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BLACK SABBATH
Black Box: The Complete Original
Black Sabbath 1970-1978 (Rhino)
(Includes 4-song live DVD)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
To read the first reviews ever written about Black Sabbath (and, indeed, most that followed), no one would have predicted that the very music being torn to shreds would be the template for a musical revolution, that many sub-genres would fire off in every which direction as a result, and that by the turn of the century the term "Heavy Metal" would loosely apply to many heavy sounds that would seem worlds apart except for one thing: a vast majority of its craftsmen would cite Black Sabbath as their heroes and primary influence. Care for a barometer? Most bands are never the subject of one tribute album (a compilation of a band's songs recorded by other bands, usually ones who were heavily influenced by them). Some of the bigger stars have been the subject of two or three. There are at least fourteen Black Sabbath tribute albums. That, my friends, says it all.
Rhino Records' Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 is just about the perfect package for fans of the original lineup (Ozzie Osbourne [vocals], Tony Iommi [guitar], Geezer Butler [bass] and Bill Ward [drums]). It contains all eight studio albums that lineup recorded before Osbourne was fired due to serious drug and alcohol issues. The sound has been improved dramatically. A/B testing between these discs and earlier Warner Bros. releases finds the Black Box versions easy winners. In fact, I found it a little shocking that the older release of the self-titled debut album was so weak-sounding. Of course it never seemed that way before, but I can clearly hear it now. (It's for sale, if anyone's interested.) There are certain moments when it seems the sound is simply overdriven, producing a bit of distortion even at fairly low volume, but those moments are few and I'll take that over the now painfully obvious weakness of the earlier versions.
When you shell out $90 to $100 for a box set, you're either a huge fan looking for the updated sound and the convenience of having all the albums in one package, you're a new convert taking a giant leap of faith, or you have way too much income and no children to feed. Let's toss out the latter and concentrate on the others. New converts may have been told different things by different people about Sabbath's first eight albums. Fringe fans swear by the 4/4 theory, which states that the first four albums, Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Masters of Reality and Volume 4, are masterpieces of heavy metal while the final four, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, are... well, just pieces. True Sabbath fans disagree in varying degrees. Personally, I've always subscribed to the much more complex 6.6/1.2 formula, which means I could easily assign five stars to the first six albums, I liked six songs from the seventh album, and I had no use for the other two songs from that album or the entire eighth album.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "When I began reading this review, it was my understanding there would be no math." No worries, it's just a formula. There's no test, and the answers have changed anyway.
After hearing the Black Box's version of 1978's Never Say Die, an album that previously sounded compressed to cardboard thinness and about that exciting, I'm shocked to find myself re-evaluating and enjoying it and being able to recommend this box set to the new converts, as opposed to the individual purchase of the first six or seven that I had expected to recommend. Never Say Die indeed! It took 26 years to catch its first breath, but it's aliiiive! "Johnny Blade" and the title track are loaded with wattage and attitude, and listen closely to "Junior's Eyes" for an interesting preview of the sound Ozzie would shoot for with his next band, Blizzard Of Oz. He must have told Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley what he was looking for, because Ozzie sure didn't write the stuff. A/B testing of the old and new versions of Never Say Die was a shocking experience. You have to assume the studio recordings sounded at least this good when the band listened to the playbacks, so I wonder why there hasn't been a lot of chatter like "Someone killed our album in mixdown!" Killed? Someone must have driven a wooden stake through the poor thing. Sounds fine now. It certainly doesn't have the hooks of the earlier albums, but the power is undeniable and most compelling.
As for you serious Sabbath fans who have every CD and wonder if you should buy them again in this package, the answer is yes. If you have the Castle remasters from the mid-90s, you have flawed but nonetheless improved discs and you may think that'll do, but the difference between the Castle discs and the Black Box discs is like night and a much darker, stormier night. Nearly everything, from the sound to the two-tone booklet (with black velvet cover, no less) is done right. The glaring exception is the album title misprinting of "Sabbath, Bloddy Sabbath" on the CD digipak spine. "BLODDY HELL!" I hear them shouting. Someone painted a smile on "The Scream." Oh well, not so much a complaint as a thing that makes you go "Hmmmm."
Having all eight albums in one box is definitely a nice bonus, but the improved sound remastered from the original tapes is the big attraction here. And for you new converts just building your collection, this is a no-brainer. If you've been seduced by the combination of power and mystique you heard on an early Sabbath album, it's almost a sure bet you'll end up collecting all eight of these anyway. You can get the inferior copies or the ones that will challenge your speakers and kick your ass. Your call.
© 2004 - DJ Johnson