-- Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 18.98 Amazon Price $ 18.98 Savings $ 0.00 | |  Release Date: 27 May, 2004, Sanctuary UK
TRACK LISTING - Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener
- Tomorrow`s Dream
- Changes
- FX
- Supernaut
- Snowblind
- Cornucopia
- Laguna Sunrise
- St. Vitus Dance
- Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | Different, But Not Bad | This is the album from the Ozzy era that tends to get panned the most. The reason? Coming off the heels of three superb bluesy and heavy classics, this album expanded their range a bit. This has some mellotron, some piano, and some weird sound effects that normally are found on King Crimson albums. Does that mean that this album is bad? Nowhere near it.
1. Wheels of Confusion-5/5. This one is a great choice for an opener. The first thing that strikes you is that the production has a more psychedelic feel to it. The lyrics are excellent and the music alternates between slow and heavy to create an excellent track.
2. Tomorrow`s Dream-5/5. Not quite as heavy as most of the other songs from this era, this is still an excellent rocker with some great guitar playing and a flawless vocal from Ozzy.
3. Changes-5/5. This is the song that most fans hate, but I happen to love it. It consists of Ozzy, a piano and a mellotron. The music is beautiful and Ozzy`s vocals are very emotive. Excellent.
4. FX-2/5. Pointless sound experiment. A sound collage that is absolutely unnecessary with no redeeming qualities at all.
5. Supernaut-5/5. An upbeat, heavy rocker with a very psychedelic feel to it. The lyrics are especially strange, but the vocals are excellent.
6. Snowblind-5/5. Probably the best song on here. The lyrics are about the dangers of using cocaine. The vocals are flawless and the music is very well written and performed. An excellent mid-tempo rocker.
7. Cornucopia-4/5. The emphasis on the song is heavy guitar. That is the thing that sticks out the most. The vocals aren`t particularly good and I can`t really understand what is being sung, but the music is still very cool.
8. Laguna Sunrise-5/5. An absolutely beautiful acoustic guitar instrumental. Very atmsospheric.
9. St Vitus` Dance-3/5. Not bad. A heavy midtempo rocker with a repetitive fast guitar riff that gets a bit annoying. Vocals and lyrics are simply average.
10. Every Day Comes and Goes-5/5. An excellent closing song with one of the coolest riffs ever as the song fades out. Great lyrics and vocals from Ozzy.
Yes, this album is quite a bit different than the three that preceded it, but its not so far out of left field that it is without its merits. I personally think it is an excellent album, but its not a good starting point. Highly recommended for fans. | | | | spreading horizons | I`ve read many controversials about this record, most of them saying that this is a sabbath`s uneven record. The very first thing that comes to mind when you think about Sabbath`s vol.4 is experimentalism. So far, a heavy metal band, Sabbath decided to sound a little more expansive. I can certainly point a psychedelic influence in the whole album atmosphere, not only the riffs but also the lyrics without devil rubish. The album is melancholic sometimes, but also happy, it floats like that, sounding refreshing, younger and reckless.
It`s a turning point from heavy metal to mid seventies hard rock sound the band would further develop.
If you listen to this as a hard rock record from the beginning of the 70`s then you get the spirit, I mean it`s anacronical listening to this only as metal record. They had already created their own style and begun, from this point to diversify, and of course th influences will be everything that was going on around during that time. So you can hear the start of a compostion process that will be further developed on "Sabbath bloody sabbath", and yet you may recognize the typical Sabbath heavy riff from the previous records on "Cornucopia" and "Under the sun".
after all said and done, let`s see the tunes here.
