Black Sabbath Recommendations

Ive been scoping alot of stuff from both Ozzy and Dio when they were in Black Sabbath I like what im hearing I have Paranoid on CD and of course am familiar with alot of the popular stuff.

Im looking to increase my Sabbath collection, I have Paranoid.... what would you recommend I start with?

My cousin is a big fan and says Mob Rules is killer. Im inching towards Heaven and Hell

I figure Id hit the community up for some suggestions

For the Ozzy-era, Master of Reality is easily my favorite.

Heaven and Hell is my favorite of the Dio-era.

The debut or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Heaven and Hell for the Dio era.

The first seven Ozzy albums, Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules.

But for starters I would also go for Master of Reality and Heaven & Hell.

The first six w/Ozzy are great, though I like the last two, they're not on par w/the others. As for the Dio era, I start w/"Live Evil", or perhaps even the "Heaven and Hell" live one, get a little taste of it all...

You're going to get pulled in every direction regarding Sabbath, but I think the "smartest" album they ever made was "Vol 4". It seems to always get talked about last, when mentioning everything prior to "Technical Ecstasy", but its excellence is unrivaled.

6 in one, half dozen of the other, can't go wrong w/any of the first 6!   

metalinmyveins wrote:

You're going to get pulled in every direction regarding Sabbath, but I think the "smartest" album they ever made was "Vol 4". It seems to always get talked about last, when mentioning everything prior to "Technical Ecstasy", but its excellence is unrivaled.

That's the problem with this whole thing, it's like being asked to choose a favorite child!! And there is always the fact that people never agree on this kind of stuff. I think that Technical Ecstasy is superb, I also think that Live Evil would be the worst possible place to start.

I think you should just go through them on Spotify till you realise that they are all pretty much essential and buy the mega box set   

The good news with the first six albums is that they're cheap. I've never purchased one for more than five bucks. If that's the going price on Amazon, I say get them all in a bundle if you can.

Master of Reality
Heaven and Hell

Start with those two, then get the rest of Ozzy's first 6, Mob Rules, 13, and Dehumanizer. Then check out the rest.

Heaven & Hell and either Vol 4 or Masters Of Reality next..... All the Ozzy era and Dio era studio albums are essential......

The first 4, Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage from the Ozzy era. Heaven And Hell from the Dio era.

All the Ozzy era records are very interesting in their own individual ways, the closest thing they had to something that was really, really put together and focused was probably 'Paranoid' or 'Master of Reality'. My preference is 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', the two I mentioned, and then the debut. You will enjoy 'Master of Reality' or 'Volume 4', if I had to guess. All of those records are fascinating little brews made up of classic and brilliant tracks, intriguing experimental stuff, and then stuff which very audibly confirms just how much drugs the band was doing at the time.

Out of the Dio ones, I prefer 'Heaven and Hell' over all.

Don't sell the Tony Martin years short; the 'Headless Cross' record even has a guest Brian May solo, which rules.

Definitely don't pass over the debut album, one of the most important rock albums in history. Start with the first 6 and Heaven And Hell and then go from there.

thejokeriv wrote:

All the Ozzy era and Dio era studio albums are essential......

Yup, I'd say just get them all. There aren't that many and you should be able to find them all relatively easy and cheap on Ebay or Amazon.

The first 9 and the last. Also, the H&H releases. All the rest are worth checking out.