The Community
ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => The Dio Years => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on December 15, 2020, 07:03:29 AM
-
Continuing with the Dio albums we come to Mob Rules.
First track is Turn Up The Night, another great opener from the boys, it may not quite match Neon Knights but it's not that far behind. A fast rocker with a great riff. To me it seems to have a quite similar vibe to Stand Up and Shout from Dio's solo work.
-
Anyone that is going to complain that some songs in 13 are a rehash, sure must admit the rehash here with Turn Up The Night. They should have titled this tune Neon Knights II.
-
And then we move on to the magnum opus of Black Sabbath and one of the greatest albums ever made! This is gonna be a great ride!!
Talk about kick ass album openers Turn Up The Night sure hits that spot! One of Tony's strangest fast riffs combined with Ronnie's shotgun style vocals makes this song a rather unique piece in Sabbath's catalogue.
Ronnie has never since nor before used this vocal technique and understandably so...as he could never truly reproduce that style to perfection live and that's why this song did not make it to the set list part from couple of occations in the very early stages of the Mob Rules tour.
When asked why this wasn't done during the H&H tours Ronnie said this was one of the few songs he just couldn't get right anymore and because of that.
But what a track and what a way to open an album. This has to be the most furious of all Sabbath songs....Trashed is the only one that even comes close.
If Neon Knights is the best album opener of all time this has to be the second best for sure.
-
Yeah, if you're gonna copy a song, copying Neon Knights is not a bad choice. Then, it's a question of whether or not what was borrowed is "paid back with interest", as composers of the classical era put it when they pinched a theme or two from each other. In this case, yes, the borrowing was worthwhile and does good by the original source. I love how the tss-tss-tss-tss basically is the signal to roll the tanks and we get another ripper to kick things off. It's not as complex as Neon Knights, but nevertheless gets the job done.
10/10, will listen to again. :D
-
Next we have Voodoo. To be honest I've always been a little 'meh' about this song. It's not bad by any means but when sat next to the rest of the album it is a weaker effort. BUT, it has started to grow on me... it's only taken 39 years! ;)
-
Voodoo is another fantastic track on a fantastic album. The groovy riff is among Tony's finest and the vocal melody of Ronnie's is suberb.
But this is again one of those songs that truly came alive in a live setting. Especially the longer version done during the H&H tour of 2007 was amazing.
This was a Geezer song to atleast some extent.
-
This one and Sign of the Southern Cross I had to learn to get into, because these two ain't Children of the Sea / Lady Evil. These ain't songs for kids playing D&D. And this song, I think, goes very well with the album cover. It's a slow burn tune, another straightforward piece with little thematic variety. It depends on that riff and rhythm line to drive it forward, and it gets across the goal line.
-
Now this is a good example of how to use a singer, with a powerful voice like Dio's, in a Black Sabbath song. With Voodoo, Tony's guitar takes the lead, backed up nicely by Geezer's bass line. This keeps Ronnie in check, and his powerful voice is used just enough to make the song work. A fine arrangement for this set of performers. Thumbs up. ;)
-
Sign of the Southern Cross is the long epic on this album. I've always loved this song and is challenging for the best track on the album (with about 3 oters!). I've always liked it but in the early days I felt it was good but not great a bit like Heaven & Hell (song), but it has grown on me almost like it was ahead of its time. Great atmosphere, time changes mystic lyrics it's got it all!
-
Sign Of The Southern Cross is by far the best song on this album. The true Sabbath style is obvious, and helps put this tune in the epic category. Great track.
-
And then we come face to face again with one of those songs that belong to the GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME list, the mighty SIGN OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
The soft intro which leads into one of Tony's greatest riffs of all time (which I have on my new phone as the ring tone again) and some amazing wah pedal bass work from Geezer. And those lyrics by Ronnie...these are without a doubt some of his best work. An incredibly powerful song...a true epic.
Best track on the album and most certainly a top 5 Sabbath song of all time and quite possibly a top 5 songs of all time...
-
I may like the manic riff of Falling Off the Edge of the World more, but Sign of the Southern Cross is absolutely a reason why I consider Mob Rules superior to Heaven and Hell, overall. We get the D&D content, but with a much harder edge than we had with Lady Evil or Wishing Well.
Everything builds in this song. I especially focus on Dio's well-measured delivery, taking time as he goes from 5 at the start to 10 at the end.
-
E5150 is an instrumental (bar a few words at the beginning) which is a little different, the guitar effects are nice. I don't mind it, it's quite atmospheric and I like the way the keyboard runs into Mob Rules. Having said that it's my least favourite track on the album.
-
E5150 is the greatest concert intro tape of all time but honestly that's where it's chops end.
It's a strange instrumental for sure...for the longest time I thought this was done with keyboards but the main instrument here is bass though.
