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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => The Ozzy Years => Topic started by: Charger on October 13, 2020, 06:15:21 AM
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So now it is time for the best Ozzy-era Sabbath album (atleast in terms of overall song quality, eventhough it doesn't feature any of their ABSOLUTE best tracks)
The album opens up with the worst track SWEET LEAF but I think that's a great thing. You know right away things are gonna just get better!
Tony Iommi's coughing intro has always been one of the most unique things I've ever heard and it does fit the songs theme which is the glorification of the drug marijuana. Honestly the message of the song is what brings it down the most. Never liked these drug songs...
However the riff is bit erratic as well. It's like the power of the riff goes in and out. It doesn't flow like all other Iommi riffs do. The vocal melody copies that style and doesn't flow very well either. The solo is where the song's good properties lie but honestly I prefer to start this album straight from the following track.
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As people know this is not one of my favourite Sabbath albums, but there's not actually a bad song on it (well, instrumentals aside! ;) )
I think Sweet Leaf is a solid opener, not much else to say about it really!
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I find Sweet Leaf to be one of the best tracks on this flawless album. Iommi and Butler set this's album's tone right off the bat with this song. The cough idea was great. Ward really shines during the instrumental break. But the best thing about this song, for me, was Ozzy's performance. He absolutely kills it with the necessary energy and effort it takes to express his love for the sweet leaf. A terrific song! :zomg:
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Hate the lyrics, love everything else about the song. It's the birth of stoner rock, right there in that tune.
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I’ve always liked Sweet Leaf and the songs pretty dam good as well :D
Strong riffage, classic Iommi tone with a great instrumental breakdown and solo which is the best part of the song and the lyrics are an unashamed loving tribute to the Sweet Leaf :rockon:
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After Forever is a very interesting track. It's probably the most commercial sounding track of all on the album but eventhough the riffing isn't quite as heavy as with the other tracks it still has a very nice drive and groove to it.
Lyrically this is quite different that what people probably would have expected from Sabbath. In fact I think Geezer wrote the lyrics to kind of stick it to all the press and reviewers at the time calling them satanic and what not and went on to write a song about god and religion from a believer's point of view. The irony works extremely well and this is actually one of Geezer's most underrated lyrics I think.
Ozzy's vocal melody follows the riff quite well again and for a riff of this type it works too. Geezer plays bass almost like a rythm guitar here which is great and Bill's drumming is as solid as ever.
It was quite surprising to see this song outed during the Reunion tour as it was something of a forgotten classic.
Great and a very unique track in Sabbath's history.
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After Forever is another really solid song, love the bass on it, and lyrically interesting (so I guess it's a Geezer special!).
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After Forever is a hymn. It is the heaviest hymn I ever heard, making it my favorite of all hymns. :) Besides, who wouldn't "like to see the pope on the end of a rope"? >:D Great tune.
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After Forever has a good measure of complexity to it and I remember the lyrics taking me completely by surprise when I first heard them.
For the track mix, though, it's in an odd place in between a MJ song and then one about global catastrophe, specifically one that impacts children. Don't see where it would really fit in on side 2, either.
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I've always kind of felt that with that little fade in intro bit After Forever would have worked well as an opener.
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I've always kind of felt that with that little fade in intro bit After Forever would have worked well as an opener.
True, but I'm thinking still for a different album. It would definitely fit better in the mix on SBS.
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I'll move onto Embryo. Yuk! It's only 30 seconds but outlives its welcome way before it's finished! Seriously if they had spent more time developing it into a proper tune it could have worked. As it is I think Tony may have have just doodled in the studio for a couple of minutes and decided to put it on the album. It is a short album so maybe it's understandable!
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Embryo has to be my all time favourite Sabbath instrumental. It just flows perfectly and it's nice and short and works as an amazing intro.
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Embryo is a nice Lead In to Children of the Grave. Honestly, I can't listen to Children of the Grave without it. To me, the 2 just go together.
