BLACK SABBATH

We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll is a compilation album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, originally released in January 1976 in the UK[1] and 3 February 1976 in the US. Album information When Black Sabbath signed with NEMS, the label which would release their 1975 album Sabotage in the UK, NEMS acquired the band's back catalogue and wasted little time compiling this release. Authorized without the band's awareness by their previous manager, Patrick Meehan, the band would make no money whatsoever from the release.[citation needed] Although the band had six studio albums to its name at this point, this compilation drew heavily on the first four albums: this would also be a feature of most of the Osbourne-era compilations later released. The original UK gatefold album, with a matte finish, featured a woman in a coffin holding what looks like a tin foil cross. Additionally, the original record retained Geezer Butler's bass solo before "N.I.B.", but this would be edited from later issues. Some US copies of the LP do not actually include "Wicked World" on the label or on the record itself, though it does appear on the cover. In the UK, "Wicked World" had been only a B-side and was relatively obscure. Despite the album being an official release, Iommi has been quoted as saying that the first time the band knew of it was when asked to autograph copies which fans presented after concerts.[citation needed] Reception Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating AllMusic [2] Robert Christgau (C)[3] The Rolling Stone Album Guide [4] It was certified Silver in the UK by the BPI on 1 October 1976.[5] In the US the RIAA certified the album as Gold on 7 February 1980, Platinum on 13 May 1986 and 2x Multi-Platinum (generally known as 'Double Platinum' outside the offices of the RIAA) on 16 March 2000.[6] Track listing [7][8] All tracks are written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, except where noted Side A No. Title Writer(s) Original release Length 1. "Black Sabbath" 1970 ~ Black Sabbath 6:20 2. "The Wizard" 1970 ~ Black Sabbath 4:22 3. "Warning" Aynsley DunbarAlex DmochowskiVictor HicklingJohn Moorshead 1970 ~ Black Sabbath 10:30 Side B No. Title Original release Length 4. "Paranoid" 1970 ~ Paranoid 2:45 5. "War Pigs" 1970 ~ Paranoid 7:55 6. "Iron Man" 1970 ~ Paranoid 5:47 7. "Wicked World" 1970 ~ [Non album B Side single] 4:35 Side C No. Title Original release Length 8. "Tomorrow's Dream" 1972 ~ Vol. 4 3:06 9. "Fairies Wear Boots" 1970 ~ Paranoid 6:07 10. "Changes" 1972 ~ Vol. 4 4:41 11. "Sweet Leaf" 1971 ~ Master of Reality 5:02 12. "Children of the Grave" 1971 ~ Master of Reality 5:15 Side D No. Title Original release Length 13. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" 1973 ~ Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 5:43 14. "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" 1975 ~ Sabotage 4:20 15. "Laguna Sunrise" 1972 ~ Vol. 4 2:49 16. "Snowblind" 1972 ~ Vol. 4 5:25 17. "N.I.B." 1970 ~ Black Sabbath 5:51 Personnel Ozzy Osbourne – lead vocals, harmonica Tony Iommi – guitar, piano and Mellotron on Changes, synthesizer on ,Am I Going Insane (Radio) Geezer Butler – bass, Mellotron on Changes Bill Ward – drums, percussion

Heaven and Hell is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 April 1980. It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1979. Produced by Martin Birch, the album was a commercial success, particularly in the United States, where it reached number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum for one million sales.[3] In the UK, it sold well enough to be certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in April 1982. Overview The initial sessions for what became Heaven and Hell began with Ozzy Osbourne following the conclusion of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! Tour. The band convened in Los Angeles for eleven months to record a new album, a process described by guitarist Tony Iommi as a "highly frustrating, never-ending process". Osbourne has stated that he had become fed up with the experimentation on the preceding albums Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!, preferring the band's earlier, heavier sound. In his memoir, Iommi revealed that he still possesses a recording featuring Osbourne singing an early version of what would become "Children of the Sea" with different lyrics and "a totally different" vocal melody.[4] Ronnie James Dio was introduced to Iommi in 1979 by Sharon Arden, who would later marry Osbourne.[5] Initially, Dio and Iommi discussed forming a new band, rather than a continuation of Black Sabbath.[5] The pair met again by chance at The Rainbow on Sunset in Los Angeles later that year.[6] Both men were in similar situations: Dio was seeking a new project and Iommi required a vocalist. "It must have been fate," Dio recalled, "because we connected so instantly."[6] The pair kept in touch via telephone until Dio arrived at Iommi's Los Angeles house for a relaxed, getting-to-know-you jam session. On that first day, the duo finished "Children of the Sea",[6] a song Iommi had abandoned prior to Osbourne's firing. "Sabbath was a band that was floundering," Dio observed. "And, with my inclusion in it, we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, cared a lot about each other, and knew that we could do it again – especially under the banner of a band that had been so successful."[7] Sabbath's line-up was in a state of chaos as the band prepared to enter the studio to record what would become Heaven and Hell. Not only had the band replaced its longtime vocalist, but drummer Bill Ward was battling personal issues that would see him also leave the band within months. Demo recordings for the album, including song titles like "Lady Evil Blues", "Slap Back", "Lord She's Handsome" and an early version of the title track[8] featured Geoff Nicholls on bass, as longtime bassist Geezer Butler was going through a divorce and his future with the band was in question.[6] When Dio first joined the band, he doubled for a short time as bassist and vocalist,[5] having played bass in the band Elf in the early 1970s. At one point Iommi contacted close friend Frank Zappa for help finding a bassist.[5] Zappa offered his bassist for the Heaven and Hell sessions but Iommi preferred a permanent member.[5] Eventually, Butler returned to the band and Nicholls stayed on as the band's unofficial keyboardist.[6] Former Elf and Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber also rehearsed with the band, though the extent of his involvement is unclear. In a 1996 interview, Iommi stated that Gruber participated only "for a bit".[9] Gruber has stated that his contribution was quite substantial; he says he cowrote most of Heaven and Hell's songs and that it was he and not Butler who played bass on the album.[10] Despite not being credited for his contributions, Gruber says he and the band nonetheless reached "a suitable financial arrangement".[10] Iommi conceded in his 2011 autobiography that Gruber had indeed recorded all the bass parts on Heaven and Hell, but Butler had re-recorded them upon his return, without listening to Gruber's bass tracks. Gruber later stated in an interview in 2009 that he only helped write "Die Young".[11] Personal issues aside, drummer Bill Ward was not completely happy with the direction Black Sabbath was moving in creatively. "Heaven and Hell for me wasn't a turning point," he recalled. "Heaven and Hell was the beginning of a new band of which I had no idea what band I was in. It was almost like Ron was capable of coming up with lyrics that seemed to fit his idea of how Black Sabbath ought to be, and I sensed a kind of unrealness about the lyrics. My favourite song on Heaven and Hell was a blues song that we did, 'Lonely Is the Word' – and that seemed to be real. But things like 'Lady Evil', they seemed almost like bandwagon-type lyrics. 'Lonely Is the Word', I definitely liked playing that song. And 'Children of the Sea' – I did like to play that too. I thought Ronnie was a very good singer."[12] Black Sabbath performing in Cardiff in 1981 Heaven and Hell was recorded at Miami's Criteria Studios (in which the band recorded Technical Ecstasy) and Studios Ferber [fr] in Paris. Dio suggested the band hire producer Martin Birch, who he had worked with as a member of Rainbow in the 1970s.[6] Birch was Sabbath's first outside producer since the band parted ways with Rodger Bain following 1971's Master of Reality, with Iommi primarily producing the band's albums since that point by himself.