To ingloriously fuck up an opportunity as golden as this deserves punishment of
To argue that Black Sabbath's seminal 1970 album is one of the most important heavy metal albums of all time is to underestimate its greatness. Rip the heavy metal tag from around its bloody neck and give it its due credit: 'Paranoid' is one of the greatest albums of all time - period.
Released only months after Black Sabbath's self titled debut, 'Paranoid' defined the sound of heavy metal forever. These first two records were crammed of dark, crushing riffs, thick, fat basslines, bombastic drums, and lyrics rooted in the worlds of fantasy and Gothic horror. Sabbath's take on rock music was drastically different to the swaggering blues-cock-rock of Led Zeppelin and the rock n' rolling Rolling Stones: Black Sabbath were the real horrific deal.
So there can be no argument that 'Paranoid' is worthy of the Deluxe Edition treatment, and therefore it's a shame that this three disc set is something of a disappointment.
The first disc is the original eight track album in all its glory, and to these ears this version sounds just a little clearer and brighter than the 2004 Sanctuary remaster. The epic and lumbering air-raid siren drenched introduction to 'War Pigs' still manages to trick you into thinking that you're in for forty minutes of stoner doom before that double hit riff punches you square in the face, and Osbourne screams "Oh Lord Yeah!" at two thousand decibels.
The title track is a galloping, fuzzy delight with the hilariously demented lyrics and Iommi's phenomenal guitar trickery worth the money alone, whilst 'Iron Man' contains possibly the greatest guitar riff ever strummed in the history of rock.
'Hand of Doom' is the most complex track on the album, and indeed the longest, clocking in at over seven minutes. The lyrics are a dark meditation on the escape from a disillusioning reality through hallucinary drug use. Musically, it's a song of three halves; a frenetic Iommi dominated middle section with Osbourne screaming like a madman, bookended by a slow, bass-driven, austere cacophony of sinister hooks and fingernails-on-blackboard dialogue.
Closer 'Fairies Wear Boots' is a cymbal smashing jam who's title apparently comes from a run-in with a group of skinheads, proof if it were needed that Black Sabbath were always more about going down the pub, getting pissed and dropping some acid, rather than worshipping at the altar of Satan.
The second disc in this Deluxe Edition' is the rare Quadraphonic mix of the album from 1974 and...I can't tell you about it, because I didn't get it. Nay bother; I haven't got a surround system in any case, so maybe I lucked out after all.
So, it's to the final disc then, the previously unreleased bonus tracks, and unfortunately, this is when a little disappointment creeps in.
As 'Paranoid' was recorded in such a rush, it's no surprise that there isn't going to be a clutch of songs that didn't make the final album cut. However, what you do get is merely different versions of the same eight songs you've just listened to, with either alternate lyrics or no lyrics at all i.e. instrumentals, (the latter is obviously pointless in the case of 'Rat Salad').
'War Pigs' is billed as an instrumental, though you can still hear Osbourne's exhalant scream of "Oh Lord Yeah!" in the background (at 5:23 if you don't believe me), and while legend has it that 'Paranoid' took five minutes to write and twenty five minutes to record, there's no real point in including Osbourne's first lyrical stab, other than to thoroughly embarrass the poor guy (though it is undeniably hilarious: "You and me are through I know but you're on my mind all day long / Guessing you and me are going crazy 'cause I can't see you"). The mix is rough too; Iommi's majestic riff plays from the centre, almost in mono, rather than from the left channel where it belongs.
And an unhewn production is a feature of 'Iron Man' too. Bill Ward makes a couple of mistakes at the start, the channel bleeding guitar wail is missing, and indeed it's a single guitar track too: not so much of a whiff of multi-tracking.
So all in all, whilst it is interesting to hear these alternate mixes from a historical perspective, it's a one shot deal: there's no inherent replayability. Again, maybe this is because of a lack of available alternate material, so maybe it would have been wiser just to release the Quadraphonic disc separately instead.
Deluxe Editions only work when a label can supply over and above expectation; the Deluxe Editions of The Cure's back catalogue are excellent, and a personal favourite of mine is the two disc re-release of Fleetwood Mac's seminal 'Rumours'. But these editions are crammed full of outtakes, rough cuts, curios, live jams, demos and songs that didn't quite make the cut, ('Silver Springs' on 'Rumours' is glorious) and this encourages the listener to revisit whenever possible.
Can anyone out there honestly tell me they want to listen to a second instrumental version of 'Rat Salad' more than once? I didn't think so. 'Paranoid' is a great, great album, but these editions are anything but deluxe.