Music Review by Bill Rendall

Black Sabbath

When Black Sabbath were starting their career the music world was influenced by flower power and the summer of love. However, the sunshine of the US west coast was a vast contrast to the grimy industrial environment of Birmingham, England where Black Sabbath developed their dark sound.

The Black Sabbath sound was also a product of an unfortunate accident in which their guitarist, Tony Iommi, lost the tips of two fingers on his right hand. He manufactured artificial finger tips and learned to play the guitar without the feel of the strings on his fingers. Slow, ponderous riffs on the thick bass strings became part of the trademark Black Sabbath sound. Iommi also managed to play some very nimble guitar licks despite his handicap.

The self titled debut album of Black Sabbath was recorded very quickly. Most of it could have been recorded live although there is some guitar overdubbing and a few special effects such as the rain in the title track.

The title track made prominent use of the interval of the tritone, a discordant interval that occurs between the pleasant sounding intervals of the fourth and fifth. In earlier times the tritone was known as the "devil in music" and its use was banned. The menacing sound of the tritone became a popular tool in the heavy metal kit bag.

The highlight of the debut album is 'Sleeping Village/Warning.' This begins in a soft acoustic style which surprisingly includes a Jews'-harp. The opening soon segues into a seriously heavy riff. This is followed by an extended song which demonstrates the band's blues roots. The guitar solo goes on for longer than necessary but I can forgive a little over indulgence.

Black Sabbath have associated themselves with satanic themes. They released their debut album on a black Friday, the 13th of February. I think the satanic image is just an attention seeking ploy. While Black Sabbath are certainly wild rockers and their lead singer Ozzy Osbourne may well be crazy, I don't think they are really servants of the devil. Their Master of Reality album includes a song called 'After Forever' which is pro-Christian if taken at face value.

The Black Sabbath debut album is worth a listen for historical reasons as well as for the quality of the music. This album is the blueprint for heavy metal.

All the early Black Sabbath albums are heavy metal classics. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is notable for the progressive rock elements such as complex song structures and timing changes within songs. They even had progressive keyboard player Rick Wakeman as a guest musician.

After Sabbath Bloody Sabbath the quality of the albums fell as relationships within the band deteriorated, leading to Osbourne's sacking at the end of the seventies. Then Ronnie James Dio took over on vocals and the band reversed their slide with the worthy offering of Heaven and Hell. However, the music scene had changed and the album did not get as much acclaim as it deserved.

During the eighties Black Sabbath were considered to be unfashionable and uncool. I am pleased that attitude changed in the nineties and Black Sabbath are now receiving their dues as one of the most important and influential bands in rock history.

It is hard to find a worthy video of Black Sabbath. In 1978 they released the Never Say Die video but the original line-up was well past their peak by this time. The poor sound quality of the recording didn't help matters. The sight of Iommi playing centre stage and Osbourne singing from the side of the stage was a good indication of who was leading the band.

Many years later in 1999 the band recorded the Last Supper video of their reunion concert. Although it contained a great selection of songs the video was ruined by editing interviews into the middle of songs. Also, even with the assistance of a teleprompter, Osbourne struggled with the song lyrics.

My recommendation for a video is the recording at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1995 featuring Tony Martin on vocals. The content on my DVD (unauthorised 2003 re-issue) is disappointingly short but the quality is good.