Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath

 Time to return to the roots, stuff that really matters the most: including the all-time favorite Black Sabbath album, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath.  Like Dark Side of the Moon and Back in Black, this is a classic album.  I can’t say it belongs in everyone’s collection, but certainly every ROCK fan should have it.  I bought it in high school at the same time I bought Sabotage, albums #5 and #6 respectively in the Ozzy/Sabbath lineup.  Such a good album, in fact, that every track deserves individual attention.

Of course, the album cover itself is one of the best, plus its backside – combined, it infers that the “demons” tormenting the poor guy are simply his own family members which his delirium transforms into devils instead of sympathetic friends and family.  Stunning!  With all the great albums which have remarkably poor album covers – Zeppelin IV comes to mind immediately – that the art and the music complement each other so well is itself commendable.

Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath.  The title track, killer all the way through and a good opener.  I had first heard this on Speak of the Devil, so I wasn’t prepared for the second set of vocals when I originally heard this on vinyl.  

National Acrobat.  Tuned down to C#, a good example of a complex song which shows Sabbath’s more artistic angle. 

Fluff.  A light instrumental, one of my favorite.  Although you couldn’t fill an entire album with soft Sabbath songs, there are a few: “Solitude”, “Planet Caravan”, “Laguna Sunrise”, and “She’s Gone”.  This is one of the better ones.  

Sabbra Cadabra.  Bar none, one of the top Sabbath songs.  Metallica covered it on their Garage, Inc. album, a rare occasion when they actually picked a better example of a band’s material to cover (along with “Astronomy” by Blue Oyster Cult, another gem).  The song has two parts: the initial up tempo part, then the second more romantic and darker part.  

Killing Yourself To Live.  Opens side two with a bang.  Especially kick ass in the middle when Ozzy whispers – over the fantastic riffing, “smoke it – get high.”   

Who Are You.  Features Rick Wakeman of Yes on keyboards.  When the band toured with Yes, Wakeman stuck with Ozzy and the gang.  I never figured out who the song was directed to, though the best bet is God.  This is after taking God’s side in “After Forever” from Master of Reality.  

Looking For Today.  More cynical but good rocking songs with familiar time changes and soft parts interlocking, a good combination of metal and organic.   

Spiral Architect.  A light acoustic intro, leading into a more spatial song to close off the album.  

Sean – the same guy who so cleverly figured out Rob Halford’s sexual orientation (and advised me that it was Clapton, not Harrison, playing lead guitar on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”) – missed the boat on this one.  He was too stuck up on Frank Zappa and Rush, so he slagged off Black Sabbath as having idiotic lyrics.  All these lyrics are excellent, well-written and thoughtful, easily in Neil Peart’s class and range.   Although Ronnie James Dio era Sabbath is most noted for its lyrics, I think that gives short shrift to Geezer Butler’s work on the first 8 albums they did with Ozzy Osbourne.   

Ozzy Osbourne still had his voice back then.  As I noted earlier, he can’t claim the pipes of Robert Plant or Ian Gillan, but he does sing – which more than can be said for rappers or the “cookie monster” singers from most thrash bands.  Geezer Butler and Bill Ward do the job on bass and drums, respectively.  And of course Tony Iommi nails the guitar.     

Incidentally, I learned to play “National Acrobat”, “Fluff”, “Killing Yourself To Live”, and “Sabbra Cadabra” – and the acoustic intro to “Spiral Architect” – on guitar.  “NA” has a low tuning, C#, shared with “Into the Void” and “Snowblind”, so I tend to play those three together.