Customer Reviews

Paranoid [Vinyl]

5 star:		(337)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Rejoice, people - this is truly the exception from the "rule" that new remasters are worse than the older CD editions! This is probably THE BEST sounding "Paranoid" CD.

It's definitly better than 1996 Castle CD and 2004 Black Box release (don't believe what J. Siegler says). There are some other CD editions which I have never (or a long time ago) listened to, but I don't think they are better.
And there's edition which I own for some time, 2001 Sanctuary "mini vinyl replicas" 8-disc box-set.
This new 2009 edition is released on the same label - Sanctuary. I must say that guys there know their job. So - congratulations and respect to Sanctuary!

After detailed analysis it seems to me that they used the same source as in 2001, but remastered it in a different way. Both 2001 and 2009 editions have loudness boosting just very slightly over the edge, basically unnoticeable, which makes them incomparably better than most of today's releases with ridiculously boosted loudness. So there's almost NO trace of small dynamic range, distortion and compression.
When I compared 2001 and 2009 edition:
2001 has LESS NOISE and MORE BASS; 2001 sounds muddy, with prominent low range, while 2009 sounds more natural, with prominent mid-range.
They both sound good, and eventually it's up to the listener to decide which sound he/she prefers. I'm not 100% sure which one sounds closer to the original 1970 vinyl (I could know that only if I put that LP in mint condition on a high-end turnatable and make comparison - but that will never happen)... but my final conclusion is: I think that this 2009 CD is the closest thing to the original record.

This new remaster also came out as a double LP - if someone is interested in that. That vinyl edition should sound even better, if you have the right equipment in your home.

All this being said, for me the most important value of this new edition is not remastered sound of the original album (disc 1), but bonus tracks.

Disc 2 is NOT CD, but DVD, which contains 1974 QUADROPHONIC MIX of "Paranoid". I'm not really interested in that, but I know there are some who are. DVD has menu, where you can choose the songs and audio options (stereo or 5.1), and after the playback starts, you have video too! Nothing important, but nice - different pictures (artwork from all Sabbath releases related to "Paranoid") move on screen in the tempo of current song.

I didn't know and didn't believe that disc 1 will have such a superior sound, so the reason why I ordered this was disc 3. It contains those 8 album tracks, but in a way that no-one has ever heard before! Because they are in fact studio out-takes: 5 of them are instrumentals and 3 are alternative versions! All unreleased for 38 years and 9 months! Maybe some will not be thrilled with that, but I am. It was fantastic experience to listen those songs, which are full of interesting surprises; gives you completely new listening experience of that classic.

Also, there's beautiful 24-page booklet, with tons of linear notes (haven't read them, but some say they are not too great) and related pictures, even from the original Paranoid tour programme.

And one more thing...
From what I heard, it was a long, hard battle... between Tony Iommi camp and record company... maybe even for a couple of years. This release was several times announced and then stopped at the last moment. But I guess now that Mr. Iommi definitely lost legal battles. There are already announcements of releasing the other Sabbath classics as expanded deluxe editions. I feel that we won't have to wait much to get "Master of reality" unreleased out-takes...

I'm sorry if all this happened against the will of Iommi & Sabbath, I do respect them and their wishes, but only up to a point - because as much I love Sabbath, even more I love myself. :) And I really WANT Sabbath unreleased stuff... me and thousands of other Sabbath fans. And I feel that we are true fans, even if we'll give money for something that Iommi didn't want to see the light of the day. And these 2001 and 2009 Sanctuary releases, although without blessing from the band, are infinitely better products than 2004 Black Box which had all the blessings.

The span between their debut album and Paranoid was not very long (a little less than a year) but the difference was huge. All the grinding, powerful riffs from their 1st album had been refined and tightened and the legend that was Blak Sabbath became solidified here on their classic sophomore effort. Paranoid has so many truly great Sabbath classics that even the lesser tunes here are overshadowed by their greatness, erasing the few spots of mediocrity. Originally to be titled War Pigs (hence the pink guy on the cover wth the sword and shield)this is the epoch of hard, dark, killer rock. Moving forward from here Sabbath would never fully capture the greatness of Paranoid. If there ever was a must-have heavy metal album, this is it! I grew up listening to this as a kid in the early 70s and I gotta tel ya, these songs are imprinted in my soul!

War Pigs/Luke's Wall - Orginally titled Walpurgis(The Witches Sabbath) with completely different lyrics (hear the original on Ozzy's The Ozzman Cometh) Sabbath felt the whole Satanic thing was getting too out of hand. New lyrics and new title. This is one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time! Absolutely perfect. I can never get tired of hearing it. Tight, cohesive, astounding! A true classic!

