Black Sabbath - "Paranoid" (1970) - Warner Bros.
Hello Friends,
We're spinning another classic Black Sabbath record tonight on the turntable and it might even be more iconic and more influential than their unbelievable debut album!
Paranoid, their second LP, picks up (sorta) where Black Sabbath left off, only this time the witches and wizards have been usurped by war-mongers, iron men and general madness.
The first sounds we hear as the needle hits the groove are of air raid sirens crying out against a dark and doom-laden landscape which kicks off the band's eight-minute epic, "War Pigs". Originally titled "Walpurgis", "War Pigs" is a loosely-veiled metaphor (featuring "war machines turning", "brainwashed minds" and "fields with bodies burning") for the horrors of Viet Nam. Its Judgement Day motherfuckers and Satan's laughing and spreading his wings right at us!
Oh lord yeah!
That's some fucking doom right there kids!
After "War Pigs" is another iconic tune featuring one of heavy metal's most famous riffs, "Paranoid".
People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time...
"Paranoid" is followed by the Floyd-ish, "Planet Caravan" and the overplayed, but still fantastic, "Iron Man." Riffs galore!
Side Two is where, in our opinion, the fun really starts. "Electric Funeral" kicks things off with a nuclear blast that will finish off pretty much anything left alive after Side One.
"Hand of Doom" deals with the very real problem of vets returning from Viet Nam turning to drugs, specifically heroin, in order to help them cope & deal with the atrocities they witnessed over there.
Push the needle in,
Face death's sickly grin
The album's lone instrumental, "Rat Salad" with its buzzsaw guitar and heavily-riffed jazz-inspired Bill Ward drum solo sounds like it could have found a home on King Crimson's debut record. Absolutely sick.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em friends because you'll want to and need to by the time we get to the album's stoner-anthem closer, "Fairies Wear Boots", which in all likelihood is really about boot-wearing fairies!
Paranoid, coupled with their self-titled debut, make a helluva one-two punch. While we kind of prefer their first record over this one, we think that's mostly because some of these tracks have been sinfully overplayed by commercial FM Radio. I mean we've heard "Iron Man" literally thousands of times, but when's the last time you heard "The Wizard" and "N.I.B." on a two-fer Tuesday?
Paranoid, their second LP, picks up (sorta) where Black Sabbath left off, only this time the witches and wizards have been usurped by war-mongers, iron men and general madness.
The first sounds we hear as the needle hits the groove are of air raid sirens crying out against a dark and doom-laden landscape which kicks off the band's eight-minute epic, "War Pigs". Originally titled "Walpurgis", "War Pigs" is a loosely-veiled metaphor (featuring "war machines turning", "brainwashed minds" and "fields with bodies burning") for the horrors of Viet Nam. Its Judgement Day motherfuckers and Satan's laughing and spreading his wings right at us!
Oh lord yeah!
That's some fucking doom right there kids!
After "War Pigs" is another iconic tune featuring one of heavy metal's most famous riffs, "Paranoid".
People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time...
"Paranoid" is followed by the Floyd-ish, "Planet Caravan" and the overplayed, but still fantastic, "Iron Man." Riffs galore!
Side Two is where, in our opinion, the fun really starts. "Electric Funeral" kicks things off with a nuclear blast that will finish off pretty much anything left alive after Side One.
"Hand of Doom" deals with the very real problem of vets returning from Viet Nam turning to drugs, specifically heroin, in order to help them cope & deal with the atrocities they witnessed over there.
Push the needle in,
Face death's sickly grin
The album's lone instrumental, "Rat Salad" with its buzzsaw guitar and heavily-riffed jazz-inspired Bill Ward drum solo sounds like it could have found a home on King Crimson's debut record. Absolutely sick.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em friends because you'll want to and need to by the time we get to the album's stoner-anthem closer, "Fairies Wear Boots", which in all likelihood is really about boot-wearing fairies!
Paranoid, coupled with their self-titled debut, make a helluva one-two punch. While we kind of prefer their first record over this one, we think that's mostly because some of these tracks have been sinfully overplayed by commercial FM Radio. I mean we've heard "Iron Man" literally thousands of times, but when's the last time you heard "The Wizard" and "N.I.B." on a two-fer Tuesday?
RATING: 5 fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me out of 5
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