Well here it is, the absolute ultimate collection of material for the "Original" Ozzy-era
Black Sabbath, a no holds barred complete anthology with deluxe packaging and superior remastering all packaged within an elaborate box, making for to perfect tribute to one of the bands that started it all.
We could sit here all day and discuss the eight albums, I mean the self titled debut, the record that blew away the minds of rock and roll, featuring the dark title cut with the thunderstorm intro, the shattering bass lines of
"N.I.B." so rarely heard on records at that time. The Follow up,
Paranoid, with the title cut still remaining a timeless metal anthem just like
"Iron Man" and
"War pigs." The dark riffs of
"Sweet Leaf" from
Master of Reality, the haunting mellotron within
"Changes" from
Vol. 4.,
"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," from the album that shares the same title, classics like
"Symptoms of the Universe" and
"Supernaut," leading all the way to the Pink Floydian experiment
Technical Ecstasy and the final gasp for Ozzy (in the seventies)
Never Say Die. It's every album back to front.
To look at this box set is to look at the genre that Sabbath undoubtedly created along with contemporaries
Led Zeppelin and guitar wizard Hendrix, but it was Sabbath that would put the darker sound into the world of metal, both lyrically and musically. There was nothing fancy or elaborate about the production for Sabbath at the time, they didn't need it, and like Ozzy said in an interview referring to the first record, "we recorded it in a few days, we get in the studio, record on an eight track machine and get the fuck out," it was proof positive that pure musicianship was involved, undeniably from the dark guitar riffs from Tony Iommi's Gibson SG, Geezer Butlers thumping bass, Bill Ward's aggressive drumming, and of course Ozzy's harmonic vocal styling, there has been nobody with such an original sound since that has helped mold and shape music as we know it.
At the time in America, it was the late sixties, the whole "peace and love" vibe of the hippie era was going to hell, and people had had enough of it. The country was in complete unrest due to Vietnam War protests and Civil Rights rallies, people were sick and tired of the same political bullshit shoved down their throats, not to mention syrupy pop that was dominating the music charts with bands such as The Carpenters, Bread, and the Lovin' Spoonful. Popular music was also beginning to show too much vulnerability to society's expectations; psychedelic rock and garage rock were becoming ignored by the music mainstream, the Beatles were on the verge of breaking up, and the Rolling Stones had helped create the disaster at Altamont (which many believe is the official end to the sixties so called "peace and love" era, for what it was worth).
Sabbath was completely separate from the whole commercial music mainstream, they weren't out to make a political agenda like Bob Dylan or sing about what is "wrong" with society, they were literally one of the first middle fingers in the face of popular music along with other counterculture bands such as
The Doors as well as progressive rock bands like
King Crimson and Yes, with an agenda to make nothing but great music, being the alternative from the mainstream mumbo-jumbo of the time.
Sabbath would outlast many of the contemporaries, and although they would face both the splendors and downfalls of rock stardom, they would endure throughout numerous lineup changes and would include and spawn the careers of some of metals most phenomenal vocalists and musicians.
As for the box set's packaging, eight CDs in digipack packaging and clear CD mounting made it easy to replicate the original liner notes and gatefold LP artwork within each disc, two small boxes fit four digipacks each to add to the novelty factor. The book is an elaborate hardback featuring liner notes from journalists Chris Welch and Brian Ives, as well as comments from Zakk Wylde, Henry Rollins, Billy Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Rob Halford, and Tom Dumont (No Doubt) among others, proving that the Sabbath influence has gone outside of the metal bounds, and no one can deny that.
The sound has also been significantly improved, even better than the Castle/Sanctuary Essential series remasters, which sounded great to begin with. The sound is fairly close to the original "green" or "Burbank" label vinyl LPs, but yet compressed to allow maximum volume of all dynamics, side by side the LPs have a little more spontaneous sonics, which makes me wonder why this was not released in the hybrid Super Audio CD/CD format for even more advanced resolution, there would be no additional cost involved, oh well, still sounds awesome.
The DVD features the Beat Club performances (German TV show), which present what I believe is the best version of
"Paranoid" ever made.
One would only hope that Warner/Rhino reissues the rest of the
Black Sabbath Warner Bros.-era catalog, which would make the perfect compliment to the Sabbath history, the post-Ozzy material is phenomenal in it's own right. Like this box set's little brother, the two disc
Symptom of the Universe-The Original Black Sabbath anthology, also on Rhino, this makes for much more splendor for the completeist, audiophile, and just any fan alike.
By the way, guess who is listed as executive producer, none other than Sharon Osbourne.
Written by
Hashman Thursday, June 3, 2004
Show all reviews by HashmanRatingsHashman: 10/10Members: 7/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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Rating: 7/10
Not my favorite part of Black Sabbath history.
Rating by albums:
Black Sabbath - 7/10
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