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^^^
Same to me. Live versions without have always felt bit lacking because it's not included.
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Yes, it's the intro section to...
Truly a monster of a song. If Black Sabbath haven't invented Heavy Metal yet, then this song does it, 100% bona fide. The relentless riff conquers all in this song. The middle bit and solo are nice, but it's that riff that rules the tune, start to finish. Everything is on the riff, driving it home.
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Children Of The Grave was Sabbath's take on the galloping riff. This probably was indeed Sabbath's first HEAVY METAL song. Faster, heavy and still doomy track.
The riff is without a doubt one of the most iconic ones in history.
This song too suffers a bit from being over played and is pretty much the only non Paranoid album track being played on the radio. (Part from the occational Heaven And Hell and Neon Knights).
Geezer's lyrics are kind of timeless and gets the message through. But I'm with ZZZ and will say this song is all about that riff. Heck all you need to do is think about the song and you start humming that riff right away.
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Yep. The riff ran through my head as I read your post, Charger.
In the USA, it's never played. We just have Paranoid, Iron Man, and Heaven and Hell. And then Time Machine (Wayne's World Version) when that movie came out. That's it for Sabbath on the radio here with our "classic rock" formatting.
Now I can't NOT think of the riff. That's a good riff, for sure. :D
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I think I've said before that I don't know why this is such a classic and a staple of the set list. Not because I don't like the song but because they've done much better which have been forgotten.
But to clarify I do quite like the song! Probably my 3rd favourite on the album! ;)
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Orchid is another nice Iommi instrumental. It too flows very nicely and doesn't out last it's welcome. It works as a perfect intro to the doomiest song on the album.
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Yes, Orchid is a good little instrumental, and is actually one which maybe could have been a little longer.
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I very much enjoy the BFTO tune that is Orchid. :rhythm:
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That it was chosen to lead off side two, though, puzzles me. It does work in the overall flow of end-to-end listening, CD-style, but kinda messes up the flow of the second side for me.
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Lord of this World now. My favourite track off the album, a little quirky, perhaps even a little catchy, but I like it a lot.
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Lord Of This World is hands down the best track on the album. It is Sabbath at it's Doomiest and finest to be honest.
A great solid track with great lyrics and a monster riff accompanied by a great rythm section and vocals.
Such an underrated gem this one...it only got a handful of live outings during the Reunion tour which was a real shame. This should have been the staple instead of Sweet Leaf...although at the same time I do understand why SL got the slot as it's always "cool" to do songs about drugs.
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Lord Of This World is solid Sabbath in every way. All 4 band members shine pretty much equally. I especially love the tick, tick, tick sound that Bill is making during the chorus. :think: I'm not sure if he is using a bottle to do that, but I'm sure someone else must know.
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Solitude is musically the sequal to Planet Caravan. Very similar feel and atmosphere. A very melancholic track.
I enjoy this one more than Planet Caravan. Ozzy's haunting vocals are brilliant. The last good Ozzy-era ballad. They still had the courage to be unique even in ballads at this point. Afterwards they went into the cliche section..Changes...She's Gone...yuck.
Solitude stands head and shoulders over the other ones. Musically this might not be the most variable tune, but honestly it doesn't have to be. It works perfectly as it is.
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Solitude is definitely the best of the slower/ballad-y songs from the early albums (I might go with Zeitgeist from the full catalogue). The vocals are so un-Ozzy-like that I understand why people have said it must be Bill singing!
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Without a doubt, Solitude is my favorite BFTO song from Sabbath. A lovely tune. :love:
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Catching up here...
I've got an issue with side two of MoR, as I mentioned earlier. Lord of This World starts off with a big enough riff, but then it drops into a slower tempo and kinda doesn't deliver on the promise of the opening. Then the ending of the song is very much like War Pigs' ending. It's nice, but not really something that moves me.
And then Solitude dissipates the energy again. It breaks the flow and leaves side two in a bit of a flux. Overall, I "like" the songs, but not all together like that. The whole is less than the sum of the parts, I'm afraid.
