Black Sabbath (album): Difference between revisions

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| Released = {{Start date|1970|02|13|df=y}}
| Released = {{Start date|1970|02|13|df=y}}
| Recorded = 16 October 1969 at Regent Sound Studios in London, England<ref name="bio" >{{Harvnb|Iommi & Lammers|2012|chapter 16 - Black Sabbath records Black Sabbath}}</ref>
| Recorded = 16 October 1969 at Regent Sound Studios in London, England<ref name="bio" >{{Harvnb|Iommi & Lammers|2012|chapter 16 - Black Sabbath records Black Sabbath}}</ref>
| Genre = <!-- Discuss changes on talk page first -->[[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]<!-- Discuss changes on talk page first -->
| Genre = <!-- Discuss changes on talk page first -->[[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]], [[blues rock]]<!-- Discuss changes on talk page first -->
| Length = {{Duration|m=38|s=12}}
| Length = {{Duration|m=38|s=12}}
| Label = [[Vertigo Records|Vertigo]]<!-- for other labels see release history -->
| Label = [[Vertigo Records|Vertigo]]<!-- for other labels see release history -->
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==Music and lyrics==
==Music and lyrics==
According to [[Allmusic]]'s Steve Huey, ''Black Sabbath'' marks "the birth of heavy metal as we now know it".<ref name="Allmusic" /> In his opinion, the album "transcends its clear roots in blues-rock and psychedelia to become something more".<ref name="Allmusic" /> He ascribes the album's "sonic ugliness" as a reflection of "the bleak industrial nightmare" of the group's hometown, [[Birmingham]], England.<ref name="Allmusic" /> The songs on the first half feature simple blues [[lick (music)|licks]] by Iommi and deal with themes characteristic of heavy metal, including evil, [[paganism]], and [[the occult]]. Most of the second half has blues-rock [[Jam session|jamming]].<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-sabbath-mw0000652046|title=Black Sabbath review|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=7 September 2013}}</ref> The author and former ''[[Metal Maniacs]]'' magazine editor Jeff Wagner credited the album with making a distinction between [[rock and roll]] and heavy metal. In his opinion, the album transfigured [[blues rock]] into "something uglier, found deeper gravity via mournful singing and a sinister rhythmic pulse".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wagner|first=Jeff|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8ZwZcZ2X5ToC&pg=PA10|accessdate=25 June 2013|title=Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal|publisher=[[Bazillion Points Books]]|page=10|year=2010|isbn=0979616336}}</ref> [[Sputnikmusic]]'s Mike Stagno observed that Black Sabbath combined elements of [[rock music|rock]], [[jazz]] and [[blues]], with heavy [[distortion (music)|distortion]] to create one of the most influential albums in the history of [[heavy metal music]].<ref name="sputnikmusic">{{cite web|last=Stagno|first=Mike|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/8742/Black-Sabbath-Black-Sabbath/|title=Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath|accessdate=7 September 2013|date=15 August 2006|publisher=[[Sputnikmusic]]}}</ref>
According to [[Allmusic]]'s Steve Huey, ''Black Sabbath'' marks the beginning of [[heavy metal music]] as it is known to most listeners and that it "transcends its clear roots in [[blues rock|blues-rock]] and [[psychedelia]] to become something more". He ascribes the album's "sonic ugliness" as a reflection of "the bleak industrial nightmare" of the group's hometown, [[Birmingham]], England.<ref name="Allmusic" /> The songs on the first half feature simple blues [[lick (music)|licks]] by Iommi and deal with themes characteristic of heavy metal, including evil, [[paganism]], and [[the occult]]. Most of the second half has blues-rock [[Jam session|jamming]].<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-sabbath-mw0000652046|title=Black Sabbath review|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=7 September 2013}}</ref> The author and former ''[[Metal Maniacs]]'' magazine editor Jeff Wagner credited the album with making a distinction between [[rock and roll]] and heavy metal. In his opinion, the album transfigured blues rock into "something uglier, found deeper gravity via mournful singing and a sinister rhythmic pulse".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wagner|first=Jeff|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8ZwZcZ2X5ToC&pg=PA10|accessdate=25 June 2013|title=Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal|publisher=[[Bazillion Points Books]]|page=10|year=2010|isbn=0979616336}}</ref> [[Sputnikmusic]]'s Mike Stagno observed that Black Sabbath combined elements of [[rock music|rock]], [[jazz]] and [[blues]], with heavy [[distortion (music)|distortion]] to create one of the most influential albums in the history of [[heavy metal music]].<ref name="sputnikmusic">{{cite web|last=Stagno|first=Mike|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/8742/Black-Sabbath-Black-Sabbath/|title=Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath|accessdate=7 September 2013|date=15 August 2006|publisher=[[Sputnikmusic]]}}</ref>


