Black Sabbath vs Paranoid

Better album

  • Black Sabbath

    Votes: 7 31.8%

  • Paranoid

    Votes: 15 68.2%
  • Total voters
    22
Techdeth

Techdeth

RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
So in lessons me and @Corey James have a an going debate . He says Black Sabbath debut is better than Paranoid . I might like the debut better myself but Paranoid is just the superior album . Help us decide
 
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Of the original bands' first era, I like Volume 4.

The debut album was still very british blues based, which was popular at the time with heavier elements (Cream) and psychedelic elements (Hendrix) they were still finding their sound but were still like many other brit blues bands at the time, even early Jethro Tull at that time, just heavier.

With Paranoid they started to find their sound, and started to clearly define it; MoR refined it; V4 perfected it.

With SBS and Sabotage they started to lose it, more polished, less raw, adding / going more fusion jazz elements that permeated both Technical Ecstasy and NSD which both lost the earlier heavy sounds on guitar, more brittle and mid-rangy.

IMO

My vote is for Volume 4.
 
I listen to black sabbath more often than paranoid because i like the songs better at this point, but for most people paranoid is the better album. Three of their biggest hits came off paranoid but im just burnt out on hearing those songs. I usually listen to a whole album and not just a few songs, and the opening song sets the tone, so my vote goes to black sabbath. But i would say if i was hearing both again for the first time then paranoid would be the pick.
 
Fuck me… this is a tough one. BS had all kinds of vibe for sure. Most vibey Sabbath album I think.

Paranoid is just a fucking banger though. Rat Salad may be one of the coolest jams ever even with Bill Ward clearly having ZERO plan for that he was gonna do on his “solo break”.

Hand of Doom and Electric Funeral are just so god damn good. Album is a solid 11/10.

Oddly as of late my go to album is Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Oz with the high register vocals all over, still heavy but fun album. Sabbra Cadabra may be one of my all time favorite Sabbath tunes. A National Acrobat is amazing as well. Love the whole album.

I’m working on a cover of Sabbra… love singing that song.
 
rsm said:
Of the original bands' first era, I like Volume 4.

The debut album was still very british blues based, which was popular at the time with heavier elements (Cream) and psychedelic elements (Hendrix) they were still finding their sound but were still like many other brit blues bands at the time, even early Jethro Tull at that time, just heavier.

With Paranoid they started to find their sound, and started to clearly define it; MoR refined it; V4 perfected it.

With SBS and Sabotage they started to lose it, more polished, less raw, adding / going more fusion jazz elements that permeated both Technical Ecstasy and NSD which both lost the earlier heavy sounds on guitar, more brittle and mid-rangy.

IMO

My vote is for Volume 4.
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Man Sabbotage is perfection . To the the peak of original . 71-75 is all perfect . Especially Sabotage . Vol 4 is my second . Master their their best . But Sabbotage also has their peak song and greatest riff ever written : Symptom of the Universe . But don’t look ahead . We will get to the other albums
 
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Les Zombie said:
I listen to black sabbath more often than paranoid because i like the songs better at this point, but for most people paranoid is the better album. Three of their biggest hits came off paranoid but im just burnt out on hearing those songs. I usually listen to a whole album and not just a few songs, and the opening song sets the tone, so my vote goes to black sabbath. But i would say if i was hearing both again for the first time then paranoid would be the pick.
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I actually feel exactly the same except I think paranoid is better. I’m just sick of hearing Paranoid
 
Techdeth said:
Man Sabbotage is perfection . To the the peak of original . 71-75 is all perfect . Especially Sabotage . Vol 4 is my second . I’m this master us their best . But Sabbotage also has their peak song and greatest riff ever written : Symptom of the Universe . But don’t look ahead . We will get to the other albums
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I think SBS and Sabotage started them going off the heavy path they reached in V4.

I'm not talking about the songs, I agree SBS and Sabotage have some great songs...but imagine Symptom of the Universe with the guitar sound of Under the Sun. That's what I mean. The guitar sound changed post V4, just as Tony perfected it.

Listen to the guitars on Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, they were completely neutered; cocked wah midrangy mixed with fusion jazz; and that started with SBS. It's like a different band until Ozzy starts singing.

IMO.
 
rsm said:
I think SBS and Sabotage started them going off the heavy path they reached in V4.

I'm not talking about the songs, I agree SBS and Sabotage have some great songs...but imagine Symptom of the Universe with the guitar sound of Under the Sun. That's what I mean. The guitar sound changed post V4, just as Tony perfected it.

Listen to the guitars on Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, they were completely neutered; cocked wah midrangy mixed with fusion jazz; and that started with SBS. It's like a different band until Ozzy starts singing.

IMO.
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I totally disagree about the tone and SBS. . Symptom tone is his best . But I agree about that last 2 albums
 
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Techdeth said:
I totally disagree about the tone and SBS. . Symptom tone is his best . But I agree about that last 2 albums
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guitar tone on SBS and Sabotage sound weak vs V4. Like I said, neutered.

Guess you had to be there, hearing the music of the time.

Early to mid 70s was Zep, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Queen, REO, Journey, AC/DC, Kiss, Nugent, Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy, Rush...if you listen to the guitar music of the year V4 was released and compare it to the V4 sound, you'll hear how different Sabbath was; and do the same for SBS, Sabotage, etc. and compare what was going on at the same time with other bands, you can't miss it: after V4 Sabbath was trying to sound like everyone else.

With V4, nobody sounded like Sabbath; the closest was Deep Purple In Rock, which predated V4 by two years. If you compare SBS and Sabotage to other guitar bands, you'd hear it too: Sabbath guitars sounded like every other "hard rock" guitar band.

After V4, Sabbath was trying to jump on the mainstream rock bandwagon, I was there in the 70s, and purchased Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy, and Never Say Die when they were first released...and saw the NSD tour in '78 with VH opening.

IMO/IME
 
Black Sabbath’s opening album was IMO their best, it had all the elementals the later albums derived from, but grooved better than the albums that followed.
The opening track alone set the path for their careers, and some could argue maybe even the absolute heaviest song they put out.


I love the albums that followed, but I find myself getting lost the most in the first album.
As I get older even though I pretend to be a guitar player, the bass and drums are what pull me in and BS has IMO the best version of Bill and Geezer, even listening the the Zakk Sabbath first album they were able to translate the thundering rhythm section very well.
 
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