Paranoid - This is Black Sabbath's signature song. Straight-forward rocker. Actually only made it on the album because they needed another song to round out the playing time. Ended up being the title of the album, even though the cover is geared to War Pigs, which was going to be the original title. Wow. A filler tune that became great. Who would have guessed? Ozzy to this day stil ends his shows with this Sabbath clssic.

Planet Caravan - This weird little tune actually grows on you to the point where you wind up liking it. Stange effects on Ozzy's voice make him unrecongnizable. Eerie. Haunting. Not their best, but cool enough to garner a Pantera cover years later. Iommi's playing here is mature and melodic. Experimental Sabbath.

Iron Man - Another Sabbath classic! There are so many here! This became a car comercial jingle last year. Pounding. Metal. In-your-face riff. Another truly great tune. I AM IRON MAN!

Electric Funeral - Often overlooked, Electric Funeral is a great song. The riff makes your head swim and the lyrics are kinda cheesy, but this song rocks. Dark, politically-angry, sci-fi metal goodness!

Hand Of Doom - Starts off mellow and moves along into a rocker. About addiction and anti-Vietnam sentiments and, well.... Death & Destruction! One of my personal favorites and another often overlooked song.

Rat Salad - If Paranoid were said to have a weak point, Rat Salad would be it. Nothing more than an instrumental to showcase Sabbath's jamming skills and Bill Ward's drumming prowess. But...it still "Rocks out loud!" as my younger daughter would say. And it showed us something as well: that Bill Ward was a highly-underrated drummer. At a time were everyone was hailing John Bonham and Keith Moon and such as the essential rock drummers, Ward was strangely absent from the list of greats.

Jack The Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots - Yet another Sabbath classic! The lyrics are funny! I'm sorry, but they are. Still, this is a great song where most last songs on albums weren't. 'Cause smokin' & trippin' are all that you do.... Yeah! Hilarious. Classic.

Overall, this is Sabath's most coherent, cohesive effort Their perfect album. With so many staple songs on one recording, how can one not realize that this is the Bible of heavy Metal Albums! Ozzy, Tony, Geezer & Bill became the Godfathers of Metal with Paranoid. And rightly so!

DIG IT!

1. Some are reporting that the Quad mix is muddy and are giving this release low points because of it. First of all, the quad mix is not just the album put in 4.0. This was an entirely new mix done in 1974 (using alternate guitar, bass and drum parts) when the album was given a more psychedelic sound by the original engineers. The only change made to it was to put it from 4.0 to 5.1 adding subwoofer and center channel to the mix, and it's amazing to hear! While it's a softer sound than the original album, it does not sound muddy on my equipment at all (I'm playing it on a Denon DVD-2910 and Denon AVR 1909 -- so nothing crazy high-end in terms of the equipment), in fact it sounds wild! (Make sure you choose 5.1 from the screen menu b/c there's a standard 2.0 mix for those who don't have a home-theater set-up).

2. Of the original album itself this is the single best remaster job bar none. The original CDs are terribly muddy. The Rhino remasters are a joke of overcompression that completely squashed any mid-range. The Castle and Japanese remasters were decent, but this Sanctuary remaster is the only one to get it 100% RIGHT, as in how the album sounded new on vinyl (which meant the correct blend of mid, high and low-range), allowing the instruments' individual flavors to be properly represented. Absolutely brilliant!

3. The disc of extras are for real fans of the band who get excited about embryonic versions of songs. This is a treasure trove of material, with Master of Reality and the debut album containing even more exciting things, including alternate instrumentation ("Lord of this World" played on slide guitar!), never-before heard songs ("Weevil Woman '71) and uncut songs (Iommi's original version of "Warning" was 10 minutes longer!) On Paranoid, we get demo versions that include prototypes of "Paranoid" and "Planet Caravan" before proper lyrics were given them (and Ozzy singing whatever came into his head to establish the melody lines). Again, for real fans of the band, this is a serious treat!

To clarify the band's position: While Iommi has never cherished this kind of thing like fans do, the band were behind this release (as evidenced by interviews and their quotes in the sleeve -- which btw is well-written and loaded with information); the albums were held back solely due to the apportioning of royalty rights, which have thankfully been settled.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid album is not only the band's finest hour but also one of the best heavy metal albums ever produced. Although there were many great moments on their first five albums, Paranoid is their only release that is fantastic from beginning to end. Also worth noting is that Paranoid, with the exception of AC/DC's Back In Black, is the best album ever recorded where the songs are based on heavy memorable riffs.