[5] Iommi stated that the band felt that they were creating something special in Heaven and Hell. In his memoir, he wrote, "Ozzy would sing with the riff. Just listen to 'Iron Man' and you'll catch my drift: his vocal melody line copies the melody of the music. There was nothing wrong with that, but Ronnie liked singing across the riff instead of with it, come up with a melody that was different from that of the music, which musically opens a lot more doors. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking Ozzy, but Ronnie's approach opened up a new way for me to think." Black Sabbath had a long history of playing pranks on drummer Ward, and this continued during the recording of Heaven and Hell. During a slow day in the studio, Iommi doused Ward with a solution used by studio technicians to clean the tape heads, and he then set light to the solution, which was much more flammable than he had anticipated. Ward suffered third degree burns as a result and still has scars on his legs from the incident.[5] Ward has stated that, due to his alcoholism, he has no memory at all of the period in which the album was recorded.[13] His behaviour became erratic; on the Heaven & Hell Tour, Ward began dictating long and rambling press releases to the band's public relations representatives after every show, instructing them to "get that out on the news wires tonight".[6] Ward's personal issues, which included the deaths of both his parents, would soon force him to leave the band. Dio recalled answering the telephone in his hotel room one morning mid-tour to hear Ward say "I'm off then, Ron", to which Dio replied "That's nice Bill, where are you going?" "No, I'm off mate. I'm at the airport now", indicating that he was incapable of completing the tour.[6] American drummer Vinny Appice was quickly brought in to replace him. The Heaven and Hell album represents the only Sabbath material recorded during the Dio era that does not feature Appice on drums. Artwork Track listing Standard Edition All music written and arranged by Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward; lyrics by Dio[16] Side A No. Title Length 1. "Neon Knights" 3:53 2. "Children of the Sea" 5:34 3. "Lady Evil" 4:26 4. "Heaven and Hell" 6:59 Side B No. Title Length 5. "Wishing Well" 4:07 6. "Die Young" 4:45 7. "Walk Away" 4:25 8. "Lonely Is the Word" 5:51 Total length: 39:46

Never Say Die! is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 29 September 1978.[6] It was the last studio album with the band's original lineup and the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne until the 2013 album 13. It was certified Gold in the U.S. on 7 November 1997[6] and as of November 2011 has sold 133,000 copies in the United States since the SoundScan era.[7] The album received mixed reviews, with critics calling it "unbalanced" and insisting its energy was scattered in too many directions.[8] Recording At the time of the recording of Never Say Die! the members of Black Sabbath were all heavily involved in drug and alcohol abuse. Prior to recording, vocalist Osbourne briefly quit the band and was temporarily replaced by former Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Dave Walker. In 1992, guitarist Tony Iommi explained to Guitar World, "We never wanted him to leave, and I think he wanted to come back – but no one would tell the other how they felt. So we had to bring in another singer and write all new material." The band wrote a handful of songs with Walker, with that short-lived line-up even performing an early version of what would become "Junior's Eyes" on the BBC programme Look Hear.[9] Osbourne eventually rejoined, refusing to sing any of the songs written with Walker.[10] Iommi elaborated in the 1992 Guitar World piece, ... Bill Ward had to sing on one track ("Swinging The Chain") because Ozzy refused to sing it. We ended up having to write in the day so we could record in the evening, and we never had time to review the tracks and make changes. As a result, the album sounds very confused. Osbourne also refused to sing on "Breakout", which remained an instrumental.[11] The songs with Walker were redone; "Junior's Eyes" was rewritten to be about the then-recent death of Osbourne's father. "We had a few internal problems," Osbourne admitted to Sounds magazine. "My father was dying, so that put us out for over three months with the funeral and everything. I left the band for three months before we got back together to record it."[12] However, the writing was on the wall, with Osbourne stating in his memoir I Am Ozzy: "No one really talked about what had happened. I just turned up in the studio one day – I think Bill had been trying to act as peacemaker on the phone – and that was the end of it. But it was obvious things had changed, especially between me and Tony. I don't think anyone's heart was in it anymore." The album was recorded at Sounds Interchange Studios in Toronto.[13] "We went to Toronto to record it, and that's when the problems started," Iommi recalled. "Why Toronto? Because of the tax, really. The studio was booked through brochures because people thought it might be a good one. We got there and it had a dead sound – totally wrong. We couldn't get a real live sound. So what we had to do was rip the carpet up and try to make it as live as we could. They were okay about it, but it took time to get it exactly right. There were no other studios available."[12] In 2001 Iommi elaborated to Dan Epstein of Guitar World, "I booked a studio in Toronto, and we had to find some place to rehearse. So we had this cinema that we'd go into at 10 o'clock in the morning, and it was freezing cold; it was in the heart of winter there, really awful. We'd be there, trying to write songs during the day and go and record them at night." In the same article bassist Geezer Butler added, "Never Say Die was a patch-up kind of an album ... People didn't realize that it was sort of tongue-in-cheek, the Never Say Die! thing. Because we knew that was it; we just knew it was never going to happen again. We did this 10th anniversary tour with Van Halen in 1978, and everybody's going 'Here's to another 10 years!' And I'm going, (rolls eyes) 'Yeah, sure!'" Butler was growing impatient with Osbourne's criticism of his lyrics, telling Guitar World in 1994: "I used to hate doing it towards the end of the Ozzy era. He'd say, 'I'm not singing that.' So you'd have to rethink the whole thing." In the 2004 book How Black Was Our Sabbath, Iommi is quoted as saying, "We were all into silly games ... and we were getting really drugged out ... We'd go down to the sessions and have to pack up because we were too stoned. Nobody could get anything right. We were all over the place. Everybody was playing a different thing." "With Never Say Die!, we were down on our luck," Osbourne reflected to Spin magazine. "We were just a fucking bunch of guys drowning in the fucking ocean. We weren't getting along with each other and we were all fucked-up with drugs and alcohol. And I got fired. It was just a bad thing. You try to lift your head up above water, but eventually the tide sucks you under."[14] In the liner notes for 1998's live Reunion, Ward defended the album: "In the circumstances, I thought we did the best we could. We were taking care of business ourselves, we didn't have millions from the record company and, despite the booze and Ozzy's departure, we tried to experiment with jazz and stuff the way we had in the early days. Songs like 'Johnny Blade' and 'Air Dance' I still like." Osbourne vehemently disagrees in his autobiography, at least as far as the jazz experiments went, calling the instrumental "Breakout" "a jazz band going da-dah-da-dah, DAH, and I just went, Fuck this, I'm off ... The bottom line was that 'Breakout' was stretching it too far for me. With tracks like that on the album, we might as well have been called Slack Haddock, not Black Sabbath. The only impressive thing about a jazz band as far as I was concerned was how much they could drink." While Butler received credit for the lyrics of "Swinging the Chain," they were actually composed by Ward.[10] The sleeve was the band's second (following Technical Ecstasy) to be designed by Hipgnosis. The US and UK releases differed slightly in the faint images of British military pilots seen in the sky. The inner bag featured graphics in keeping with the sleeve and credits, but no lyrics. The aeroplane on the cover appears to be a North American T-6 Texan. The band had rejected an alternate Hipgnosis design featuring masked doctors – an image eventually used for Rainbow's 1981 album Difficult to Cure.[15] Track listing All tracks are written by Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bill Ward) Side A No. Title Length 1. "Never Say Die" 3:50 2. "Johnny Blade" 6:28 3. "Junior's Eyes" 6:42 4. "A Hard Road" 6:04 Side B No. Title Length 5. "Shock Wave" 5:15 6. "Air Dance" 5:17 7. "Over to You" 5:22 8. "Breakout" (instrumental) 2:35 9. "Swinging the Chain" 4:06 Total length: 45:41 Note: track four is titled "Hard Road" on the releases by Vertigo (the UK and Europe) and "A Hard Road" on the ones released by Warner (United States and Canada). Personnel Black Sabbath Tony Iommi – guitar, backing vocals on "A Hard Road" Ozzy Osbourne – lead and backing vocals Geezer Butler – bass guitar, backing vocals on "A Hard Road" Bill Ward – drums, lead vocals on "Swinging the Chain", backing vocals on "A Hard Road" Additional musicians Don Airey – keyboards Jon Elstar – harmonica on "Swinging the Chain" Wil Malone – brass arrangements

