Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll

Great Sabbath Collection

This is a great start for those who want a collection of some of the best songs by Ozzy with Sabbath. All of the essentials are here and the recording quality is good. However, this is not a full range of great songs by Ozzy with Black Sabbath: there are many such as ' Hole In The Sky' and 'The Writ' from Sabotage; 'Lord Of This World' from Master of Reality; etc. The list is endless. Great intro to early Sabbath and Ozzy but not the end all of best songs by them. Check this one out and then explore. April 15, 2008

The best of Black Sabbath...period !

So many clasic tracks on this cd, you simply have the real best of the band in the early days. Of course, there are some real good album that have followed this one but if you are looking for the best of the 1970-1975 era and get some of the greatest classic in hard rock, you can't go wrong with this one. December 22, 2007

Children Coming Round the Bend!!!!!!!!!

It figures. I am alone, again, in my Scottish Castle and the only light I have are torch fires throughout the stone hallways. Everything tonight is creepy. I can't explain it. The shadows on the wall cast images of Satan (laughing), evil witches and bats with clenched teeth. I am scared. Frightened. Evil wisps through the air. I feel my very soul is in jeopardy! My mind swims into dread imagination. I hear a sound and believe the gargolyes overlooking the courtyard are coming to life and circling your beloved Seer like vultures. I hear creaking and believe the graves are opening up on the hillside. People long gone for centuries are coming to life. Covered in slime I hear them march towards my castle door! My heart is pumping faster and faster. My skin is crawling and I know beads of perspiration flow from my aged brow. The sound grows! The steps grow closer and closer! I hear awful glee and laughter. I believe this is the last reflection for me. It's been fun people- but I can't escape. (accolades are gladly accepted in lieu of flowers!). Now they are right outside! The door shutters as they pound on it! The rafters shake and I know there is no escape. I move slowly towards the door knowing full well what awaits me on the other side. I am shaking as I open the door. As I do a great shout bursts at me in horror!
"HAPPY HALLOWEEN"!!!!!!!!!!

Oh....... it's children dressed up in costumes. And me, without candy. Welcome to Metamorpho's world people.
I retreat to the study and put on this album as they are outside soaping up my Castle.
I have to say that Black Sabbath really conveys the dread and black mysteries with amazing metal thunder with this outing. If you like hard, solid riffs and excursions to metal heaven (or hell, if you like), then you won't be disappointed with this. Assuredly, this is only an intro to their sound. But it contains many, many classics in the metal genre. Listen to the runs, the bends, the hard twists and turns. Especially beginning with "Paranoid" (finished with my woman etc.), "War Pigs" and "Iron Man". These three tunes in a row convey the "essence" of Sabbath. Raw tough riffs; great bass runs, heavy drums and the vocals of Ozzy. Did they make a deal with the devil to get these songs? Or, did they creatively produce a newer, darker, mystical arena with which (or is it "witch"?) to influence many bands to come?
And the music? So many times the introduce you to slower, lumbering intos only to have it morph into yet another groove. An example of this is "Fairies Wear Boots" whereby they take free reign and fly off to yet another riffed landscape. Hard to believe- but Sabbath has a more, wispful sound as well as evidenced by "Changes".
In all - they are experts at the inner dance and of dread and mysticism within the soul. Sometimes with a dark edge. If you like rock with a toughness and alluring grit, then Sabbath is definitely one of the major players in this genre. This album is a great start to learn the legacy. But, as we all know, there is so much more.
That's it for my reflection people. It seems the sea serpent in my moat did not get rid of those children outside. They have now pulled up a spruce tree and are using it as a battering ram! Got to find something to give them---and quick! Gotta search my pantry. Oh! I forgot I had pop-tarts. Do you think that will do?

Bat wings and scarecrow things--- Your "shakey" Metamorpho October 31, 2007

they were much more

Anyone who's a fan of Black Sabbath will know immediately upon looking at this track selection that many of their best songs haven't been included. I can see why this album is going for such a cheap price- you're only getting a small selection of Sabbath's best classic-period tracks. You really need to hear the bands first six albums to get the whole picture. Songs like "Sabbra Cadabra", "Into the Void", "Megalomania", "Hole in the Sky", "Wicked World", "Looking for Today", and "A National Acrobat". Those are Sabbath's best songs. This album only gives you the icing without the cake, and it's not even chocolate. It's not a good purchase. August 25, 2007

If you've only got room for one Sab album, make it this one!

This is all the Black Sabbath I own. Yeah, I've heard the classic Paranoid at a friend's house and liked it, but I decided to go with this instead because I wanted the basics outside of Paranoid. And man, did I get 'em! 14 classic Ozzy tracks, and 13 are great - my favorites are Iron Man - with one of the best introductions ever (thump... thump... thump... thump... thump... thump... DOO DOO... I AM IRON MAN!) and that pentatonic riff we all know so well (six minutes of head-banging goodness), the thrasher Paranoid; slow-burning antiwar epic War Pigs (Even if it commits the cardinal sin of rhyming by rhyming "masses" with "masses"), the acoustic/electric, Led Zeppelin-like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath; the infamous band title track, which may have a better intro than even Iron Man (the rainfall, the churchbells, the tritone - I'll never hear AC/DC's totally awesome Hells Bells the same way again), the bluesy Wizard, pot ode Sweet Leaf (with my favorite Sab riff ever), and the resident simple headbangers Tomorrow's Dream and NIB.
But what the hell is Changes? No more sensitive piano ballads for Sab, the DEFINITIVE heavy metal band out of the "Big Three" of early metal (the others being Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin). Zeppelin doesn't win the award, because Jimmy Page's guitar tone can't touch Tony Iommi's, and in truth, I find Deep Purple too boring to be definitive anything. And while I personally prefer Zeppelin, who overcomes their Achilles heel (Robert Plant, who sings like he swallowed something and can't write a decent set of lyrics when he isn't plagarizing Willie Dixon, AKA the best American composer EVER) with their pure instrumental skill, I very much dig Sab. They aren't your typical testosterone-laden metal band - their lyrics touch on Satanism, drug addiction, war, the occult, horror, sci-fi, all kinds of fun stuff. The lyrics sometimes read as stupid - there wasn't exactly a Bob Dylan in this group - but the way Ozzy delivers them, in that infamous monotone, is perfect. And as I said before, nobody can match Iommi's perfect tone.
One more thing I'd like to point out is the album's title. "We sold our SOUL for Rock 'n' Roll". Great concept, yeah, but note the funny little grammar violation - that implies that the group all shared a soul, and they agreed they'd sell it for rock and roll. I mean, Ozzy never struck me as that bright or anything, but come ON! Oh well, a minor quibble. So even though Changes sucks, this should be in any rocker's collection. Throw up those devil horns and ROCK OUT! June 15, 2007

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