Black Sabbath Master of Reality WB 1st Pressing Question

This recently sold on Ebay and has me left perplexed. I purchased my copy the week of release and it had an embossed cover. Also the tracks The Haunting, Deathmask etc. are on it. I also have an original UK Vertigo that doesn't have these tracks listed. So does anyone know why these tracks are not listed on reissues or original UK pressings? Although it's been many years since I've listened to both I don't remember any tracks missing on the UK, even though they aren't listed. Also was a non embossed cover withdrawn and replaced prior to issue.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=306&item=4041132780&rd=1

 

Dang you! I've wanted that pressing of the LP for so long!

The "extra tracks" are simply familiar introductions or codas of well-known songs with specific names. For some reason, the Black Sabbath U.S. releases had strange names given to certain short instrumental portions of songs. "Jack the Stripper", and the like. The don't appear like that on the U.K versions.

On the intial pressing of MOR, "The Elegy" is the reverse-cymbal intro to "After Forever", "The Haunting" is the coda to "Children of the Grave" (ghostly guitar sounds and a voice whispering "children of the grave"), "Step Up" is the intro to "Lord of This World", and "Deathmask" is the intro to "Into The Void." For some reason, these were only listed on one pressing of the album, and you've got it!

Lucky devil!

(you won't hear anything new, though. It's just a cool collectable label!)

 

That's weird. On my CD copy of MoR, (CLACD 198- BTW how are the sonics on this one? Only one I've heard) "Children of the Grave" IS the ghostly guitar sounds/whispering piece. The actual song with 'Children of the Grave' in it is supposed to be 'Embryo', per the track listing and indexing.

Anyone feel like clearing this up for me?

 

Minor thread crap (sorry!), but what are the Forum's views of the sound quality of the recent (1-2 years old or so) Rhino Black Sabbath 2-CD box?

 

Have you seen this thread yet? Some opinions there.

 

Sounds like you've got an old Castle version of MOR. I have the Australian "Ozzy Osbourne Years" box set, and it credits the whole song as "Embryo", but edits out the "ghostly" ending. Therefore, there's no listing for a song called "Children of the Grave" on that box set. "The Embryo" is actually the acoustic guitar instrumental to COTG. I don't know the story behind it, but it sounds like a typo to me. I think that somewhere along the line, sombody missed the fact that "The Embryo" is actually a separate track.

 

FWIW Damián, I still stand by my original recommendations in the linked thread and I'd bet that poweragemk Michael would too, but I'll have to track down some of those Vertigos as I have been most impressed with everything I've heard on CD done by Vertigo.

 

I'll have to check back on that thread. Was it the WBs that you liked? Conversely, just how much do you NOT like the Castles?

Good-sounding or not, I got it as a gift for like my 10th birthday, and I don't think I could thank that person enough for what he did (a cousin of my Dad).

 

I stand by my earlier assessments. The Rhinos range from moderately crappy to craptacular. The Castles are likely to please some (though please, for the love of dog and all things y, avoid the Castle "Technical Ecstasy" remaster like the plague). I'm mostly with the WBs, except I've just gotten the WB Master of Reality CD the other day, and its tonality is RADICALLY different from the Castle remaster. Have to do some more A/B'ing on that one, but they're different as heck.