Heaven & Hell - Song by Song

[Charger]

Then it is time for the greatest closing track of all Sabbath albums LONELY IS THE WORD.

Lyrically this song touches very close to home for me dealing about loneliness which is something I know little too much about which is probably why this song resonates with me so much.

But it is musically pretty much flawless as well. The main riff is fantastic and Tony's soloing is his absolute finest work on an album EVER.

Both Geezer and Bill shine on the track as well. It was a real shame this did not become a live staple but I am more than happy that we got the absolutely fantastic live version on Radio City Music Hall Live. That is a preformance I absolutely adore.

This song right here is again very high on the list of greatest songs in the world....what a track...and what a way to close this album that has some of Sabbath's (and heavy metal's for that matter) finest work.

[Typhon]

The album finishes with Lonely Is The Word.  It is a decent closer.  The only problem, is that Iommi is the star in the bulk of the song.  This tune would have been more appropriately placed as the closer of one of Iommi's solo efforts.

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In conclusion, it is pretty clear that the level of creativity and musical cohesiveness was reduced a notch or two with this album.  But this is hardly surprising.  When you change 1 of the 4 key components, then you can't expect to produce the same magic.

[Charger]

In conclusion, it is pretty clear that the level of creativity and musical cohesiveness was reduced a notch or two with this album.  But this is hardly surprising.  When you change 1 of the 4 key components, then you can't expect to produce the same magic.

I would say that this album recaptured the magic which was completely missing for the past 2 ½ albums....and we had a band that ACTUALLY sounded like Black Sabbath again instead of some wannabe jazzfusion commercial alt-rock band from canada.


I'd rank the songs

1. Heaven And Hell
2. Lonely Is The Word
3. Children Of The Sea
4. Neon Knights
5. Die Young
6. Lady Evil
7. Wishing Well
8. Walk Away

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I think it was a shot in arm for the band.

I'd rank the tracks thusly:

1= Children of the Sea
1= Die Young
3. Neon Knights
4= Lonely is the Word
4= Heaven and Hell
6. Wishing Well
7. Walk Away
8. Lady Evil

[Zzzptm]

Catching back up...

DIE YOUNG - stone cold awesomeness, my fave track of the album and, with Falling Off the Edge of the World, tied for my favorite Dio-era tracks of all time. A perfect song, expertly delivered.

WALK AWAY - I like the song but, yes, it's a let down after the total ripper that comes before it.

LONELY IS THE WORD - Excellent closer, very emotional and though it took me a few listens to understand, I'm glad that I got into it.

Heaven and Hell is the best album since Sabotage. For me, it's second to Mob Rules for my overall favorite LPs, but absolutely hands-down one of the greatest of the great albums.

Ranking the traxx:

1. Die Young
2. Heaven and Hell
3. Neon Knights
4. Lonely Is the Word
5. Children of the Sea
6. Wishing Well
7. Walk Away
8. Lady Evil

I typed out my ranking before reading the ones above it - interesting that I had the same bottom 3 as Charger and KDC! Exact same as KDC, even!

[Typhon]

Inserting my final rating of the albums for completion's sake.

Heaven And Hell = 7/10

[Charger]

Time to add the final ratings for these too...

This is the toughest one to rate as it does have two weak tracks but the rest are just 100%...



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