Paranoid [+digital booklet]

What the hell can you say about this classic that hasn't been said already?

Not much, so I'll simply say, if you haven't heard this album, and you call yourself a metalhead - you're not you know.

Black Sabbath's second album is a masterpiece, pushing aside much of the blues of their first album, and if anything, becoming even darker in tone, as the topics of war, drug abuse and erm... fairies in boots fuelled the imagination of Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne, while Iommi's riffs were forged of purest metal.

War Pigs, Iron Man, Electric Funeral, the jazz toned Planet Caravan, Bill Ward's moment of glory on Rat Salad, the bleak Hand of Doom.... these alone justify getting the album.

Paranoid itself has become a classic track - and one of the signature tunes of Black Sabbath - but I liken it to the first albatross around Sabbath's neck - fortunately they finally stopped playing it when Heaven and Hell was formed - I'm not going to deny it's legacy in Sabbath's hallowed career, but the only way this song works for me is Sabbath and Ozzy performing it, and it isn't overly Sabbath in sound - sounds more like a quick Zeppelin jam musically (but considering it was the last song recorded for the album as a "filler track", it's not surprising given it was very melodic by Sabbath's standards at the time, that it became a single, and placed Sabbath into superstar status).

The deluxe edition of this album released recently is brilliant - the quadrophonic mix is amazing - true Sabbath fans who haven't heard this yet - go and get it, it's well worth it.

This album is immortal - and rightfully one of the albums by which all metal is judged against.

Disc 1 the main album is worthy of 5 stars the album which brought black Sabbath to prominence via the single `Paranoid', and its spooky follow up `Iron Man'. What can you say about an album which has inspired many a guitarist over the last 40 years? If it's not 'Smoke on the water' then it's the riff from 'Iron man' you hear in guitar ships to this day. This deluxe 3 disc edition gives us a nicely mastered original album complete with an original looking vertigo swirl LP image on the disc. The mastering seems to be quite well regarded and certainly does not suffer greatly from that modern compression that so many reissues discs do suffer from these days.

Disc 2 is an Audio DVD and NOT a DVD Audio (no MLP) or SACD, this amount to a disappointment for me of this set. While it is nice to have a version of the original QUAD mix for the album it is only in lossy DTS and is not from a very good source. So full marks for effort in providing this disc but marks dropped for not getting a better source. That said the quad mix does open up the sound field quite a lot and manages to enhance the power of the original album on many of the tracks. Also of concern for a deluxe edition where you expect good sound quality the stereo track on the disc is lossy Dolby Digital rather than high bit rate LPCM as stated on the cover of the package?

Disc 3 is a disc of early versions of the songs on the original album in the order they appear on the original album. Of interest are the original lyrics to `Paranoid' and `Planet Caravan' which appears to have originally been almost 2 minutes longer. The other tracks offer little to the casual listener and are really for fans only.

For the price this is a very good set and deserves the deluxe tag, however there are flaws in the set and while its great to have the original quad mix it would be better to have it sourced for a good tape and as a DVDA.

Black Sabbath's second album develops the self-penned heavy rock contained on their debut and does away with the obvious blues influences. Tony Iommi's murderous, downtuned guitar prowls through what is a mostly slowish collection of tracks. The hit title track is the only high-tempo song. Ozzy Osbourne delivers lyrics that combine fragmentary remarks on war, drugs and nuclear threat with references to the occult and the grisly, largely in a voice that evokes dread. There's the odd digression, such as 'Fairies Wear Boots', which appears to reveal a sense of humour. Otherwise, this is music to spook you.

Heavy metal is an over-used term. Hard rock is probably a better description for much of the early 1970s, but Black Sabbath are a rare

exception. Their music is closest of its era in type to what emerged from the so-called 'New Wave Of Heavy Metal' onwards. They're not subtle, apart from on the mystical 'Planet Caravan', and their lyrics are not intellectual or possessed of different nuances, but the mood they achieve is intense and powerful. 'Paranoid' is their first classic album.