Customer Reviews

Paranoid

5 star:		(175)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Back before Black Sabbath ruined their reputation with all those cheesy 80's albums(and that unfortunate stint with James Dio) they were a stark contrast to the hippie revolution with their realistic, brooding low tonal metal. Paranoid is a look back into those glory days. Guitarist Tony Iommi had the art of riffs down to a pure science, especially on "Paranoid", "Iron Man" and "War Pigs". The rythym section kept everything moving with surprising tightness and precision and Osbourne, in his pre "bundles of irritation" days (also known as Jack and Kelly) sounds genuinely downtrodden, resentful and scary.

I got so excited by this CD when I first got it, I went right out and got a job at McDonalds.
What more need I say ? Paranoid totally rocks, dudes!!!

This record is has some of the best sabbath songs ever.
1.War pigs- HEAVY! cool bass lines, awesome solos, great lyrics that can apply to today (President Bush)-10/10
2.Paranoid- great to bang your head to, way ahead of it's time-10/10
3.Planet Caravan-soft, cool bass lines,psychedelic, and a very jazz inspired solo, feels like an acid trip-9.5/10
4.Iron man-classic! very quick bass from geezer during the solo, and the opening chords give me goosebumps.-10/10
5.Electric funeral-One of my favorite songs, so simple, yet so dark and evil. Brilliant!10/10
6.Hand of doom- awesome riffs, lyrics about drugs, tempo changes, GREAT!-10/10
7.Rat Salad- very cool instrumental with an amazing drum solo-10/10
8.Fairies wear boots-this song is some of geezer's finest bass work, and overall very bluesy feel, pure genius.-10/10

So buy this record now, and if you play guitar or bass learn every song on here and then buy the other great five sabbath records, but DO NOT buy anything but the ozzy era. peace

tonyhawk is absolutely right. hand of doom is the best song on paranoid. it's my all-time fave black sabbath tune. the way the song changes during the middle and the cool bass hooks at the beginning + towards the end. everyone likes war pigs, fairies wear boots, iron man. blah blah. all that radio friendly stuff! ;). although, those tunes do rule. here's my top 5 sabbbath songs(in order) hand of doom, into the void, behind the wall of sleep, iron man & supernaut.

Paranoid, the dawn of Heavy Metal. A Classic album by one of the greatest bands of all time Black Sabbath. I've said it before Black Sabbath have the greatest rythm section in all of rock and roll, and Pranoid shows it perfectly. Tony Iommi's guitar playing is the best that it was Tonys hole carear. Ozzys voice sounds great, and like I said Geezer and Bill's ryhtm is tight as ever.

Paranoid starts of with Black Sabbaths all time best song, 'War Pigs' the lyrics are Black Sabbaths best, the guitar solo is Iommi's best and if you didnt beleave me about Black Sabbath having the best rythm you will after you hear this! 'Planet Caravan' and 'Hand Of Doom' are among Black Sabbaths heavist songs on the album. 'Rat Salad' is the best instrumental Black Sabbath ever recorded. 'Elecric Funeral' is a killer song about acid rain, who knew Black Sabbath was concernd about the world? 'Fairies Wear Boots' is one of the best songs on the album and classic Sabbath. 'Iron Man' is one of Black Sabbath's biggest hits and one of Tony Iommis best performances ever. Then we have the tittle track, the reason everyone under the sun buys this album, the band is perfect on this song and the guitar riff is one of Tonys best. Ozzy is perfect and so are Gezzer and Bill. And 'Paranoid' was suppost to be filler, who knew?

This is Black Sabbaths most poular album and for good reason, its one of the greatest albums of all time! This along with Sabbath Bloody Sabath are two of the greatest albums of all time, you wount be let down, this I can assure you!

This is one of the best Hard rock/heavey metal Albums ever made by anyone. This CD and Led zeppelin - IV, The WHO - Who's Next and Deep purple - Machine head, are 4 Landmark hardrock albums wish any serius music lover must have in hes collection.

