From: mishae@niksula.hut.fi (Magic Mike)
Subject: Re: what's the best early Black Sabbath compilation?
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Date: 29 Sep 92 10:37:49

Hi folks,

In article <0elwMEi00UzxI7fr4m@andrew.cmu.edu> kendrick+@CMU.EDU
(Kendrick Kerwin Chua) writes:

>   The best Ozzy-years Sabbath I would say is to be found on the classic
>   Paranoid, before they started getting experimental.  Besides the title
>   track, we have "Iron Man", "Fairies Wear Boots", "War Pigs" and a
>   rocking instrumental called "Rat Salad".  Apparently the album has a
>   distinct anti-war feel to it as it was written just as Vietnam was
>   winding down.

 How right you are - I really dig Paranoid as well. Not that Vol. 4 is
that bad either - Snowblind, Changes and Juggernaut are really great
tunes. I had the golden opportunity of shaking my ass off to
Juggernaut almost ten years ago when Sab visited Helsinki, with Gillan
on vocals. Good concert, with lots of surprises (like Juggernaut,
Rock'n'Roll Doctor, etc), and of course the encores Paranoid *and*
Smoke On The Water...!

>   Besides that, I like the first self-titled album (Hearing ozzy play
>   harmonica is a unique experience) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.  An album
>   to stay away from is Technical Ecstasy, a very techno-sounding Sabbath
>   album that most don't like too much.  Personally, I also liked Sabotage
>   for the one song "Symptom of the UNiverse", but the rest of the songs on
>   it are pretty cheesy (with big horn sections and Tony playing what
>   sounds like disco).

 Yes, this is mostly true - Technical Ecstasy is not a very
typical/classic Sab-album but I still like it! Rock'n'Roll Doctor is
pretty good, and It's Alright (now covered live by G'n'R) sounds
surprisingly nice with Bill Ward on vocals. Does anybody know if this
is the only time he did vocals on a Sab-album?

>   Just out of curiosity, what do you think of the Dio-Sabbath stuff? (
>   IMHO, I love it).

 Well, Heaven And Hell is of course a classic - I wouldn't give it up
for anything. It marked a turnpoint in Sab's history, though, I don't
think you can compare Ozzy's Sab to Dio's Sab (and I also like Ozzy's
stuff better, more raw energy, a uniquer sound than the new Sab). Mob
Rules was OK, I haven't listened to it in the last two-three years,
though. It's after all a pretty simple album, you get bored with it
quite easily.

 Live Evil sucked big time, I hate the way Dio rapes the old
Sab-classics. He should be locked up for the way he treated the song
Black Sabbath, he tries to sound all too mystic, dangerous and evil -
in fact he sounds really pathetic. His own tunes are quite alright,
though, Neon Knights sounds very good live.

 I haven't heard very much from Dehumanizer, but what I've heard
didn't make me very interested. Not very original stuff, if they
didn't have a big name that sells they would never have made it out of
the gutter. The thousands births, deaths and reincarnations of Sab are
getting quite tedious - flogging a dead horse, IMHO.

--
Cheers,

            Misha

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