Technical Ecstasy is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and released in October 1976 by Vertigo Records. The album received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, peaking at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart[3] and number 51 on the US Billboard 200 Album chart,[4] later being certified Gold by the RIAA in 1997.[5] Composition and recording After frustrating legal battles that accompanied the recording of 1975's Sabotage, Sabbath chose Miami's Criteria Studios for the making of Technical Ecstasy, which continued the band's separation from the doom and darkness that had been a trademark of their earlier albums. "Some people may have heard the band in 1970", noted Iommi, "and be thinking, 'Oh no, not them again!' But if they heard us now, they probably might like us."[6] In the July 2001 issue of Guitar World, Dan Epstein wrote, "The sessions proved extremely relaxing for everyone except Iommi, who was left to oversee the production while the others sunned themselves on the beach." Iommi explained to the same magazine in 1992, "We recorded the album in Miami, and nobody would take responsibility for the production. No one wanted to bring in an outside person for help, and no one wanted the whole band to produce it. So they left it all to me!" In the liner notes to the band's 1998 live album Reunion, Phil Alexander writes that, while the band struggled to finish the album, "rock had spawned a new set of iconoclasts as the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned… Suddenly Sabbath found themselves both unsure of their musical direction and labeled as has-beens." "It's not like now: If you're a heavy metal band, you put out a heavy metal album", Butler explained to Uncut in 2014. "Back then, you had to at least try to be modern and keep up. Punk was massive then and we felt that our time had come and gone." To make matters worse for the band, manager Don Arden began spending more of his time focusing on another of his acts, Electric Light Orchestra, whose 1975 album Face The Music was their first to make the US top ten. Iommi's determination to move Sabbath in a new direction was misguided according to some, with Mick Wall noting in the 2013 book Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe that while future soft rock million-sellers Hotel California and Rumours were just around the corner, "to try and force that sound on Black Sabbath was like trying to put lamb's wool on a suit of armour. It just didn't work, pleasing nobody." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne admitted he had begun to consider leaving the band during this time: "I'd even had a T-shirt made with 'Blizzard of Ozz' written on the front. Meanwhile, in the studio, Tony (Iommi) was always saying, 'We've gotta sound like Foreigner', or 'We've gotta sound like Queen.' But I thought it was strange that the bands we'd once influenced were now influencing us." Osbourne also wrote that the cost of recording in Florida "was astronomical" and that he'd "lost the plot with the booze and the drugs" during the recording of Technical Ecstasy, eventually checking himself into the Stafford County Asylum on his return to England. "That was the beginning of the end, that one", bassist Geezer Butler confessed to Guitar World in 2001. "We were managing ourselves because we couldn't trust anybody. Everybody was trying to rip us off, including the lawyers we'd hired to get us out of our legal mess. It was really just getting to us around then, and we didn't know what we were doing. And obviously, the music was suffering; you could just feel the whole thing falling apart." While the band were recording the album, The Eagles were recording Hotel California in an adjacent studio at Criteria Studios in Miami. "Before we could start recording we had to scrape all the cocaine out of the mixing board", Geezer divulged to Uncut in 2014. "I think they'd left about a pound of cocaine in the board." The Eagles were forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall.[7] Technical Ecstasy's lyrics dealt with a variety of topics. Tony Iommi's autobiography Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath reveals that "Dirty Women" was about "all these hookers" Butler had seen around Florida. "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" is about "a transvestite who becomes President of the United States", Butler told biographer Mick Wall in 2013, "because America was such a misogynistic society at the time." As with their previous two albums, the band continued experimenting with keyboards and synthesisers on Technical Ecstasy. The music itself was less dark and more atypical than that of previous albums, especially on the ballads "It's Alright" and "She's Gone". The ballad "It's Alright" was written and sung by drummer Bill Ward. Initially reluctant to sing the song for fear of offending Osbourne, he was encouraged by the band to do it.[7] In his autobiography, Osbourne praises the performance, enthusing, "He's got a great voice, Bill, and I was more than happy for him to do the honours." It was released as a single because, said Iommi, "We want to break out as far as we can… so we've decided to hit the singles market."[6] It has since been covered live by Guns N' Roses, and was included on their Live Era '87–'93 album. It was also featured in the 2010 film It's Kind of a Funny Story. Artwork The cover art was designed by Hipgnosis. Osbourne once described it as "two robots screwing on an escalator".[8] Hipgnosis' Storm Thorgerson, who had been assisted by graphic designer George Hardie, discussed the cover with Zoom magazine in 1979:[9] "We're very fond of that cover. From the title of the piece, Technical Ecstasy, I thought of something ecstatic rather than something technical, and I immediately thought of ecstasy in sexual terms: some sort of mechanical copulation, which would be tricky to do. I then thought of ecstasy as falling in love, perhaps during a brief encounter on an escalator – and, since it was 'technical', I thought of two robots ... It's really quite simple – he's just done curves for the female and hard, angular, macho lines for the male. It's really quite sexist, actually – stereotyped. Anyway, it's love at first sight, but I felt robots wouldn't do it like humans would do it, so instead they're squirting lubricating fluid at one another." The UK release had a two-sided insert of lyrics and credits. Tour During the subsequent 1977 European tour in support of Technical Ecstasy, the band was supported by AC/DC.[7] The relationship between bassist Geezer Butler and AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young was quite tense.[7] Guitarist Tony Iommi recalls the atmosphere between the two being "heavy" and that the pair did not get along at all.[7] Ward's drum tech Graham Wright and Osbourne's personal assistant David Tangye stated in their 2004 book How Black Was Our Sabbath that the problems between the two originated after a show the two bands performed earlier in Switzerland.[10] An altercation occurred in an hotel bar in which Butler removed a switch-blade comb from his pocket and opened it. Young thought it was a switchblade knife and believed Butler was pointing it at him.