Comments on: Black Sabbath

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:54:56 +0000

I’m at the age where I take “you youngsters” as a compliment

Now, where did I put the “No Kettles” t-shirt?

By: Paul Bartlett

Paul Bartlett — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:49:25 +0000

Tim

“Black Sabbath, despite some of their Hammer Horror imagery, were never really the Satanic band portrayed in some sections of the media. ”

BUT they were a very heavy band compared to the remainder of the College circuit of 1971-2, with its mixture of prog, folk, and blues. At Essex Uni they appeared in a room with a ceiling no higher than Fibbers, and not much bigger – an experience few of you “youngsters” could hope to experience. Stood only about 5 yards from the band they certainly left a lasting impression – and this was intentional and a certain amount of “Hammer horror” appears to have been intentional – remembering Hammer also didn’t take themselves seriously!
See you May 12?
Best wishes
Paul

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:30:42 +0000

Children Of The Sea is the most Rainbowish song on the album, both lyrically and musically. Sounds more Rainbow than Sabbath and could easily have fitted nicely on the Long Live Rock n Roll album. For me, it pushes the title track closest along with Lonely Is The Word. Neon Knights? Great song. I used to have it on a 45 as well. Just checked my hit singles book, and it reached a high of 22 in the charts in July 1980. How times have changed!

I really like Tony Iommi’s style of lead guitar throughout the album and I agree with your comment about RJD. Ozzy’s voice suited the style of the early albums, but RJD is different gravy. The kind of medieval imagery he conjures up has always appealed to me.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:53:48 +0000

And I’d have to agree with that!

For me, at least, Heaven and Hell is the definitive Black Sabbath record for all the reasons you say. Absolutely no filler, and several absolute classics (I’d add “Neon Knights” and “Children of the Sea” to that list). Yes, it’s as much the follow-up to Rainbow’s “Long Live Rock and Roll” as it is a traditional Black Sabbath album, and it’s none the worse for that.

Ronnie Dio (RIP) is still the greatest hard rock/metal singer of all time.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:47:13 +0000

I would agree that SBS is the best of the Ozzy era albums, but my favourite Sabbath album by some distance is Heaven & Hell. There are a lot of melodic passages throughout the album and I like the way the songs come across as a blend of both Sabbath and early Rainbow. A different sounding album to what had gone before and a collection of very high quality songs. None more so than the title track itself. Always been a regular in the CD player.