LEGALLY, TOO!
Short and sweet. The iTunes store is streaming the entire “13” album for free. Go there, and look at the “Black Sabbath” page, and you can listen to a free streaming version of the entire Deluxe Edition of the “13” album now.
THE STREAM APPEARS ON THE ARTIST PAGE FOR BLACK SABBATH
NOT the pages for the 13 album itself.
UPDATE: It doesn’t work on a mobile/cell phone apparently – you have to be using the iTunes client software on your computer. Or on an iPad.
UPDATE 2: I’m getting word this is working elsewhere in the world besides the US. Go try!
UPDATE 3: The official site/Facebook/Twitter is now pushing this too. However, the link they give (http://www.itunes.com/blacksabbath) will not directly take you to the streaming version. Click this, then click “view in iTunes” if you’re not automatically sent there, and you’ll see it.
UPDATE 4: It’s apparently the 8 song standard version, not the 11 song Deluxe, or the 12 song Best Buy version.
UPDATE 5: I’ve seen some reports where if you have an older version of iTunes, this won’t work right. Update your software. You should be doing that all the time anyway.
A few music comments:
- Zeitgeist sounds like Planet Caravan Part II – but in a good way
- HARMONICA!
- The promised “feel” of the early days is here, most definitely.
- FUCKIN’ A!!
Why are you still reading this post?
not working for me :(
In Russia there is no streaming except for “God is Dead?” unfortunately :(
Make sure and read ALL of my suggestions.
Yeah, in Russia only GID available…
Oops, I thought I will ba able to choose tracks, that’s why i couldn’t find the streaming. Now it’s ok as I pressed “listen now”.
Thanks so much for all the updates, Joe.
its streaming in England sounds great to me
I’m sitting here with my earphones on grinning from ear to ear.
Joe, I am still reading this post because my headphones are bouncing off my ears right now listening to it and my first thought was to come here and see what people are saying. Only half way through my first playing and I have a big smile on my face.
…may just have wiped a wee tear of joy away when the fast bit of Damaged Soul kicked in.
Tony’s solo at the end with the harmonica is as bluesy as they have ever been. It feels like they have come full circle.
I almost had a heart attack.
Lets see if I can get itunes to work at my work pc!!!
Thank you so much for being on top of all these updates, you are awesome Joe
Took a while to download and install itunes but the album is great
I like the whole album. Zeitgeist really shows that Iommi is real jazz guitarist. I love the vibe of this record, plus all of the changes of tempo and time signatures in each song. That’s the old Sabbath in a nutshell.
kinda wish is was the full 11 songs…but damn this is amazing. I gotta give mad props to Brad. He had big shoes to fill and freaking nailed the drums on the head. Still mish it would have been Bill for a true “reunion,” but he did a great job here.
also Joe…thanks for the heads up. I love your site.
Everything’s fine with the streaming here in Mexico, right now listening to The age of reasons… f*ck me! I had a big smile just when Loner started, it’s got the 70’s vibe all the way! I know the album is not finished but I gotta say SABBATH IS BACK! \m/
Wow. Awesome. Thanks very much Joe.
Damaged Soul is very cool at the end, as Paul said above. Pretty glorious in all sorts of ways.
Early reaction – better than I could have hoped for. It is stunningly obvious that Rick Rubin was the most qualified person to produce this record – he knows what made the original Sabbath so special, and those qualities have landed on this record, but with fine aging. I’ve been waiting on this for near twenty years, and so far I am more than pleased.
One more thing – “Planet Caravan part II” is exactly what I made of “Zeitgeist”…..and my opinion is that it is great.
“All” except for the Best Buy exclusive track.
loved the whole album. well worth the 35 years that i’ve waited.. cheers!!
Great to hear the full album, it sounds good & after the Oz gigs here that were awesome, it is an extra bonus indeed! I sure hope the drums are higher in the mix on the cd that I buy! Where is the snare drum, Cozy Powell had the ultimate snare sound, that is what it should be similar to, right up there in the mix with the guitar & bass, not low & sounding sort of like a drum machine! Here’s hoping!
Listening to the whole album for the third time now.
I feel so happy and fortunate right now, waiting for the release was doing my head in!
My favourite track has to be Damaged Soul, a heavy dark blues number with lyrics that hit close to home.
Age of Reason is a good song, but it hasn’t quite sinked in yet. I know early reviews praised this track the most but I think this one needs to grow on me some more. I’ve listened to it three times and as soon as the song ends I can’t recall it and it feels like a blurr, not sure why it’s happening with this one in particular!
I love Loner, it’s has the right hooks and it’s super catchy. Zeitgeist is indeed Planet Caravan 2! both musically and lyrically, it’s a true follow up. I love that Ozzy sang this with his normal voice and not through some device to alter his voice. Dear Father is a great way to wrap things up.
OMG I’M LISTENING TO THE NEW ALBUM
I forgot to mention in my previous message regarding the snare drum, how well Brad Wilk is drumming on this new album, a wonderful feel he has! Great drumming & it suits the new album!