-
It was the height of Mardi Gras. The sun had long since taken refuge beyond the horizon, giving the moon and her cohorts a chance to influence and direct the revelry. Bourbon Street undulated in time with the cacophony from the throngs of celebrants fusing with the zydeco and second line music from the clubs. The dazzling haphazardness of the neon signage, glow sticks, and street lamps did very little to actually illuminate anything.
Needing a break from the action, I ducked down the improbably named E5150 Alley. The walk was pleasant. I started picking up a surreally peaceful vibe when an apparition appeared out of a shadowy corner and knocked my ass out with a baseball bat.
The last thing I remember was seeing the words "The Mob Rules" branded into the wood of that knock-out stick.
-
E5150 is a kick-ass track for REALLY scaring people at Halloween. When I was a teacher, I'd line it up to start as the kids started into my class and just give them a wide-eyed expressionless stare... as the bass stabs hit, I'd thrust a finger at a student and contort my face. Totally low-budget special effects and scary as hell, perfect for a teacher scraping by!
On the album, though, it connects Sign to The Mob Rules... it's a bridge tune and totally better than FX and Supernaut, for sure.
-
Closing Side 1 is The Mob Rules. An uptempo rocker, a short, sharp, shock. The rhythm section take control, great bass and drumming. The vocals are powerful and there's a nice short solo. It might not be challenging for the top spot on the album but it's a great track nonetheless.
-
After somewhat abandoning some aspects that produced such a winning formula, we finally get a Lead-In track with E5150. It is a reminder of what Sabbath use to be, and nicely slides into the next song. The Mob Rules is a decent track, but is probably the weakest of the select group of title cuts the band has used thus far in its catalog.
-
The Mob Rules is without a doubt among the greatest title tracks ever made. The riff is suberb, the bass and drum are brilliant and Ronnie's soaring vocals are incredible.
There is nothing...absolutely nothing to fault on this track. It is a corner stone of what a fast heavy metal song should be about. Hands down masterpiece in every possible way.
And in addition with E5150 this makes up the pairing for the greatest concert opener of all time by any band.
-
Side 2 starts with Country Girl (I had to check because I always get the order of Country Girl and Slipping Away mixed up!).
I have a soft spot for Country Girl, it shouldn't work because the riff is commercially catchy and should become boring quite quicklly... but it doesn't. As with Lady Evil the lyrics are a little corny but work much better. The slower part sees Ronnie at his best and leads into a nice, if short, solo.
-
Country Girl is a fairly average conventional song. Not bad, not great, just there. Perhaps I would like it more if I was a country boy. ;D
-
Country Girl has another absolutely SUBERB riff by Tony. It's catchy, groovy and yet heavy. Hands down one of my favourite riffs from the master.
Ronnie's vocals are brilliant and the lyrics are fantastic.
The tempo change in the middle is again classic Sabbath and done to perfection.
This too was one of those songs I really missed hearing during the H&H tours...it should have been included. Such an amazing hidden gem in the band's vast catalogue.
-
Slipping Away comes next. You know, this has "filler" written all over it, but I actually really like it. Good vocal performance but it's the interplay between the musicians that really makes this song work.
-
The Mob Rules - I love this track. Charger's comments stand for me.
Country Girl - This was a bit more like a Rainbow song. My first copy of the MR album had a horrible warp on this track and that made for some really awful, sloppy time changes, so I always skipped it when I was a kid. I didn't start to get into it until I had an unwarped CD version of it and, even then, I realized that I wasn't missing that much all those years. It's good, but not great.
-
Slipping Away comes next. You know, this has "filler" written all over it, but I actually really like it. Good vocal performance but it's the interplay between the musicians that really makes this song work.
And I'll agree 100% with what you're saying here, KDC. The guitar-bass tradeoff is a gas, man.
-
Slipping Away is another hidden gem on this album. A great groovy riff accompanied by stellar vocals and the Bass - Guitar interplay in the middle is 100% unique and sounds incredible.
Another song that should have been played live on the H&H tours...and maybe have an extended bass solo bit in the middle...would have worked great.
-
Slipping Away begins to stray toward the conventional side of things. But, alas, the dynamic duo of Iommi and Butler swoop in and save this song from that terrible fate. The excellent musicianship displayed by these 2 masters keep the villain Dio at bay and bring the track home in a hero-like fashion. All in a days work, I guess. :)
-
The peultimate song is Falling off the Edge of the World. This song packs so much into its 5 minute length it really could be 5 minutes longer and it wouldn't seem baggy. It's another contender for my favourite song on the album, musically impeccable, Ronnie hits his peak and the lyrics are perfect. My only gripe is it really should have been a few minutes longer!
-
Falling Off The Edge Of The World is a very good song and could have been a magnificent song were it not for 2 problems. (1) The track builds to a powerful finish, but it gets there to quickly. More time should have been taken in the build up. Perhaps a center section of medium pace would have helped. (2) The drumming has the most important contribution as the song builds. It is like the backbone of the song, yet it comes off a bit weak. It's a song like this where I miss Bill Ward the most. One can only wonder what it would have sounded like if he were at the helm pounding away. But, what can you do? :(
-
Falling Off The Edge Of The World is hands down among Sabbath's best tracks ever.
