Join the Hudson Valley Squares as they pick their favorite & least favorite Black Sabbath albums. #blacksabbath 💰Donate via Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/pete... 👕Order your SoT merch: www.t8cloth.co... 🖥 Visit our website: www.seaoftranq...
When you got Chris Alo on the show talking about Black Sabbath, you know you're in for a hell of a show. I can't think of anyone better to talk about Black Sabbath than him, he's the man. This was a lot of fun to hear everyone's favourite and least favourite. My favourite: Paranoid My least favourite: Never Say Die
I agree that those are great songs. I think the problem is that to most fans, Shockwave and Air dance just don't sound anything like what is expected to be found on a Sabbath record. If those were on a YES or GENESIS album they'd be regarded as amazing classic songs but, being that they are on a Sabbath record they're thought of as fillers and complete duds.
The song that turned me into a metalhead at 12yrs old was Children of the Grave. At 61 it still gets me pumped! In complete agreement with Pete's top 2.
Absolutely agree with Chris!!!! Mob Rules is the very definition of the term “Heavy Metal!” Every track is a gift to the music world! Thank you all for your insights. RIP RJD miss you forever…. And after!
Chris Alo never disappoints . Blows my mind how much knowledge he has and all the number of albums he collects with multiple copies , wow 👍. Then the number of concerts he has experienced, i can listen to the stories for hrs. Love Pete's shows and tune in everyday, but Hudson Valley Square is just not enough once a week lol. Need more of all the guests of Hudson Valley , loving these podcasts. Thanks Pete 👍
Takeaways from tonight's episode: 1. A small cast tonight of Chris A., Ryan and Steve 2. Audio difficulties early on-"Thank you, Spectrum" 3. "Ha, Ha, I'm not the only one" 4. "The wildcard is something else, Steve" 5. "Yeah, rub it under my face" 6. Rick Rubin - Homeless Rasputin 7. "...sappy 80's ballad bullshit" 8. "Don't cross the stream, Steve" 9. I REALLY don't like this album... although I do have five copies of it" 10. Tony Iommi stomping around like Frankenstein... 11. Ryan's dog gets in just under the wire at 47 minutes and 22 seconds, less than 2 minutes from the show's end 12. Pete letting "the cat out of the hat" lol...
Favorites ( today lol ) 1. Paranoid 2. Master of Reality Least favorite: 1. Forbidden 2. Cross Purposes Wildcard: 1. Technical Ecstasy ( lots to like on it but not quite their best work but it gets far too much hate ).
I enjoyed the Steven Wilson remixes of Tech Ec. Really brought out a lot of the instrumentation that was buried in the 70s mix. Interesting choice of a prog rock guy to do it, but great choice. He's done a lot of Yes and Crimson and Tull to perfection.
My 2 Favourites are Mob Rules and Born Again. My Least Favourites are Forbidden and Cross Purposes. My Wild Card is Seventh Star. For those who don't think the latter is a real Sabbath album, I understand; BUT......try tracking down the reunion albums between Tony Iommi & Glenn Hughes on the heavy "IOMMI - The Dep Sessions 1996" and the even heavier "IOMMI - Fused". Some fine Iommi riffage and solos, and great vocals by Hughes....well worth checking out! I highly recommend both.
Like your style Cap'n. Too bad Glenn blew out his voice back in the day bcuz he SMOKES on those Iommi projects. Strangely I was listening to Depp earlier today! I had the "Eighth Star" bootleg in the 90s which is why those tracks got an official release. Track down the WhoCares 2CD that Iommi put out with Ian Gillan a few years back. It's a compilation of a bunch of diff stuff, but does include some unreleased songs from Fused. Also find the "Turn to Glenn" bootleg as it's from a pre-tour rehearsal before Glenn lost it. Shades of what could have been for sure. Sweet version of Glenn doing Children of the Sea. Not perfection but it's cool to hear him do it.
@@ScottyKirk1 Yes that WhoCares album is great compilation - I have it. Some fine Ian Gillan performances on it too. Thanks for the tip on the Turn to Glenn project, I'll track it down.
Favorites - Born Again and Dehumanizer. Least favorites - Forbidden and Seventh Star. Mater of Reality will always hold a special place in my heart though, since it was the first Sabbath album I bought when I was 10 years old.