{{listen|filename=Black Sabbath Black Sabbath (song).ogg|title="Black Sabbath"|description=The track features an early example of the ''diabolus in musica'' in heavy metal}}
{{listen|filename=Black Sabbath Black Sabbath (song).ogg|title="Black Sabbath"|description=The track features an early example of the ''diabolus in musica'' in heavy metal}}
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''Black Sabbath'' received negative reviews from contemporary [[music journalism|music critics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McIver|first=Joel|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xZvnIUXk8uwC&pg=PT119#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=21 May 2013|title=Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath|publisher=[[Music Sales Group]]|page=119|isbn=085712028X|authorlink=Joel McIver}}</ref> In a review for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine, [[Lester Bangs]] said that the band was "just like [[Cream (band)|Cream]]! But worse." He dismissed the album as "a shuck—despite the murky songtitles and some inane lyrics that sound like [[Vanilla Fudge]] paying doggerel tribute to [[Aleister Crowley]], the album has nothing to do with spiritualism, the occult, or anything much except stiff recitations of Cream clichés".<ref name="bangs">{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/black-sabbath-19700917|title=Album reviews ''Black Sabbath''|last=Bangs|first=Lester|authorlink=Lester Bangs|date=17 September 1970|work=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=[[Jann Wenner|Wenner Media]]|accessdate=6 September 2009}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]], writing in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', panned the album as "bullshit [[necromancy]]" and gave it an "E" grade.<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|date=19 November 1970|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg14.php|title=Consumer Guide (14)|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|accessdate=22 October 2012}}</ref> He later gave it a "C–" and said that the album reflected "the worst of the counterculture", including "drug-impaired reaction time" and "long solos".<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=6408|title=Consumer Guide Album|publisher=Robert Christgau|accessdate=24 February 2013|at=Archived from Christgau's 1990 book [http://books.google.com/books?id=M_WYoRHmwJEC&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide'']}}</ref>
''Black Sabbath'' received negative reviews from contemporary [[music journalism|music critics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McIver|first=Joel|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xZvnIUXk8uwC&pg=PT119#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=21 May 2013|title=Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath|publisher=[[Music Sales Group]]|page=119|isbn=085712028X|authorlink=Joel McIver}}</ref> In a review for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine, [[Lester Bangs]] said that the band was "just like [[Cream (band)|Cream]]! But worse." He dismissed the album as "a shuck—despite the murky songtitles and some inane lyrics that sound like [[Vanilla Fudge]] paying doggerel tribute to [[Aleister Crowley]], the album has nothing to do with spiritualism, the occult, or anything much except stiff recitations of Cream clichés".<ref name="bangs">{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/black-sabbath-19700917|title=Album reviews ''Black Sabbath''|last=Bangs|first=Lester|authorlink=Lester Bangs|date=17 September 1970|work=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=[[Jann Wenner|Wenner Media]]|accessdate=6 September 2009}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]], writing in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', panned the album as "bullshit [[necromancy]]" and gave it an "E" grade.<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|date=19 November 1970|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg14.php|title=Consumer Guide (14)|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|accessdate=22 October 2012}}</ref> He later gave it a "C–" and said that the album reflected "the worst of the counterculture", including "drug-impaired reaction time" and "long solos".<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=6408|title=Consumer Guide Album|publisher=Robert Christgau|accessdate=24 February 2013|at=Archived from Christgau's 1990 book [http://books.google.com/books?id=M_WYoRHmwJEC&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide'']}}</ref>