Before I try i just want to say, i had a friend send me a message last night saying he heard the entire album,, the one part of the message he stressed to me was ” you got to hear this album!!!”
It does work for me,, in Canada. It does say the Deluxe version ,, listening to it now :) ,,, WOW!!!
Man Ozzy sounds better than he did in years ,,, Loner is a fucking amazing song! that is as far as i got.
Did they just end the album with the same thunder that began the first album? Those crazy Bastards haha!
Damaged Soul is one of the greatest Sabbath tracks of all time and God bless Rick Rubin for pulling a blues song out of the boys, I knew they had it in them. I’m not gonna lie, I shed a couple tears on that one and Ozzy, or whoever wrote the lyrics, WELL DONE!! Tony’s solos on that song are just heartbreakingly fantastic.
Some criticisms: It seems like they purposely said “hey let’s do a Planet Caravan” and “hey let’s do a song like something off “Never Say Die” but I also hear Dio era music on here too because I mean it’s Sabbath after all.
I lost some of my excitement when I heard “God is Dead?” and I still think it’s one of the weaker tracks but I am excited about the album again after hearing and looking forward to the vinyl arriving in the mail.
Great album!!! Damaged Soul stands out from the rest tracks, great solo! Thanx man.
Amazon lists “God is Dead?” at 17:12 in duration. Could this be an album-only version (the mp3 version on iTunes is 8:52)? …or perhaps a mistake? If indeed 8:52, over 53 minutes is still a bit long for vinyl, as the grooves are usually cut too thin so the quality suffers.
i thought the same thing about Zeitgeist! it does sound like Planet Caravan!
and the whole album is a masterpiece in general :) cant wait to hear the bonus tracks
I’m still hearing Loner so I don’t know about Zeitgeist – Planet Caravan, but End of Beginning has the same form and mood of Black Sabbath, the first song of first album, this is a clearly statement (very sad that not with Bill)
About the album, they are giving it away? If one can listen, for sure one can legally record (even the analog output of machine sound-card) since this is an authorized stream. Or not?
im just about to listen to 13 for the 2nd time and so far the standout track for me is damaged soul a song I would call Sabbath blues
Did ya’ll feel that?!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!
I wish I was 16 again hanging out in the woods by the graveyard with some friends, party treats, a fire and this cranked to 11 on the boombox!!! I can’t believe once my vinyl arrives I can listen to this over and over -louder and louder and oh yeah, SABBATH IN AUSTIN – I’M THERE!!!
FUCKING FANTASTIC!!!
Could of done without all the “alright nows” and “come on nows”, doesn’t work so well when your 60 something years old
Amazing! What else can I say? The album is batter than I expected. I’ll be waiting for my deluxe edition to hear the other three tracks. Iommi shines on every song. I’m so happy, the guys have done another great album!
People seem to be going crazy over the new sabbath album. 2 years ago when it was rumored that a new album was coming out from the guys and people didnt seem that the guys still had it, i told people to trust Tony and Geezer.
More than pleasantly surprised…. I’m floored. It’s like my best childhood friend showed up after 20 years, and it turns out they’re still just as awesome as they were growing up.
It also works over here in Germany! Hell yeah! The greatest Heavy Metal band of all time is back!!!! Listened to the whole album twice now. Have not been so excited and full of expectations for a long, long time but what can I say? To be honest: I’m quite disappointed for the moment. The first four songs are alltime classics. Heavy riffs, memorable melody parts and inspired arrangements.
When “Age of reason” starts, the riff gives me goosebumps all over my body but at the same time, the drums destroy it all. Rick Rubin, you son of a b****! Sound is even worse than I expected. How can any person that has EVER produced an album put out such a piece of shit? It’s the most terrible drum sound since “The Devil you know”. Back in 2009, Vinny Appice just played boring. Nowadays, Brad Wilk does a great job but Rubin messed it up with his production. Snare sounds extremely weak and kills any atmosphere built by the massive riff in “Age of reason”. What a shame this is! All the other songs have the same problem as well. It could have been the most powerful, dark, heavy and monolithic album of all times. Unfortunately, it’s just another mediocre one and that’s not just because of the sound. Most of the songs are nothing special. Nevertheless, I extremely love “Damaged Soul” (because I like blues).
To sum it up I must say the first four songs are worth it, “Age of reason” could’ve been without that terrible drum sound. The rest is just fine but nothing extraordinary. Still hope for the bonus tracks of the Deluxe edition. Maybe I can find a gem there. I must say that the “real” Black Sabbath for me has always been the one with Dio, although I absolutely worship Ozzy’s solo stuff. In Sabbath, I just think he doesn’t quite fit in. Don’t know why.
Maybe the new album just needs some time to grow. I really hope so.
I hope it grows on me, but after a couple of listenings I’m left with a slight feeling of frustration. The overall sound of the record is sterile and Tony’s guitar tones don’t show any character, this is not the Old Boy guitar. I liked The Devil You Know after the first listening, which felt like Sabbath instantly.
I tottaly agree
Mr FU sez,
Tony is playing his ass off on this. Geezer is Geezer (my bass playing hero) and Ozzy sounds better than he has in years. Brad does a good job filling in for Bill (who we all wish was here, but we know it didn’t work out).