The best 1.Mob Rules 2.Tyr The worst 1.Never say die 2.Technical ecstasy Wildcard Eternal Idol Ray Gillen sessions. Awesome. Gillen is as magnificent as Tony. They both rule.
I have an idea for a show topic. Everyone loves a great origin story. Being a fan of SOT for the past few years , I've often wondered how all of you Hudson Valley squares met and became such close friends & colleagues. Did yous grow up together or meet in school or through mutual friends or from work or whatever.... Ya know what I mean. I'm just kinda curious how all of you met (Pete Pardo, Steve Keeler, Butch Jones, Sydney Taylor, Lynn Versaci, Chris Alo, Nick Franco, Ryan Skow , Martin Popoff etc. )
I would have been hugely surprised if Chris and Pete hadnt both chosen Never Say Die and Forbidden. I'm still smiling at the number of versions Chris brought out not just for his favourite but also for an album he dislikes. I have to say that I'm a lover of Never Say Die - for me its a mixture of time and place and that it has some great contributions from Don Airey and is more adventurous away form the 'classic' Sabbath sound, but I can understand why it is disliked. My picks - Favourites - Mob Rules and Technical Ecstasy Least favourites - Forbidden and 13 (Sabbath by numbers and without the passion) Wild Card - The Rhino limited edition Live at Hammersmith January 1982 (mine is 1792 of 5000) - Live Evil is great, this is fantastic.
I love the mix too. That extra little tiny bit of reverb sounds so good. The slow crunchy blues is so dynamite. This and the Depp Sessions, my neighbors must know those by heart too! 🤘 🤘
THe First One is my favorite- Ultimate Stoner Classic. Behind the wall of Sleep is the most Heaviest Grooving Acid Rock Masterpiece n Sleeping Village/Warning Jam is an Epic tale thru a Black Forest. All there Albums have had a huge effect on my life. Currently Master of Reality n Vol. 4 are on heavy rotation. Partly because I'm doing a lot of Drop C# in my own guitar playing. Rawk IT...
Two Favorites: #1 Sabotage (Nothing beats this one for me) #2 Master Of Reality (This was my favorite for years) Least Favorites: #0 Forbidden #18 Never Say Die (I like this album but, there are plenty of reasons to rank it low) Wild Card: The Eternal Idol Super Deluxe Edition. The inclusion of the Ray Gillen recordings make this my favorite non-Ozzy/Dio era(s) album by Sabbath. What could have been! Ray's voice soars on everything he sang on and the tracks on Eternal Idol are a clinic in vocal technique! This was the fork in the road for their fall to playing small clubs while Ozzy was headling arenas. If they could have kept it together with Ray and churned out four or five albums, they'd have been back on top of the metal mountain.
Hi Guys. Great show. My picks are. Favorite 1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath 2. The Mob Rules Least 1. Forbidden 2. Never Say Die Wild Card - Headless Cross
- My Top 3 Favorite Black Sabbath albums at this point in time (based on how often I listen to them) 3. Sabotage 2. Volume 4 1. Debut - My 3 least favorites (also based on how often I actually listen to them) 1. Forbidden 2. Technical Ecstasy 3. "13" * Wildcard* : "The Devil You Know" I've been listening to this more than any of the other Dio/Sabbath albums over the past few years. It's heavy as hell and very deep, dark & doomy. It's an album that I think is very underrated, overlooked and somewhat forgotten about but, it's a truly incredible album.
Favorite: Sabotage, second: Mob Rules. Least favorite: Fobidden (have not heard "13"), second least favorite: Never Say Die. Wild Card: Technical Ecstasy. I got into Sabbath in college, probably around '94, so pretty late to the game. I like the early albums '70-'72 but couldn't pick one of those as my favorite as they all sound too early 70s for my personal taste. They really picked it up production wise with SBS in '73. Favorite Martin-era record would definitely be Eternal Idol, although this is really a Ray Gillen vocal record - everything was basically done then scrapped when Martin came aboard.
Vol. 4 for me is my favorite. "Changes", I tend to skip, but I like how there's not really anything played to death by radio on it. "Cornucopia" is maybe my favorite off it.
