Rhino / Wea
2004
Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978)
About This Album
Everybody knows that Black Sabbath's legacy rests on their first four albums -- after that, they lost their luster, or more precisely their mythic power. At their peak, which is how they are remembered, Sabbath were all about myth and power. Their very name had an ominous resonance, capturing their murky, foreboding sound perfectly. Taken at face value, the lyrics sung by Ozzy Osbourne were ridiculous, but delivered in his banshee wail and supported by the oozing, primeval sludge of the band, they could sound positively frightening, the last testament of man slowly being pulled into the dark corners of hell (there's something about their music that lends itself to florid writing, as well). That sound was intact on their 1970 debut, and it seemingly came out of nowhere. Sure, some psychedelic and acid rock bands were heavy, but nobody approached the gloom of Black Sabbath, nobody had the same sense of dread. Decades later, after years of airplay, after years of imitators, after their innovations have been assimilated, their music still sounds out of time, still sounds crushingly heavy and dark.

Of course, that sentiment doesn't apply to all of the music Black Sabbath made -- Osbourne left the band in 1978 and the band was never quite the same, but truth be told, Sabbath lost their mythic power long before Ozzy went solo.
Track List

Disc 1 (try track 6)

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Disc 2 (try track 8)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 6 and 8)

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Disc 4 (try tracks 2,7,8,9 and 10)

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Disc 5 (try track 6)

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Disc 6 (try tracks 2,5 and 6)

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Disc 7 (try tracks 3,4 and 7)

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Disc 8 (try tracks 3,4,7,8 and 9)

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Disc 9

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