Black Sabbath Vol. 4 Song by Song Thread

I thought that's what he said but wasn't sure. I wonder if he actually had some. Love it when he talks at shows. His speaking voice is so sultry and pleasing.

 

My personal opinion is that we spend too much time worrying about sonics for bands like Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young & CH. I know that is the nature of the forum but for those groups I think the more raw or even more muddy sound works. Now Steely Dan and Dire Straits is a different story.

 

I mostly agree, but more in the context of recording done via Rolling Stones mobile unit. Stuff recorded with that truck has been criticized a lot here, but any Zeppelin/Stones record is a sonic marvel next to Vol 4. Some of the stuff IMO is just bad work.....In Wheels of confusion there's a spot where the guitar drops out on one side during a prominent note at the end of a passage. Than a few seconds later we get a similar dropout on the other channel. It's like they doubled down on the recording mistake to make it sound as if it was intentional. The bass on the whole album pretty much is muddy and undefined....Like the detuned bass was recorded through a 15" speaker.(bad idea).Ampeg SVT cabinets with 10s were well established at that time!. They could of used a 15 in addition to emphasize the sub sonic low, while retaining definition with 10s. It's hard for me to believe they would of settled for this sound using a DI or going straight into the board... Geezer was always a good bass player worthy of being clearly heard.

 

Sonically, Vol. 4 is kind of all over the map.

The day "Changes" or "Laguna Sunrise" or even "Snowblind" or "Tomorrow's Dream" are "muddy"...... ? Eh, I don't know.....

"Wheels Of Confusion" I get it when people say this. Or "Under The Sun" or "Cornucopia" or "Saint Vitus Dance".

I'd say the album is about half and half. Production-wise I think Bain was a mastermind but Iommi got an arguably better, or at least more airy and open sound out of Bill's drums on Vol. 4 than they had on the previous two records. Bill's drums sounded more like the first album whereas on Paranoid and even more so MoR Bain was getting that really dry, in your face drum sound. Both have their place, but to me Vol. 4 sounds like a live band in an open, large studio as compared with a smaller room.

 

You obviously have a lot more knowledge than me about it, so I trust what you say. Love Wheels of Confusion and have never noticed that.

 

Snowblind - Absolutely one hell of a song, one of the most freakin' exciting mix of powerfully pulsing rythms and eerie melodies ever laid by a rock band, IMO. And I totally agree with someone who stated above that it excels with perhaps one of Tony Iommi's most soaring guitar sections ever, which turns out to be my favourite section, though it precisely begins at the min. 1:40 when Iommi's guitar anounces to me one of the most iconic melodies sung by Ozzy, man that whole section simply makes me fly high...
Oh, and that mellotron starting at the min. 4:15... like anouncing the end of everything..... majestically magnified by that final Iommi's riff... wow!

 

I think Geezer Butler, besides belonging to one of the greatest rock bands ever, belongs in the selected group of the greatest bass players ever. I would choose Paranoid's "Fairies Wear Boots" and "Hand Of Doom" as featuring some of the greatest bass playing ever laid down in the Rock scene.

 

Hell yeah all that is so true, let us not forget those damn unpredictable changes found in many Sabbath songs too. For example, the acoustic switch on "Symptom Of The Universe" was one hell of a brilliant idea, second only to the switch they pull off in "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." Both types of changes so uniquely Sabbath, and surprisingly flowing so effortlessly... they could really make it work like no other.

 

Amen to that

 

Absolutely agree on everything on here.

 

SNOWBLIND

"EVERYBODY STAND UP!"

You know what's really kinda lacking in heavy rock for the last few decades? RIFFS, dammit. Not just your standard furshlugginer riffs, but those bold, stomping, piercing, pounded-into-rock-by-the-fist-of-God riffs. And this is one of the very best. As ye @Rose River Bear pointed out upfield, this is not just any old riff, this is one of those deceptively simple but really outrageous Art Riffs Avec Arpeggio that Iommi could often do so well. This riff is so good, Beethoven might not have completely hated it. It so completely turns the head, it's practically arrogant.

And then there's another riff for the verses, because this is a Black Sabbath song after all, and one riff just ain't a happy meal. The verse riff actually dances. Pick up a bass and play it and you'll see. And then Ozzy's vocal, so high and sharp and tight, cuts through the mix even though it's wreathed in the mist, as is typical. Notice the interplay between the riffs, how the loping verses give way to the restatement of the opening riff. It's like watching a cathedral being built. And if that's not enough, there's the abrupt, yet leisurely, descent into the bridge, crowned with Ozzy's dramatic midrange dip:

My eyes are blind but I can see
The snowflakes glisten on the trees
The sun no longer sets me free
I feel the snowflakes freezing me.