My two favorite bands have long been Deep Purple and Black Sabbath...and that is why Born Again is my favorite. I've also heard a few bootlegs from the tour, and it sounds like Gillan used a few lifetimes' quotas of screams. Amazing! Also like Master of Reality for that deep, dark, heavy sound. When bands like Soundgarden came along in the 1990s, I judged the albums based on how much they were inspired by Master of Reality. Least favorite is Forbidden for all of the reasons given in the video. Never Say Die as well. I have to listen to the album all at once because I can't stand it in small doses. Wildcard is probably Tyr. I consider everything from Seventh Star to Tyr (plus Forbidden) as Sabbath in name only, but Tyr had one of Iommi's best lineups and is full of songs that I can listen to again and again. Add to that Cross Purposes, which straddles the Sabbath/not-Sabbath eras with Geezer on the record.
Love the first 6 Sabbath albums… but today it’s… 1 - Sabotage 2 - Paranoid Least favorites are hard to pick as I don’t have most of the post-Ozzy era… The few I have bought were very disappointing so lost interest in collecting the rest. Wildcard - Born Again (not great but kind of fun as a one-off with Ian Gillian.)
Bobby R did play drums on Forbidden Euro tour. Went to one of the dates in UK and venue was too small and to top it all I was pinned up against a crash barrier type thing and smelt a strange aroma. Below me were a couple of guys chasing the dragon on tin foil!!
Fantastic video. My no.1 is Master Of Reality and no.2 is Sabotage. Wild card is of course Born Again💜 The two albums I don’t like is 13 and Never Say Die! - all the best from England 🏴
Thank you guys for your picks. All the damn time. My favorite Black Sabbath Picks. 1. Black Sabbath 4 2. Master of Reality 3. Sabotage 4. Paranoid My least favorite Picks: 1. Born Again 2. 13 3. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath My Wild Card Picks: 1. Dehumanizer 2. Heaven & Hell 🎤🎸🎵🎹🥁 Life is better with music.
Indeed a tough decision when I love so many. Okay, begrudgingly, 2 FAVES: 1. SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH (1973) 2. MOB RULES (1981) And man, I've just got to make #2 "a tie" with VOL. 4 (1972) I just have to, no way out. I'm going to forget "least faves." Somewhat obvious with the 90s records. CP is decent though. In general, I always seem to find something valid in Black Sabbath albums, even the weaker, later ones. WILD CARD: Well, I can't say BORN AGAIN, for just what Pete said (I LOVE it too much... it's a top tier Sabbath LP for me. Saw 'em at The Spectrum on that tour. 1st level, Side of the stage. Gillan was wearing these cool white shoes. A screaming head of nothing but hair! Awesome. So for "wild card," I guess I'll say "LIVE AT LAST" (1980, rec. '73) I've never understood why this LP takes so much heat. We inexplicably didn't get a Sabbath live record in the 70s, and hey, somebody fixed that for us in 1980 (great year in ROCK) Okay, so it's not "official" and you get Tony's dinosaur feedback "just before" the tracks start. I, myself, LOVE that!! It's a monstrosity of evil, sudden, shrieking feedback that actually enhances the heaviness and insanely evil qualities of the song ("Cornucopia" is a great example) And since I love VOL. 4 and SBS so dearly, I appreciate that this was recorded at the time when those albums were current (obviously more with SBS, but I love the V4 choices as well) Finally, I remember having "Live At Last" on cassette in 1980, and I just couldn't get enough of it. **I vote for the live version of CORNUCOPIA as the most heavy, evil sounding track this side of Zero The Hero. *And I know we have "Past Lives" now and I'm grateful for that. The Asbury Park, NJ 1975 stuff is great! That said, I still reach for "Live At Last" when I want to recall it's regular/proper form, and having it in 1980. *Couple side notes: 1. All this banging on "NEVER SAY DIE" Definitely (obviously) not their best, but for me, all three of the first tracks are excellent ("title track," "Junior's Eyes" and definitely "JOHNNY BLADE" as well -- what fan of heavy music doesn't dig that killer mid-section riff where Ozzy sings, "Well you KNOW that Johnny's a Spidaahhh.." C'mon! It's like that song never gets mentioned either way (love or hate) and, I don't know, to me, it's a great, later Ozzy era Sabbath track. Sue me. Now I've never liked "A Hard Road" (for exactly what's mentioned here --- too happy/sing-songy....makes me feel queasy, like I just ate way too much Halloween candy) and 'Swinging The Chain, etc. yeah, I get it. That said, "SHOCK WAVE" is good number as well. Especially in it's verse sections. And I really have no issue with "Air Dance" either. Let the boys experiment 'a little,' will ya? Also, bands "liking or not liking" their albums usually depends on a lot more than what we as fans, love it, like it or hate it for. (eg, money, personal relationships, tensions within, popular opinion, etc.). Sure, it's understandable if they don't like it, and it's certainly not a "great album," but I still think she takes a bit too much grief. 