Vol. 4

Artist: Black Sabbath

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Average Rating: (See all 4 reviews) Label: Warner Bros. Records (Record Lab Usually ships within 6-11 days (8 available) 1  Wheels Of Confusion / The Straightener 2  Tomorrow's Dream - (live) 3  Changes - (live) 4  FX - (live) 5  Supernaut - (live) 6  Snowblind - (live) 7  Cornucopia - (live) 8  Laguna Sunrise - (live) 9  St. Vitus' Dance - (live) 10  Under The Sun / Everyday Comes And Goes Performer Notes Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals); Tony Iommi (guitar); Geezer Butler (bass instrument); Bill Ward (drums). Recording information: The Record Plant, Los Angeles, California. While Black Sabbath's 1972 release VOL. 4 didn't contain a renowned heavy metal anthem as PARANOID's title track, "Iron Man," or MASTER OF REALITY's "Sweet Leaf" and "Children of the Grave," for example, it was far from a lackluster effort. VOL. 4 is a consistent, complete album that contains many of Sabbath's most underrated and often-overlooked compositions. Based on the inspired performances throughout the album, you'd never know that the band has considered the writing/recording of VOL. 4 to be its most out-of-control and drug-heavy period. A pair of long and winding epics open and close VOL. 4.: "Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener" and "Under the Sun/Everything Comes and Goes," each consisting of two separate sections. The reflective, love-lost ballad "Changes" remains one of Sabbath's best, while Tony Iommi's gorgeous acoustic instrumental "Laguna Sunrise" is another low-key standout. But plodding, mega-decibel heavy metal is what Sabbath is known for, and VOL. 4 delivers with such dark rockers as "Tomorrow's Dream," "Supernaut," and "Snowblind," a track warning against the dangers of cocaine. VOL. 4 is one of Black Sabbath's most underrated albums, despite its exceptional quality. Professional Reviews Rolling Stone (12/7/72, p.63) - "...Storms of liquid metal...the Sabs pour it on...The Sabs are genius..." Q (6/00, p.69) - Ranked #60 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...The sound of drug-taking, beer-guzzling hooligans from Britain's oft-pilloried cultural armpit let loose in LA..." Producer: Black Sabbath; Patrick Meehan Format: CD (1 Disc); Stereo Country: USA UPC: 075992725927 Studio/Live: Studio Release Date: 26 April 1988

This album in my opinion was one of the big turning points in Sabbath, as many changes were made to what was happening with their stuff at the time, and with the release of this album, they were much more distinctive in the Music world. The music was more experimental and worked well to their advantage. Iommi started tuning down to Eb from this album and onwards, and Geezer re-tuned his Bass to fit with Iommi's playing, therefore giving them a much more, deeper, rockier sound. As pretty much every Sabbath album is my favorite, this one definatly goes with the select few that actually have a big impact on my life of music.

It's impossible to write a Sabbath album and not give it 5-stars and praise mountains high. That's just how masterful this band was throughout its entire career, not to mention influential and controversial. This band was definitely a different animal with Ozzy, as it pushed the boundaries of dark, heavy, experimental music some 30 years ago. Volume 4... the band's 4th release sees the band delve into a much more colourful and happy concept after the broodingly gloom Master Of Reality. Volume 4 continues Iommi's everlasting tradition of killer riffs as he lets it rip on "Supernaut" and "Tomorrow's Dream". "Wheels Of Confusion", "Under The Sun" and "Cornucopia" give us 3 ploddingly slow numbers that Sabbath is now famous for, and even features a tribute to cocaine with "Snowblind" one of their most recognizable songs. Sabbath even shows a softer side with the acoustic number "Laguna Sunrise" and the ballad "Changes", probably something people did not expect back in the day where Sabbath were marked as devil worshippers.

Best Songs - "Supernaut", "Snowblind", "Tomorrow's Dream"

And as much as I've crowed about albums like Paranoid and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, this album ranks right up there as one of Black Sabbath's best. It is here that the experimentation can first be heard, and Tony Iommi's guitar playing really starts to shape up as one of hard rock/heavy metal's leading names. (Prior to this album, I had always thought that Iommi was more comfortable as a rhythm guitarist, but his leads do show some amazing maturity - maturity which wasn't there just two albums before on Paranoid.)

I think Black Sabbath turned a corner with this one. It's a more confident, experimental product than all that came before. "Supernaut" is probably their best rocking song ever, has a truly distinctive Iommi riff, and just takes you to the moon. "Laguna Sunrise" is a great acoustic guitar- and -strings mini masterpiece. "Changes" is the only song I didn't like despite its being a classic and the song that Ozzy later dueted with his daughter on. I think the reason I didn't like it is because it is almost like an adolescent coming of age song -- you half expect Sandra Dee or Annette Funicello to come up behind him and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, and then they go off to go surfing or something. "FX" is probably an intentional joke, just Tony playing at the effects board when no one was looking. All the rest of the CD rocks and one listen will not be enough the first time you play it.