Black Sabbath's Debut Album is Now Fifty!

[Jerjo]

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...erview-949070/

Damn, I am old. First time I heard this was in someone's basement with the lights down low, on eight track. It was earth-shaking.

[spellbound]

I still have the LP. Didn't save any of my old 8 tracks.

[progmatist]

The album itself was recorded on a 4-track multi-track machine. Later albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath expanded that to 8 tracks.

[ronmac]

Killer production. Sounds better than Paranoid, IMHO.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Still my fave Sab. I was 12 when I got this.

Syton Sit'n Theer He's Smylin'! Ooh No, Pleach Dog Help Me (Before I Turn Into a Full-On Moron). Greatest voice of all time totin' out its finest poetry right there. The very definition of "crisp production", though - and tunes like "Sleeping Village" and (especially) the slippery grand blues of "Warning" display a different kind of force than the one that got them known. Good-to-great-to-cool stuff on the ensuing releases too, of course, but to my ears the debut was their defining statement.

[Fracktured]

Groundbreaking for sure. Some of the scariest music at the time. Just the cover and the thunderstorm with the church bells in the beginning was scary to me when I first heard this. Time to break out the Sabbath.


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[Zappathustra]

Love it. Always have and will. The harmonica in Wizard is something I will never get over as long as I remain here.

[nosebone]

Great Fucking album!

[Guitarplyrjvb]

^^ Also great for casual encounters!

[dropforge]

[markowitz]

^^ Also great for casual encounters!

Funny stuff!

Spooky, moody, Power Thunder

[TCC]

Favorite here too!!

[Vic2012]

Great album. That first power chord from the opening track was a sledgehammer. All the heavy bands up to that point were obliterated by one Tony Iommi and that evil guitar.

[Scrotum Scissor]

All the heavy bands up to that point were obliterated by one Tony Iommi and that evil guitar.

I'' have to disagree here. High Tide were the bastards on their debut, half a year prior to BS. Family were even wilder and louder. Man (from Wales) were a direct influence. And before them, in the US, Blue Cheer (first two records) most probably sanctioned the concept of extreme noise brutality and menace in rock. They were children of the January '67 Golden Gate Park-be-in yet their chaotic flair left broken noses to the extent that even Bill Graham almost "accepted" it as part of the draw when the band were billed (no pun).

However, what Iommi did was establish the allround lead-heavy guitar-riff as the single, intendedly defining core asset of a band's overall sound in keeping with a general image of the band in question. They were the first heavy metal group proper, and the measure to which they all have to (attemptively) live up.

[Vic2012]

Agree about Blue Cheer. Never heard the others mention. At the least, the intro to Summertime Blues was heavy metal thunder. Throw early Zep in there too. But Sabbath, was the heaviest as far as above ground heavy rock went, at least to American kiddos in 1970.

[Lopez]

Groundbreaking for sure. Some of the scariest music at the time. Just the cover and the thunderstorm with the church bells in the beginning was scary to me when I first heard this.

I felt the same way when I first heard the LP. When the record first came out, a friend brought it over to my house and played it for me. Those first three notes, with the last of the three lingering in vibrato, just killer. My mom was in the next room in the kitchen, probably wondering what is that kid listening to now?

[Scrotum Scissor]

But Sabbath, was the heaviest as far as above ground heavy rock went, at least to American kiddos in 1970.

Probably true, I guess.

Brits were already pretty heavy by February 1970. The first time ever heard of Man was when I read about one of my then-fave bands (BS) and had the Walisian combo presented as a seminal influence on Iommi & co. There are a few good Man threads here at PE (they became legendary in their native Wales): https://www.progressiveears.org/foru...hlight=Penarth

Free freak-rock in the UK in 1968-70 was pretty much an underground enterprise, partly emanating from hippy communes and circuits like the large one in Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill (with Arthur Brown, Quintessence, Secondhand, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hawkwind, The Pink Fairies/Deviants, Mighty Baby, Edgar Broughton Band and many more), but these bands were ubiquitous at festivals and open-air free gigs during those days and influenced loads of other acts.

April 1969:



And if you haven't heard this one, well be prepared for... Uhm, onslaught of the sense.

[ronmac]

Let's not forget "Helter Skelter" (1968).

The Sabbath debut, while heavy, is more blues than metal. Even the band never considered themselves heavy metal.

From what little I've heard from Blue Cheer, yes they were heavy as hell. But, it seemed more form over function, IMHO.

Never heard of the other band mentioned.

But, Iommi was the one who defined it for the masses and set the standard.

[Zeuhlmate]

Cream was pretty heavy prior to BS (Clapton was never better)

[adap2it]

Here we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of a groundbreaking and earth chattering first album by Black Sabbath and the "what abouts" appear on que. I can only speak for myself and my listening friends at the time, but this album blew us ALL away! Of course there were blues leanings, what bands didn't back then? I was a big fan of Cream and most things blues, including Led Zeppelin. I also listened to Family, High Tide, Man, but NONE of them had the impact that Black Sabbath had. It could be that I'm a little biased as they are from my home town of Birmingham, home of many, many great bands!

[Scrotum Scissor]

NONE of them had the impact that Black Sabbath had.

True. But we're not denying that.

[Vic2012]

I can only speak for myself and my listening friends at the time

Me too, from my American perspective in 1970. The "heavy" bands were Cream, Jimi, Mountain, Blue Cheer, Led, Purple, Sabbath. To an extent...Grand Funk. All household names. I had a very religious upbringing so Sabbath was way off limits, but damn did I love those pile driving riffs.........and still do at age 62.

[SunRunner2]

Here we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of a groundbreaking and earth chattering first album by Black Sabbath and the "what abouts" appear on que. I can only speak for myself and my listening friends at the time, but this album blew us ALL away! Of course there were blues leanings, what bands didn't back then? I was a big fan of Cream and most things blues, including Led Zeppelin. I also listened to Family, High Tide, Man, but NONE of them had the impact that Black Sabbath had. It could be that I'm a little biased as they are from my home town of Birmingham, home of many, many great bands!

Well stated!

ronmac:
But, Iommi was the one who defined it for the masses and set the standard

Legendary, in every sense of the word.

One reviewer referred to the BS debut as "The canary in the coal mine", as this classic album was a sign or warning that something momentous or calamitous had been forged.

[JJ88]

Yes nothing really comes out of a vacuum. I agree on the importance of various bands mentioned above. But what a statement of intent this Sabbath debut was- right from track 1, side 1.

ISTR Geezer Butler mentioning Art's Supernatural Fairy Tales as a key album in their early days. There's a relatively obscure one! They evolved into Spooky Tooth who are worthy of mention here, especially Spooky Two from 1969.

From what little I've heard from Blue Cheer, yes they were heavy as hell. But, it seemed more form over function, IMHO.

Indeed. They didn't have the songs, IMHO. Certainly their debut has various covers, and I can't say their 'Summertime Blues' is as good as Eddie Cochran's original or indeed The Who's cover.

[Lopez]

I can't say their 'Summertime Blues' is as good as Eddie Cochran's original or indeed The Who's cover.

True that! But just think of when their version was in the top 10; bubble gum music was all the rage, so "Summertime Blues" was such an onslaught to ears tuned to "Simon Says" and "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy."