mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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paranoid
Paranoid Released: 1971 Rating: 8/10 Track listing: 1. War Pigs/ 2. Paranoid/ 3. In Planet Caravan/ 4. Iron Man/ 5. Electric Funeral/ 6. Hand of Doom/ 7. Rat Salad/ 8. Fairies Wear Boots Isn’t it funny how a band or any sort of artist can take something old and traditional, or even contemporary, and make something completely new, fresh and exciting? Black Sabbath took the old blues into new territory with electric guitars, hard and steady beats and a dark image. The new territory was heavy metal. There were bands that had done it a couple of years earlier, though, but never quite crossed the line. I wouldn’t say that the Who were among the first, but they certainly contributed to the loud attitude with their live shows. An easier band to point to is of course Cream and songs such as “Sunshine of Your Love”, but as I said, they never crossed the line. Then of course there are The Jeff Beck Group and Jimi Hendrix Experienced. But Jeff and Rod were too conservative and Jimi surely too LSD-influenced to be compared to Black Sabbath. The only band truly challenged Black Sabbath was Led Zeppelin, even though they, just as The Jeff Beck Group, were clearly rooted within the blues in another way than Sabbath. Guitarist and musical leader Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page seems to have a lot in common. “Electric Funeral” is built around the main riff in Zeppelin’s “Dazed And Confused”, but still it manages to sound a little different. Musically, I wouldn’t say that Sabbath are far behind Zeppelin, and they are certainly a lot heavier than Page and Plant’s little combo. Ozzy Osbourne is a pretty good singer in his own right, but he’s not close in touching Plant’s vocal talent. He lacks in both range and attack, but perhaps it isn’t fair to compare him to one of the greatest singers ever? Anyway, just because I prefer Zeppelin in general, it doesn’t automatically means that Sabbath are worthless. Paranoid is great album, without any filler. The only thing I can complain about is that some of the songs are a bit too long and doesn’t manage to keep the listeners interested all the way through if you're not in the right mood. Once you are in the mood there’s nothing stopping you, though. Then there’s only great riffs, creepy songs and high leveled musicianship left. The ballad “In Planet Caravan” is especially enjoyable. Maybe because it sticks out among the heavy metal monsters surrounding it. It is a very successful, atmospheric piece of music and a clear highlight. Of course the quality of classic songs such as the title track and “Iron Man” are undeniable and only a fool would ignore the overall brilliance of the those, as well as the rest of the album.
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