The BEST Black Sabbath Album is?

[MikeyT]

   "Technical Ecstasy is a GREAT album......first time i heard that i was sober and i still liked it."


    Hee, hee. That's funny.

Maybe even sig worthy-
    Not for me, though. I've got to have at least one of my Top Ten's (or top whatever #) posted.

OK, I'll give those albums another whirl.

For Sabbath, I'll go the extra mile.

[Isabellacat]

that was'nt meant to be funny but whatever.

you must be a hardcore Dio fan...i still think Ozzy was better.

[MikeyT]

that was'nt meant to be funny but whatever.

you must be a hardcore Dio fan...i still think Ozzy was better.

   Ah, but it was funny, Isabella.    



   Who's this Dio guy ?

As I've said over and over, on SRC and here,

     It's


  Black Sabbath
  Paranoid
  Master Of Reality
  Vol. IV
 
  Sabbath Bloddy Sabbath
  Sabotage
 

  For Me.

Great beyond comprehension:
Black Sabbath s/t (1970)
Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972)

Just a little less great:
Paranoid (1970)
Master of Reality (1971)


Slipping, but still strong:
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabotage (1975)






This is Black Sabbath ?
Never Say Die! (1978)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)

[cusar5]

For me, Sabbath were at their best when they still had the loose, free-flowing, jammy feeling from their blues-rock days. I felt like they lost a lot of that when they started experimenting more with studio techniques. Their later albums have some great songs, but all of them are hampered by some really terrible ones, as well as some questionable production decisions.
Their self-titled is good, but very raw, and they hadn't quite developed their sound fully.
Master of Reality has their absolute best material ("Lord Of This World" and "Into The Void"), as well as the most crushing production job ever achieved, but it's just too short.
Volume 4 is the start of their downhill slide in my opinion. Two great songs ("Snowblind" and "Supernaut"), a bunch of forgettable ones, and some of the worst shit ever ("Changes," "FX"). That trend continued through the rest of the Ozzy albums, sadly.
Thus, the best Black Sabbath album is Paranoid. It preserves the effortless blues flow of their early stuff while massively improving the production, and features most of their best songs, as well as quite possibly the finest collection of riffs ever put to tape. "Paranoid" is probably the only weak track on the whole album, and if "Iron Man" wasn't so over-played, more folks would recognize how brilliant it is.
Just watch this if you don't believe me.

[Lumpy]

^^ THANK YOU. That's what I've been saying!

[lowdaddy]

my favorite black sabbath album is the one with that really great song.  yall know the one i'm talking about, right?  that one really awesome song.  you know what i'm talking about.  the one that goes  duhn na nuh na nu, na nu na nu na nu.  duhn na duhn na duhn, na nu na nu na un....


i love that fucking song.  great album too. 

[Isabellacat]

my favorite black sabbath album is the one with that really great song.  yall know the one i'm talking about, right?  that one really awesome song.  you know what i'm talking about.  the one that goes  duhn na nuh na nu, na nu na nu na nu.  duhn na duhn na duhn, na nu na nu na un....


i love that fucking song.  great album too. 

hell yes! Sweet Leaf rocks! 

[Isabellacat]

i love the Paris 1970 performance,but i think this is wayy better....

that was their peak.

[yesca]

all great albums in my opinion, great smoking tunes.

[Damocles74]

It really is the first album - it has to be. That was the introduction; that was the entrance into preternatural dark enchantment. Iommi's hammer-ons, Geezer's bohemian thump, Butler's skins thwap and Ozzy's  bullfrog neck, blues bellow. The perfect effort.

[GodShifter]

So Bill Ward gets no credit at all?

[MikeyT]

It really is the first album - it has to be. That was the introduction; that was the entrance into preternatural dark enchantment. Iommi's hammer-ons, Geezer's bohemian thump, Butler's skins thwap and Ozzy's  bullfrog neck, blues bellow. The perfect effort.