[10] In the Bon Scott biography Highway To Hell: The Life and Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott, Clinton Walker writes of the tour: "Sabbath, by 1976, were well past their prime, and AC/DC were all but blowing them right off the stage. Substance abuse in the band was rampant." Graham and Tangye also disclose that during the tour drummer Ward had begun driving from gig to gig in a rented Winnebago due to a fear of flying. Osbourne briefly left following the Technical Ecstasy Tour. Although he would eventually return for the follow-up Never Say Die!, the band temporarily replaced him with former Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker. The band wrote a handful of songs with Walker, and performed an early version of what would become "Junior's Eyes" on the BBC programme Look Hear with him. Reception Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating AllMusic [11] The Rolling Stone Album Guide [12] The album received mixed reviews, with Phil Alexander writing in 1998, "While today hardcore Sabs fans defend some of the bold steps taken on Technical Ecstasy, it was a confused offering which still hit Number 13 in the UK but limped into the US charts at 52." In 2001, Guitar World was less kind, calling it perhaps the "least-loved effort of the original lineup" with the band "trying to stretch its sound in several different directions, none of them exceptionally successful." It deemed "Rock 'N' Roll Doctor" "a bad Kiss imitation" while eschewing "It's Alright" as "a sub-par Paul McCartney-style pop ballad." In 2013 Mojo magazine opined, "Technical Ecstasy is the sound of Sabbath trying to make a grown-up, radio-friendly rock record and, in some parts, it works ... Mostly, however, it doesn't with tracks like 'Back Street Kids', 'Rock 'N' Roll Doctor' and 'Dirty Women' resorting to clichéd and ill-fitting rock moves." Greg Prato of AllMusic agrees "it was not on par with Sabbath's exceptional first five releases", but praises "Dirty Women", the "funky" "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" and the "raging opener" "Back Street Kids". In 1992, Iommi admitted to Guitar World: "Black Sabbath fans generally don't like much of Technical Ecstasy. It was really a no-win situation for us. If we had stayed the same, people would have said we were still doing the same old stuff. So we tried to get a little more technical, and it just didn't work out very well." Track listing All tracks are written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne, except "It's Alright", written by Bill Ward Side A No. Title Length 1. "Back Street Kids" 3:47 2. "You Won't Change Me" 6:42 3. "It's Alright" 4:04 4. "Gypsy" 5:14 Side B No. Title Length 5. "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" 5:07 6. "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" 3:30 7. "She's Gone" 4:58 8. "Dirty Women" 7:13 Total length: 40:35

Sabotage is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in July 1975.[1][2][3][4] The album was recorded in the midst of a legal battle with the band's former manager, Patrick Meehan.[1][2][5] The stress that resulted from the band's ongoing legal woes infiltrated the recording process, inspiring the album's title. It was co-produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and Mike Butcher.[2][5] Recording Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England, at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London. The title Sabotage was chosen because the band was at the time being sued by their former management and felt they were being "sabotaged all the way along the line and getting punched from all sides", according to Iommi.[6] "It was probably the only album ever made with lawyers in the studio," said drummer Bill Ward.[7] Iommi credits those legal troubles for the album's angry, heavier sound.[6] In 2001, bassist Geezer Butler explained to Dan Epstein, "Around the time of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, we found out that we were being ripped off by our management and our record company. So, much of the time, when we weren't onstage or in the studio, we were in lawyer's offices trying to get out of all our contracts. We were literally in the studio, trying to record, and we'd be signing all these affidavits and everything. That's why it's called Sabotage – because we felt that the whole process was just being totally sabotaged by all these people ripping us off." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, singer Ozzy Osbourne confirms that "writs were being delivered to us at the mixing desk" and that Ward "was manning the phones". In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, Butler claimed the band suffered through 10 months of legal cases and admitted, "Music became irrelevant to me. It was a relief just to write a song." Iommi later reflected, "We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else, which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really."[8] According to the book How Black Was Our Sabbath, "The recording sessions would usually carry on into the middle of the night. Tony Iommi was working really hard on the production side of things with the band's co-producer Mike Butcher, and he was spending a lot of time working out his guitar sounds. Bill, too, was experimenting with the drums, especially favouring the 'backwards cymbal' effect." Osbourne, however, grew frustrated with how long Black Sabbath albums were taking to record, writing in his autobiography, "Sabotage took about four thousand years." According to Iommi, the Sabotage sessions were the scene of a legendary jam session between Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.[9] Iommi's recollection may be inaccurate, however, as records show that Zeppelin were on tour in the US at the time Sabotage was being recorded. Ward's recollection of the exact timing of the Zeppelin jam session is also fuzzy. "I don't even know what album we were working on", the drummer explained. "But one of John (Bonham)'s favourite songs was 'Supernaut' – so, when they came down to the studio, he wanted to jam 'Supernaut'."[10] It is more likely that the jam session took place during the recording of the previous album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.[6] Track listing All tracks written by Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward). Side A No. Title Length 1. "Hole in the Sky" 3:59 2. "Don't Start (Too Late)" (instrumental) 0:49 3. "Symptom of the Universe" 6:29 4. "Megalomania" 9:42 Side B No. Title Length 5. "Thrill of It All" 5:55 6. "Supertzar" (instrumental - with vocalizing choir) 3:44 7. "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" 4:14 8. "The Writ" 8:45 Total length: 43:44 2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Two (North American Tour Live '75, Part 1) No. Title Length 1. "Supertzar / Killing Yourself to Live" 6:45 2. "Hole in the Sky" 4:36 3. "Snowblind" 6:44 4. "Symptom of the Universe" 4:34 5. "War Pigs" 8:23 6. "Megalomania" 10:59 7. "Sabbra Cadabra" 5:20 8. "Jam 1 / Guitar Solo" 7:52 9. "Jam 2 / Drum Solo" 6:06 10. "Supernaut" 2:21 11. "Iron Man" 6:16 Total length: 69:58 2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Three (North American Tour Live '75, Part 2) No. Title Length 1. "Guitar Solo / Orchid / Rock 'n' Roll Doctor / Don't Start (Too Late)" 8:46 2. "Black Sabbath" 6:46 3. "Spiral Architect" 5:15 4. "Embryo / Children of the Grave" 6:00 5. "Paranoid" 3:03 Total length: 29:50 2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Four (Japanese Single) No. Title Length 1. "Am I Going Insane (Radio) - Single Edit" 3:27 2. "Hole in the Sky" 3:59 Total length: 7:26 Notes Some versions of Sabotage contain a short hidden track entitled "Blow on a Jug" at the end of "The Writ", recorded at a very low volume. Discs two and three of the 2021 Super Deluxe edition feature a live recording of the band's performance on 5 August 1975 at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Tracks 2, 4, and 6 of disc two were previously released on the 2002 live album Past Lives, while tracks 1, 3, 5, 7–11 of disc two and tracks 1–5 of disc three were all previously unreleased.[30][31] Despite that, this entire recording has been available on bootleg releases for many years. Disc four of the 2021 Super Deluxe edition features a single edit for “Am I Going Insane (Radio)”, followed by “Hole In The Sky” (being the B-side on the vinyl version), with artwork replicating the very rare Japanese release of the single.[31]

