Black Sabbath Album: “Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbat”

It is only natural with the newfound interest in Ozzy Osbourne due to his popular reality based television show that Rhino decided to release this newly remastered 2 cd Black Sabbath anthology of Ozzy's work (1970-78) in time for Halloween. "Symptom Of The Universe" betters the long time domestic retrospective "We Sold Our Soul For Rock And Roll" by 15 additional tracks. All 14 tracks on that release appear on "Symptom Of The Universe" in remastered form. The only rarity is the song "Evil Woman" a non-lp single issued during the time period of their first album but it has been available on various import anthologies for years.

Black Sabbath was one of the original bands who started the genre of heavy metal. Their music was slow and grungy with sledgehammer riffs. Ozzy became somewhat of a folk hero due to his legendary unpredictable on and offstage antics. His charisma provided a focal point for the band even if guitarist Tony Iommi was the real leader and bassist Geezer Butler provided the majority of the lyrics. Radio favorites like "Paranoid", "Iron Man" and "Children Of The Grave" remain in Ozzy's solo set lists to this day. The best part of the set is rediscovering the lost favorites of old like "The Wizard", "Fairies Wear Boots", "Sweet Leaf", "Supernaut", "Sabbra Cadabra" and "Hole In The Sky". The band were never flashy in the current sense but their bludgeoning style won them many fans. While never critical darlings, they have proven to be highly influential. They were one the first bands to capitalize on a demonic/occult image. This image influenced many later bands such as Venom, Slayer, Mercyful Fate and a host of other foreign Black Metal bands. This is evident in songs like "Black Sabbath", "N.I.B.", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" to name a few.

While the song selections are good for the most part, a number of worthwhile songs like "Behind The Wall of Sleep", "Electric Funeral", "Hand Of Doom", "Cornucopia" and "Killing Yourself To Live" among others were omitted in favor of weaker songs near the end of the second disk. Each disk however, contains over 75 minutes of playing time so the set is a relatively good value. Hopefully Rhino will remaster their individual disks and augment them with unissued material. Until then enjoy this welcome set of a classic pioneering metal band!

Early Black Sabbath defined hard rock. For me, this is the single most comprehensive release of the band that started the movement of noise pollution we children of the 1970's called 'heavy metal' (at a decent price). In the days with Ozzy Osbourne, Iommi, Ward and Butler pushed the envelope of creativity and experimentation - conjuring up images of wizards, the macabre, and all that is black ('doom & gloom'). The remastered digitial sound is crisp and well done.

WHAT YOU GET: 29 songs on two discs - approximately 152 minutes. A 48-page booklet with tons of pictures and history of the band... complete with songs, minutes, and what songs came from which albums. Disc 1 contains 13 songs from the years 1970-1971. Disc 2 contains 16 songs from the years 1972-78. Sabbath released 8 albums in this time frame and they are all represented here on "Symptom Of The Universe".

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Black Sabbath (1970: 4 songs), Paranoid (1970: 4 songs + 1 British release only track), Master Of Reality (1971: 5 songs), Vol. 4 (1972: 5 songs), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973: 3 songs), Sabotage (1975: 3 songs, including title track for this 2-cd set), Technical Ecstasy (1976: 2 songs), Never Say Die (1978: 2 songs).

WHAT YOU DON'T GET: Black Sabbath was alive and well after Ozzy's departure. Other singers filling the void included Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin. Most were good, especially the Dio and Martin albums with Sabbath, but none were as good or ground-breaking as the original 4 featuring Ozzy. None of these post-Ozzy singers appear on this release - hence the name "Symptom Of The Universe: The Original Black Sabbath" (hmmm, maybe another 2-cd set from Rhino - featuring all the other lead singers besides Ozzy). A few songs are missing that would have been nice ("Hand Of Doom", "Wicked World", "Killing Yourself To Live", "Electric Funeral"). Overall though, I think the song choices Rhino made here are excellent. It is a worthy successor for my old "We Sold Our Souls..." compilation that featured only 14 total tracks (through 1975) and the original analog (sound) recordings. A definite upgrade and so many great songs all in one package - thank you Rhino in 2002 (5 stars).

While there are collections of Black Sabbath's albums, such as The Ozzy Osbourne Years or The Complete 1970s Replica CD Collection, Symptom of the Universe is the best compilation because, not only does it have great packaging, but for people who would like a "less expensive" but ultimate collection of Black Sabbath's material, this one would definitely not disappoint. I was also happy to see that all of the songs have finally been remastered in America. The booklet has some great pictures and history of the band. This is a great set, I would highly recommend it to metal fans or anyone, for that matter.

Well, you can read about the virtues of Black Sabbath elsewhere, so I won't tire you with a long rundown of every track on this excellent double-disc.

This is just to say that "Symptom Of The Universe" is one best-of compilation that really gets it right. It collects 29 songs from Black Sabbath's classic Ozzy Ozbourne-period on two discs, and everything most fans will ever need is here (with the exception of "Killing Yourself To Live", which I would have chosen to represent "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" over the instrumental "Fluff").

This CD has every Black Sabbath song you will ever need and plus a nice 48 page booklet containing rare pictures and a little biography. I bought this CD over 5 years ago and now the package is very worned out and the CDs are starting too wear out but still work pretty good. These are the greatest hits from 1970-1978 the Ozzy era but Black Sabbath in the 80s with DIO wasnt too good. This is the real Black Sabbath. If you want too start on Black Sabbath this CD is for you.

For the price of $28.99 you get two CD's a 48 page booklet and all in all about 30 some songs. A pretty good deal if you ask me. Some key tracks on this album are, Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Iron Man, Warning, Sweet Leaf, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Tommorows Dream, the list goes on and on. Try it out for yourself and purchase this CD too say.

Trust me you won't regret it.