Black Sabbath is the eponymous debut album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Released on February 13, 1970 in the United Kingdom, and later on June 1, 1970 in the United States, the album reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and has been categorised as the first major album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.
In August 1969 the band, who were then known as Earth, decided to change their name to Black Sabbath. This was because there was another band also known as Earth, and also as homage to the 1963 classic Mario Bava horror film starring Boris Karloff. Around the same time they recorded and distributed a demo version of their eponymous song. In November 1969 they recorded their debut single, "Evil Woman", released in January 1970, and recorded and mixed the remaining seven songs that would appear on their debut album. According to guitarist Tony Iommi, "We just went in the studio and did it in a day, we played our live set and that was it. We actually thought a whole day was quite a long time, then off we went the next day to play for £20 in Switzerland."
Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought 'We have two days to do it and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time, we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff."
Musically and lyrically the album was considered quite "dark" for the time. The first song on the album is based almost entirely on a tritone interval played at slow tempo on the electric guitar. The song's lyrics concern a "figure in black" which bass player Geezer Butler claims to have seen after waking up from a nightmare.
Similarly, the lyrics of the song "N.I.B." are written from the point of view of Lucifer. Contrary to popular belief, the name of that song is not an abbreviation for "Nativity in Black". Osbourne said in his autobiography that it is merely a reference to drummer Bill Ward's pointed goatee at the time, which was shaped as a pen-nib.
Lyrics of two other songs on the album were written about mythical themed stories. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft short story Beyond the Wall of Sleep, while "The Wizard" was inspired by the character of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. The latter includes harmonica performed by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.
Both the songs "Warning" and "Evil Woman" are covers of blues rock songs, with lyrics regarding relationships. The first was written and performed by Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation, and the second was written and performed by the band Crow.
Both sides of the original 1970 vinyl release end with the same finish.
Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought 'We have two days to do it and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time, we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff."
Musically and lyrically the album was considered quite "dark" for the time. The first song on the album is based almost entirely on a tritone interval played at slow tempo on the electric guitar. The song's lyrics concern a "figure in black" which bass player Geezer Butler claims to have seen after waking up from a nightmare.
Similarly, the lyrics of the song "N.I.B." are written from the point of view of Lucifer. Contrary to popular belief, the name of that song is not an abbreviation for "Nativity in Black". Osbourne said in his autobiography that it is merely a reference to drummer Bill Ward's pointed goatee at the time, which was shaped as a pen-nib.
Lyrics of two other songs on the album were written about mythical themed stories. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft short story Beyond the Wall of Sleep, while "The Wizard" was inspired by the character of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. The latter includes harmonica performed by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.
Both the songs "Warning" and "Evil Woman" are covers of blues rock songs, with lyrics regarding relationships. The first was written and performed by Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation, and the second was written and performed by the band Crow.
Both sides of the original 1970 vinyl release end with the same finish.
source: wikipedia
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