2. "Seventh Star" is okay. But I definitely agree about that putrid "No Stranger To Love" Man, I'm so with Ryan on this. I LOATHE all those pandering, sappy bullshit "heavy ballads" of the mid to late 80s. So lose that song (and ha! that douchey jackass video too) and the record is a very decent one. *I personally think Tony probably loved that awful SS album cover. Reason? E-G-O. He wasn't thinking of T-shirts, he was thinking of Tony! "My record, this is all about ME...now I'm finally at the fore like I always should have been...Iiiiii LIKE IT!" Well, I love Tony very much, but thinking about this right now recalls him "wanting/needing/demanding" --center stage-- on the NSD tour. Okay, T, we get it. But it don't look right...and it's just silly (and "self-centered?? ; ) to have your lead singer off to the right. The "Dark Overlords of ROCK" do not approve. One last thing: PARANOID, the "album cover" I've always liked it. And what's so wrong with "vague" or a bit of abstract. What, did we need every album cover to be like dorky Manowar jackets? Sure, I questioned it when I first got the Paranoid album (at 12, in 1978) but soon after I just thought, "Yeah, okay, this "crazy, leotarded, renaissance era nutcase in the woods" is obviously......"paranoid" Works that way. This was the drug culture 70s too, right? Jokes aside, I think the cover actually works as unique, and I don't need for it to be called "War Pigs". Maybe 'then' I'd think it was cheesy and too obvious. Plus, I love the *Purple / Pink* color scheme of the creepy, cool ass 70s font as well. So go pick up your PARANOID Super Deluxe Box and tell me it doesn't look great! ⚡
black sabbath , and for me it' s only the first 6 ( the holy 6) albums but any rock music fan has to did them!. i can still remember having long in depth conversations in our tour van not so much about sabbath music as it was a given that we all loved them , but their album covers! i also remember getting the first black sabbath album back when it came out and how amazingly scary the music was and how transfixed i was on hearing it.
Slightly surprised Steven and/or Simon didn't feel like doing Sabbath given Maiden and Priest but this classic HVS line-up can do no wrong either so no complaints.
Really cool show and always a fun thing to discuss My favourites-Paranoid and Sabotage Least favourites-tyr and forbidden Wildcard-dehumanizer (my favourite Dio Sabbath album. Arguably their heaviest album and an underrated Sabbath album)
Sabotage is my No.1 too. Sabotage has Ozzy's best vocals in his 50 year career imo. The drumming and bass are pounding in the mix as always with some of Tony's most off the wall, meanest riffs he's ever written. It was their pinnacle of their progressive side while still containing the heaviness and magic of the first 5. The production is also stellar. It's crystal clear and loud as ever. There's been very few bands that have released 6 albums at that level in their entire career, let alone 6 in 5 years. That's unheard of. AC/DC had a streak of 4 really great ones but the other few aren't on Sabbath's level to me. Vol_4 is my second favorite. It's the bridge between the slower doom of their first 3 and the progressive side of SBS and Sabotage. Wheels of Confusion, Snowblind, Supernaut, Tomarrows Dream, Under The Sun. For the longest time I wasn't overly thrilled with the sound of the album but over the years I think it's added a special eeriness to it. Master Of Reality would be my third. It speaks for itself. I may have had the Paranoid effect where hearing those songs on the radio may have took a tad of the magic away (Ill never get sick of WarPigs) but then I think what if we never had the Paranoid album? I've imagined digging that up and finding a lost Sabbath record from 1970 and putting on Paranoid and hearing all those songs for the first time. It would blow me away so who am I kidding? And I gotta agree with Ryan. Geezer and Bill both play way out of the box yet somehow gel together perfectly. For his playing and lyric writing, Geezer was such an important part of the band and has always got his due but so is Bill Ward. The drumming in those 70's Sabbath records is so unique and fitting for their sound. Bill was that 4th piece in Sabbath that took the songs to a higher place. The drumming in the song Black Sabbath makes you feel like you're at some black mass. The entire Master of Reality is drenched with awesome drum fills and playing slightly behind with Jazz elements. Symptom Of The Universe is another where Ward just destroys his kit. The more time that passes and the more I've listened to Sabbath the more I come to appreciate the genius of Bill Ward. Bill and Dave Lombardo have gotta be my two favorite drummers of all time. PS. Shockwave has awesome riffs.