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Catching up here...
I've got an issue with side two of MoR, as I mentioned earlier. Lord of This World starts off with a big enough riff, but then it drops into a slower tempo and kinda doesn't deliver on the promise of the opening. Then the ending of the song is very much like War Pigs' ending. It's nice, but not really something that moves me.
And then Solitude dissipates the energy again. It breaks the flow and leaves side two in a bit of a flux. Overall, I "like" the songs, but not all together like that. The whole is less than the sum of the parts, I'm afraid.
:o Wow, I have got to say, this is the first time in these "Song by Song breakdown" threads that I completely disagree with one of your comments. In fairness though, I really no longer distinguish between a side 1 and 2, because it has been so many years now that I have listened to the Great 8 on cds, from start to finish. But to me, Master Of Reality is a flawless 10/10 piece of work.
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The last track on the album is Into The Void, Probably my second favourite song off the album, it's heavy, varied and a nice SF style lyric.
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Into The Void is in the latter half of my Top 10 favorite Sabbath songs. A terrific heavy piece to close out this album.
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Catching up here...
I've got an issue with side two of MoR, as I mentioned earlier. Lord of This World starts off with a big enough riff, but then it drops into a slower tempo and kinda doesn't deliver on the promise of the opening. Then the ending of the song is very much like War Pigs' ending. It's nice, but not really something that moves me.
And then Solitude dissipates the energy again. It breaks the flow and leaves side two in a bit of a flux. Overall, I "like" the songs, but not all together like that. The whole is less than the sum of the parts, I'm afraid.
:o Wow, I have got to say, this is the first time in these "Song by Song breakdown" threads that I completely disagree with one of your comments. In fairness though, I really no longer distinguish between a side 1 and 2, because it has been so many years now that I have listened to the Great 8 on cds, from start to finish. But to me, Master Of Reality is a flawless 10/10 piece of work.
I just feel that, overall, the album doesn't all fit together the way the first two did. Vol. 4 suffers less from the playlist ordering problem, and SBS and Sabotage are dead on in how the songs flow. While I don't like TE or NSD as much, I think that they also have better track mixes than MoR. It's a balancing act, for sure.
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Into The Void again one of those all time classics.
And again a song that is all about that riff....which seems to be the case in quite a few Sabbath tunes...makes me wonder if that Tony Iommi guy was actually pretty good at writing riffs or something... ;D
Geezer's lyrics are very good here as well. Future of the mankind themed stuff...which is great.
Ozzy's vocal preformance is also among his finests.
The little tempo changes again through out the song are fantastic.
It was a real surprise this song didn't get live stapled in the 70s...infact they only played it handful of times in early 71. It was finally brought to the setlist during the Cross Purposes tour and then again to the reunion tour where it did become a staple. Rightfully so I'd say.
A great track that finishes off the early days album trilogy. The raw early days. None of the Ozzy era albums managed to capture the over all magic of these three albums again. Things started to get bit more experimental after these... Don't get me wrong some fantastic songs on those albums too but honestly none of the albums were as consistantly brilliant anymore until The Mob Rules.
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I rank this album as follows:
1. Lord of this World
2. Into the Void
3. Children of the Sea
4. Sweet Leaf
5. After Forever
6. Solitude
7. Orchid
8. Embryo
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I'd actually rank Children Of The Sea above anything on this album but hey that's just me! ;D
Anyways my listing (today) would be
1. Lord Of This World
2. Into The Void
3. After Forever
4. Embryo
5. Children Of The Grave
6. Solitude
7. Orchid
Sweet Leaf
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^^^
D'Oh!!!! :whistling:
Actually I agree with you!
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Inserting my final rating of the albums for completion's sake.
Master Of Reality - 10/10
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MASTER OF REALITY
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Sure Sweet Leaf is a bad song BUT the rest of the album is so damn good there's no way this could have anything other than a full rating.