Sometimes you just have to take a break and talk about the BS in the world. I’m a huge fan of BS. Really, I mean it. Oh, sorry, I’m not talking about what you think I’m talking about…I’m talking Black Sabbath!
I’m a huge fan of Black Sabbath, I would claim the biggest (well many would make that claim!). My wife and I debate what the greatest band of all time is(for her, it’s Pink Floyd), and while a part of me sees her side of it, for me, forever and always, it’s Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill. I really don’t consider the non-Ozzy incarnations the same band, though I will say that the Dio led version is an incredibly good band, and side 1 of Heaven and Hell is about as near perfect as it gets. I was reading some rankings this weekend of Black Sabbath albums and came off a little disappointed. Even the Kerrang rankings seemed written by someone who barely knew their music. It seems every ranking has Paranoid as the top album…that’s just so easy. And while it’s one of those rare “perfect albums”, without a weak song on it (in fact, all are classics), I’ve always had a different perspective on things. I’m also very, very torn on what I consider the best album. Let’s get started!
9. Never Say Die (1978)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. NSD is easily the worst Ozzy-era BS album, and the band will tell you so. It’s got a terrible sound, not a great song on it, and some pretty awful ones by their standards. Some people love this album, and I cannot fathom it. This album actually makes me sad listening to it, because of how poor it is.
8. Technical Ecstasy (1976)
This album is actually vastly underrated, and gets a bad rap. They took some chances on this one, and it’s got some truly great moments mixed with some average. It does have “Rock and Roll Doctor” though. That song is brutally horrible, and brings the album down as a whole. This is offset by the brilliant Dirty Women.
7. 13 (2013)
Considering their ages, especially in regards to Ozzy’s vocals, this has to be one of the most pleasant surprises – this is a very good album overall, with awesome production. There’s a few clunkers to be sure, and Ozzy’s vocal abilities are in clear decline, but there’s some pretty great moments too. Age Of Reason is a great BS song period, for any era. This one really hits the mark, but the lack of Bill Ward is a black mark, and I think that this would have been better with him.
6. Master Of Reality (1971)
For the most part my list sticks close to others I’ve seen, but those first 3 are easy ones to rank. Now it gets harder, these are the albums that are universally accepted as brilliant, when the band was at their absolute peak of their powers. MOR is possibly the heaviest sounding BS album, and it was when they discovered downtuning. In a way this album is a lot like Paranoid Part II in the song structures, themes, and lyricism. It’s raw, brutal, and in your face. Into The Void and Children of the Grave are two of the best Sabbath songs ever. Overall it’s a little less perfect than Paranoid was though.
5. Black Sabbath (1970)
The debut almost always gets ranked in the top 2 in these lists, but I just can’t go that high with it. While it’s a seriously awesome album, and has some great songs like The Wizard, NIB, and the title track, it’s a little uneven at times. Still, one could argue this to be higher, but it’s clear to me that these were kids just finding their groove. Also Ozzy had a serious head cold during the recording, creating his strange vocal sound.
4. Paranoid (1970)
Yup, you read that right. I rank Paranoid at #4. Nobody does that, right? I mean after, as I mentioned, it’s one of those rare “perfect albums” with iconic classics at every track number. It’s got a brilliant sound, that’s never really been duplicated. It also contains what many, myself included, may consider the single greatest Sabbath song, War Pigs. So why isn’t this at #1? I have my reasons, two to be precise. One, the lyrics are not at the poetic level they would achieve later on. Two, the music is, for brilliance and simplicity, simple in texture. These guys wrote some amazing songs, with amazing changes and composition, but they got better. Trust me.
3. Volume IV (1972)
Hence begins what I, and many consider to be the golden era of Sabbath’s creativity. A three album run where they grew, explored new musical horizons, wrote some of the heaviest, and some of the most beautiful songs in their catalog. It also was fueled by a ton of drugs and drink. Volume IV begins this run, with an epic track Wheels Of Confusion. A lumbering sludge that midway through transitions into powerful, flowing brilliance, and finishes with epic melodic progressions(The Straightener outro). Tomorrows Dream, Supernaut, Snowblind, Under The Sun, are epic and heavy tracks mixed with eclectic moments. There’s a few weak tracks(Cornucopia – which Ward hated, FX), but overall this is a masterpiece of an album. The lyrics are poetic throughout, a huge leap from MOR and Paranoid.
2. Sabotage (1975)
My dilemma. I sometimes think that this is the greatest Sabbath album. In some ways it truly is. I submit to you, Hole in the Sky, Megalomania, Thrill Of it All, and Symptom Of the Universe as exhibit A. Just brilliant songs, with so much depth, more poetic and deep lyrics – all amazing considering the conditions they were forced to record in (legal ones, that is). Ozzy had some great vocal performances (really, Megalomania could be his greatest career achievement in that sense). The music was complex but flowed in a way that gives you goosebumps. The opening solo to Thrill Of It All, transitioning into the lurching first half, only to transition into the triumphant second half of the song, it’s unreal. The end of Symptom, wow, just amazing transition, and great singing by Ozzy. Compared to his earlier works, Ozzy’s voice flows around the riffs in ways they didn’t in earlier albums.
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabbath at their very peak. While it’s true they had a hard time getting going for this one songwriting wise, once Tony Iommi cranked out the title track, it was game on. This is another album that doesn’t have a weak moment, like Paranoid. Everything is near perfection here, and the sounds and layers are tremendous. SBS laid on the synthesizer heavier than ever, and the depth and production of this album stands alone. Some considered it a little “weird”, expecting maybe more of the raw power of the title track (which is arguably the heaviest Sabbath song of all), but this is what makes it great. It’s always hard for me to choose between this and Sabotage. In some ways Sabotage takes what was done here a step further, but there’s always one moment that simply does it for me – and that is the final track Spiral Architect – possibly the most beautiful, and triumphant sounding masterpiece that the band ever created. Don’t believe me? Read the lyrics. Just wow.
Thanks for reading, haha. I’ll write something about Saucermen next weekend for sure, there’s some good progress going on with that.