How great are the tracks here? Three of the greatest heavy metal songs ever, "War Pigs", "Iron Man", and the title track are all present here with the latter two being the band's only Top 100 hits. Lead singer Ozzy Osbourne still performs all of these songs regularly whether it's with his solo band or with Black Sabbath on the Ozzfest tours. "War Pigs" is arguably one of the greatest anti-war tracks recorded, which is astounding since these issues were typically touched on more by singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan and Neil Young than bands of their genre. "Iron Man" is still one of the coolest guitar riffs ever recorded and along with the title track still receives generous airplay on classic rock radio. Amazingly, the rest of the album is very strong as well. The tracks "Electric Funeral" and "Hand Of Doom" both feature slow memorable riffs in the chorus and verses and then go into killer jams during the middle of the track. The instrumental "Rat Salad" is also excellent, carried by Bill Ward's underrated energetic drumming. The heavy shuffle of "Fairies Wear Boots" and the moody "Planet Caravan" are also great tracks. This is also their most influential album as Paranoid encouraged literally thousands of teenagers to pick up a guitar and later form heavy metal bands. You can still hear this influence in many of today's heavy bands like Staind and Disturbed. An essential album for all heavy metal fans. Highly recommended.

Black Sabbath are often dismissed as being unintelligent schlock music. Ignore anyone who tells you that. The simple truth is that if you only count their first 6 albums (post sabotage there are few redeeming moments) they were simply the finest band of their era. Kicking off with War Pigs, which surely must be counted as one of the top 5 opening tracks of all time, Paranoid is a tour deforce of brutal riffs, thundering drums, and dark but meaningful lyrics pefectly eschewed by Ozzy's ghostly wail. Paranoid the title track is perhaps the single most potent 2:40 ever recorded. People seem to forgett that these lads from Birmingham were from among the most poverty stricken backgrounds in England (Birmingham itself is perhaps the worst city in England, if you ever go there you'll understand where the imagery of desolation and oppression came from). These lads knew what it was like to be down, as opposed to say punks like the Clash (Strummer was the son of a British diplomat, Jones and Simonon both attended university, which no member of Sabbath could have ever hoped to do growing up). And as for claims of being overly proggish and bloat this album (and all of the first 6 clock in around the 40 minute mark) which is shorter the the supposedly revolutionary stripped down punk of the Sex Pistols. More over Sabbath demonstrated they were not simply a blues band with distorted lound guitars. Planet Caravel is one of the finest folk songs ever, ethereal, melancholy, and more over beautiful. Iron Man provides perhaps the most perfect riff of all time, while telling the thinly veiled story of Butlers experience of rejection from the establishment the created him. And just to prove their diversity Fairies Wear Boots is a dark humour song about the bands over indulgence in narcotics. Really what more could you ask for?

Fans who are already familiar with Black Sabbath's work are probably wondering if it is worthwhile to shell out the extra money for the limited edition of this album. The limited edition is the same as the Castle Remasters, except an attempt is made to replicate look and feel of the original album. Unfortunately, that is all there is. There are no extra liner notes, lyrics, artwork, etc. which come with the circa '96 Castle remasters. Also, the packaging is not very sturdy and there is an annoying amount of adhesive on the flap of the plastic dust cover. If you are collector, you are not going to want to play this album often in light of the wear and tear that will inevitably come. This is truly for the diehard completist, but a casual fan should stick with the normal Castle import catalog.

Fans will debate my title for ages. But, their is no doubt that Black Sabbath is certainly one of the most influential & yet oddly underappreciated bands of the twentieth century. I'll focus only on the half of the album I prefer. "Planet Caravan is an often underappreciated soft tune that lingers in your mind. Tony Iommi & Geezer hit it right with "Iron Man." The formers riffs were unique when this album came out in 1970 & they still are. Geezer drums in time with Ozzy's Monotone delivery. Many say this song gets overplayed. But, why? Someone must be requesting it as they do LED Zeppelin's "Kashmir." In "Hand Of Doom," the thumping drums & Tony's piercing riffs give it true juice. "Rat Salad," is unlike any instrumental I have ever heard. It holds the mystery around the band well. "Electric Funeral." is a unique twist for a protest song against nuclear war. It may be the best track on the album? "Paranoid," their most popular & bizarre of songs even though it makes little sense.

"Paranoid" is not only Black Sabbath's most popular and breakthrough album, it is also arguably the best heavy metal album of all time. Saying that it's the best metal of all time should be enough to persuade you to buy it, but if you're still not convinced, read the rest of this review.

Black Sabbath debuted in 1970, so they're probably one of the only bands you listen to that you're parents/teachers have heard of, can tolerate, and maybe even grew up listening to. Black Sabbath also saw the beginning of a guy named Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy would be fired from the band later in the 1970's, but he formed his own band, which was equally as successful. Plus, the work he did with BS earned him the title of "heavy metal's godfather."

