Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Song By Song

[Zzzptm]

The song goes through several parts, changes and unfolds in a very well-thought-out manner. I've made my peace with "smoke it... get high!" as being on the lines of "Have you seen junior's grades?", just that I don't like repeating the line. That fly in the ointment aside, the rest is, well, ointment in this metaphor... and a layered one, at that. How many different themes are used in this song? It's a medley of I don't know how many songs that only Black Sabbath knows about. Gonna have to spin it again and count carefully this time.

[Zzzptm]

I went back through the song and picked up an abcbcdefgh structure. Basically, after the intro there's a verse/chorus-verse/chorus and then it's a trip through three more extended parts before wrapping up with the outro.

[Jack the Stripper]

Time for Ozzy to shine on his own with the next track Who Are You?. I actually dig this song. It’s obviously a strangely different track for Sabbath but I think it fits the experimental nature of this album and I can honestly listen to Ozzy sing on just about anything.

The only other thing I’ll add... As much as I don’t mind the sci fi like synths on it, I would’ve liked to have heard the main synth on the verses replaced with Tony emulating the synth on his guitar with a phaser and a little bit of wah on it.

Anyhow, as it is I still enjoy it and don’t ever skip it.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Who Are You? is another example of where you can never predict what the Sab boys will come up with next. So different. It's not a bad song either, it's not in the same league as the rest of the album but I do enjoy it.

[Charger]

Who Are You is the big miss track for me on the album.

The synths are overpowering and it doesn't really at any point have that "Sabbath" feel to it. Ozzy's vocal melody is tedious and the song really never goes anywhere it just plods on like an over weighted snail.

[Typhon]

I guess I'm going to be the one that likes Who Are You more than anyone else here (even Jack).  I actually look forward to hearing this song when playing through this album.  I find myself singing along with Ozzy, perhaps because it is an easier tune to perform and I'm not much of a singer.    Yes, the song plods along, because the message it sends plods along.  The world's leaders use you, until finally they cast your souls into the dust.  The appropriate way to deliver that message is by plodding. 

[Zzzptm]

Who Are You is the big miss track for me on the album.

The synths are overpowering and it doesn't really at any point have that "Sabbath" feel to it. Ozzy's vocal melody is tedious and the song really never goes anywhere it just plods on like an over weighted snail.

The part where the synths give way to guitars in this song is beautiful, even though the synths don't entirely give way. Had the synth line been replaced with a guitar riff, I would have much preferred it. Hell, if it had been a mellotron instead of a synth, I think I'd be on board with it. But I'm with Charger, hard pass. Get me to the last two tracks, please.

[Charger]

Looking For Today is another little miss on the album. It is somewhat better than Who Are You but it is still quite commercial sounding and lacks punch...also the main riff is bit un-Iommi-like. It actually has a little bit of Blackmore in it.

Ozzy's vocal melody is bit all over the place on this one too...also he stresses his voice bit too much at times. Especially during the Looking for TodaaaaaaaaaYYYY part...it sounds odd and over the top. And the singing over the guitar solo is a sacrilige.

The semi acoustic breaks are actually the best parts of the song.....and the short outro solo, but that fades out bit too early. Or should I say starts bit too late.

[Jack the Stripper]

^Could not disagree more with the above post.

“Looking For Today” is such a solid song. Love the arrangements on it and particularly the lyrics. They’ve just always struck a chord with me for some reason. But the real star of the show here is Ozzy. Love love his vocal melodies on this song, especially where he sings...
 
“Everyone just gets on top of you
The pain begins to eat your pride
You can't believe in anything you knew
When was the last time that you cried”

Man, Ozzy killed it on this album

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I like Looking For Today a lot. Having said that there are 5 better songs on the album, but that's more to do with the overall quality of the album. Lyrically, I always felt it was ahead of it's time calling out all those wannabies who appear on those Simon Cowell talent(less) shows.

Yes it's a little bit commercial, but so was Supernaut and I don't see anyone complaining about that song!

[Thelemech]

Looking For Today is my favorite Black Sabbath song. A masterpiece and sonic perfection as far as I am concerned.

[Typhon]

Really like Looking For Today.  A nice mix of melodies that present another life advising message.  Not a heavy pounding tune, but they don't all have to be in order to be effective. 

[Jack the Stripper]

So we come to the album closer Spiral Architect

I consider nearly every song Sabbath wrote and recorded between 1970 and 1981 as masterful pieces of music. Out of all those masterful pieces of music, there’s about 10 that stand alone as the very best of the best... Spiral Architect is one of those.

Brilliant, epic and majestic, it’s a song that exemplifies the creative genius of Black “fucking” Sabbath.

[Charger]

Spiral Architect is a gem indeed.

Musically this is among the more complex recordings and without being all that heavy this still manages to capture the essense of Black Sabbath.

Lyrically we are deep into the "Geezer's gibberish" Superstisous centuries, synchronated undertakers and plasmic oceans and metaphoric motor replays....yup. Drugs....lots and lots of drugs.

But honestly you can easily look past the bizarro lyrics and appreciate the song itself...tune out the lyrics so to speak. Ozzy's vocal melody is top notch and as said the muscian ship is brilliant. Not all Sabbath epics need to be ultra heavy and long.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Another Top 10 song for me. Absolutely love the song from the accoustic start, string section and faux applause! Another of example of a song which doesn't conform to the norm! I like the lyrics too, a little hippy-dippy but they work well with the vibe.