Fave Sabbath with Ozzy Album

How can I not vote for that breathtaking and infinitely raw debut? But in reality, I love all of their releases up until Sabotage. That untamed and slightly naive feel of the first always makes me return to it.

Sabotage - the proggiest of them all.

^I don't entirely write those two albums off, but when comparing them to what went before and do I get an intense underwhelming sensation. True, they did sport some marvellous stand alone tracks - and here I'm specifically thinking about Gypsy off Technical Ecstasy. The interplay between Ozzy and Tony at the end is just beautiful. Probably my fave Iommi solo ever.

Edited by Guldbamsen - November 01 2013 at 09:59

The first 5 or 6 albums are all pretty good ,assuming you like Sabbath to begin with, but in the past I tended to play the first 2 the most and partcularly Paranoid....

1. Master of Reality = Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here = the best

2. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath = Pink Floyd's Animals = not as famous as the classics but has excellent music throughout

3. Paranoid = Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon = the most famous and classic one

4. Ozzy Osbourne Blizzards of Ozz = Pink Floyd's Meddle = the first half is alright but the second half ... simply life-changing.

5. Black Sabbath = Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn = widely liked, probably because it's the debut

6. Volume IV =  Pink Floyd's The Wall = weak music.

Technical Ecstasy really does get a bum rap.....I enjoy it as much as any now

Master or Bloody. The other 4 are a step below

Volume IV - 1972

Probably shouod have voted for Vol 4 just for the awesome Wheels Of Confusion but mine is the vote for the under rated Technical Ecstasy. Fascinating numbers there, really this is a metal band (beginning with SBS striving for new teritories and getting knocked back. Bill Ward made a great ballad singer. Here he is more listenable than Ozzy who is best pitting his vocal against the giant structures Iommi  creates.

It's not perfect, She's Gone sags under it's soggy string arrangements but the variety of hard and heavy rock they created made for an interesting listen. Dirty Women and the riff at the peak of that number puts that on par with Wheels. Quality motifs are always welcome. Bill Ward shines on the drums at the end of that number as well. It's his ability to lift the Sabbath riffs and use his drums to change the rhythms that give Sabbath such an interesting foundation. Shame they couldn't get him in the studio for 13 and get the session guys to fill in like they've been doing for the past 30 years that Bill Ward has not been part of Sabbath.

Love the atmosphere the first album sets.....sluggish raunchy blooze; none of their albums came close to laying down such stoner brilliance.  The next two contain better "songs" but I don't put them on nearly as often as the first.  Personally, I don't go beyond the first three with the Sabbs; I've heard them all over the years and like cuts from each, but none are as Sabbathy (good adjective) as the first.