     Iommi's hammer-ons, Geezer's Geezer Butler's bohemian thump, Butler's Bill Ward's skins thwap, and Ozzy's  bullfrog neck, blues bellow. The perfect effort.
              Fixed it for you.
           

[Demon Lung]

sabbath bloody fucking sabbath

[gnombient]

It's a toss-up between Paranoid and Master of Reality.

[hashbrowns]

I definitely agree with you guys that the first 4 are the best and that sbs and sabotage are close behind but I honestly like technical ecstacy. I think that while it really doesn't sound dark and doom enough to fit in with their classic material that doesn't change the fact that that there is some serious rocking on that album. I think Iommi's soloing on TE is way ahead of it's time and some of his best. In the song gypsy the line where Ozzy goes "When I awoke in bed she lay beside me... and she read me with her eyes she said..." and then immediately that epic Iommi solo bursts forth I was like daaayummm.

[Isabellacat]

I LOVE Technical Ecstasy.     


I still don't get all the hate towards it; it really is a good album. It's not all that happy sounding either.... 'You Won't Change Me' and 'She's Gone' sound really dark. I think the only thing they changed on that album was that it really wasn't too occult influenced.

Same with Never Say Die!.... 'A Hard Road' and 'Junior's Eyes' sound really sad..You can hear it in Ozzy's voice that he's going through some tough times on those songs.Actually that whole album has this depressing vibe to it.  I feel that's what makes those albums so genuine and awesome.

[EddieMullet]

Whichever one I am currently listening to is the best.

I even like stuff like Seventh Star and Eternal Idol.

Other than certain tunes from the post-Idol Tony Martin era there's really no Sabbath I don't like, but "Headless Cross" "Tyr" and "Cross Purposes" all have some good moments on those there's even some OK spots on "Forbidden"  You just have to have the patience to find them. Between the 4 albums I can put together a solid 80 minute "Best Of" mix CD.

[GodShifter]

The only Sabbath album I find pretty much unredeemable is, honestly, Seventh Star. It's just flat bad. Outside of that, I pretty much agree with you, Eddie.

[Woody]

Other than certain tunes from the post-Idol Tony Martin era there's really no Sabbath I don't like, but "Headless Cross" "Tyr" and "Cross Purposes" all have some good moments on those there's even some OK spots on "Forbidden"  You just have to have the patience to find them. Between the 4 albums I can put together a solid 80 minute "Best Of" mix CD.

That's always what I figured, too. One of these days I'll get all those tapes and do exactly that.

[vinyldinosaurus]

Seventh Star was supposed to be a Tony Iommi solo album so it's unfair to rate it as a Sabbath album. Blame Don Arden and Warner Bros.

[GodShifter]

Yep, Tom, I'm aware of that. In fact, I saw that tour which was just billed as Black Sabbath instead of Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi.

Look, taken as what it is, it's not a bad album. In fact, for what it is, it's pretty good. But it is NOT a Black Sabbath album and never should have been billed as such. But, I also understand the reasons why it was.

[EddieMullet]

Seventh Star was pretty much an 80's pop metal album, but I put songs like "No Stranger to Love" and "Heart Like A Wheel" over any thing say Poison or Great White and other bands of the like were doing.  I'll even take it over Ozzy's Ultimate Sin if we're talking that era.

Also listen to Death Dealer by Gates of Slumber then listen to In for the Kill from 7th Star, the first verses in each song have damn near the same lyrics.

I'll work on that Tony Martin mix tape this weekend.

[Isabellacat]

I LOVE that song 'Danger Zone' off of Seventh Star...just that one song is way better than the entire Ultimate Sin album. 'Heart Like a Wheel' is a rad song too.


I read Glenn Hughes was way too messed up on coke during the '86 Seventh Star tour that he got fired midway through and was replaced my Ray Gillan. He messed up alot of the old songs live.