In his four-and-a-half star retrospective review, Steve Huey of [[Allmusic]] described ''Black Sabbath'' as "a revolutionary debut", and he praised several of its songs, particularly the title track, which features what he described as one of the "most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time".<ref name="Allmusic"/> Huey was impressed by how the band's "slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness".<ref name="Allmusic"/> In ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004), journalist Scott Seward gave it five stars and highlighted Bain's grandiose production on "an album that eats hippies for breakfast".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/black-sabbath/albumguide|title=Black Sabbath: Album Guide|work=[[Rolling Stone]]|accessdate=4 June 2012}}</ref> Mike Stagno of [[Sputnikmusic]] gave the album a score of four out of five and felt that "both fans of blues influenced hard rock and heavy metal of all sorts should find something they like on the album".<ref name="sputnikmusic"/> [[BBC Music]]'s Pete Marsh referred to ''Black Sabbath'' as an "album that changed the face of rock music".<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|last=Marsh|first=Pete|title=Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath Review|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/r3gb|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref>
In his four-and-a-half star retrospective review, Steve Huey of [[Allmusic]] said that ''Black Sabbath'' was a highly innovative debut album with several classic songs in metal, including the title track, which he felt had the "most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time". Huey was also impressed by how the band's "slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness".<ref name="Allmusic"/> In ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004), journalist Scott Seward gave it five stars and highlighted Bain's grandiose production on "an album that eats hippies for breakfast".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/black-sabbath/albumguide|title=Black Sabbath: Album Guide|work=[[Rolling Stone]]|accessdate=4 June 2012}}</ref> Mike Stagno of [[Sputnikmusic]] gave the album a score of four out of five and felt that "both fans of blues influenced hard rock and heavy metal of all sorts should find something they like on the album".<ref name="sputnikmusic"/> [[BBC Music]]'s Pete Marsh referred to ''Black Sabbath'' as an "album that changed the face of rock music".<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|last=Marsh|first=Pete|title=Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath Review|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/r3gb|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref>


