Disco de Black Sabbath: “Mob Rules”

I am sure glad to see I'm not the only one to prefer this over "Heaven and Hell," the first Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio. That was a good album, but this is better--in fact, this is really, really good.

I've always found the drum and bass on Sabbath albums a bit sluggish, and while it always seemed to match the dark brooding songs, Vinnie Appice is a bit more energetic and I like that. The real star, though, is Tony Iommi, who is at his best on this album, whether on the slower tunes like "Sign of the Southern Cross" or the faster ones like "The Mob Rules"--wait, that is the only up-tempo song on the album, if you don't count "Slipping Away," which is a throwaway standard rocker.

Someone on this page mentioned Dio's 'Dungeons and Dragons' thematics, and they were right. But I can live with it, it doesn't bother me too much, and fortunately Dio has the register and the volume to pull it off. Tenacious D may have claimed to have taken the torch from RJD, but they can't touch the vocals on this album.

I honestly can't tell if my CD is remastered (so it probably isn't), but I can tell you that it sounds great--sure you can do rock and roll using all the perks of studio equipment. Twenty-two years old now, "Mob Rules" stands as a classic, not as a replacement for the old Sabbath, but on its own. Bravo Martin Birch, bravo Sabbath--long live rock and roll.

I highly recommend this product mainly because it contains the incredible Hammersmith Odeon Concert, which was out of print.

The original Hammersmith Odeon show (which is the bonus disc here) came out in a limited edition run of 5000 copies and it sold out in TWO HOURS. It's gotten rave reviews all over the web, and has sold for lots of money since then. Happily this is another version, sonically the same, and a good remaster of the original album. But the live disc is strong, far more powerful than Live Evil (which is great, too). Dio sings the Ozzy songs SO much better here than on Live Evil, and Country Girl is WAY better than the studio version. If only they'd done "Southern Cross" at Hammersmith...

... the mob rules! This is way better than Heaven and Hell, and is the second to last great Sabbath album (preceding Born Again). The title track rocks harder than anything they'd done in years. This is Ronnie James Dio's second of three albums with the Sab, the third one being about a decade later with "Dehumanizer", which is an okay record. Dio tones down his Dungeons and Dragons themes slightly - but he still talks about "I should be at the table round, a servant of the crown...", which is sort of silly but that was his thing. Vinnie Appice (Carmine's brother) is a solid drummer and was, at that time, in much better shape than Bill Ward. According to Kurt Cobain, Bill was in a mental institution around this time but he may have been lying. Anyway. Geezer's still in top form, check out the bass solo of "Slipping Away" and his lightning-fast hammer-ons in "Falling off the Edge of the World". Tony Iommi's solos on this record may very well be his best. From the wah-wah excursions of "Turn Up the Night" to the soulful bends near the end of the title track to the frantic fretwork at the end of "Over and Over", Iommi's leads are amazing. The riffs are a bit darker than Heaven and Hell, which was more of a melodic album. "Country Girl" is one of the heavier tracks and has a bridge that reminds the fans of Dio's love for "Sailing" (which he mentions at least 3 or 4 times between this album and Heaven and Hell). If you like this album you may like Born Again: Deep Purple's Ian Gillan replaces Ronnie James, and Bill Ward comes back for some reason.

Out of all the post Ozzy line ups the Dio line up is still the best. Dio is the only singer of black sab after Ozzy to rival Ozzy. Heaven and Hell had been one of Sabbaths great albums, Mabey even there best. So they decided to make another album soon after, a darker, heavyer album. And The Mob Rules is Just That. Every song on this is a classic. Turn Up the Night is a fast paced opener, with nice sounding riffs. Vodoo is a great N.I.B like song. Sign of the sounthern Cross is the most epic sounding song on the album with great, but creepy lyrics and vocals by Dio. The song The Mob Rules is a classic in your face style rocker. And of course Countey Girl is a hard rock balid, and a gem. The rest of the album holds up realy good also. Lengend has it that the cover art has a secret message that says the words "Kill Ozzy" on it. I think that Dio did his best work with Sabbath and this line up should have stayed together much longer. After this they would do an album called Live Evil, Sabs first official live album. Then Dio would split along with Vinney Appice to make there own band, called "Dio". If you are a fan of Black Sabath then both Heaven and Hell and The Mob Rules belong in your collection. End of Story.