Best Black Sabbath Album

Is it worth checking out Die and TE? Don't expect them to hold up to the others but are they at least interesting?

I think so. They're pretty decent late 70s hard rock records, but they do pale when compared to what the band did before.

I personally love Never Say Die, and voted it top 10 in Herm's poll. There is a great thread about it on ILM. Check the thread out and you will be buying/downloading it immediately after reading it.

Here it is:

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!

Only 3 people who voted have heard Heaven & Hell?

in the "Paranoid" riff, there seems to be an errant major key note that pops up at the end of the chorus riff. wtf is that? it's been bugging me for fucking years

You really can't go wrong with Sabbath all the way through Live Evil.

"If you listen to fools the Mob Rules"

Just listening to Vol.4 now. I love it, but there is an inconsistency in sound on the album that annoys me. Different bits of tape being spliced together, I don't know. The volume of the album fluctuates badly. This makes it feel cobbled together in a bad way. I'm listening to the recent remastered CD. Is there a more balanced edition of this album??

That later era of the Ozzy Black Sabbath is kinda 'why spend money on a producer when we can spend it on drugs'. Page took producer rights on the Led Zep records, but he usually had a ringer working the board in all of their records that was killer producer in their own right like Glyn Johns, Andy Johns, Eddie Kramer, Ron Nevison etc. working on the record.

I think a big 'What If' moment of 70s/80s heavy metal is what would have happened if Martin Birch would have produced Born Again. I think if that record had the same production as the two Dio albums, it might have been a bigger hit and the Gillian era perhaps would have had a second act.

To me, I think Martin Birch probably was the best producer/engineer of all the early hard rock and metal.

this is totally Master of Reality btw

well, yeah

I feel like MoR is the album that probably most influenced the copycat stoner acts, as the template is mostly fully formed on that one. though some days the s/t is my fav - I've been known to rock "The Wizard" at karaoke night

probably most influenced the copycat stoner acts, as the template is mostly fully formed on that one.

also it's the first album where tony and geezer downtuned their axes, according to tony's autobio

master of reality is incredible. i swear i get a contact high every time i hear 'sweet leaf'. there is not a better soundtrack in existence for lifting weights.

are you bill mcgill

Paranoid. The guitarwork in that album predicts EVERYTHING, from Celtic Frost to NWOBHM (in some slippery way). MoR is heavier but I just don't think it has as much in the way of ideas. And I could go without almost all the gear-fetishist stoner doom it inspired anyway

past lives is my #1 sab album

"we love you!"

COOOO-CAINE!!!

vol iv is my favourite album but master of reality has 'into the void', which is heavy as fuck and is my favourite single sabbath track

I have MoR on the original Vertigo pressing, which has this amazing optical illusion label:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F4nvhlb7Og

Vol 4 has always been the hipster choice, congrats ILX

also lol at Sabotage over s/t, give me a fucking break

sometimes hipsters... can be right

https://m.popkey.co/b88f98/qdRlA_s-200x150.gif?c=popkey-web&p=nike&i=nikeunlimited-sports&l=search&f=.gif

correct ranking of first four sabbath albums is

Master of Reality
Paranoid
Vol. IV
debut

imo

^^^^ exactly otm

Though I must admit--and this is a quality Sabbath shares with the Velvets, Zeppelin, and not many others--my "favorite" of the first four is usually the one that's playing when you ask me

Sabotage is as good as those four. I might pick s/t overall.

I'd rather listen to Blizzard of Oz or Diary of Madman or Born Again or either of the two (early) Dio-era Sabbath albums than Sabotage. I think I may even prefer Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Sabotage bugs me. I like "Hole In The Sky" and "Symptom Of The Universe," but the rest is so meh and also that record (to me) sounds like shit (cocaine's a hell of a drug etc)

Sabotage sounds fine to me, but SBS has this weird drowsy effect on me. It's so muted and dull, I can never make it all the way through the album without zoning out. Maybe I just have a bad copy?

Through the re-recording scandal and the obvious "Sabs was better" elitism that's always been around, I'm thinking Blizzard of Oz is actually underrated now

I would rather listen to Sabotage & SBS than most other Sab albums these days. I've especially been listening to SBS a lot lately - lyrically it's really interesting and I love Ozzy's voice around that era.

yeah sabotage fucking rules.

Two weeks ago I posted this on Twitter:

Just reveling in how hard Bill Ward SWINGS on "Symptom of the Universe." Art Blakey would have approved.

Sabbath swinging...

https://youtu.be/UuqyRrwdBtQ?t=180

I love that riff section and would love to hear a full horn section doing it.

Master of Reality > Paranoid > Black Sabbath > Sabotage > Sabbath Bloody Sabbath > Vol. 4 >>> Never Say Die >>>>>> Technical Ecstasy.

I'd like Vol. 4 more if it wasn't for its thin and downright awful production, but as it stands its easily my least favourite of the classic run.

Who the fuck voted for Mob Rules?

i respect it

Mob Rules is a great Dio album.

Mob Rules rules

I've been loving "Never Say Die" lately, that record rules

Love that album, especially the horn rock number

They should have gone Blodwyn Pig on the bit more often

None of them, I don't like Black Sabbath 6

Wtf

I like Mob Rules better than Heaven and Hell, there's more grit in the sound and more memorable riffs, but all three Rainbow records with Dio are better than both, and so is Never Say Die.

Paranoid and Master of Reality are the only two I own mainly because I also have Symptom Of The Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 and that covers virtually every great track from that era.

(It’s a two-CD compilation from Rhino Records)

That's a good selection, but I need every song from those first six records.

Even "Blow On a Jug".

man SBS really got snubbed here huh