close

Black Sabbath release deluxe editions of their debut album and 'Master of Reality' today

Posted: 14 years ago

In 1970, four guys from Birmingham Tony, Bill, Ozzy and Geezer released their debut, eponymous album 'Black Sabbath' two years after their 1968 formation, which - pretty-much - started a new genre: Heavy Metal. The rest, as they say, is history, and you can get your hands on part of that history from today with the release of two special edition albums.

Commercially, 'Black Sabbath' did very well, selling one million copies, but - as with many records ahead of their time - it was not well received critically at the time, with reviewers just not getting it. Fast forward almost forty years, and time has been kinder to this influential album, with it adorning many "best album" lists from various music magazines - let alone its revered status in the minds of metal bands all over the universe.

Sabbath then went on to release two further stonkers within two years: 'Paranoid' and 'Master of Reality' - both of which, along with their debut were produced by Rodger Bain (who also produced Judas Priest's debut). Paranoid remains their best-selling album, and Master of Reality didn't do too bad, either - going double platinum in the year of it's release (1971), selling over two million copies - in fact it had already achieved "gold" status on advance orders. Like its two predecessors, 'Master of Reality' is also name-checked by many a-rock band - past and present - and also graces many "best album" lists.

Today, both 'Black Sabbath' and 'Master of Reality' have been released as special two disk special editions, re-mastered and featuring alternative versions of the album tracks, out-takes and other versions of the album tracks on the second of the two disks - see track-listing, below, with disk one being the re-mastered original.

Black Sabbath

  • Disc 1 (Original Album)
    1. Black Sabbath
    2. The Wizard
    3. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
    4. N.I.B
    5. Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games)
    6. Sleeping Village
    7. Warning
  • Disc 2 (Tracks 2-9 previously unreleased)
    1. Wicked World (single b-side)
    2. Black Sabbath (studio outtake)
    3. Black Sabbath (instrumental)
    4. The Wizard (studio outtake)
    5. Beyond The Wall Of Sleep (studio outtake)
    6. N.I.B (instrumental)
    7. Evil Woman (alternative version)
    8. Sleeping Village (Intro - studio outtake)
    9. The Warning (Part 1 - studio outtake)

Master of Reality

  • Disc 1 (Original Album)
    1. Sweet Leaf
    2. After Forever
    3. Embryo
    4. Children Of The Grave
    5. Orchid
    6. Lord Of This World
    7. Solitude
    8. Into The Void
  • Disc 2 (Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks)
    1. Weevil Woman '71
    2. Sweet Leaf (studio outtake feat. alternative lyrics)
    3. After Forever (studio outtake - instrumental)
    4. Children Of The Grave (studio outtake feat. alternative lyrics)
    5. Children Of The Grave (studio outtake - instrumental).
    6. Orchid (studio outtake - Tony count-in)
    7. Lord Of This World (studio outtake feat. piano & slide guitar)
    8. Solitude (studio outtake - intro. with alternative guitar tuning)
    9. Spanish Sid (studio outtake - 'Into The Void' alternative version)
Daniel O'Connell