(all Black Sabbaths first 6 albums + Heaven and hell are must have for any hard rock lover)

I can tell you right off the bat this Black Sabbath album is like a Greatest Hits compilation. Here are all of the songs and my opinion of them.

War Pigs / Luke's Wall: This would be one of Black Sabbath's best. It is about the Vietnam and well, you should know the rest.

Paranoid: This is another of BS's best, no BS does not stand for anything else. This song explains me a whole lot. I was kidding. Ha Ha. Whatever.

Planet Caravan: I never really listen to this song at all. I know it is slow, it's worth a listen though.

Iron Man: My second favorite BS song. This is easy to play on guitar but that ain't my point. I listen to this song and the next to get me in a good mood. Long Live The IRON MAN! That made no sense.

Electric Funeral: This is my favorite BS song ever. It has an awesome guitar sound. This could have been a good title track, but oh well.

Hand Of Doom: You have to listen to this song for a minute to get into the BLACK SABBATH METAL kind of sound. Awesome song.

Rat Salad: INSTRUMENTALLY CHALLENGED! This is my favorite instrumental of all time. Its a little to short though. This song has an awesome-cheesy name. You probably already noticed that.

Jack the Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots: This is one of my other very-favorites. I love this song to creeping death.

I am not a bad guy, i'm just a little PARANOID! (chainsaw cranking in background)

Please Note: What I just said is not a line in any of the tracks on this #1 BS cd.

I knew nothing of Black Sabbath other than I loved the song "Paranoid" in "Dazed & Confused" and that I could play "Iron Man" on the guitar almost by instinct. But I generally hate heavy metal (fans), and since everyone knows Black Sabbath are the great godfathers of that genre, I had no interest beyond that. Then my roommate bludgeoned by eyes open to the truth and I realized that while I thought I liked Led Zeppelin, I really loved Black Sabbath instead. "Electric Funeral" and "Hand of Doom" are the best songs you've never heard until you have, and are worth yelling along to while everyone else in the house is sleeping.

Sabbath's best album. From start to finish this album amazes me. Ozzy Osbournes voice is at its peak, Geezers bass lines have never been this good, Iommi's solos make this CD so good, and Ward's drumming in War Pigs, and many others sound spectacular. The title track, Paranoid, has been voted the best Metal song of all time, in more than 1 books, magazines and polls. I agree. You must have heard Iron Man by now, it has maybe the most catchy riff ever used in a Heavy Metal album. Faries Wear Boots has the best solo on the album, and best solo on any Sabbath album. and Planet Caravan is so good Pantera made a cover of it, and made a single, and didnt change a thing really. Do yourself a favour, if you don't already have this Heavy Metal classic, pick it up.

The Sabs get tighter and more lethal on their second slab. I first heard this (as a then-rabid Kiss fan) from my girlfriend's uncle in 1979 and just thought "WOW!" at the heaviness. Since then, I've had it in several forms of LP, cassette and now CD.

The first album was history-making in its own right, but it was much more reflective of the improvisational jamming of the time, at which Messrs. Iommi, Butler and Ward of course excelled. This is a much tighter album, with more actual songs and less jamming ("Rat Salad" aside).

Tony Iommi proves on every cut that he is probably the most underated guitarist in heavy metal - a style he virtually invented. For all the praise (rightly) heaped on contemporaries such as Blackmore, Beck, Page and Townshend, he deserves at least equal recognition. Crushing power chords and fluid soloing are both well within his grasp (nobody does it better than he), as is mellow jazz-type noodling ("Planet Caravan"). Not bad for a guy missing part of his fingers, as even Ozzy has admitted.

Geezer Butler and Bill Ward defined the heavy metal rhythm section. Geezer is the real lynchpin with his four strings alternately thundering, singing and scaring throughout this album. Bill Ward has often said that his drumming is more of an orchestral accompaniment to Tony's rhythms, and that is most certainly true.

This is an essential album for any serious student of HM music. Those who know Ozzy Osbourne for his '80s albums and current TV persona need to hear this to know where he came from.

And Ozz himself? He's no singer (which he admits), and for that reason this album loses a star. However, I have to admit that early Sabbath would not have happened without him.