Vol. 4 (Black Sabbath album)

Untitled

Black Sabbath Vol 4 is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1972.

The album's original release (on Vertigo in the UK, and on Warner Bros. in the US) featured a gatefold sleeve with a page glued into the middle. This gave each band member their own photo page, with the band on-stage (and photographed from behind) at the very center.

The album was originally to be titled Snowblind, the name of a track on the album which was a reference to cocaine use. The record company felt this to be controversial, for the American market in particular, so the title was altered. The song "Snowblind" had to be re-recorded because in the original Ozzy yelled the word "cocaine" after each verse. He can still be heard whispering "cocaine" in the final version, and he often shouted, "Cocaine!" during live performances of the song, as he does in their Reunion live album and the bootleg album Live at Last. In the liner notes of the album Black Sabbath thanks to "the great COKE-Cola Company," a slightly-hidden drug reference. Also during the Vol. 4 era, Geezer Butler sported a sticker on his white bass that said "Enjoy CoCaine," a takeoff on the phrase "Enjoy CocaCola."

The track "Changes" was one of the first Black Sabbath tracks to extensively use keyboards - piano was featured previously, on "Planet Caravan" from the Paranoid album and 'Solitude' from the Master Of Reality album.

The album was recorded in California, the first time Sabbath had recorded a studio album outside the United Kingdom. "Changes" was a piano ballad written by Tony Iommi including some use of a mellotron for the orchestral sounds. A lyrically-adjusted cover version gave Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne a number one single thirty one years later.

In 2000 Q magazine placed Vol. 4 at number 60 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

The album was reissued in 1996 on the Power Sound label as Children of the Grave with a new cover and one additional track, the "Children of the Grave" recording from Live at Last.

The album's title and cover art were spoofed for the 1992 Peaceville Volume 4 compilation.

Track listing

All songs were written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward.

1. "Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener" – 7:57
2. "Tomorrow's Dream" – 3:06
3. "Changes" – 4:41
4. "FX" – 1:39
5. "Supernaut" – 4:40
6. "Snowblind" – 5:25
7. "Cornucopia" – 3:49
8. "Laguna Sunrise" – 2:48
9. "St. Vitus Dance" – 2:24
10. "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes" – 5:49

Track information

"Changes"

Further information: Changes (Black Sabbath song)

This ballad about relationship loss has been covered by several artists, including The Cardigans. "Back & Forth", the opening track from Unkle's second album Never, Never, Land, features a prominent sample from the chorus and loops of the mellotron. In 1993, Ozzy Osbourne re-recorded the song himself as a single (taken from the Live and Loud album), and later recorded yet another version of the song, this time with his daughter, Kelly Osbourne as a duet for a 2003 single which reached #1 in the UK.

"Supernaut"

This song evokes space exploration, but may also describe tripping on LSD. It features a loud, heavy riff played by Tony Iommi, and a percussion section, featuring one of Bill Ward's most powerful performances. Lyrically, the song is typical of the Butler-Osbourne writing team era. Butler's distinct influence may best be typified with the recurring motif, "I've lived a thousand years/times," found lyrically and thematically in numerous Black Sabbath songs.

The song was later covered by the Al Jourgensen-led 1000 Homo DJs for their Supernaut EP with vocals by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The original version of this cover was not released for some time, as Reznor's record company would not allow it. It was later released on a Wax Trax compilation album, Black Box retrospective. Many people incorrectly label this version as a Nine Inch Nails song.

During August 1990, Trent Reznor toured briefly with Revolting Cocks (another Al Jourgensen band), and together, they performed Supernaut live several times, with Reznor singing the vocals. [1] This could be classified as a Revolting Cocks w/ Trent Reznor version of the 1000 Homo DJs cover of the Black Sabbath song. This version is only available on bootleg recordings.

A version of the song is featured on Side Trax, an album featuring work from Ministry side projects, where it is credited to 1000 Homo DJs. A Ministry cover of Supernaut also appears on the greatest hits record, Greatest Fits.

In an interview with Q magazine, Beck Hansen named the Supernaut riff as his all time favorite, equal with Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl". Famed rock composer Frank Zappa has named this the greatest rock track of all time. Zappa was quoted in an interview saying, "I like it because I think it's prototypical of a certain musical style, and I think it's well done. Also, I happen to like the guitar lick that's being played in the background."

A harmonized version of the Supernaut riff appears at the end of the song "Exoskeletons" on the album Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance by the Christian heavy metal band Tourniquet.

"Snowblind"

Sabbath recorded several songs explicitly about drugs, including "Fairies Wear Boots", "Sweet Leaf", "Hand of Doom", and "Supernaut". Black Sabbath, Vol 4 was originally intended to be named Snowblind, but was retitled by the record company, possibly to avoid the cocaine reference. The song had to be redone several times as Ozzy Osbourne kept shouting 'COCAINE' after each verse. On the final recording, cocaine can be heard whispered after the first verse (approximately 41 seconds into the song).

"Snowblind" is performed on Black Sabbath's live albums Reunion and Past Lives, and appears on the compilations We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll, and Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978.

Sleep cover "Snowblind" on the Sabbath tribute albumMasters of Misery: The Black Sabbath Tribute, and System of a Down cover "Snowblind" on the tribute album Nativity in Black II, and their Lonely Day (EP). It has also been covered by Black Label Society (with sometime Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde), appearing on their live album Alcohol Fueled Brewtality (and the compilation Kings of Damnation). Converge have performed a live cover of the song which appears on two of their EPs. John Frusciante has also covered the song at a concert in San Francisco.

"St. Vitus Dance"

An early symptom of an overdose of cocaine by injection is a series of spasms comparable to epileptic tremors, similar to St. Vitus Dance, for which the song was named, along with the movement disorder Chorea, also known as "Chorea sancti viti" (Latin for "St. Vitus' dance").

Doom metal band Saint Vitus featuring Scott "Wino" Weinrich took its name from this song.

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Tony Iommi – guitar, piano, Mellotron
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Bill Ward – drums
• Colin Caldwell, Vic Smith – engineering
• Patrick Meehan – production

Release history

Region	Date	Label
United Kingdom	September 1972	Vertigo Records
United States	September 1972	Warner Bros. Records
Canada	September 1972	Warner Bros. Records
Worldwide	2004	Sanctuary Records