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973.[3] It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the album, which began in Los Angeles, California, was initially hampered in part by the band's substance abuse and fatigue following their 1972–1973 world tour in support of their previous album, Vol. 4.[4] The band then relocated to Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, where guitarist Tony Iommi conceived the main riff of what became the album's title track and lead single.[5] Recording This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Following Black Sabbath's 1972–1973 world tour in support of their album, Vol. 4, the group returned to Los Angeles to begin work on its successor. Pleased with Vol. 4, the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to the Record Plant Studios. The band rented a house in Bel Air and began writing in the summer of 1973 but, due in part to substance abuse and fatigue, were unable to complete any songs. "Ideas weren't coming out the way they were on Vol. 4 and we really got discontent," said guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi. "Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything."[4] In 2013, bassist Geezer Butler told Mojo magazine that after the tour in support of Vol. 4 the band was "absolutely, completely exhausted" and by the time they played the Hollywood Bowl, "Tony collapsed. It was really touch-and-go at one point whether he'd survive or not because he was totally depleted. So we had to cancel the rest of the tour and we actually took time off for the first time since the band started. We got away from each other and had a social life. Then we came back together to start on the next album, and couldn't come up with anything." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, singer Ozzy Osbourne states that in the time leading up to the Hollywood Bowl "Tony had been doing coke literally for days – we all had, but Tony had gone over the edge. I mean, that stuff just twists your whole idea of reality. You start seeing things that aren't there. And Tony was gone. Near the end of the gig he walked off stage and collapsed." Regarding his writer's block, Iommi admitted to Phil Alexander in 2013, "I panicked because I didn't have a single idea about what to write. It might have been the drugs, it could have been the pressure, but either way I felt it was my fault." The band were also disappointed to discover that the room they had used previously at the Record Plant had been replaced with a "giant synthesizer" by Stevie Wonder, who had recently recorded there. After a month in Los Angeles with no results, the band opted to return to the UK, where they rented Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, in which the likes of Led Zeppelin, Mott the Hoople and Deep Purple wrote and recorded. The medieval surroundings may have revitalised the band musically, but also left a sinister impression; in the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, Iommi recalls, "We rehearsed in the armoury there and one night I was walking down the corridor with Ozzy and we saw this figure in a black cloak ... We followed this figure back into the armoury and there was absolutely no one there. Whoever it was had disappeared into thin air! The people that owned the castle knew all about this ghost and they said, 'Oh yes, that's the ghost of so and so. We were like 'What!?'" Adds Butler, "We rehearsed in the dungeons and it was really creepy but it had some atmosphere, it conjured up things, and stuff started coming out again".[6] While working in the dungeon, Iommi stumbled onto the main riff of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", which set the tone for the new material.[5] In 2001 Butler admitted to Dan Epstein of Guitar World, "We almost thought that we were finished as a band ... Once Tony came out with the initial riff for 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' we went 'We're baaaack!'" The spooky atmosphere at Clearwell Castle perfectly complemented the band's practice of playing practical jokes on one another. In the documentary Black Sabbath, Volume 1: 1970–1978 Iommi recalls, "I've got to be honest, we frightened the life out of each other. We had to leave in the end, everybody terrified of each other because we were playing jokes on each other and nobody knew who was doing it... We used to leave and drive all the way home and drive back the next day. It was really silly." In his autobiography Osbourne cracks, "We weren't so much the Lords of Darkness as the Lords of Chickenshit when it came to that kind of thing ... We wound each other up so much none of us got any sleep. You'd just lie there with your eyes wide open, expecting an empty suit of armour to walk into your bedroom at any second to shove a dagger up your arse." Osbourne also writes that he nearly burnt the castle down one night when he fell asleep with his boot in the fire. Osbourne said that when it came to the shenanigans Bill Ward typically "got the worst of it", with the drummer eventually going to bed at night with a dagger. Although the band's then-manager Patrick Meehan received credit as co-producer, Iommi said years later that Meehan had virtually no actual involvement in the album's production, saying "Meehan's ego got involved, and he stuck his name down as producer".[4] Recording was completed at Morgan Studios in Willesden, North London in 1973. Keyboardist Rick Wakeman of the band Yes (who were recording Tales from Topographic Oceans in the next studio) was brought in as a session player, appearing on "Sabbra Cadabra".[7] Wakeman refused payment from the band and was ultimately compensated with beer for his contribution.[8] The members of Led Zeppelin, close friends of the band from their early days in Birmingham, showed up at the studio during Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's recording.[8] Drummer John Bonham was eager to play on "Sabbra Cadabra", but Sabbath preferred to play material other than their own for the occasion.[8] In the end, the two bands had an improvised jam session which was recorded but never released.[8] Osbourne has said that Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was "the beginning of the end" for Black Sabbath's original line-up.[9] In 2013, the singer elaborated to Mojo, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was really the album after which I should have said goodbye because after that I really started unravelling. Then we ended up falling out of favour with each other." Fuelled by rampant drug and alcohol use within the band, tensions began to mount. Iommi began to resent doing the lion's share of songwriting and studio work, thus having no social life.[9] Bassist Butler also began complaining that vocalist Osbourne had become too reliant on him for lyrics.[9] Track listing All songs by Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Side A No. Title Length 1. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" 5:45 2. "A National Acrobat" 6:16 3. "Fluff" (instrumental) 4:11 4. "Sabbra Cadabra" 5:59 Side B No. Title Length 5. "Killing Yourself to Live" 5:41 6. "Who Are You?" 4:11 7. "Looking for Today" 5:06 8. "Spiral Architect" 5:29 Total length: 42:35 The initial Castle Communications CD release from 1986 (NELCD 6017) also featured a live version of "Cornucopia" from Live at Last as a bonus track. The subsequent Castle CD release (CLACD 201) returned to the original tracklist. Personnel Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne – vocals (all tracks except 3), synthesizers (tracks 5 and 6), tambourine, handclaps (track 7) Tony Iommi – guitars (all tracks), piano (tracks 3, 4, and 6), synthesizer (track 5), harpsichord (track 3), organ (track 7), flute (track 7), handclaps (track 7), bagpipes (track 8) Geezer Butler – bass (all tracks), synthesizer and mellotron (track 6), handclaps (track 7), nose (track 8) Bill Ward – drums (all tracks except 3), bongos (track 1), timpani (tracks 6 and 8), handclaps (track 7) Additional personnel Rick Wakeman – piano and Minimoog (track 4) Wil Malone – conductor, arranger The Phantom Fiddlers – strings (track 8) Production Produced by Black Sabbath for Excellency Productions Engineered by Mike Butcher Coordination: Mark Forster Biatch Direction: Patrick Meehan Tape operator: George Nicholson Cover artwork: Drew Struzan Cover concept: Pacific Eye & Ear

Vol. 4 is the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in September 1972. It was the first album by Black Sabbath not produced by Rodger Bain; guitarist Tony Iommi assumed production duties. Patrick Meehan, the band's then-manager, was listed as co-producer, though his actual involvement in the album's production was minimal. Recording Though the production of Vol. 4 is officially credited to Black Sabbath and Patrick Meehan, the bulk of the actual production was performed by guitarist Tony Iommi.[2] "It's the first album we've produced ourselves," said vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1972. "Previously we had Rodger Bain as a producer – and, although he's very good, he didn't really feel what the band was doing. It was a matter of communication. This time, we did it with Patrick (Meehan), our manager, and I think we're all very happy… It was great to work in an American studio."[5] Meehan had little actual involvement in the album's production but nonetheless insisted he be listed as producer, according to Iommi.[2] The recording was plagued with problems, many due to substance abuse. In the studio, the band regularly had speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered.[2] Struggling to record "Cornucopia" after "sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs",[6] drummer Bill Ward feared that he was about to be fired: "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just horrible. I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like 'Well, just go home, you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired."