Greatest Rock albums of all time. Part. 12

                                     BLACK SABBATH: BLACK SABBATH (1970)

  Before I start writing this, I did a lot of thinking about how to approach this band and their albums.

  I wrote a couple of posts, and then I erased them, because when it comes to Black Sabbath it is really very difficult for me to be objective. I really tried hard to decide which records I should put in this post, and after many changes, I thought that my best option was to present only their first album. Because if I had to put a second one (as I had in mind at first), it seemed impossible for me to decide which one should be. In my opinion their first 5 albums are equally important and good. (The only exception maybe, would be the album Vol.4, because for me it is the 'weakest' in comparison to the other four).

  Black Sabbath's dark image (that would follow them forever), started here: On Friday the 13th of February 1970 with the release of their first self titled record. On the cover we see a picture of an old house which seems to be abandoned, and a pale figure dressed in black at the front. The whole cover is like a picture that was taken from a horror movie. (The house on this cover was a windmill, situated somewhere on Thames river). In the original version, the cover had a gatefold with an inverted black cross and a poem written on it.

   But let’s move on and take a closer look at the songs here:

   The album opens with the famous Black Sabbath. Rain falls, thunders strike, and the sound of the church bell ringing setting up a dark and gloomy atmosphere, before the heavy sound of guitar and bass hit you in the stomach like iron. Ozzy with his odd voice sings about 'a figure in black’ which points at him. (The lyrics of this song are based on a nightmare Geezer Butler had). One of the most “bizarre” songs ever recorded, which became a “must” in all their concerts during their long career.

 Next, comes the song N.I.B, in which the lyrics are written from the point of view of Lucifer. The song Behind the Wall of Sleep was inspired by the American writer H.P Lovecraft and his story with the same title. As for The Wizard, it was inspired from the wizard Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings books, written by J.R.R Tolkien. The songs Evil Woman and Warning are cover versions of some old Blues songs.

   According to Tonny Iommi, the band recorded the album in just one day. They went to the studio, played all the songs live, recorded them and left. The only 'luxury' they had, it was that Ozzy was singing from another booth.

  Upon its release, the reviews that Black Sabbath received, varied from bad to terrible! My opinion is that the critics and the media of the time were unable to handle such a record, because it was something they were listening to for the first time and they had no idea how to react to it.

Here’s a few examples: “It sounds like a very bad version of Cream”, or  “It is like Vanilla Fudge playing a tribute to Alister Crowley”. [Alister Crowley (1875-1947) was a very famous magician, occultist etc].

  That is exactly what I meant before, when I wrote  they didn't know how to handle this record. 

  Despite the bad critics, the album sales were not bad at all! It reached at No.8 at the U.K charts, and at No.23 at the USA charts.

   With the passing years, the critics started giving better and better reviews, until it gained its position as one of the most important and influential albums in the history of  Rock music. After all, let's not forget that Heavy Metal has its roots exactly on this record! (And the rest of  the Black Sabbath's albums that followed)...

  Nedless to say that this album is a "must have"!

Other Black Sabbath (incl. Ozzy) albums I recommend: Paranoid, Master of Reality, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage.