Black Sabbath CD and Concert Review

IN THE STUDIO...

The reunion of three quarters of the original Black Sabbath lineup has been the talk of the rock and metal community since it was first announced.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler back together for a full album for the first time in 35 years was a sure bet to energize a fan base, and it has done exactly that. Despite the absence of drummer Bill Ward over a contractual dispute, the band recorded the album 13 and saw it hit #1 on the album chart. It's their first album to reach that commercial peak.

What follows is both a review of the CD followed by a look at their August 12th concert at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

The album 13 gets off to a decent start before even a second of music is heard. The simple yet effective hologram cover that makes it look like the album's numerical title is aflame was nicely done. When you open the packaging (in my case, the Best Buy edition that had FOUR extra tracks, not three as most other places were offering), the gate-fold encompasses one extended piece of art.

Sabbath is the progenitor of the entire doom and gloom vein of rock and metal and they don't let that reputation go to waste. They open the album with two extended tracks which live up to their methodical (some would say plodding) style.

By the way, Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk did the drum work for the CD.

"End of the Beginning" starts slow and then manages to settle into an calmer yet still viably "heavy" pace. Ozzy's vocals start off as if he is whispering in a conspiratorial tone. The 8-minute track does pick up the pace later in the song, but it is the faster portion of the song that stands out while the beginning just drags on.

The first song heard by most people was the track "God Is Dead?". It is even longer than "End of the Beginning" but managed to be more interesting. It is almost dirge-like for the first 6 1/2 minutes of the song before becoming more of a rocker. Regardless of the 2 part stylistic makeup, it never got boring.

If I didn't know better I'd swear the lyrics to "Loner" were about me. The line "A solitary man, an enigmatic child, a riddle never solved, a prisoner exiled" was a particular standout. The song is a fast paced number that along with "Age of Reason" and "Live Forever" find the band rocking out in a way that belies their age.

While the slow paced and darkly serene "Zeitgeist" has its moments, it really kind of left me cold.

Guitarist Tony Iommi is fighting cancer during the recording of the album and out on tour, but it hasn't seemed to affect his playing ability. He continues to be a riff-master with a standout solo and extended outro on the song "Damaged Soul". That song also has some pretty dark lyrics: "I don't mind dying, cause I'm already dead. Pray not for the living, I'll live in your head. Dying is easy, it's living that's hard. I'm losing the battle between Satan and God."

The lyrics are also a signal about the one flaw in the liner notes of the album. Iommi, Ozzy and Geezer Butler are credited with having written all the songs together. Color me a bit biased, but I can't imagine Ozzy turning these lyrical phrases. This is based on knowing what Ozzy (and presumably his wife Sharon) have done in taking credit for work on his solo albums that was done by Jake E. Lee and Bob Daisley.

I'd really like to know who wrote the lyrics on some of the tracks because they are excellent. The last song on the first disc is called "Dear Father". It is from the viewpoint of a victim addressing the priest who abused him. The topic has been done before but the extremely pointed lyrics ("You preyed upon my flesh then prayed for my soul. Belief betrayed by lust, the faith that you stole. Indoctrination by a twisted desire, the catechism of an evil messiah") were amazing. The track was also enhanced with the ending of a lone and forlorn sounding church bell ringing out in the midst of some stormy weather. For me, this was just a superbly constructed song.

The second disc features the four bonus tracks and they are uniformly excellent. The second disc might just be better than the first!

The song "Methademic" has some fiery guitar licks and I loved the lyrics. But am I the only one seeing this song as being a tad bit ironic to feature noted drug addict Ozzy singing what is essentially an anti-drug song?

Bassist Butler and drummer Wilk provide a particularly strong and heavy backbone to "Peace of Mind".