Favorite - Vol 4, love that grinding guitar tone Iommi got on that one Worst - Seventh Star, words cannot do justice to how much I hate Glenn Hughes vocals. Wildcard - TYR, basically Sabbath's cheesy power metal album but I love it
Ryan rockin' the Cauchemar shirt... nice! Love that band. They are totally influenced by Sabbath, but put their own stamp on it. Plus they have the guts to sing in their own French language.
One of my absolute favorite newer doom bands. I’ve seen em numerous times and I’ll add they’re the only band I’ve seen who has covered both Rush (the first part of the song 2112) and Misfits (London Dungeon) and nailed both. That takes some range.
Favourite: Sabotage/Vol 4 Least: 13/Tyr Dark Horse: Eternal Idol Sabbath played their Forbidden tour here in Singapore ard October 1995. On drums was Bobby Rondinelli and Neil Murray played bass. Geof Nicholls was the keyboardist.
Is it possible that many people like Never Say Die so much these days because everyone (e.g. music magazines back in the 80s) was always telling us how bad this album is and we didn't actually bother listening to that album? Now with RU-vid and Spotify everyone can easily access it, and now we realize that it's actually not as bad as everyone was telling us all the time. And since our expectations were so low we might enjoy it even more. Plus, we hadn't been listening to it over and over all the years like we did with their classic albums, so it's not overplayed either, which is an advantage. And finally, it's just a pretty good album. And I totally get people who have this as their fave Sabbath album.
I’m pretty sure the merchandizing for Never Say Die is related to the first Avengers movie. Tony Stark wore a Black Sabbath tour shirt with the Never Say Die cover, and he looked really cool wearing it.
Pete, would you consider doing a Hudson Valley Squares Quiz episode, where you ask each panelist a couple of rock related questions to test their knowledge? It could be the opening line to a certain song, a band's lineup on a specific tour etc. That would be so entertaining to watch, you are all very knowledgeable although I have a feeling Butch would probably win it. The man is a walking rock'n'roll encyclopedia.
@after forever Yes he and Kerslake were treated very poorly by Sharon & Co. The lowest blow was the scrubbing of the original recordings of Daisley's bass and Kerslake's drumming on the first 2 Ozzy albums and the insertion of Trujillo bass and Bordin drum parts over them. Who does that? As Daisley said...."pathetic".
Obviously a Tony Martin fan! Good job. Headless is my favorite from that era. Still waiting for a deluxe version of that with 'Cloak and Dagger' and a proper live show from that tour. Tony's solo and him in other bands are a great listen. Talisman and all of The Cage series are great stuff.
@@ScottyKirk1 Agreed, Tony and Dario Mollo on The Cage set of albums are fantastic. Glenn Hughes and Mollo did some great stuff on the Voodoo Hill projects too.
@@garyh.238 And don't forget Phenomena - Psycho Fantasy. A great one with Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin on some tracks too. "God forgives! But who forgives God?" 🤨 I'm all digitized with my tunes, and I group them by singers when they have multiple bands, and that one is hard to group! 😉 👌I think I went with Glenn. He does an old Trapeze tune on there too.
@@ScottyKirk1 Yes I have that same Phenomena album too - some very good tracks on that one. I have a couple of other good Tony Martin albums too....his solo album Scream; and a collaboration with guitarist Guintini called Project IV. Tony is in excellent voice on both.
