PARANOID

This is Halloween night and I thought it would be an appropriate time to review a BLACK SABBATH record. That has to be one of the worst album coveres ever ! If they had taken out the guy wearing the bike helmet and pink tights and left the dark forest it would have worked perfectly. Anyway I don't know how many times I drove around listening to this cassette being totally paranoid. That seems like a long time ago though.

"War Pigs / Luke's Wall" opens the record with a stinging attack against those Generals and politicians who promote war. Although totally different musically from "Us And Them" by PINK FLOYD the lyrics have some common ground. This is BLACK SABBATH though, so we get lyrics like "Day of judgement God is calling. On their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercy for their sins. Satan laughing spreads his wings." This song is dark, heavy and haunting. And it's freaking amazing when the song kicks in. Ward is incredible, while Iommi just sets the song on fire with his guitar playing before 4 minutes. And check out Butler as well. I love the guitar playing during the "Luke's Wall" section to end the track. "Paranoid" does have a lot in common with LED ZEPPELIN's "Rock And Roll" doesn't it. This is a flat out, pedal to the metal rocker ! A 3 minute head banger. I used to dream of RUSH covering this song back in the "2112" days. Can you imagine with Geddy screaming and Peart going postal on his drum kit ? How cool that would have been.

"Planet Caravan" features dreamy vocals on this spacey song as percussion,bass and gentle guitar play on. SABBATH goes psychedelic. "Iron Man" opens with drones as Iommi comes in with those famous monster riffs. Processed vocals from Ozzy. This one smokes once it gets going.The instrumental interlude 3 minutes in is fantastic ! It comes back later before 5 minutes and it's even better. "Electric Funeral" has a drugged out vibe to it. The song does take off 2 1/2 minutes in before reverting back to the original melody. I can see where ALICE IN CHAINS got some of their sound from. Along with a hundred doom metal bands. "Hand Of Doom" is really an anti-heroin song. Check Ward out ! Iommi then lets it rip. Nice contrast between the mellow sections and the full out attack. It becomes more upbeat 2 minutes in. Instrumentally this part recalls RUSH's debut record. We get back to the original melody after 5 minutes. "Rat Salad" made me think "Ladies and gentlemen ! The Bill Ward show !" "Jack The Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots" along with the first two tracks are my favourites. As a matter of fact over the years I have been known to out of the blue sing "Fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me. I saw it, and I saw it with my own two eyes." I know, I know.This one has some wondrous guitar melodies early as drums pound away. I love the rhythm after a minute. Nice guitar to end it as well.

Sure this album along with LED ZEPPELIN's "IV" and "Dark Side Of The Moon" have all been overplayed, but that doesn't diminish in my opinion how freaking amazing they all were when I first heard them. 5 stars and watch out for guys in pink tights.