{"id":41596,"date":"2009-07-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/paranoid-2\/"},"modified":"2009-07-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-06T00:00:00","slug":"paranoid-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/paranoid-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Paranoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

I picked up a cassette of this release in a bargain bin for $4.99 sometime in 1984 at a now-closed record store. The cassette I bought does not have any liner notes, not even any mention of who the musicians are on the release. I think I bought it at the same time as a Vanilla Fudge and Fiona cassette. While the Vanilla Fudge and Fiona albums are holed up in my collection of dusty cassettes, this release struck so many chords with me that I listen to it at least once a month, a trend that has continued into my adulthood. For many years, I honestly did not know who I was listening to when I rocked out to this tape. But at least twice a month for over 25 years, I have consistently pulled this release out to re-center myself when wanting to decide if a new band I am listening to rocks or sucks. Justified or not, best Black Sabbath release or not, this is the only Black Sabbath album I have ever purchased twice (the second was a Father\u2019s Day gift in 2006.) There are other great metal discs, probably other great Black Sabbath albums, but this is the standard to which I apply other heavy metal bands.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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Just so you don\u2019t live in the same state of oblivion, Black Sabbath is made up by Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums). Some bands have a weak link but there is none in Black Sabbath. Say what you may about Osbourne and his delivery, he is stellar on this release; his raspy delivery adds a unique color to Iommi\u2019s guitar riffs. As for the rhythm section, the Butler\/Ward section is undoubtedly one of the tightest I\u2019ve ever heard.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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Digging into the meat and gravy of why this release resonates after all these years begins with the first track \u201cWar Pigs\/Luke\u2019s Wall\u201d and does not conclude until the last convincingly played note of \u201cFairies Wear Boots.\u201d \u201cWar Pigs\/Luke\u2019s Wall\u201d contains the trademark drumming of Bill Ward, whose hi-hat pick-up note immediately prior to the guitar playing during the verse is widely mimicked. The fun continues with the short, straightforward rocker \u201cParanoid,\u201d starting with the killer lyrics \u201cFinished with my woman because she couldn\u2019t help me with my mind.\u201d The mood turns somber for the subdued \u201cPlanet Caravan\u201d before ramping up with the greatest guitar riff ever. But make no mistake, the opening riff is not the best part of this song. The end of the song, beginning with Geezer Butler\u2019s thunderous bass riff, ends the song at full throttle.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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And it\u2019s not just me who adores these first four songs on this release. They have been covered multiple times by multiple bands, including four bands that you might actually recognize. Faith No More covered \u201cWar Pigs\u201d on their The Real Thing<\/i> release, Megadeth tackled \u201cParanoid\u201d on Hidden Treasures<\/i>, Pantera took on \u201cPlanet Caravan\u201d on their Far Beyond Driven<\/i> release, and Metallica covered \u201cIron Man\u201d during the Black Sabbath Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction (view it on YouTube).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So everyone appreciates the first four songs on this release. Who cares? That\u2019s the way it is with some releases \u2013 the band puts their best material first and the rest is filler junk that gets released due to \u201cthat\u2019s the best we can do\u201d type mentality. And that\u2019s true with this release. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

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Clearly, the last four songs on this release are strong enough to have been the first four songs \u2013 \u00a0and, actually, starting the release with \u201cElectric Funeral\u201d would have changed the world. \u201cHand Of Doom\u201d is equally impressive. However, it is the 2:31 instrumental \u201cRat Salad\u201d that gets me with each listen. As impressive as a drummer John Bonham\u2019s \u201cMoby Dick\u201d may be, compared to the sheer aggressiveness with which Bill Ward assails his drums, I\u2019d take \u201cRat Salad\u201d in a heartbeat; there is no debate. To include a guitar solo in a piece designed to showcase Ward\u2019s abilities was sheer brilliance. Osbourne\u2019s silly lyrics perfectly fit the concluding stomp \u201cFairies Wear Boots\u201d when he sings \u201cFairies wear boots and you gotta believe me\u2026So I went to the doctor \/ See what he could give me \/ He said son, son, you\u2019ve gone too far \/ \u2018Cause smokin\u2019 and trippin\u2019 is all that you do.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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Black Sabbath changed my world with these eight songs. The material on this release was recently re-released as a three-disc set, including a CD of instrumental versions of all of these songs. Now I know what to ask for when Father\u2019s Day 2010 rolls around\u2026<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5638],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41596","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-black-sabbath","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41596"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}