As a big “Black Sabbath” fan I have to tell you
that, if you can only own one Sabbath album, then this should be it. Now
I’m not saying that most Black Sabbath albums are not good. (How can
anything with Toni Iommi on lead guitar be bad?) In fact, the first six
are out and out classics with “Heaven & Hell”, “Born Again”,
and the wonderful “Re-union” album joining these ranks. It’s just
that Volume 4 has got it all.
Already
international superstars upon its release, “Volume 4” consolidated
their position as the world’s number one Heavy Metal band, a position
that has never seriously been challenged. (Have you heard Creed’s new
album “Weathered”? Talk about a load of Sabbath Wannabes.)
Whilst recovering from tour exhaustion, Sabbath
promised that their new album would be more experimental, more
progressive, and unbelievably heavier than anything they had ever done
before. This was quite a claim from a band whose last album had been the
classic “Masters Of Reality”.
The opener “Wheels Of Confusion” was straight away
a departure for Sabbath, clocking in at over eight and a half minutes.
This was not some rambling heavy blues based jam, but a well structured
epic with its inspiration coming from what was termed at the time as
Progressive Rock, only, of course, played the Sabbath way. It proved that
the band had no lack of inspiration either musically or lyrically. Ozzy
singing Geezer Butler’s words with real menace:
“Lost in the wheels of confusion
Running Thru Valleys of trees
Eyes full of angry delusion
Hiding in everyday fears”
“Wheels Of Confusion” transforms from crunching
power chords into a glorious Sergio Leone pastiche, overlaid with
thundering guitars.
Bursting through the speakers after this was the new
single at the time “Tomorrow’s Dream”, the first Sabbath single
since worldwide smash hit “Paranoid”. A song that is about as
commercial as Heavy Metal can get.
Then came the real shock, horror of horror, Sabbath do
a ballad. Not only a ballad, but a piano led ballad that would not have
been out of place on a Barry Manilow album. Fans were always prepared for
Sabbath to experiment with different styles, and after the hard rockin
“Paranoid” had given them a well deserved hit and a following of
teenage girls, it is still frightening to imagine the audience of Radio 2
(Britain’s very staid radio channel) listeners this song would have
attracted, had it been released as a single and been a hit.
But from here on out it’s pure Sabbath with Toni
Iommi taking the lead and laying down some of his best known heavy riffs.
Although it’s not all just a bunch of loud detuned e-chord riffing, as
there are plenty of subtler moments, especially in the two instrumental
Iommi solo spots “FX” and “Laguna Sunrise”, Vol 4 also catches
Ozzy at his outrageous best. You can almost hear the frills on his jacket
bashing together as he stomps along with the rest of the band in the heads
down, no nonsense, mindless boogie sections of the songs. Geezer Butler
not only gives Ozzy some wonderful lyrics to sing, but lays down some bass
work that was going to become the template for all players of the four
string guitar for years to come. Bill Ward is the only drummer for Black
Sabbath. Full stop no argument.
If you are a stranger to Black Sabbath’s Volume Four
and you like your rock music hard heavy with genuine excitement, acquaint
yourself.
Hot
off the press, The Summons (ISBN 0-440-29600-5) is the latest fiction
piece from well known author John Grisham (The Client, The Firm and many
others). Like the previous examples, this is another thriller, set within
a legal family, with Judge Atlee from Clanton Mississippi representing the
typical conservative viewpoint of yesterday. His sons, one a law professor
and the other an alcoholic drug addict are shown in their correct
positions within the family hierarchy. However, all good things must come
to an end, and the book really begins with the demise of the old judge, by
then a cancer-ridden shadow of his former self at 79 years of age.
This
is a good-natured comedy about one of the hottest designers in the fashion
world, Melanie Carmichael/Smooter (Reese Witherspoon) who, before she can
marry a handsome young political hopeful Andrew Hennings (Patrick
Dempsey), has to return to her Alabama hometown to divorce the sweet but
undistinguished husband Jake Perry (Josh Lucas) who she left behind seven
years earlier.
Mott’s CD review: