Heaven & Hell - Song by Song

[Typhon]

Heaven And Hell is vastly superior to anything else on this album, and is a top 5 favorite of mine.  The music builds at a respectable pace (doesn't drag like Stairway To Heaven), and Ronnie's voice nicely accompanies the music rather than dominating it.  I remember, back in the day, when this was played on the radio.  They kept cutting out the light guitar finish, which perfectly completes the song.  That really use to piss me off. 

[Charger]

Heaven And Hell....oh boy...what can be said about this song that hasn't already been said a 1000 times...?

It is without a doubt one of the greatest songs ever made. A stone cold classic...that riff is among the most iconic riffs in the history of music.

The underlying bass line is also nothing short of sublime...and it was actually written by Geoff Nicholls who played Bass for a while too before Geezer came back into the band.

Ronnie's vocal delivery on this song is without a doubt among his finest, same goes for the lyrics.

This is about as close to a perfect song that you'll ever get. But it is in the live setting that this song truly comes alive with the sing along parts, Tony's extended soloing the jams the works...

Wow...what a masterpiece...

And yeah still when this song gets played in the radio they cut the acoustic part at the end...and that's a sacrilige!

[Zzzptm]

However, it's not *overplayed* on the radio. It's not used in commercials or for wrestlers entering the ring, to the best of my knowledge. As such, it can remain fresh for all the much more longer.

And yeah, lol that the bass line is so simple, yet so epic.

Studio version only points the way to the monster live version, which can beautifully incorporate The Sign of the Southern Cross as a sub-song.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The first track on side 2 is Wishing Well , another great song on an album of great songs. Of the songs which Ronnie may have brought with him from Rainbow this is the most likely. Yes it's catchy, yes the lyrics are a little cheesey, but I love it nonetheless.

[Vyn]

The first time I heard this song (the whole album, actually), was riding around in a van. The guy had it on 8-track, and the four of us agreed to hear it. We may have been chemically enhanced at the time, and I recall being blown away by Heaven & Hell in particular. What a great song!

I agree with KDC, Wishing Well sounds like it was written for Long Live Rock 'n' Roll.

[Zzzptm]

"Wishing Well" slots in perfectly between "The Shed" and "Sensitive to Light", definitely a lyrical artifact of Mr. Dio. But the rest of the band are committed for the ride, adding progressive elements to an otherwise pop-friendly main riff. It's a tune with a lot of energy and fun in it. I think "Never Say Die" was *trying* to sound something like this, but fell short of the mark where this shot landed.

And I think Martin Birch may have had his hands in this, as well. Birch and Dio are two guys very familiar with the Ritchie Blackmore School of Rock, and their elements are strong on this album as well as the next.

[Charger]

Wishing Well is the first real miss on the album. It is bit commercial sounding and indeed sound more like Rainbow than it does Sabbath...I am thinking that musically this might have been a bit of a left over track from the earlier sessions with Ozzy as there is that kind of a vibe to it...and lyrically this might have been something Ronnie would have been working on for the Long Live Rock 'n Roll sessions.

The riff is good but lacks punch and the song just never really gets going.

It's an okay song but honestly it's nothing compared to the songs on Side A....

[Typhon]

And now we take another step away from Black Sabbath music to another band's music.  Wishing Well is nothing more than a conventional Dio band song, which is why I always skip it.  When I want to hear a conventional Dio band song, which is not to often, I'll put a Dio band cd in my machine.  Stuff like this is what degrades this album as a whole.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The next track is Die Young. This is the one that's vying for top spot along with CotS. It's pretty unique and it's difficult to describe as it's unlike anything they ever did. This has some of Tony's best work (on an album full of Tony's best work!!). Loved it from day one.

[Charger]

And we return back to the fold with the incredible DIE YOUNG.

The guitar intro, the incredible riff, the tempo change in the middle which is pure Sabbath gold, Tony's suberb soloing, the amazing vocal preformance by Ronnie and the top notch lyrics make this song one of the best songs Sabbath has ever done.

And this again is one of those songs which truly comes to life in a live setting.

What a song...what A SONG!

[Typhon]

The Sabbath sound returns with Die Young.  A good tune with all band members showing their talents.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The penultimate song is Walk Away. A song which many think of as the worst song on the album, but I quite like it. Sure it is more Rainbow than Sabbath, but I like early Rainbow!

[Typhon]

And the non-Sabbath type song raises its ugly head yet again.  For reasons previously stated, I walk away from Walk Away.

[Charger]

Walk Away is the other weak song on the album in fact I'd say it's the worst song on the album....in fact this would be the worst Dio-Era Sabbath song hands down.

A very commercial rock sounding song...it is indeed bit more early Rainbow or even Elf style song than Sabbath, but honestly it still does sound more like Sabbath than anything on the previous album that's for sure. Atleast it's got a decent enough riff and great vocals.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Finally the album closes with Lonely Is The Word. Fantasic soloing by Tony, the song is otherwise quite simple but despite sparse lyrics Ronnie has a great turn as well. One if their best album closers for sure.