If you follow The Steam Engine on Twitter you are probably familiar with my Black Sabbath tweets... Sort of uncharacteristic for this place but what seemingly nobody remembers is that the first two Black Sabbath studio albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid, were, dark, heavier, blues records. Lots of minor key stuff and "evil" imagery, but really, it was just some heavy ass blues.
When I play this early stuff for folks now I can see the exact second when they lose interest - when Ozzy starts singing. "I can't take that voice" "It's so cheesy" - a whole gamut of negativity towards his voice. What sucks is that when people hear his voice they immediately associate it with "Crazy Train" and other massive hits that came about after the goodness that is to be had on their first two records. Take away the notion that the same dude that is howlin' out the lyrics on the guitar anthem that is "NIB" is the same guy that makes you want to end your life while listening to "Road to Nowhere."
I'm not certain what happened to them...drugs probably. But Ozzy went from a handsome, goofy frontman into a bloated, insane, wild man that pumps out albums with titles like Blizzard of Oz.
Anyways, give this a shot and put your prejudgement away. Below you'll find some tunes, give them a shot. Tommy Iommi SLAYS his guitar, cut throat blues riffs are abundant on this one.
Black Sabbath Official - Facebook - Twitter - The Treasury - Insound -
01 Paranoid
02 Hand Of Doom
03 Iron Man
04 Black Sabbath
05 N.I.B.
06 Behind The Wall Of Sleep
07 War Pigs
08 Fairies Wear Boots