It is incredible just how much epicness they managed to squeeze into just bit over 5 minutes. It's got three songs put together. The slow soft intro, the doomy kick off and then the ultra fast finish with some of Tony's best soloing.
Ronnie's vocals are again just amazing on this. He can capture more emotion on this song than most singers do in their entire careers. And those lyrics...my god...some of the finest lyrics in Sabbath's history.
Vinny Appice also stands out on this track, his stellar drumming is just beyond and it adds a whole new level of doomyness!
Could this song have been longer? Fuck yes! I wouldn't have mind if it would have been an 8 minute epic BUT as it is now, it is without a doubt the MOST epic under 6 minute song EVER MADE!
Pure masterpiece. Pure brilliance. The BEST line up of THE best band in history is at work here...and you can feel it in every second of the song.
-
The final track is Over & Over. I love this song, the closing guitar solo by Tony is phenominal, and Ronnie's vocal range is tested to the full and he passes with flying colours! The lyrics he sings, while heartfelt, are probably a weaker aspect of the song.
-
Over And Over is a fantastic closer to a fantastic album.
Sabbath's best ballad hands down. Like KDC said Tony's solo here is incredible...among his finest works for sure. Anyone who ever said that Tony's just a riff machine not a soloist should listen to this song!
Ronnie's vocals are beyond unreal on this song as well. He again goes through so much emotion that it is mind blowing that a singer can actually do that.
Geezer and Vinny do a great job too but honestly the true stars of this song are Ronnie and Tony.
Oh boy....I gotta say...The Mob Rules is a very strong contender to the title of THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME...it certainly is THE BEST Sabbath album as it has no weak tracks..not even one...and all other Sabbath albums have atleast one weak song on it...so by default this has to be the best one...
-
Now we come to a song that is the worst closer of any Black Sabbath album. In fact, as my friend Charger might exaggeratingly put it, possibly the worst closer in music history. It is difficult for me to express in words how awful I think this song is. It drags, and draaags, and draaaaags, to the point where my thoughts scream “please make it stop!” Even Iommi's solo sounds as though he is expressing his frustration with this inadequate lineup. Now I shouldn't let this kind of information out on the internet, but I have to admit that if somebody wanted to successfully torture me, simply tie me to a chair and force me to listen to Over And Over, over and over and over. That would truly be a hell on earth.
-
Falling Off the Edge of the World - such a great song, my favorite of the album and my favorite Sabbath song. The trills at the end of the main riff are what do it for me, they make for a diabolical-sounding riff that goes so well with the lyrics and straight-ahead drumming from Appice.
No, Appice isn't Bill Ward, but by this time Bill Ward wasn't Bill Ward, starting his string of tours he wasn't able to either finish or even start out on. As a replacement, Appice is totally up to the job and absolutely nails the metal sound needed for this track.
***
Over and Over - not a kid's song, that's for sure. I had to get a little older and have a little more *real* pain in my life for this one to make sense and bond with me, but bonded it has. It is so hard to pick between this track and Lonely Is the Word for my favorite closer, and I'd have to check my previous posts to see how I voted in the past. Right now, I think I like Lonely better than Over, but that can change. Both feature brain-melting solos from Tony and stand as a testament to how his guitar playing is, above all else, the definitive element in Black Sabbath.
***
Mob Rules edges Heaven and Hell as my favorite Black Sabbath album, and I put Sabotage, SBS, and The Eternal Idol in there to finish out my top five.
-
I'm going to rank the songs as:
1= The Sign of the Southern Cross
1= Falling off the Edge of the World
3. Over and Over
4= Turn Up The Night
4= Country Girl
6= Slipping Away
6= The Mob Rules
8. Voodoo
9. E5150
I suggest we do Dehumanizer next to complete the Dio era. Will we want to continue after that? I would but I might be on my own! ;)
-
^^ You wouldn't be on your own that for sure!
This album is probably the hardest for me to rank songs in because like I said there are no weak songs here...they are just all slightly different levels of pure genius...
But I'll try.
1. The Sign Of The Southern Cross
2. Falling Of The Edge Of The World
3. The Mob Rules
4. Voodoo
5. Country Girl
6. Turn Up The Night
7. Over And Over
8. Slipping Away
9. E5150
But honestly pretty much every song in between The Sign and E5150 are tied...
This is such an incredible album...
-
Country Girl is the only one I could do without. The rest are EXACTLY what I want to hear!
On to Dehumanizer, gents!
-
Inserting my final rating of the albums for completion's sake.
The Mob Rules = 7/10
-
THE BEST BLACK SABBATH ALBUM OF ALL TIME!
* * * * * +