Mob Rules - Song By Song

[Zzzptm]

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.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

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.

[Typhon]

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.

[Charger]

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.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

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.

[Typhon]

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.   

[Charger]

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.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

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.

[Zzzptm]

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.

[Zzzptm]

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.

[Charger]

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.

[Typhon]

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. 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

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!

[Typhon]

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?   

[Charger]

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.