Wheel of confusion - marvelous opening track. Perfect example of what is yet to come through the intire album. Melancolic, heavy, fast and slow, reflective. yes it`s a new Black Sabbath 10/10
Tomorrows dream - great song, great riff short and sharp. Perfect for a single release. The cowbell always helps - 10/10
Changes - sorry, but for me is boring, not much for the synthetizers simulating a string session, but Ozzy`s voice is over here. - 5/10
Fx - overexposure to psychotropics. - 5/10
Supernaut - Here`s another example of a new Black Sabbath spirit, the song has a very groove feeling, with lots of percussion, maybe one oft he best Bill Ward`s work on Sabbath during the 70`s. A high time upbeat song hard to find on Sabbath`s records. - 9/10
Snowblind - Amazing hard/psychedelic track, the major hit of the album along with "Changes" and "Tomorrows dream". Despite the fact that the subject is quite sad (cocaine addiction), the song is very beautiful. - 10/10
Cornucopia - the song opens with a dark riff like the previous records and develops onto a psychodelic track with nice lyrics and a groove part in the middle. simply astonishing - 9/10
Laguna Sunrise - It`s clearly a derivative of the instrumental parts on "Master of reality" and a prepararion for "Fluff" on the next record. It`s OK but repetitive. - 6/10
St. Vitus dance - Wierd song with Ozzy giving love advices!!!. Anyway, i like it a lot. - 8/10
Under the sun - Another gloomy riff and then things go lisergic and then goes a short track inside speeding up everything and then back to heavy/psychedelia until the increasing slowing dynamic that close the record. 8/10
I still have my vol. 4 cover t-shirt, and i still get some good thrills listening to this. Certainly one of the 20 itens to take with you to that famous desert island. | | | | 4.5 Stars - Black Sabbath going through `changes` | Vol. 4 (1972.), Black Sabbath`s fourth studio album
`Volume 4`, Black Sabbath`s fourth studio album, released in 1972 marked the beginning of a transitional period for the band. Black Sabbath were pretty much unique with their sound in the early 1970`s; the godfathers of heavy metal were louder than most and had a distinctive sound which no other band really came near to having a similarity to. However, after producing three albums (`Black Sabbath`, `Paranoid` and `Master of Reality`) with their classic, straight out heavy and powerful style, Black Sabbath decided to start to diversify and add some different styles to their music. `Volume 4` was the end result and Black Sabbath certainly did not let any of their fans down with their diverse style on this album!
Very simply, `Volume 4` brings the house down from start to finish. I find this Black Sabbath album to be a particularly great listen every time I play it because, as I have already pointed out, it has so much to offer. It has the riff-packed, heavy rocker styled tracks that we all know Black Sabbath for, whilst throwing in some different effects. There`s tracks with guitar experimentation and also some lighter, but still very powerful songs. I also find with this album that, certainly in the case of the heavier tracks, there is great consistency throughout the album. Some of these are top draw rock songs, with some mean guitar riffs. Toni Iommi shows again why he is a guitar legend - jamming out some classic solos, such as on `Snowblind`. Ozzy Osbourne puts his mark on the tracks in classic fashion - especially on the piano driven `Changes` track - not bad seen as he was just recovering from severe laryngitis whilst making this album!
The remaster for `Volume 4` is pretty solidly done, as is true for practically all of the Sabbath remasters. The 10 songs on the album have been remastered very well, however sadly no rarities or extra tracks have been added to exemplify this pretty creative period for the band. The inner booklet you get is very much like the LP original, which displayed various pictures of the band in concert, aswell as the song lyrics. However it also does contain some info. about the making of the album and Sabbath`s touring activities at the time.
There`s nothing weak about this album, the songs range from good to doubly excellent. `Wheels of Confusion` starts the album off in great rocking fashion. This 8 minute epic is packed with great riffs and excellent vocals. It build to a great climax with an excellent outro. the end part of the track is often called `The Straightener`. `Tomorrow`s Dream` follows were the first track left off in great style. Next up is `Changes` which is were we begin to see a break from the Sabbath norm. Here its just Ozzy, a piano and a mellotron - its a great change of pace on the album and its title sums up the developing style of the band. `FX` is an interesting follow up - 2 minutes of experimenting on the guitar ... i think, with various cracking and tapping noises - nothing amazing but I definitely admire the idea to experiment! Then we return to the classic matal sound of Iommi`s guitar with `Supernaut` and this is followed up by `Snowblind`, a real classic with a real atmospheric style. `Cornucopia` is more downbeat and `Laguna Surprise` is another change of style. Its softer, with acoustic guitar styles - its pretty hypnotic when you listen to it. `St. Vitus Dance` and `Under the Sun` rock out the album, the latter is truly excellent. Some of the riffs are like something you`d hear from a punk band except .... punk hadn`t arrived yet so it just shows you how ahead of their time and influential Sabbath were!
Black Sabbath`s Volume 4 is a refreshing and captivating effort. Personally I would say it just lacks that killer factor that other Sabbath albums have but nevertheless its a great album and it is great to see the band experimenting and trying out different styles because lets face it, all the great bands have that ability to change and never make their music have a replicated feel to it! I would recommend `Volume 4` to any Sabbath fan or to any fan of heavy metal in general. | | |
-- zzzz
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