[7] According to the book How Black Was Our Sabbath, Ward "was always a drinker, but rarely appeared drunk. Retrospectively, that might have been a danger sign. Now, his self-control was clearly slipping." Iommi claims in his autobiography that Ward almost died after a prank-gone-wrong during recording. The Bel Air mansion the band was renting belonged to John du Pont and the band found several spray cans of gold DuPont paint in a room of the house; finding Ward naked and unconscious after drinking heavily, they proceeded to cover the drummer in gold paint from head to toe. In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne speaks at length about the sessions: "In spite of all the arsing around, musically those few weeks in Bel Air were the strongest we'd ever been." But he admits, "Eventually we started to wonder where the fuck all the coke was coming from ... that coke was the whitest, purest, strongest stuff you could ever imagine. One sniff, and you were king of the universe." During a show in support of Vol. 4 at the Hollywood Bowl, the cocaine abuse caught up to Iommi. "Tony had been doing coke literally for days. We all had, but Tony had gone over the edge. He walked off the stage and collapsed," said Osbourne. During soundcheck earlier that same day, a crazed Christian man attempted to storm the stage and stab Iommi with a dagger, but he was tackled by members of the band's crew. According to Butler, "we wanted to take a break" at that point.[8] Osbourne also recounts the band's ongoing anxiety over the possibility of being busted, which worsened after they went to the cinema to see The French Connection (1971), about undercover New York City cops busting an international heroin-smuggling ring. "By the time the credits rolled," Osbourne recalled, "I was hyperventilating." In 2013, Butler admitted to Mojo magazine that heroin, too, had entered the picture: "We sniffed it, we never shot up ... I didn't realise how nuts things had gotten until I went home and the girl I was with didn't recognise me." Side A No. Title Length 1. "Wheels of Confusion" 8:02 2. "Tomorrow's Dream" 3:12 3. "Changes" 4:44 4. "FX" (instrumental) 1:44 5. "Supernaut" 4:50 Side B No. Title Length 6. "Snowblind" 5:33 7. "Cornucopia" 3:55[A] 8. "Laguna Sunrise" (instrumental) 2:53 9. "St. Vitus Dance" 2:30 10. "Under the Sun" 5:53 Total length: 42:18

Master of Reality is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in August 1971 by Vertigo Records.[3] It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and sludge metal.[4] Produced by Rodger Bain, who also produced the band's prior two albums, Master of Reality was recorded at Island Studios in London from February to April 1971. Guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler downtuned their instruments during the production, achieving what Iommi called a "bigger, heavier sound".[5] Master of Reality peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart and number eight on the US Billboard 200.[6] Though negatively received by critics on release, the album is now considered one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after having sold over two million copies in the US.[7] Recording Master of Reality was recorded at Island Studios in London from February to April 1971. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, who had also produced Black Sabbath's previous two albums, with Tom Allom handling engineering.[8] This was to be Bain's final collaboration with Black Sabbath as guitarist Tony Iommi took over production duties for the band's next several albums. Drummer Bill Ward explained: "Previously, we didn't have a clue what to do in the studio, and relied heavily on Rodger. But this time we were a lot more together, understood what was involved and were more opinionated on how things should be done."[8] On the tracks "Children of the Grave", "Lord of This World", and "Into the Void", Iommi downtuned his guitar 11⁄2 steps in an effort to reduce string tension, thus making the guitar less painful for him to play. This pain was the result of a factory accident years earlier in which he had the tips of two of his fingers severed.[9] The downtuning also helped the guitarist produce what he called a "bigger, heavier sound".[5] Geezer Butler also downtuned his bass guitar to match Iommi. "It helped with the sound, too", Butler explained to Guitar for the Practicing Musician in 1994. "Then it got to the point where we tuned even lower to make it easier vocal-wise. But Ozzy (Osbourne) would then sing higher so it sort of defeated the object." In the 2013 biography of the band Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe, Mick Wall writes that "the Sabbath sound took a plunge into even greater darkness. Bereft even of reverb, leaving their sound as dry as old bones dug up from some desert burial plot, the finished music's brutish force would so alarm the critics they would punish Sabbath in print for being blatantly thuggish, purposefully mindless, creepy, and obnoxious. Twenty years later groups like Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and, particularly, Nirvana, would excavate the same heaving lung sound ... And be rewarded with critical garlands." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, vocalist Osbourne states that he cannot remember much about recording Master of Reality "apart from the fact that Tony detuned his guitar to make it easier to play, Geezer wrote 'Sweet Leaf' about all the dope we'd been smoking, and 'Children of the Grave' was the most kick-ass song we'd ever recorded." In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, drummer Ward commented that Master of Reality was "an exploratory album". Ward elaborated in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer magazine: "On the first album, we had two days to do everything, and not much more time for Paranoid. But now we could take our time, and try out different things. We all embraced the opportunity: Tony threw in classical guitar parts, Geezer's bass was virtually doubled in power, I went for bigger bass drums, also experimenting with overdubs. And Ozzy was so much better. But this was the first time when we didn't have gigs booked in, and could just focus on making the album a landmark."[8] In 2013, Mojo magazine called Master of Reality "The sound of a band becoming increasingly comfortable in their studio surroundings." Iommi believes the band might have become too comfortable, however, telling Guitar World in 1992, "During Master of Reality, we started getting more experimental and began taking too much time to record. Ultimately, I think it really confused us. Sometimes I think I'd really like to go back to the way we recorded the first two albums. I've always preferred just going into the studio and playing, without spending a lot of time rehearsing or getting sounds." The song "Into the Void" was especially problematic, with Iommi revealing in the same interview: "We tried recording 'Into the Void' in a couple of different studios because Bill just couldn't get it right. Whenever that happened, he would start believing that he wasn't capable of playing the song. He'd say: 'To hell with it – I'm not doing this!' There was one track like that on every album, and 'Into the Void' was the most difficult one on Master of Reality." In his autobiography Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi describes the difficulty Osbourne also experienced recording the vocal: "It has this slow bit, but then the riff where Osbourne comes in is very fast. Osbourne had to sing really rapidly: "Rocket engines burning fuel so fast, up into the night sky they blast," quick words like that. Geezer had written all the words out for him ... Seeing him try was hilarious." The song "Solitude" showcases guitarist Iommi's multi-instrumental talents, featuring him playing guitar, flute, and piano.[10] A delay effect was later added to Osbourne's vocals on the song as a means of doubling the vocal track. Original US LP Pressing Side A No. Title Length 1. "Sweet Leaf" 5:02 2. "After Forever (Including The Elegy)" 5:25 3. "Embryo" 0:29 4. "Children of the Grave" 4:30 5. "The Haunting" 0:45 Total length: 16:11 Side B No. Title Length 6. "Orchid" 1:30 7. "Step Up" 0:30 8. "Lord of This World" 4:55 9. "Solitude" 5:02 10. "Deathmask" 3:08 11. "Into the Void" 3:08 Total length: 18:13 34:30 Note that, while the overall timing of "Deathmask/Into the Void" is approximately correct, the apportioning of time between the two parts of the song may be arbitrary, as the 3:08 mark occurs during "Into the Void"'s middle-8 vocal section ("Freedom fighters sent off to the sun ..."). The revised US pressing timings, shown below, compound this likely error.