The disc closes out with two utterly fantastic songs. They are "Pariah" and "Naivete In Black". The former includes the line "An angel or the antichrist, a symbol of your own device. Pathetic in your own sad way, you're just one pill away from taking my advice". Meanwhile "Naivete In Black" sets its own lyrical viewpoint with the verse "A dynasty of doubt and hate. Religion, politics, self-mutilate. The privilege of being here. All born from nothing 'til we disappear."

Both songs are rockers, with "Naivete In Black" really putting the pedal to the metal.

It took so long to get the principals back together for a full album, that anyone who questioned whether or not they could recreate even a portion of their original magic would not be thought crazy.

Hell, I didn't even know what to expect. I guess I kind of expected the slow monstrously lengthy songs, but despite age, illness and a bevy of issues on Ozzy's part, Black Sabbath (with producer Rick Rubin) somehow managed to create an album that holds up as so very worthy of comparison to any of their previous work and will surprise those who might dismiss them as dinosaur rock when they hear how electrically spry they sound during the up tempo tracks on the disc.

ON THE STAGE

When the tour dates were announced for this perhaps final Black Sabbath tour, I saw that the band were going to make a stop not only in my general traveling area, but also at my favorite concert venue. So, as soon as the date of sale came about, I was on the phone and ordering my ticket. I normally go with someone to a show but this time around I went solo.

On Monday August 12th, I drove to the Comcast Center (originally known and still referred to by me as Great Woods) in Mansfield, MA to see the band perform in this mostly original incarnation for the first time ever.

The opening act was Andrew W.K. and he was doing a DJ set playing metal and rock songs of other people while standing on a mini pulpit type of stage riser. I only caught the end of his "set" because I had no interest in seeing a DJ set at a concert.

Instead, I hung out in the parking lot talking to my parked car neighbors. They'd driven from Albany, NY for the show. At least one of them was in a band called Cardiac Noose and the guitar player handed me a CD to check out. I also made note of all the various show attendees decked out in their concert going uniforms. They advertised their love for various bands from Anthrax to Frank Zappa and just about every possible band in between.

Once I made my way into the venue, I saw the end of the DJ set and then was very surprised to see a quick stage turnaround that led to Sabbath hitting the stage at 8:30 sharp.

The stage set up was minimal, with the drum riser and stacks of speaker accounting for most of the material on view. The large video screen alternated between filmed bits and live shots of the band in action.

As the band hit the stage, Ozzy went through the expected spastic cheerleader gyrations while Iommi, Butler and touring drummer Tommy Clufetos launched into "War Pigs." When Ozzy hit the mike to start singing the lyrics, he instantly turned me off when he skipped 3 of the first six lines. He opted to let the crowd sing those three lines. Normally, crowd participation happens in the middle of the show but it doesn't usually involve the lyrics to the songs. I didn't pay good money to hear the nearly sold out crowd sing, I paid to see Ozzy sing.

Thankfully, with the second song "Into The Void", Ozzy was more focused on his performance. Osbourne referred to "Under The Sun" as one of his favorite tunes.

The usual Ozzy crowd exhortations to "Let Me See Your Hands" etc., struck me as a bit stale but the obviously jazzed up crowd were into it when they weren't distracted by the beach ball and blowup doll being batted around in the seats. After 30 plus years of watching him do this though, he's gone from the Prince of Darkness to the Clown Prince in my eyes.

Whether planned or not, I did like when he thanked the crowd for helping make 13 the band's first ever #1 album.

After "Snowblind", Sabbath kicked off the first of three songs from the new album that were featured in the set. "Age of Reason" was really good and saw Iommi deliver a smoking solo.

Next came the band's namesake song Black Sabbath. The sound effects of rain and a church bell seemed to mellow the crowd out a bit from the high energy output they'd been giving off from the start of the show.

A bit of disclosure here: I had the set list from the first show of the tour so I wasn't supposed to be surprised by the songs in the show, but Sabbath ended up throwing a curveball. Instead of playing "Methademic" from the new CD they threw in "Beyond The Wall of Sleep" and followed that up with N.I.B. which is one of my favorite original Sabbath tunes.