Black Sabbath are, to me, the epitome of heavy metal, since (probably) at least 90% of modern metal bands were somehow influenced by them. Granted, Led Zeppelin were probably the band to give birth to heavy metal, but Sabbath are just as responsible for most bands (from Pantera to Slipknot to Eyehategod). And "Paranoid," an album which featured five very famous songs, was pretty much as heavy as heavy music got in the 1970's, and was also the beginning of a type of metal known as "doom metal." Doom metal is slow and melancholy and has dark and sludgy riffs. Bands like My Dying Bride and Crowbar wouldn't exist if it weren't for Ozzy and the gang. Tony isn't as good as Randy Rhodes, the guitarist in Ozzy's solo band, but he still is pretty great. Plus, he is even more of a legend when you consider Randy Rhodes probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for Tony.

"Paranoid" is plenty old (now), so it's sound quality has definitely taken a dip. Other than that, however, it has aged very well. It is still getting radio play and bands are still being influenced by it. Even if Black Sabbath broke up, their legend lives on through other bands. Thus, if I've ever heard an album that has withstood the test of time, this is it.

"War Pigs" follows the classic Black Sabbath song structure (soft-loud-soft-loud). It begins with a few guitar riffs and a drum beat, before turning to "dun dun" riffs, with a high hat crashing in between them. Ozzy then starts to sing about witchcraft and war, Bob does some good hand drum work and Tony plays slowly cascading riffs. A wailing guitar solo is included, and the tempo speeds up, but the song ends soon thereafter.
"Paranoid" might be the catchiest song the album. It's very fast paced with groovy guitars (which chug in the verses), has good vocal hooks and a short but sweet solo is tossed in at the end.
"Planet Caravan" is very spacey and mellow, due to the almost aquatic guitar chords, dreary vocals, and soft hand percussion (which almost sound like tribal drums). This song is partially famous because Pantera covered it, and even though they did a pretty good job, there's nothing like the original version.
"Iron Man" opens with a few thumping drums, then a world famous and very catchy guitar riff. The first four words are spoken with a robotic voice, and then the music changes to echo the vocals and lyrics. There's some more good, driving drumming here, but I think this guitar solo is the best on the album.
"Rat Salad" is an instrumental, and Bill's drum work makes it famous. It begins with almost machine gun snare drumming and fast pounding floor toms, and there's a great drum solo around the 1:15 mark. This everything but the kitchen sink solo lasts for about 50 seconds.

"Paranoid" is nothing short of a classic. It is absolutely essential listening, and a cornerstone of any heavy metal collection. Buy this album or forever be un-metal Plus, since heavy metal is an important part of rock's history, "Paranoid" is a must own for any complete rock collection.. And even if metal isn't your thing, at least give Ozzy, Tony, Terence, and Bob credit for being the influential godfathers of metal, and for making one of the most important albums of all time.

Don`t get me wrong, I thought the remaster sounds great. Haven`t got to hear the bonus disc yet. My problem is with the Quad transfer. As well I thought I was having problems with my surround system. Not sure if this from the quad master itself and they just released it as is with no frills or a poor transfer from an old home retail tape that was laying around in somebody`s garage. Maybe the book will say what. All I know is you can barely hear Ozzy`s Vocals on "War Pigs". Had my surround speakers all the way up. And sounds muddy as can be.

The images for the dvd is a pretty nice change from just 1 picture but in my opinion got a little monotonous after awhile (Repeating pictures-but that`s not really an issue. This is DVD Audio).
I could rant on but I won`t. I`m stil giving 4 stars though.

UPDATE: After really listening to this mess a second time(the dvd that is) and finding out it was sourced from vinyl,My question now is "Why even Bother?!"
Why bother to even pull such a stunt if the quad masters don`t exist? I`m no professional but come on! Lets get real here!
I feel like I`ve been ripped off now. It would have been just fine if it was just released with the 2 cd`s by themselves and leave the dvd out.
Too bad I can`t get a refund otherwise this would be shipped back. What a way to treat a classic album and screw the Fans over! I Wonder if the record company reads these reviews. Maybe they would get the hint.

The title says it all. Normally, when a band releases their second album, it is utter [edit] compared to their debut. That's not the case with Sabbath. You get killer guitar solos from THE Tony Iommi, great basslines from Geezer Butler, great drumming from Bill Ward, and of course the signature vocals from Ozzy Obbourne. Here's what I think of the songs...

1. War Pigs(5/5)Classic song. If you haven't heard this song, I luagh at you!
2. Paranoid(5/5)See #1
3. Planet Caravan(5/5)Great ballad
4. Iron Man(5/5)See #1
5. Electric Funeral(5/5)
6. Hand of Doom(5/5)
7. Rat Salad(5/5)Nice drum solo.
8. Fairies Wear Boots(5/5)Funny lyrics.

You SHOULD buy this if....
1. You like music.
2. Are living.
3. Are anti-mainstream, as I am.
4. A fan of metal.
5. A fan of hard rock.

You SHOULDN'T buy this if:
1. You already have it.
2. Can't find it.
3. If you don't have enough money.