Black Sabbath is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 13 February 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 1 June 1970 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.[3] The album is widely regarded as the first true heavy metal album,[4] and the opening track, "Black Sabbath", has been referred to as the first doom metal song.[5] Black Sabbath received generally negative reviews from critics upon its release but was a commercial success, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Charts and number 23 on the US Billboard Top LPs chart.[6] Retrospectively, it is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. Black Sabbath is included in Robert Dimery's 2005 musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Recording According to Black Sabbath's guitarist and founding member Tony Iommi, the group's debut album was recorded in a single twelve-hour session on 16 October 1969.[7][nb 1][9] Iommi said: "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."[10] Aside from the bells, thunder and rain sound effects added to the beginning of the opening track and the double-tracked guitar solos on "N.I.B." and "Sleeping Village", there were virtually no overdubs added to the album.[7] Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought, 'We have two days to do it and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time, we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff."[11] The key to the band's new sound on the album was Iommi's distinctive playing style that he developed after an accident at a sheet metal factory where he was working at the age of 17 in which the tips of the middle fingers of his fretting hand were severed. Iommi created a pair of false fingertips using plastic from a dish detergent bottle and tuned the strings on his guitar down to make it easier for him to bend the strings, creating a massive, heavy sound. "I'd play a load of chords and I'd have to play fifths because I couldn't play fourths because of my fingers," Iommi explained to Phil Alexander in Mojo in 2013. "That helped me develop my style of playing, bending the strings and hitting the open string at the same time just to make the sound wilder." In the same article bassist Geezer Butler added, "Back then the bass player was supposed to do all these melodic runs, but I didn't know how to do that because I'd been a guitarist, so all I did was follow Tony's riff. That made the sound heavier." Iommi began recording the album with a white Fender Stratocaster, his guitar of choice at the time, but a malfunctioning pickup forced him to finish recording with a Gibson SG, a guitar he had recently purchased as a backup but had "never really played". The SG was a right-handed model which the left-handed Iommi played upside down. Soon after recording the album, he met a right-handed guitarist who was playing a left-handed SG upside down, and the two agreed to swap guitars; this is the SG that Iommi modified and later "put out to pasture" at the Hard Rock Cafe.[7] Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne has always spoken fondly of the recording of the band's debut album, stating in his autobiography I Am Ozzy, "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." Drummer Bill Ward agrees, telling Guitar World in 2001, "I think the first album is just absolutely incredible. It's naïve, and there's an absolute sense of unity – it's not contrived in any way, shape or form. We weren't old enough to be clever. I love it all, including the mistakes!" In an interview for the Classic Albums series in 2010 Butler added, "It was literally live in the studio. I mean, (producer) Rodger Bain, I think he's a genius the way he captured the band in such a short time." In his autobiography Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi plays down the producer's role, insisting, "We didn't choose to work with Rodger Bain, he was chosen for us... He was good to have around, but we didn't really get a lot of advice from him. He maybe suggested a couple of things, but the songs were already fairly structured and sorted." Genre On release, a writer for The Boston Globe described the music of Black Sabbath as "hard blues-rock".[12] In retrospect, AllMusic's Steve Huey feels that Black Sabbath marks "the birth of heavy metal as we now know it".[13] In his opinion, the album "transcends its clear roots in blues-rock and psychedelia to become something more".[13] He ascribes its "sonic ugliness" as a reflection of "the bleak industrial nightmare" of the group's hometown, Birmingham, England.[13] Huey notes the first side's allusions to themes characteristic of heavy metal, including evil, paganism, and the occult, "as filtered through horror films and the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and Dennis Wheatley."[13] He characterises side two as "given over to loose blues-rock jamming learned through" the English rock band Cream.[13] In the opinion of the author and former Metal Maniacs magazine editor Jeff Wagner, Black Sabbath is the "generally accepted starting point" when heavy metal "became distinct from rock and roll".[14] In his opinion, the album represented a transition from blues rock into "something uglier", and that this sound "found deeper gravity via mournful singing and a sinister rhythmic pulse".[14] According to Rolling Stone magazine, "the album that arguably invented heavy metal was built on thunderous blues-rock".[15] Sputnikmusic's Mike Stagno notes that Black Sabbath's combined elements of rock, jazz and blues, with heavy distortion created one of the most influential albums in the history of heavy metal.[16] In retrospect, Black Sabbath has been lauded as perhaps the first true heavy metal album.[17] It has also been credited as the first record in the stoner rock genre.[18] Taking a broader perspective, Pete Prown of Vintage Guitar says, "The debut Black Sabbath album of 1970 was a watershed moment in heavy rock, but it was part of a larger trend of artists, producers, and engineers already moving towards the sound we now call hard rock and heavy metal." Music and lyrics "Black Sabbath" Duration: 30 seconds.0:30 The track features an early example of the diabolus in musica in heavy metal Problems playing this file? See media help. Black Sabbath's music and lyrics were quite dark for the time. The opening track is based almost entirely on a tritone interval played at slow tempo on the electric guitar.[19] In the 2010 Classic Albums documentary on the making of the band's second album Paranoid, bassist Geezer Butler claims the riff was inspired by "Mars, the Bringer of War", a movement in Gustav Holst's The Planets. Iommi reinterpreted the riff slightly and redefined the band's direction. Ward told Classic Albums, "When Oz sang 'What is this that stands before me?' it became completely different...this was a different lyric now, this was a different feel. I was playing drums to the words." The song's lyrics concern a "figure in black" which Geezer Butler claims to have seen after waking up from a nightmare.[17] In the liner notes to the band's 1998 live album Reunion the bassist remembers: I'd been raised a Catholic so I totally believed in the Devil. There was a weekly magazine called Man, Myth and Magic that I started reading which was all about Satan and stuff. That and books by Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley, especially The Devil Rides Out ... I'd moved into this flat I'd painted black with inverted crosses everywhere. Ozzy gave me this 16th Century book about magic that he'd stolen from somewhere. I put it in the airing cupboard because I wasn't sure about it. Later that night I woke up and saw this black shadow at the end of the bed. It was a horrible presence that frightened the life out of me! I ran to the airing cupboard to throw the book out, but the book had disappeared. After that I gave up all that stuff. It scared me shitless. Similarly, the lyrics of the song "N.I.B." are written from the point of view of Lucifer, who falls in love with a human woman and "becomes a better person" according to lyricist Butler.[20] Contrary to popular belief, the name of that song is not an abbreviation for "Nativity in Black;"[7] according to Osbourne's autobiography it is merely a reference to drummer Bill Ward's pointed goatee at the time, which was shaped as a fountain pen-nib.[21] The lyrics of two other songs on the album were written about stories with mythological themes. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep,"[8] while "The Wizard" was inspired by the character of Gandalf from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.[22] The latter includes harmonica playing by Osbourne.[8] The band also recorded a cover of "Evil Woman," a song that had been an American hit for the band Crow. In his autobiography, Iommi admits the band reluctantly agreed to do the song at the behest of their manager Jim Simpson, who insisted they record something commercial. Artwork Mapledurham Watermill The cover photograph was shot at Mapledurham Watermill, situated on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, by photographer Keith Stuart Macmillan (credited as Keef), who was in charge of the overall design. Standing in front of the watermill is a figure dressed in a black cloak, portrayed by model Louisa Livingstone, whose identity was not widely known until 2020.[23] "I'm sure (McMillan) said it was for Black Sabbath, but I don't know if that meant anything much to me at the time," Livingstone recalled, adding that it had been "freezing cold" during the shoot. "I had to get up at about 4 o'clock in the morning. Keith was rushing around with dry ice, throwing it into the water. It didn't seem to be working very well, so he ended up using a smoke machine," said the model.