The second track from the new album performed was "End of the Beginning." And despite my misgivings about the track on the CD, in concert it was actually quite good. It played much heavier and seemed as if the band played a shorter version of it as well.

After a sublime Fairies Wear Boots, Ozzy departed the stage while Iommi, Butler and Clufetos ran through the instrumental "Rat Salad". It was a brief interlude but then drummer Clufetos was left alone for a drum solo.

I'm not all that interested in solos during concerts anymore. They seem thoroughly unnecessary when the band could be doing another ACTUAL song. But I figured this was a mid set break for the other guys so when they came back they could power through to the end of the set. But I have to say that I came away from the solo rather impressed. Clufetos, who is the drummer for Ozzy's solo band and has worked with Rob Zombie in the past, gave an entertaining drum clinic!

With the entire band back on the stage, the plodding tones of Iron Man kicked in and set the crowd back on fire once again.

The third song from the new CD the band played was "God Is Dead?" and once again, the new material sounded excellent live.

They closed out the set with "Dirty Women" and "Children of the Grave" and Tony Iommi was just shredding his ass off on these two numbers.

After a very brief departure, Black Sabbath came back to rock the night to a close with "Paranoid". It was here that my reserve deserted me. Throughout the night I was observing the show, enjoying this and that during the set but not really cutting loose in a wild abandon kind of way. That front went by the wayside as the final song of the evening carved a path to the final band bow and the house lights coming back on.

So, what did I think of the show in all?

Well, I ended up really enjoying myself even if I spent most of the evening not really letting my enjoyment show through.

The band was on fire and Ozzy did have some good moments. But as with reviews I've read online about other stops on the tour, Ozzy was the biggest "problem" of the whole event.

The drummer Clufetos is a young guy in comparison to the other three performers, so he has energy to spare and it showed.

Geezer Butler on bass thundered throughout the night and though neither he or Iommi are much for running around all over the stage, they are consummate professionals who know what they are doing.

Tony Iommi was amazing. Looking every bit of the epitome of cool with the shades and leather jacket throughout the set, he continues to be a guitarist to aspire to emulate. I've seen him twice in concert now and both times he blew me away. While I've always acknowledged his greatness, he's was never one of those guys that I couldn't wait to listen to. After the live performances, that is a long gone stance on my part. He's amazing and it would be to anyone's benefit but particularly for guitar players to see what he does live. He's a beast.

And then there was Ozzy. At times, he was so out of key that the band seemed to play louder to cover up the bad sound on vocals. I've included a number of videos I saw on Youtube with this article and you'll likely see - and hear - what I'm talking about.

Ozzy was never a great singer, which is why Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals was always my favorite version of the band. But now, with his vocals even less than they've ever been, it is a drawback to the band's live show.

Reading articles and comments online, everyone is talking about how off key Ozzy is now. And they are for the most part correct. Ozzy and Frank Sinatra (likely the first time this comparison will ever be made) are in the same boat. As Ol' Blue Eyes got older and lost his vocal dexterity he became more of a showman than singer. And that describes Ozzy now as well; he's a showman. The foot stomping, the hand clapping, throwing buckets of water into the crowd and all that have been part of his shows for years but now more than ever, it seems to be something he needs to cover his lack of ability to sing properly.

And it is funny, because on the three new songs in the set, he actually sounded pretty good. But I figured out why: Its because the new material is tailored to his abilities NOW. So the classic material is lessened to the ears of everyone at a particular show because he just can't do it like he used to.

It did lessen my enjoyment of the concert experience a bit, but on the whole, Black Sabbath at Great Woods (okay, the Comcast Center) was a heck of a night on the town. Given the likelihood that this is the band's final go-round you'd be remiss if you had a chance to see the show and passed it up.

Black Sabbath may not pass my way again, but the mark they made on August 12th won't soon be forgotten.