In 1989, ''[[Kerrang!]]'' ranked ''Black Sabbath'' thirty-first in its list of the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hotten|first=Jon|authorlink1=Jon Hotten|title=Black Sabbath 'Black Sabbath'|volume=222|journal=[[Kerrang!]]|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|date=21 January 1989|location=London, UK|ref=harv}}</ref> In 1994, it was ranked number 12 in [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums|Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums]]''. He praised the album's "crushing atmosphere of doom", which he described as "intense and relentless".<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|authorlink=Colin Larkin (writer)|title=Guinness Book of Top 1000 Albums|publisher=Gullane Children's Books|year=1994|edition=1|isbn=978-0-85112-786-6|page=183}}</ref> In 2000, ''[[Q magazine|Q]]'' magazine included ''Black Sabbath'' in their list of the "Best Metal Albums of All Time" and stated, "[This] was to prove so influential it remains a template for metal bands three decades on".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Best Metal Albums of All Time|journal=[[Q magazine|Q]]|location=London|page=126|date=August 2000|ref=harv}}</ref> In 2003, the album was ranked number 241 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of [[The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]];<ref name="18 November 2003">{{cite journal|date=18 November 2003|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090212222408/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/3|title=The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|journal=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|accessdate=21 May 2013|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6GmjRRqpc|archivedate=21 May 2013|ref=harv}}</ref> it was ranked number 243 in a revised edition of the list in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=6 April 2009|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: #243 |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/black-sabbath-black-sabbath-20120524|work=Rolling Stone|deadurl=no|accessdate=20 May 2013}}</ref> In retrospect, ''Black Sabbath'' has been lauded as perhaps the first true heavy metal album.<ref name="hall" /> It has also been credited as the first record in the [[stoner rock]]<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Chuck|last2=Mlner|first2=Greg|last3=Pappademas|first3=Alex|title=15 Most Influential Albums|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nCou4cnn-ZkC&pg=PA84&dq=soundgarden+stoner+rock&cd=5#v=onepage&q=soundgarden%20stoner%20rock&f=false|last1=Kolsterman|page=84|volume=19|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=April 2003|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref> and [[Gothic rock|goth]] genres.<ref name="Badd2634">[[#refBaddeley2002|Baddeley 2002]], pp. 263–4</ref>
In 1989, ''[[Kerrang!]]'' ranked ''Black Sabbath'' thirty-first in its list of the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hotten|first=Jon|authorlink1=Jon Hotten|title=Black Sabbath 'Black Sabbath'|volume=222|journal=[[Kerrang!]]|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|date=21 January 1989|location=London, UK|ref=harv}}</ref> In 1994, it was ranked number 12 in [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums|Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums]]''. He praised the album's "crushing atmosphere of doom", which he described as "intense and relentless".<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|authorlink=Colin Larkin (writer)|title=Guinness Book of Top 1000 Albums|publisher=Gullane Children's Books|year=1994|edition=1|isbn=978-0-85112-786-6|page=183}}</ref> In 2000, ''[[Q magazine|Q]]'' magazine included ''Black Sabbath'' in their list of the "Best Metal Albums of All Time" and stated, "[This] was to prove so influential it remains a template for metal bands three decades on".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Best Metal Albums of All Time|journal=[[Q magazine|Q]]|location=London|page=126|date=August 2000|ref=harv}}</ref> In 2003, the album was ranked number 241 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of [[The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]];<ref name="18 November 2003">{{cite journal|date=18 November 2003|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090212222408/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/3|title=The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|journal=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|accessdate=21 May 2013|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6GmjRRqpc|archivedate=21 May 2013|ref=harv}}</ref> it was ranked number 243 in a revised edition of the list in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=6 April 2009|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: #243 |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/black-sabbath-black-sabbath-20120524|work=Rolling Stone|deadurl=no|accessdate=20 May 2013}}</ref> In retrospect, ''Black Sabbath'' has been lauded as perhaps the first true heavy metal album.<ref name="hall" /> It has also been credited as the first record in the [[stoner rock]]<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Chuck|last2=Mlner|first2=Greg|last3=Pappademas|first3=Alex|title=15 Most Influential Albums|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nCou4cnn-ZkC&pg=PA84&dq=soundgarden+stoner+rock&cd=5#v=onepage&q=soundgarden%20stoner%20rock&f=false|last1=Kolsterman|page=84|volume=19|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=April 2003|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref> and [[Gothic rock|goth]] genres.<ref name="Badd2634">[[#refBaddeley2002|Baddeley 2002]], pp. 263–4</ref>
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==Personnel==
==Personnel==


;Black Sabbath
===Black Sabbath===
*[[Ozzy Osbourne]] – [[Singing|vocals]], [[harmonica]] on "The Wizard"
*[[Ozzy Osbourne]] – [[Singing|vocals]], [[harmonica]] on "The Wizard"
*[[Tony Iommi]] – [[guitar]]
*[[Tony Iommi]] – [[guitar]]
Line 159: Line 159:
*[[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]] – [[Drum kit|drums]]
*[[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]] – [[Drum kit|drums]]


;Production
===Production===
*[[Rodger Bain]] – [[Record producer|production]], [[Jew's harp]] on "Sleeping Village"<ref name="Wells" />
*[[Rodger Bain]] – [[Record producer|production]], [[Jew's harp]] on "Sleeping Village"<ref name="Wells" />
*[[Tom Allom]] – [[Audio engineering|engineering]]
*[[Tom Allom]] – [[Audio engineering|engineering]]

