Black Sabbath

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 3
• ASIN: B000005RET
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #396,448 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
1991 Castle release featuring 41 of the seminal metal band'sbest during their classic & formative years with Ozzy, 1970-1977. Contains 'Evil Woman', 'War Pigs', 'Paranoid', 'IronMan', 'Sweet Leaf', 'Tomorrow's Dream', 'Supernaut', 'BlackSabbath', 'Snowbli --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely one of the better compilations, albeit "unofficial", November 16, 2006

By	Bill M. "bill_m1" (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ozzy Osbourne Years (Audio CD)

Black Sabbath has had way more than their share of compilations, most of them unknowingly released without any consent from the band. "The Ozzy Years" is one such compilation. Still, if you're looking for a good compilation from what's widely considered their "Golden Years", this is definitely the one to keep in mind.

"The Ozzy Years" contains everything from the first six Black Sabbath albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage), MINUS all the instrumental songs. Actually one additional song is notably missing: "Wicked World". It's a song that showed up only on US versions of their self-titled debut album, whereas "Evil Woman" (which IS included in this set) only showed up on UK printings of the debut. Also, for some reason "Children of the Grave" is mistitled here as "Embryo". That's actually the name of the instrumental acoustic guitar intro to "Children of the Grave". But rest assured, "Children of the Grave" is what you're getting on the CD set here.

This 3-CD set was released in 1991 by Castle Records. I think this was a Japanese-only release. In any case, I remember that we could only get it here in the U.S. "on import". Though the fact that it included the much sought-after "Evil Woman" track made it worth persuing. By the way, Castle was also the company who in the 80s released strange versions of Black Sabbath's back catalog on CD and cassette (they'd usually have a strange track order, absolutely no liner notes, covers printed off-color, etc.), although cheaper than the Warner Brother's printings. Then in 1996 Castle remastered the 1970-1986 catalog.

Note that this compilation does not include EVERY Black Sabbath song with Ozzy at the microphone. He stayed in the band long enough to make two additional albums (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die) before being fired in 1979, reuniting with them in 1985 for Live Aid, 1992 for his "retirement" show, and in 1997 for the "Ozzfest" shows.

If you're looking for all 8 studio albums, track for track, with deluxe packaging and all, go buy the "Black Box" box set. It includes both "Wicked World" and "Evil Woman" too. If you're looking for a little less, there's the remastered 2-CD collection "Symptom of the Universe" and countless single-CD compilations like "We Sold Our Souls for Rock N' Roll". But the time span and average price of a used copy of "The Ozzy Years" makes it hard for the casual fan to pass up.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is all the sabbath you will ever need, May 29, 2003

By	K. L. Woomer (San Antonio Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Ozzy Osbourne Years (Audio CD)

I bought this set, not knowing what to think, because it suspiciously looked like a bootleg. Bootleg or not, it is great. Has all the ozzy years of bs and they sound wonderful. Makes you realize that the rock and roll hall of fame has its head up somewhere for not including these folks in thier doors. All the songs are great, and BS is the beatles to metal.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start here!, April 25, 1999

By A Customer

Forget "We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'N Roll." You can't fit the best of Ozzy-era Black Sabbath onto one CD.

Grab this one instead. It's nicely priced for an import and worth every penny. This 3 CD collection is amazing!