 11 if my memory serves me right. I fell in love with that blues sound and it is incredibly evident in my guitar playing and songwriting. As many of us can agree, the experience of hearing the title track for the first time is an experience that cannot be forgotten. With inspiration from the occult, drugs, Tolkien, Lovecraft and paranormal experiences fuelling this monstrous album it's not hard to see why it stuck out like a sore thumb in the 1970s and left a lasting legacy on the music world today. 

First, let's get the production stuff covered. Anyone who knows me, will know how much I love the rock drum mixing from the late 60s and 70s. The majority of 70s rock records I've listened to have had the tightest sounding drum kit, not to mention Bill Ward's playing, and there was always loads of space to fit the bass with next to no sonic conflict, Black Sabbath is no exception. Just start to finish the album is mix pornography as far as I'm concerned, still rough around the edges but very professional. 

"Once we'd finished, we spent a couple of hours double-tracking some of the guitar and vocals, and that was that. Done. We were in the pub in time for last orders. It can't have taken any longer than twelve hours in total. That's how albums should be made, in my opinion." - Ozzy Osbourne, I Am Ozzy (2010)

Guitarist Tony Iommi stated "We just went in the studio and did it in a day, we played our live set and that was it. We actually thought a whole day was quite a long time, then off we went the next day to play for £20 in Switzerland." and the essence, energy and theatrics of Sabbath's live performance is definitely captured in the recording. So it could be argued that Black Sabbath is in fact a live album considering the time frame it was recorded in. The songs themselves though have charm and swing, they make you want to move in fantastic ways as well as head-banging (or sit back with a spliff, whatever floats your boat). While they follow some traditional blues elements, they jazz influence of Django Reinhardt can definitely be heard in Tony's playing as there is so much feel in the riffs and they aren't even overly flashy. Geezer's bass playing is so locked in with Bill's drumming it's hypnotic, which leaves plenty of space for Tony's lead playing and Ozzy's classic vocals.

Overall, this album will never be forgotten as long as metal and rock music is alive and thriving. Maybe in 300 years when school kids are studying "classical" music this album is on the list. Its impact, its music and lyrical themes were groundbreaking at the time, and from those cracks a new genre, culture and musical movement was unleashed. I may be biased because I love Black Sabbath, but this is a timeless classic in both metal and classic rock categories, a must listen to new metalheads!

References

Osbourne, O., (2010), I Am Ozzy, Grand Central Publishing

Black, J., (2009), Black celebration: the holy grail of Black Sabbath, Music Week, https://web.archive.org/web/20120305025601/http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=2&storycode=1037239