Revision as of 04:52, 26 June 2014

Untitled

Black Sabbath is the eponymous debut album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Released on 13 February 1970 in the United Kingdom, and later on 1 June 1970 in the United States, the album reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and has been credited with significantly influencing the development of heavy metal music.[2]

Recording

According to Black Sabbath guitarist and founding member, Tony Iommi, their debut album was recorded in a single day on 16 October 1969.[1][nb 1] The session lasted twelve hours.[4] Iommi said: "We just went in the studio and did it in a day, we played our live set and that was it. We actually thought a whole day was quite a long time, then off we went the next day to play for £20 in Switzerland."[5] Aside from the bells, thunder, and rain sound effects added to the beginning of the opening track, there were virtually no overdubs added to the album.[1] Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought 'We have two days to do it and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time, we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff."[6]

Iommi began recording the album with a white Fender Stratocaster, his guitar of choice at the time, but a malfunctioning pickup forced him to finish recording with a Gibson SG, a guitar that he had recently purchased as a backup, but had not played much yet. The SG was a right-handed model which he played upside down.[1] Soon after recording the album, he met another guitarist who was playing a left-handed SG upside down, and the two agreed to swap guitars.[1] Decades later, Iommi donated the original left-handed SG guitar to the Hard Rock Cafe.[1]

Music and lyrics

According to Allmusic's Steve Huey, Black Sabbath marks the beginning of heavy metal music as it is known to most listeners and that it "transcends its clear roots in blues-rock and psychedelia to become something more". He ascribes the album's "sonic ugliness" as a reflection of "the bleak industrial nightmare" of the group's hometown, Birmingham, England.[7] The songs on the first half feature simple blues licks by Iommi and deal with themes characteristic of heavy metal, including evil, paganism, and the occult. Most of the second half has blues-rock jamming.[7] The author and former Metal Maniacs magazine editor Jeff Wagner credited the album with making a distinction between rock and roll and heavy metal. In his opinion, the album transfigured blues rock into "something uglier, found deeper gravity via mournful singing and a sinister rhythmic pulse".[8] Sputnikmusic's Mike Stagno observed that Black Sabbath combined elements of rock, jazz and blues, with heavy distortion to create one of the most influential albums in the history of heavy metal music.[9]

"Black Sabbath"
The track features an early example of the diabolus in musica in heavy metal
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Black Sabbath's music and lyrics were considered quite "dark" for the time. The opening track is based almost entirely on a tritone interval played at slow tempo on the electric guitar.[10] The song's lyric concerns a "figure in black" which bassist Geezer Butler claims to have seen after waking up from a nightmare.[2]

Similarly, the lyrics of the song "N.I.B." are written from the point of view of Lucifer, who falls in love with a human woman and "becomes a better person" according to lyricist Butler.[11] Contrary to popular belief, the name of that song is not an abbreviation for "Nativity in Black".[1] Osbourne said in his autobiography that it is merely a reference to drummer Bill Ward's pointed goatee at the time, which was shaped as a pen-nib.[12] The lyrics of two other songs on the album were written about stories with themes from myth. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft short story Beyond the Wall of Sleep,[3] while "The Wizard" was inspired by the character of Gandalf from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.[13] The latter includes harmonica performed by Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.[3]

Artwork

Mapledurham Watermill

The Black Sabbath album cover features a depiction of Mapledurham Watermill, situated on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. Standing in front of the watermill is a figure dressed in black.[14] The name of the woman pictured on the front cover is forgotten, though guitarist Iommi says that she once showed up backstage at a Black Sabbath show and introduced herself.[1]

On the original release, the inner gatefold sleeve featured an inverted cross with a poem written inside of it.[15] Allegedly, the band were upset when they discovered this,[3] as it fuelled allegations that they were Satanists or Occultists;[1] however, in Osbourne's recent biography I Am Ozzy he says that to the best of his knowledge nobody was upset with the inclusion.[16] The album was not packaged with a gatefold cover in the US.

