Black Sabbath vs Deep Purple

Well lucky for the litmus test that is Born Again (Gillan joins Sabbath...). Purple in 74 - 75 were rather different from 69 - 73. Odd how they were constrained by the audience to be as 1972 as possible evn when their hearts were not in it. Audiences do not like progression (i.e. change).

Sabbath began their progression (i.e. more instruments and orchestral arrangements from 73 - 78.

Both equal in the quality album stakes... (the remasters from Purple are superb IMHO). Purple were very adventurous (Concerto, Gemini Suite). Sabbath were kind of rough in concert (not that Purple were entirely slick but had a bit more polish to their finishes) - check out bootlegs for the real world. But BUY the official ones.

Worst Live Album - the one Sabbath first released and largely disown or Purple's Made In Europe with some of the most disintrested jamming committed to vinyl and some of the more annoying between song yelling ever. Live in London when that band were fresh is much better.

In Rock - Black Sabbath. Equally great and significant debuts. 2 - 2.

Fireball - Paranoid. Probably Paranoid. 0-1 (But the remaster of Fireball makes the old LP sound as it did. Dull.) 1-2

Machine Head vs Master Of Reality. Oh boy. Killer album with great material that madde it out of the underground against a great underground release. 1- 1

Made In Japan v Vol 4. Classic live relase versus classic studio release. Points off of rthe guitarless dull jam (ok when toxicated...) at the end of Space Truckin'. The Mule was better (more imaginative) as a near instrumental on Fireball than a "mere " drum solo. Not a really fair comparison but too bad. 1-2

Who Do We Think We ARe versus Sabbath Bloody Sabbth. (The Purple album is probably a lot better than it rates check Rat Bat Blue. But SBS is a band progressing while Purple were falling apart. 0-2

Burn  74 (against) nothing. 1 - 0
Stormbringer 74 (against) nothing. 1 - 0

Sabotage versus Come Taste The Band. (Interesting Sabbth album - though metal numbers about lawsuits are not... quite... right somehow. They needed to transcend that energy and make it less courtoom drama and more rock and roll. The first edition of Whitesanke (as they could be) show Purple to have really made a very good album. But in concert too variable. Drugs and great expectations by the audience. 1- 1

Personnel. Osbourne is a perfect voice for Sabbath. Their subsequent singers, including Gillan, were all technically superior but Osbourne was the voice for Sabbath. They were the music for his vocal. Gillan is clearly the superior singer. 1 - 2

But Butler was such a great lyricist and I tend to rate his bass work a tad more then even Roger Glover. 2-1

Ian Paice is I feel more coomplished as a drummer than Ward and ventured outside of Purple while Ward found it hard to stay in Sabbath. 2-1

Lord versus Nicholls / Wakeman. Lord easily. The Sabbath keyboardidt supplied apprriate accompaniment but Lord's work in classical / improv was such a huge contribution one would need to be Wakemn in Yes or an Emerson to be comparable. 1 - 4

Blackmore versus Iommi. Interestingly I find their styles meshed later in both careers. Both innovative, both blues and classcially based both filling that ground between the blues based heavy rock guitarists and later metal players who eschewed the blues completely - like most post 1975 rock really. 2 - 2

Goal difference of +3 to Purple who win by 2 points.

Btw if you can find it for progressive ideas - and why it was never officially released check out the EP Sabbath made before their first album. Heavy metal and trumpets. It's quite something else.

Hi everybody!

Since there is no Purple Sabbath, I decide
for Deep Purple (Mark II) for that certain
period of time.
On the other hand, Sabbath in the long run
is indeed more consistent.

Both very important, but I like Purple more.

Sabbath for sure by a hair. Deep Purple was great with all 4 vocalists and 2 guitar players but Sabbath had a more consistent line up though and had given heavy metal its true roots . D.P. and B.S. also made good albums in these times they would have been considered great with Technical  Ecstasy ,Never Say Die, and  Come Taste The Band.

Sabbath had Dio.

uduwudu wrote: Sabbath used keyboards and Dio worked with Deep Purple on the last Concerto for Group and Orchestra (joining in on Smoke on the Water). Blackmore and Iommi's bands shared many members (even reading Iommi's auto biog hardly gets that picture clear) and he does his best. Very entertaining and informative by the way. Honours even between two progressive heavy rock bands whose catalogue is exemplary. If you get the studio and (probably selective) live releases there is no need for any of these compilations - that only highlight what they omit if you know these bands' music).

Gugui00619 wrote: Definelly, Deep Purple.

Now I voted for Sabbath, but how can Stormbringer be the better album when facing Sabotage? 

Guldbamsen wrote: Now I voted for Sabbath, but how can Stormbringer be the better album when facing Sabotage?  Matter of taste surely, but I've always thought of Sabotage as one of Sabbath's finest moments, whereas Stormbringer comes off rather sub par. I do love how the songs sound in a live setting though and I have that Made in Europe as well.

Since both bands have had numerous line-up changes through the decades, I would hardly rate them as consistent, as both bands style of music changed as well. My favourite Black Sabbath era was with Ozzie Osbourne and Deep Purple, were at their best as Mark II . Neither bands, in my opinion, have been as good musically as they were then. I really can not pick one band over the other, for those reasons.