Bands that have been around for decades invariably end up having countless "Greatest Hits" compilations, typically put out without the band's knowledge and even different labels. Such releases are "unofficial", and Black Sabbath has no shortage of them. This particular "Greatest Hits" compilation is just one of many odd and unofficial Black Sabbath releases from Holland. Clocking in at under an hour, the track list is as follows:
1. Paranoid
The songs here span their first 5 albums: "N.I.B" and the title track from the self-titled debut, the 3 popular songs ("War Pigs", "Paranoid", "Iron Man") from the second album, "Sweet Leaf" from the third album, "Tomorrow's Dream" and the two ballads ("Changes", "Laguna Sunrise") from their fourth album, and finally the title track from their 5th album "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". All of these appeared on the longer "We Sold Our Souls For Rock N' Roll" compilation, which was in fact the ONLY officially released Black Sabbath compilation for over 20 years.
One thing that is indeed curious about this "Greatest Hits" compilation is the front cover. It's a portion of a painting called "El triunfo de la muerte" or "The triumph of Death". It was painted by Jan "Velvet" Brueghel (1568-1625), sometimes credited as El Viejo Brueghel. A comparison of the album cover with the painting will also show that the cover was printed backwards!
The songs on "Greatest Hits" are excellent picks, and the price of this disc is usually really cheap. The cover alone makes it one of the more memorable Black Sabbath oddities. But if you only plan on making one purchase of Black Sabbath's "old" music, I'd recommend the official and newly remastered "Symptom of the Universe" double CD set.
This collection has many of the best Sabbath songs. A glaring problem is that 'Children of the Grave' is missing. It is one of Sabbath's absolute best songs ever. Without that song, the collection isn't really greatest hits
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