Release

Black Sabbath was recorded for Fontana Records, but prior to release the record company elected to switch the band to another of their labels, Vertigo Records, which housed the company's more progressive acts.[17] Released on Friday the 13th February 1970 by Vertigo Records, Black Sabbath reached number eight on the UK Album Chart.[18] Following its United States release in June 1970 by Warner Bros. Records, the album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200,[19] where it remained for more than a year, selling a million copies.[20][21]

Reception and legacy

Black Sabbath received negative reviews from contemporary music critics.[22] In a review for Rolling Stone magazine, Lester Bangs said that the band was "just like Cream! But worse." He dismissed the album as "a shuck—despite the murky songtitles and some inane lyrics that sound like Vanilla Fudge paying doggerel tribute to Aleister Crowley, the album has nothing to do with spiritualism, the occult, or anything much except stiff recitations of Cream clichés".[23] Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, panned the album as "bullshit necromancy" and gave it an "E" grade.[24] He later gave it a "C–" and said that the album reflected "the worst of the counterculture", including "drug-impaired reaction time" and "long solos".[25]

In his four-and-a-half star retrospective review, Steve Huey of Allmusic said that Black Sabbath was a highly innovative debut album with several classic songs in metal, including the title track, which he felt had the "most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time". Huey was also impressed by how the band's "slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness".[7] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), journalist Scott Seward gave it five stars and highlighted Bain's grandiose production on "an album that eats hippies for breakfast".[26] Mike Stagno of Sputnikmusic gave the album a score of four out of five and felt that "both fans of blues influenced hard rock and heavy metal of all sorts should find something they like on the album".[9] BBC Music's Pete Marsh referred to Black Sabbath as an "album that changed the face of rock music".[27]

In 1989, Kerrang! ranked Black Sabbath thirty-first in its list of the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[28] In 1994, it was ranked number 12 in Colin Larkin's Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums. He praised the album's "crushing atmosphere of doom", which he described as "intense and relentless".[29] In 2000, Q magazine included Black Sabbath in their list of the "Best Metal Albums of All Time" and stated, "[This] was to prove so influential it remains a template for metal bands three decades on".[30] In 2003, the album was ranked number 241 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time;[31] it was ranked number 243 in a revised edition of the list in 2012.[32] In retrospect, Black Sabbath has been lauded as perhaps the first true heavy metal album.[2] It has also been credited as the first record in the stoner rock[33] and goth genres.[34]

Track listing

All songs credited to Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne, except where noted.

European edition

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Black Sabbath"6:20
2."The Wizard"4:24
3."Behind the Wall of Sleep"3:37
4."N.I.B."6:08
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Evil Woman" (Crow cover)Larry Weigand, Dick Weigand, David Wagner3:25
6."Sleeping Village" 3:46
7."Warning" (The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation cover)Aynsley Dunbar, Alex Dmochowski, Victor Hickling, John Moorshead10:28
1996 CD reissue bonus track
No.TitleLength
8."Wicked World"4:47
2009 Deluxe Edition of European version, disc two
No.TitleLength
1."Wicked World" (single b-side, TF1067)4:44
2."Black Sabbath" (studio out-take)6:22
3."Black Sabbath" (instrumental)6:13
4."The Wizard" (studio out-take)4:46
5."Behind the Wall of Sleep" (studio out-take)3:41
6."N.I.B." (instrumental)6:08
7."Evil Woman" (alternative version)3:47
8."Sleeping Village" (intro)3:45
9."Warning" (part 1)6:58

North American edition

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Black Sabbath"6:20
2."The Wizard"4:22
3."Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B."9:44
Side two
No.TitleLength
4."Wicked World"4:47
5."A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning"14:15
2004 reissue bonus track
No.TitleLength
6."Evil Woman"3:25

Original North American Warner Bros. Records pressings of Black Sabbath quote incorrect running times for "Wicked World" and the "Warning" medley (4:30 and 14:32, respectively). These pressings also credit the album's original songs using the band members' given names: Anthony Iommi, John Osbourne, Terence Butler, and William Ward.[35]

The Castle Communications edition of 1986 also featured a live version of "Tomorrow's Dream" as bonus track.