[24] According to McMillan, Livingstone was wearing nothing underneath the black cloak, and some experimentation was done involving some "slightly more risqué" photographs taken at the session. "We decided none of that worked," McMillan said. "Any kind of sexuality took away from the more foreboding mood. But she was a terrific model. She had amazing courage and understanding of what I was trying to do."[24] The inner gatefold sleeve of the original release featured an inverted cross containing a poem written by Roger Brown, McMillan's photography assistant.[23] The band were reportedly upset when they discovered this,[8] as it fuelled allegations that they were satanists or occultists;[7] however, in Osbourne's memoirs, he says that to the best of his knowledge nobody was upset with the inclusion.[25] Iommi's recollection is somewhat different: "Suddenly we had all these crazy people turning up at shows," he told Mojo magazine in 2013. "I think Alex Sanders (high priest of the Wiccan religion) turned up at a gig once. It was all quite strange, really." The liner notes to the 1998 Reunion album state "Unbeknownst to the band, Black Sabbath was launched in the U.S. with a party with the head of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, presiding over the proceedings... All of a sudden Sabbath were Satan's Right Hand Men." In the years since the iconic cover photo was shot, Livingstone has released electronic music under the name Indreba.[24] Release and reception Black Sabbath was recorded for Fontana Records, but prior to release the record company elected to switch the band to another of their labels, Vertigo Records, which housed the company's more progressive acts.[26] Released on Friday the 13th February 1970 by Vertigo Records, Black Sabbath reached number eight on the UK Albums Charts.[27] Following its United States release in June 1970 by Warner Bros. Records, the album reached number 23 on the Billboard Top LPs chart,[28][29] where it remained for more than a year and sold one million copies.[30][31] Black Sabbath received generally negative reviews from contemporary critics.[32] Rolling Stone's Lester Bangs described the band as, "just like Cream! But worse", and he dismissed the album as "a shuck – despite the murky songtitles and some inane lyrics that sound like Vanilla Fudge paying doggerel tribute to Aleister Crowley, the album has nothing to do with spiritualism, the occult, or anything much except stiff recitations of Cream clichés".[33] Robert Christgau, writing for The Village Voice, panned the album as "bullshit necromancy".[34] He later described it as a reflection of "the worst of the counterculture", including "drug-impaired reaction time" and "long solos".[35] Retrospective reviews and legacy Professional ratings Retrospective reviews Review scores Source Rating AllMusic [13] Christgau's Record Guide C−[35] Encyclopedia of Popular Music [36] MusicHound Rock 4/5[37] The Rolling Stone Album Guide [38] Sputnikmusic [39] Uncut 7/10[40] Retrospective reviews of Black Sabbath have been positive. AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey said it was a highly innovative debut album with several classic metal songs, including the title track, which he felt had the "most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time". Huey was also impressed by how the band's "slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness".[13] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), journalist Scott Seward highlighted Bain's grandiose production on "an album that eats hippies for breakfast."[38] In the opinion of Mike Stagno of Sputnikmusic, "both fans of blues influenced hard rock and heavy metal of all sorts should find something they like on the album."[16] BBC Music's Pete Marsh referred to Black Sabbath as an "album that changed the face of rock music."[41] In Mick Wall's book Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe, Butler reflects, "The London press absolutely hated us when we made it 'cos they'd never written an article about us, they didn't know of us. When our first album, the first week, went straight into the charts, the London press went, like, what the hell's going on here? And they've hated us ever since."[citation needed] In 1989, Kerrang! ranked Black Sabbath number 31 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[42] In 1994, it was ranked number 12 in Colin Larkin's Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums. Larkin praised the album's "crushing atmosphere of doom", which he described as "intense and relentless".[43] In 2000, Q magazine included Black Sabbath in their list of the "Best Metal Albums of All Time", stating: "[This album] was to prove so influential it remains a template for metal bands three decades on."[44] In 2003, it was ranked number 241 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[9] 243 in a 2012 revised list,[45] and 355 in a 2020 revised list.[46] Rolling Stone ranked Black Sabbath number 44 in their list of the 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time, describing the title track as the song that "would define the sound of a thousand bands".[47] Additionally, in 2017, the magazine ranked it 5th on their list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[48] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[49] Track listing All songs written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne, except where noted. European edition Side A, Standard Edition No. Title Length 1. "Black Sabbath" 6:20 2. "The Wizard" 4:24 3. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" 3:37 4. "N.I.B." 6:08 Side B No. Title Writer(s) Length 5. "Evil Woman" Larry WeigandDick WeigandDavid Wagner 3:25 6. "Sleeping Village" 3:46 7. "Warning" Aynsley DunbarAlex DmochowskiVictor HicklingJohn Moorshead 10:28 Total length: 38:08

Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 September 1970 through Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States on 7 January 1971. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 on the UK charts. Paranoid is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, often cited as a key influence for the development of the genre as well as one of its earliest albums.[4][5][6] Paranoid was ranked number one on Rolling Stone‘s list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" in 2017 and number 139 on its “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list in 2020. Paranoid was the band's only album to top the UK Albums Chart until the release of 13 in 2013. Recording In an effort to capitalise on the recent UK chart success of their eponymous debut album, Black Sabbath returned to the studio with producer Rodger Bain in June 1970, just four months after the album was released. Paranoid was recorded at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios in London, England.[7] The album's title track was written as an afterthought. As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony [Iommi] just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom."[8] In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, bassist Geezer Butler recounts to Phil Alexander that they wrote the song "in five minutes, then I sat down and wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was all done in about two hours." According to Alexander, "Paranoid" "crystallized the band's writing process, with Iommi initiating the ideas with his charred riffs, Ozzy [Osbourne] working on a melody, Geezer providing drive and the majority of the lyrics, and Bill Ward locking into a set of often pounding rhythms beneath Butler's bass rumble." The single was released in August 1970 and reached number four on the UK charts, remaining Black Sabbath's only top ten hit.[9] Most of the songs on Paranoid evolved during onstage improvisational jams. In the Classic Albums documentary on the making of Paranoid, guitarist Tony Iommi recalls that "War Pigs" came from "one of the clubs" with Butler adding, "During the song "Warning" we used to jam that out and that particular night when we were jamming it out Tony just went da-dum!" In the same documentary, Iommi demonstrates his approach to the guitar solo in the song, explaining that "I always tried to keep the bottom string ringing so it fills it out nicely." On "Planet Caravan", Osbourne sings through a Leslie speaker, with the singer telling Mojo in 2010, "Then Rodger Bain used an oscillator on it – whatever that is. It looks like a fridge with a knob on." Accolades In 1989, Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 39 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[35] In 1994, Paranoid was ranked number three in Colin Larkin's Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums. According to Larkin, "Pretenders have often grasped at their crown, but Paranoid shows that Black Sabbath remain the quintessential metal band."[36] In 1999, Q magazine (12/99, p. 170) included it in their list of The Best Gothic Albums of All Time, writing that, "[Black Sabbath] stamped their bombastic and doom-laden imprint on British rock forever." In 1999, Vibe (12/99, p. 162) included it on their list of 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. In 2003, the album was ranked number 130 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[37] 131 in a 2012 revised list,[38] and 139 in a 2020 revised list.[39] In 2006, the album was ranked number 6 on Guitar World magazine's list of The Greatest 100 Guitar Albums of All Time.[citation needed] In 2010, Paranoid was covered as part of the Classic Albums documentary series, which examines albums "considered the best or most distinctive of a well known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music". In 2017, Rolling Stone considered it the greatest metal album ever.[40] Track listing All songs written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne. Side 1 No. Title Length 1. "War Pigs" 7:57 2. "Paranoid" 2:48 3. "Planet Caravan" 4:32 4. "Iron Man" 5:56 Total length: 21:13 Side 2 No. Title Length 1. "Electric Funeral" 4:53 2. "Hand of Doom" 7:08 3. "Rat Salad" (instrumental) 2:30 4. "Fairies Wear Boots" 6:15 Total length: 20:38