Top 2: Master Of Reality Sabbath Bloody Sabbath As much as I love the Dio albums - to me the Ozzy albums 2 to 6 are untouchable. Bottom 2: Forbidden (although it's not as bad as most people say it is) Never Say Die (titletrack is great, Johnny Blade and Junior's Eyes are good, the rest is awful) Wild card: Tyr - my favorite from the Tony Martin era and totally underrated, love everything on it.
We had an 8-Track Player on our High School bus and the driver played three of them: Tres Hombres - ZZ Top, Made in Japan - Deep Purple and Paranoid by Black Sabbath.
I say sabbath on their first us tour at the whiskey a go go here in LA I had a table up front ' I already had the import lp on the vertigo label ' my older brother was fresh home from Vietnam and I took him ' he said sabbath scared the shit out of him ha ha I'm 70 now and still remember the thrill of that lp and that show ! Just raw loud fucking power !
Yep, I was there. I met Tony Iommi in the strip club next door to the Sting, after the show. If you showed your concert ticket stub, you got into the strip club for $1 dollar.
@@chrisalo2989 - Yup! Molly Malone’s I think it was called. My buddy and I got drunk and played pool with Lemmy before the show there. He said, “Fuck, mates, ya got me pissed for me gig.” As if it was our doing! We waited outside, hoping to meet Tony and Geez, to no avail. After all these years, I find out they were inside with you! The Sting was a cool venue, but they got shut down for delinquent lease payments, I believe. I saw and met so many acts there - Scorps, Dream Theater, Dio, Kansas, Al DiMeola. Connecticut doesn’t have any good clubs of that size anymore. Tuxedo Junction in Danbury was another one where I used to see Savatage and hang out with them at sound check in the 90s. Those were great times, to say the least! 🤘🏼
@@crusheverything4449 Yes, the Sting was fun. As was Tuxedo Junction! I saw MANY great shows there too. Dio, Wasp, Motorhead, Exodus, Quiet Riot, Ratt, S.O.D., Mercyful Fate, etc.
I'd go further than what Ryan says about Sabbath uniting Metal fans of all genres: I think Sabbath unite ROCK fans of all genres. Really they are the heaviest of the heavy rock bands and they still have the blues in their music like Purple and Zeppelin do. I love them alongside the greatest of the Seventies rock bands (still the best era for me) but there is something unique about what they do to me when I listen to them that no other band can touch.
Boys come on, the main riff to the song Forbidden is so awesome. As soon as I heard that riff -verse - chorus I had to keep listening to it. Hidden gem 💎.
Great episode 1) Master Of Reality 2) Heaven And Hell Least Favorites 2) Seventh Star 1)Forbidden Honorable mention Never Say Die. I don’t hate any Sabbath albums but there are a few songs I don’t need to hear again.
My top 2: Master of Reality and the debut album My bottom 2: Forbidden and Cross Purposes My Wild Card: The Devil You Know, mostly because it's so awesome but it's often forgetten because of it being billed as Heaven and Hell
Hire me as an alt please Pete you won't regret it. LOL The Sabbath catalog was always a-little uneven but brilliant till Dio appeared for me. I have to rank my albums on what I reach for the most today rather than what I think they influenced inspired..etc....These are the rankings that stick still today for me. 1. Born Again 2. Heaven and Hell 3. Mob Rules. 4. Vol. 4 5. Sabatoge. 6. Black Sabbath. 76. Master of Reality. 8. Paranoid. and all others. I will never say WORSE album because there will never be such a thing with Sabbath involved.
My favorite band ever Favorite is masters of reality and sabbath bloody sabbath Least is technically ecstasy which I still like and forbidden Wild card is 7th star. Really good can't put it in top favorite cause of all the others but I love it
Great show as always!!! I agree, a weekly Sabbath show would be awesome! :D My top 2: Vol 4 and Master of Reality (Mob Rules really close.. at least today) Bottom 2: Cross Purposes and Forbidden Wild card: not sure if it applies to this category, but Born Again is amazing and I wish they had at least another album with Gillan. :) Note: once it is all safe and I have the opportunity to travel again I HAVE to visit Rock Fantasy.
I'm betting that the surprising amount of Never Say Die merchandise has something to with Robert Downey Jr. wearing the shirt in the first Avengers movie. All of a sudden that shirt was everywhere.
