10 — BLACK SABBATH — Paranoid
Rolling out of the speakers like sullen thunder, the second Black Sabbath album—also their second in 1970—provides both prototype and benchmark for heavy rock. Part of the wonder and richness of this LP is the contrast. After the opening fusillade of “War Pigs” and “Paranoid” we have the delicate, stoned beauty of “Planet Caravan” with Bill Ward substituting bongos for his drum kit. Then, grinding your bones to bloody mulch, is “Iron Man”, one of Tommy Iommi’s greatest riffs; so good Ozzy Osbourne simply sings in unison with the power chords before the beast lumbers into a trot and unleashes a scorching guitar solo for the finale. And that’s side one.
*
I imagine there is some love (or at least respect) for this one. Stories welcome.
More on Paranoid in an earlier post entitled Cimmerian Classic
vinylconnection.com.au 
Despite Black Sabbath’s long career and continued success, from my perspective (taste), this album is their one hit and a huge one at that. It’s the only album of theirs that I enjoy and have ever owned.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Can understand that, Yahooey. This one and Vol.4 for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And glad you and Yahooey connected here. We met up for a night once in Amsterdam in 2015!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So it can happen? Excellent. (If anyone ever travels again).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love all the Ozzie albums from the 1st to Sabotage. My favourites are Vol 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The latter to me is very progressive as the term was understood back then. I agree though, Paranoid s a killer set.
Cheers, Dave
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Dave. Wouldn’t quarrel with any of that! 🙂
Is it SBS that has that superb little instrumental, ‘Fluff’ it may have been called? I was smitten with that at the time. Such contrast.
LikeLike
Yes, Fluff is on SBS. It seems to be a forgotten album but it’s overflowing with ideas and, like all their early albums, has a lot of light and shade. Sabbath are almost thought of as cartoons, but I think they were great, creative musicians
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed. And as an old bastard, I can confirm that there were few comparable artists at the time… though many followed.
LikeLike
This record is filled with Sabbath classics. My favorites are “War Pigs” and “Fairies Wear Boots”. Sure the legendary “Paranoid” must be mentioned, whose striking riff was copied from “Dazed And Confused” by Led Zeppelin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Careful, Herr Hotfox, you may attract a law suite!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Usually it’s said that Led Zeppelin are music thieves, but here they were stolen. But the rip-off is not that bad either. “Paranoid” is an ingenious, classic rock song with musical-historical significance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve only really started listening to this recently – always so much music out there and it’s taken me a long time to get to them. Lots of iconic songs on this one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep. Pretty iconic album, really. Have you enjoyed it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup, lots of memorable songs on that one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My appreciation of this one is higher than my enjoyment – or more respect than love at the moment. I do like the bongo substitution though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great band name, eh? -*-Bongo Substitution-*-
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is one for the a couple that I am actually missing on vinyl. It will be remedied when I find a decent copy at a decent price.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good hunting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My first experience with “heavy music” and the only time the “Satanic” concern was ever raised by my parents (and then based more on a bad dream than the music itself). ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ is the one that most appears during my one-man a capella shower shows, ya gotta believe me…
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL-thing. Get a lot of bookings?
LikeLike
Yeah, that’s good Bruce. Planet Caravan is the one for me that made me rethink them. It’s a real good run. I came to them kind of backwards a bit, with the record Sabbotage which I still adore through and through, for the odd keyboard/synth thing that oddly works for me. But I’ll go back, because why not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bit of love for Sabbotage in the comments, which is excellent. I think I’ll pull it out again meself. As you say, why not?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some good male testosterone-slash-venom in that one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think that gets outsourced these days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha ha, right. It’s all time and place. I have a good memory of first hearing that and that’s what sticks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Admittedly, when it comes to hard rock, I’ve always been much more into Deep Purple (to me, Machine Head still is the ultimate hard rock album) and also Led Zeppelin. But undoubtedly, this is a compelling album. I agree “Iron Man” has a great guitar riff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I worked with all these guys on the railroad. They used their given names.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So they weren’t paranoid, CB?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, they were extremely paranoid. They were supervisors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“That’s MISTER Iomi to you, kid.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wasnt Ozzie the engineer on some sort of “crazy train”?
LikeLiked by 1 person