Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - Review


Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - 1970


Songs:  Black Sabbath, The Wizard, Behind The Wall Of Sleep, N.I.B., Evil Woman, Sleeping Village, Warning, Wicked World.

Type of Music: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock

Comments:
It was 1970 and I was spending the holidays with my family in the south of The Netherlands. It was raining and we decided to visit the city of Venlo. My grandmother was with us and she told me I could buy an Album at her expense. I went to a record store looking to buy Willy and the Poor Boys, the new Creedence Clearwater Revival Album. In those days you took the record to a small cabin that was equipped with head-phones. When I was enjoying Down on the Corner, I suddenly looked outside thinking a thunder storm was developing. And then suddenly I heard church bells and I realised they were coming from the cabin next to mine. And when the heavy guitar fell in I took off my head-phone, forgot all about Creedence and started to listen to that weird and scary sound. After 10 minutes I went out of the cabin and asked the shopkeeper what album the other guy was listening to. He told me it was the debut album of a British Hard Rock Group called Black Sabbath. I had never heard of them at the time but I really liked the sound and bought the album. Well, to be honest, I bought Creedence as well for old times sake.

Such was the impact of this album on an 18 year old teenager! After all those years my mind has not changed. I still think it´s the first great Heavy Metal Album and thanks to digital Re-Mastering the album sounds even better today.

Strangely enough there are various releases for sale with different song selections and changed song order. I consider this release on Castle Records (1999) the best. There are 8 songs on this specific release and only the last one Wicked World isn’t quite up to the high standard of this record. But the other seven are all great and that´s rare for any album.

It´s a very dark album with scary lyrics by Geezer Butler. I´m sure parents in general condemned the album as it might have had a negative influence on their kids. But that can´t take away the fact that this is great music. Ozzy never sounded better in my opinion. Starting with the second album it became more of The Ozzy & Tony show but here it´s a real group effort and the bass and drums have a prominent place.  I liked the album first time I heard it 41 years ago. And I still do. And that says enough about the quality of Black Sabbath´s debut album.
 

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)
Black = Good Songs
Green = Great Songs
Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  Everybody. This is essential Black Sabbath and one of the truly great Heavy Metal Albums. 

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