Personnel

Black Sabbath

Production

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom 13 February 1970 Vertigo LP VO 6
1992 Castle CD CA196
United States 1 June 1970 Warner Bros. LP 1871
1 July 1988 CD 2-1871
Europe remastered 2 July 2009 Sanctuary double CD 2700819

See also

Template:Wikipedia books

Notes

  1. ^ Other sources give 17 November 1969 as the date of recording.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Iommi & Lammers, 2012 & chapter 16 - Black Sabbath records Black Sabbath
  2. ^ a b c "Black Sabbath Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e Wells, David (2009). "Black Sabbath (1970)". Black Sabbath (CD Booklet). Black Sabbath. Sanctuary Records Group.
  4. ^ Levy 2005, p. 169.
  5. ^ Black, Johnny (14 March 2009). "Black celebration: the holy grail of Black Sabbath". Music Week. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Rosen 1996, p. 38
  7. ^ a b c Huey, Steve. "Black Sabbath review". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  8. ^ Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. Bazillion Points Books. p. 10. ISBN 0979616336. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  9. ^ a b Stagno, Mike (15 August 2006). "Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  10. ^ Iommi & Lammers, 2012 & chapter 14 - The early birds catch the first songs.
  11. ^ Black Sabbath Story Vol. 1. Warner Music. 3 November 1992. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ Osbourne 2010, p. 99
  13. ^ Neeley, Wendell (26 April 2005). "20 Questions with Geezer Butler". Metal Sludge. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  14. ^ Cope, Andrew L. (2010). Black Sabbath and the rise of heavy metal music. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-7546-6881-7. Retrieved 26 October 2010. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  15. ^ Black Sabbath at Black Sabbath Online
  16. ^ Osbourne 2010, p. 103
  17. ^ Iommi & Lammers, 2012 & chapter 17 - Now under new management
  18. ^ "The Official Charts Company - Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath Search". The Official Charts Company. 17 September 2013.
  19. ^ "Black Sabbath Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  20. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "AMG Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 February 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ^ "Black Sabbath Biography". RollingStone.com. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ McIver, Joel. Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Music Sales Group. p. 119. ISBN 085712028X. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  23. ^ Bangs, Lester (17 September 1970). "Album reviews Black Sabbath". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  24. ^ Christgau, Robert (19 November 1970). "Consumer Guide (14)". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  25. ^ Christgau, Robert. Consumer Guide Album. Robert Christgau. Archived from Christgau's 1990 book Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  26. ^ "Black Sabbath: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  27. ^ Marsh, Pete. "Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  28. ^ Hotten, Jon (21 January 1989). "Black Sabbath 'Black Sabbath'". Kerrang!. 222. London, UK: Spotlight Publications Ltd. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  29. ^ Larkin, Colin (1994). Guinness Book of Top 1000 Albums (1 ed.). Gullane Children's Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-85112-786-6.
  30. ^ "Best Metal Albums of All Time". Q. London: 126. August 2000. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  31. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. New York. 18 November 2003. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  32. ^ Rolling Stone (6 April 2009). "500 Greatest Albums of All Time: #243". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Kolsterman, Chuck; Mlner, Greg; Pappademas, Alex (April 2003). "15 Most Influential Albums". Spin. 19: 84. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  34. ^ Baddeley 2002, pp. 263–4
  35. ^ As per the album labels from the original North American LP release of Black Sabbath, Warner Bros. Records, catalog no. WS 1871, released June 1970.

Bibliography

External links

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