The First Album - Song by Song

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I'm going to take them the way they were intended as separate songs Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep and Basically/NIB. It was only the North American market where they treated them as one song for no readily apparent reason!

W/BtWoS I think is where the album hits it's high water mark. Wasp is one of my all time favourite intros to a song, And the song itself is great, my second favouriteon the album, love it.

B/NIB, starts with the sort of bass solo that I think only an early 70s rock band could get away with. It works fine but maybe better production could have made it even better. NIB is my favourite off the album, and it's possibly still a an all time top 10 Sabbath track for me.

[Zzzptm]

^ as evidenced in your sig.

I'm in the USA, so I have to take them as one big song, 'cos the record company told me to.

The lyrics in "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" have always sounded incomprehensible to me. I like them, but they may as well be a foreign language. Also, the phrasing of the lyrics is off. It's like they wrote a poem and set it to music without realizing that's not quite how lyrics work.

NIB really drives the point home with the bass and guitar essentially playing the same line. I read just now that Geezer came to the bass by way of the guitar, so that directly influenced how he played it very much as a guitar.

[Typhon]

Sorry I'm late with The Wizard review.  Was out of commission yesterday. 

The Wizard is one of my Top 5 Sabbath songs.  I can only describe the harmonica sound as sinister.  As soon as it starts, I feel I'm in a Hammer Horror movie, with the scene as shown on the album cover.  As others have already stated, all band members show their special skills in this one, but it is Ozzy's harmonica that propels this tune over the top for me.  As unique a song as one could get.   

[Zzzptm]

^ That Hammer Horror reference is spot on. This is a raw album, not concerned with special effects as much as it is with getting a chill up your spine as effectively as possible with the talent and resources at hand.

And, apologies to Charger... but Dio's live versions strike me the same way as modern musical updates of older films do... Little Shop of Horrors and Hairspray were fine enough on their own, so why did they have to get over-the-top treatment? I like Dio doing Dio best, and this re-listen is proving that, along with what I've been missing.

Kind of like not eating something you used to like because someone else made it the wrong way... go back to the original prep, should still be good there.

[Jack the Stripper]

Such a great variation of songs on the debut as were all their 70’s albums but the balls and foresight to put bass solo on an album back then let alone your debut was extraordinary. N.I.B. is one of Sabbaths finest cuts and features one of my favourite Tony solos from his early works.

[Charger]

Behind The Wall Of Sleep (inspired by HP Lovecrafts work by the way) is a great little tune. Starts off fast then slows down to the verse which adds nice contrast. The riff is simple but groovy, not super heavy but groovy.

That seamlessly goes into one of Sabbath's biggest classics N.I.B. With it's monster bass solo intro which has to be one of the best bass solo intros EVER.

N.I.B. is lyrically brilliant and the main riff is without a doubt one of Tony's most iconic ones. And as Jack mentioned the soloing is rather brilliant too.

[Typhon]

^^^^^^
Pretty much says it all.   
There is not even 1 bad note throughout this entire stretch, or on the entire album, for that matter.  That's what makes a 10 a 10.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

After NIB I'm curious if Zs will go with Wicked World or Evil Woman?

[Zzzptm]

Wicked World. That's what it says on *my* track listing here in the USA. "Evil Woman" is an ultra-rare collectible that you have to go to listening parties to hear.

[Charger]

Wicked World. That's what it says on *my* track listing here in the USA. "Evil Woman" is an ultra-rare collectible that you have to go to listening parties to hear.

I guess you don't have the Castle remasters then...That is my version...the one I've had since day one and that's the track list bible for me and it goes like this:

Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Behind The Wall Of Sleep
N.I.B.
Evil Woman
Sleeping Village
The Warning
Wicked World

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I do have Wicked World, it's on the Black Box import from the USA I bought when it first came out. But I tend to listen to the Deluxe Edition which came out about 10 years ago and is the UK version.

[Typhon]

Wicked World. That's what it says on *my* track listing here in the USA. "Evil Woman" is an ultra-rare collectible that you have to go to listening parties to hear.

I guess you don't have the Castle remasters then...That is my version...the one I've had since day one and that's the track list bible for me and it goes like this:

Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Behind The Wall Of Sleep
N.I.B.
Evil Woman
Sleeping Village
The Warning
Wicked World

  Warning is the closer. 

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^Yep, my original UK vinyl pressing reads
Side 2
Evil Woman, Don’t Play Your Games With Me
Sleeping Village
Warning

[Charger]

  Warning is the closer. 

Nope not for me it ain't!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Might I suggest we do Wicked World next, THEN Evil Woman so that Warning can be the rightful last track!