Drama! Confirmed by a typically understated but captivating guitar solo. Ultimately the final fadeout is set to chilly fire by insistent, chiming guitars and a boastful string arrangement. If I remember correctly, this string arrangement was Bill's idea, and even though the band gave into it, it caused some turmoil and things snowballed until Bill and his wife were left sleeping on the lawn for a few days. But he got his string arrangement.

Now, of course, there's this persistent rumor that this song is about the mountains of cocaine that the band were doing during the sessions, and this misunderstanding is compounded by the regrettable tendency of Ozzy to yell, "COCAINE!" after every verse in live performance, but this song is REALLY about freezing to death, and the euphoria you feel as you lay down for your last long nap in a snowbank, admiring the pitiless, warmth-less sunshine as it dances on a multitude of snowflakes. I'm kidding of course, but that's what I always thought the song was about. I mean, c'mon, songs about drugs? Who would pull such a cheesy, declasse, low-rent stunt?

 

Is that dropout in every version? I clearly recall the dropout being on the NEMS LP, the Castle CD's, and Earmark LP's, but it seems to be missing from the original Vertigo LP and the 2011 Rhino LP. I thought it was an issue with a particular master tape.

 

YEAH! LET’S GO!

 

Snowblind
The 'coke' song of the boys, but not particularly with an encouraging message. Things seem dour and lonely in snowland and this is one of the many, many instances where I think Ozzy might be the most underrated singer ever, doing his thing with emotion, like he's really a soul in despair. The music still is heavy, but it serves the overall downer mood. Definitely one of my favs!

 

Snowblind

I love how the song starts with the 3 rising chords then a chord down as the drums and bass kick in. I don't care what the songs about or how high they were when recording it because the whole thing simply soars. Epic track! Snowblind is the type of song I think about when someone mentions or inquires about heavy metal/hard rock.

 

Man you nailed it. Sometimes for a listener like me, who couldn't really care less to what the English lyrics are telling me, it's like saying let all the music make all that

And I think the Master of Masters Beethoven would be honoured if he knew he was recalled here too

 

I apologize, if in any way if what I'm saying comes off as a thread crap. I will continue to listen and enjoy as well. I'll probably read up on it outside of here, but I was interested to know the background of the tape and recording. Sonics will not be a continuing theme for me here, unless responding to other posters on info new to me.. Having just bought an "upgrade" of the album, I've been putting the album under the microscope more than I usually would. This upgrade hasn't inspired me to chase other upgrades. I'm really not that much of a sonic microscope kind of guy...Just a music nut who played in bands for a number of years, and recorded at a few different studios, and now do so at home..... I shutter to think what an audiophile would say about my work,lol...

?????? Wondering myself.......sounds more like a recording error than an old tape issue to my ears..
This is the insight I'm looking for...

 

This is me, too

 

Snowblind

Iron Man-esque opening, with some melody put in - I like it. Great groove laid down by the Geezer. I like how Ozzy is put behind the mix at the 1:48 mark, sounding like a guy swimming in a drug-fueled haze, away from the world. Nice tempo changes throughout.

After a soulful Iommi solo, Ozzy's vocals are brought forward again and we get heavy. The outro guitar solo is "lit" (as the kids say ). And The Warden proves again that he is equally adept at heavy drumming, jazzy drumming and quiet passages.

 

Snowblind is a fantastic tune great playing all the way around just a little wore out to these ears

 

Two of my favourites till now are WoC and Supernaut. And my bloody compilation of the Ozzy years (The Ultimate Collection, BMG Sanctury 2016) has 31 tracks and neither of them. That's insane..

 

Just general comments about how much I love this album and the two that follow. I like the first three albums plenty, but I've always felt it was with Vol. 4 that Sabbath first had the time and resources to make something really timeless and special.

It may not make sense to those who are younger and have grown up with the internet and youtube, but, to me, Sabbath (in the original Ozzy years) were this special, mysterious band that only the true freaks really understood. I'm of the age group where Ozzy was a guy who sang Crazy Train; Sabbath was something that belonged to the generation before me. If I had a nickel for every time I dropped acid and met an older stoner who made a comment like "Sabbath really changed my life, man. People today just don't understand what they were truly about.", I'd have at least 25 cents.

Anyways, Vol. 4, SBS, and Sabotage are magical albums, and a fantastic run by the band. They hold a place in my record collection somewhere equivalent to King Crimson's run when they came up with Lark's Tongue, Starless, and Red.

 

Not to mention that Terence and William are a pretty good rhythm section.

 

Very well put. I echo these sentiments exactly as you stated so well. 4, Bloody and Sabatoge are otherworldly to me. Special. Sabbath were mischaracterized and marginalised and just put to the side by the music press. I'm real happy they got their due. I'll add that now they seem to be in the same sentence with younger people as any past act. Which i love.

 

If anyone has trouble ridding the mental image of Iommi recording FX in the nude:
Fanny recorded some of their 1973 album Mother's Pride in the nude, because of the heat in the studio. Pictured here with producer of said album, Todd Rundgren.