VINYL: VG

LABEL: VG

COVER: VG

There is surface noise throughout much of the LP. At times it does distract but this is 50 year old vinyl with history. You generally only notice it through the quieter sections. Be warned though it plays much better than it looks – it appears across the vinyl, to be a disaster zone. You will be pleasantly surprised – shows what a VPI record cleaning machine can do for your vinyl.

Some general wear and tear, a little rubbed at the record entrance opening but overall in splendid condition given its age. It has the original inner sleeve (but not with the inner plastic sleeve) with the Vertigo swirl. A little bashed but nonetheless still holds the record well. Inner sleeve printed with 'MADE IN ENGLAND British Patent No. 800513 & 973939 - PLASTIC BAGS CAN BE DANGEROUS - TO AVOID SUFFOCATION KEEP THOS BAG AWAY FROM BABIES AND CHILDREN'

Side 1

1. Black Sabbath
2. The wizard
3. Behind the wall of sleep
4. N.I.B

Side 2

1. Evil woman, don’t play your games with me
2. Sleeping village
3. Warning

When I used to travel to school on the school bus, on a very small cassette recorder (ask your grand-dad), Black Sabbath IV was a constant companion, much to the displeasure of my travelling co-students. Listening to this offering 40+ years later you can understand how this LP sowed the seeds for one of the biggest rock bands to ever come out of the UK.

Whilst their rock anthems probably are best remembered, the subtleties of songs like ‘Sleeping village’ and parts of ‘Warning’ are, for me, the reason Sabbath stood out above the rest. It wasn’t all head banging stuff, the bluesy roots undertones formed the basis of their expert offerings. Iommi’s lead guitar really is something else (especially when you consider he had a disability with his fret hand) and gives each song the shape and variation that keeps the listener alert and interested throughout. Occasionally the axe-man cometh but he really did know how to keep the sound fresh and driven.

This is their first recording, all completed in one 8 hour session. Think about that. What did you do at work yesterday? I suspect not many out there produced something of this brilliance, which, 50 years later people are still listening to it and writing about?

I suspect when this was first slapped on the old Dansette record player and the volume turned up to 10, parents probably shuffled out of the room mumbling something about putting the kettle on. It really is very difficult to imagine the reaction Side 1 track 1 received when it hit the airways back in 1970. Black Sabbath sets the tone for many years of Black Sabbath music – how in all seriousness can this track be the first song cut by a bunch of Brummies who came to be world famous in their own right? It just absolutely blows your mind away. And don’t leave the side early. Make sure you listen to N.I.B before switching off the lights.

You won’t be experimenting with this LP. You know exactly what you will be getting and I suspect, like me, when you get it, it will go on modern day record decks, turned up to 11 on the volume knob, sounding 10 times better than it did when first released. What a mind blowing wall of sound from a band that became synonymous with the world of rock during the 70’s and 80’s. Long live Sabbath, long live Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. Enjoy, probably more so when your kids trip out of the room mumbling something about Jay-Z.