Black Sabbath (album)

Untitled

Black Sabbath is the debut album by the British rock band Black Sabbath, released in the United Kingdom on Friday the 13th, February 1970. Black Sabbath is often regarded as one of the first heavy metal albums.

Recording

In August 1969 the band, who were then known as Earth, decided to change their name to Black Sabbath, because there was another band also known as Earth. Around the same time they recorded and distributed a demo version of their eponymous song. In December 1969 they recorded and released their debut single, "Evil Woman". In January 1970, the band recorded and mixed the remaining seven songs that would appear on their debut album. The songs were recorded "live" and the entire process took just three days.

Guitarist Tony 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."

Music and lyrics

Musically and lyrically the album was considered quite "dark" for the time. The first song on the album is based almost entirely on a tritone interval played at slow tempo on the electric guitar. The song's lyrics concern a "figure in black" which bass player Geezer Butler saw after waking up from a nightmare.

Similarly, the lyrics of the song "N.I.B." are written from the point of view of Lucifer. Contrary to popular belief, the name of that song is not an acronym for "Nativity In Black". Tony Iommi said in several interviews that it is merely a reference to drummer Bill Ward's pointed goatee at the time, which was shaped as a pen-nib.

Lyrics of two other songs on the album were written about supernatural-themed stories. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft short story Beyond the Wall of Sleep, while "The Wizard" was inspired by the character of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. The latter includes harmonica performed by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.

Both the songs "Warning" and "Evil Woman" are covers of blues songs, with lyrics regarding relationships. The first was written and performed by Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation, and the second was written and performed by the band Crow.

Artwork

The 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 robes. This is perhaps an allusion to the lyrics of their eponymous song: "A figure in black, which points at me". On the original release, the inner gatefold sleeve featured an inverted cross with a poem written inside of it. Vertigo, the band's record label, was allegedly responsible for adding the cross. The band was upset when they discovered this, as it fuelled allegations that they were Satanists or Occultists. The album was not packaged with a gatefold cover in the U.S.

Release and reception

Released on Friday the 13th February 1970 by Vertigo Records, Black Sabbath reached number eight on the UK Album Chart. Following its US release in May 1970 by Warner Bros. Records, the album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200, where it remained for over a year, selling a million copies.

While the album was a commercial success, it was widely panned by critics. In a review for Rolling Stone magazine, rock critic Lester Bangs felt Sabbath was "just like Cream! But worse". Bangs dismissed Black Sabbath as a "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 cliches".

In 2003, the album was ranked number 241 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Q magazine (8/00, p.126) later included it as one of the Best Metal Albums of All Time, claiming that "[This] was to prove so influential it remains a template for metal bands three decades on. The band's signature song remains the scariest of all heavy metal songs."

Track listing

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

1970 Vertigo release (United Kingdom)

Side one

1. "Black Sabbath" – 6:16
2. "The Wizard" – 4:24
3. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" – 3:38
4. "N.I.B." – 6:06

Side two

1. "Evil Woman" (Dave Wagner, Dick Wiegand, Larry Wiegand) – 3:25
2. "Sleeping Village" – 3:46
3. "Warning" (Aynsley Dunbar, John Moorshead, Alex Dmochowski, Victor Hickling) – 10:32

1970 Warner Bros. release (North America)

Side one

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

1. "Wicked World" – 4:47
2. "A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning" – 14:15

On original Warner Bros. pressings of the album, the running times of "Wicked World" and "A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning" are incorrectly listed as 4:30 and 14:32, respectively.

Note: The titles "Wasp", "Bassically" and "A Bit of Finger" are unique to the North American editions. They are not extra songs but rather a name for some part of a song, for example "Bassically" is simply the bass introduction of "N.I.B". "Wasp" is the title of the first 'suite' (Behind the Wall of Sleep / Bassically / N.I.B.), and "A Bit of Finger" is the name of the second 'suite' (Sleeping Village / Warning). All editions of the album, except the original UK edition and 2004 remaster, feature separate songs bridged together with these titles added.

2009 Deluxe Edition (2 CDs)

A two-disc deluxe edition was released in the UK on 1 June 2009 and in the US on 30 June 2009 as an import. The first disc is the original UK album remastered, while the second disc contains previously unreleased instrumental or alternative lyric versions of each track.

This deluxe edition was remastered by Andy Pearce who also did the deluxe editions of Paranoid and Master of Reality.

Disc one

Same as original 1970 UK LP release.

Disc two (Bonus tracks)

1. "Wicked World [Single B-Side]"
2. "Black Sabbath [Studio Outtake]"
3. "Black Sabbath [Instrumental]"
4. "The Wizard [Studio Outtake]"
5. "Behind the Wall of Sleep [Studio Outtake]"
6. "N.I.B. [Instrumental]"
7. "Evil Woman [Alternative Version]"
8. "Sleeping Village [Intro]"
9. "Warning [Part 1]"

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals; harmonica on "The Wizard"
• Tony Iommi – guitar, keyboards
• Geezer Butler – bass
• Bill Ward – drums
• Rodger Bain – production
• Tom Allom – engineering
• Barry Sheffield – engineering

Release history

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

References

• Rosen, Steven (1996), The Story of Black Sabbath: Wheels of Confusion, Castle Communications, ISBN 1-86074-149-5