After 1st listen I have to echo some of the above notes on how f-ing cool it is. It does sound like a time warp = and to that let’s give Rubin some props.
Some of the songs do sound like copies (End of the Beginning is like Black Sabbath, the song, Zeitgest is Planet Caravan 2: The Space Saga Continued . . . ) but for crying out loud, WHO CARES???? Every artist rips off themselves as they get older. Be it the Stones, U2, Slayer, Madonna, Iron Maiden. And that’s okay, especially since they’re ripping off the younger version of themselves, who invented the sound.
Give the masters props for taking the cues from the past, and then expanding.
There’s a few instant classics here (I love ‘God is Dead’ for the lead bass playing, Age of Reason is bad ass, Damaged Soul, etc.
Can’t wait until next week for the Deluxe Version.
How Black is your heart Joe??? Thanks for sharing the links – Joe’s site is the best Black Sabbath companion on news and history. Period.
Mr. FU (no relation to Queensryche’s/Tate’s FU) out . . .
Here in Brazil it is working. Very good and strong album!
Brad Wilk is doing an excellent job!
When we created high expectations in life, usually we have great disappointments. Sometimes, however, our expectations are met. Black Sabbath did. Do not disappoint me, despite all my expectations. The album 13 has been revealed and is much better than a simple attempt to continue the work done in the 70s. It is a serious album and makes me to agree with Ozzy when he says that this was one of his best works. I do not see an Ozzy as devoted to vocal since No More Tears. He seemed settled with his schedule Ozzfest and flipping albums only reasonable. But now Ozzy and esforçou.End of the Beginning God Is Dead are the weakest in my view., Loner, Live Forever, Age of Reason, Zeitgeist, Damaged Soul and Dear Father are all very good. Is missing a big hit so we can say is umclássico. But we must consider that there is so much garbage being played nowadays that when met Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler the least we can do is thank the guys. I confess I was longing for Bill Ward despite the battery not have been bad. From zero to ten I give an eight for this album.
Fantastic. I don’t care if this thing only sells 50,000 copies, they have put together an album that, if it serves as their coda, will do nothing but enhance their legacy. Well done, lads. I only cried twice, so I’m pretty proud of myself.
I feel the same way. I listened to it laying on the floor of my soundproofed music room….suitably loud. It is a remarkable album. It is not the 70s, and people will say its too much like this…or not enough like that…. but that is impossible to avoid. The fact is they appear to have unleashed an album that is surprisingly good and worthy of their legacy. And that makes me very very happy. This album will draw throngs of kids into listening to the earlier albums.
I love that so much of it is left sounding pretty raw, especially by today’s over-produced standards.
Absolutley Brilliant the way the album ends with the beginning of Black Sabbath rain thunder and church bell Any old man Sabbath Fan like me will no doubt have a tear in his eye very moving Thank You Black Sabbath
Thanx for sharing this.
After the weak tracks of the first reunion, I was quite worried about this album.
No doubt Iommi could still make awesome riffs but could we get back the mighty feeling of the true Black Sabbath???…YES YES YES!!!! Zeitgeist and Damage Soul bring back the unique BS sound, bluesy jazz jams goes METAL !
Damaged Soul is friggin’ awesome. In general, my thoughts on the album reflect many mentioned above, except of course those by the anti-Ozzy Sabbath faction who will pick everything apart. As a huge fan of both the Dio and Ozzy eras, I must say that 13 blows the doors off of TDYK.
So I’m walking around the city yesterday w/ “13” on my headphones and yes, it’s cranked up and I’m getting pummeled by these KILLER RIFFS!!!
To me, this record feels like what could have come next after Sabotage albeit, after gazing into the crystal ball. This record is very consistent. The only song I’m not crazy about is Loner and even that song is not so bad (every Sab record has one or two flatliners) I wonder why they did’t do an instrumental track for this record. Anyway, the whole band sounds great! Sure, the drums could be louder in the mix and vocals could drop back a notch or two but that ain’t gonna stop this head from banging!!!
The one thing I did not expect echoes the sentiment of the other poster likening it to “a best friend showing up after 20 years – still as cool as ever” yeah, I think we all feel that way. I also think about all the friends no longer on this earth who would’ve really loved this moment. Here’s to them…
P.S. Sabbath don’t stop here!!! I think you guys have some more records to make!!!
they did it, they did the improbable. clutch creativity . listen folks ,listen with your spirit. it is there. 13
is the title , for 1 plus 3 is 4 and bill the solitary 1 stands next to the united 3 had they all been there this would be titled 4 remember doubters this is compressed digitized music streaming from itunes
it will sound even better on vinyl and quality cd players and even better live. sucks wilk isn’t on the tour
That last track……’Dear Father’……….is a beautiful and shattering statement to end a quite remarkable piece of work. Well done Sabbath…..
as a sabbath fan now for half my life i feel like im the only one who is really disgusted by what i hear as a blatant and deliberate attempt to copy songs. its like nothing ive ever heard in my life. to me this isnt an example of an artist “sounding like themselves”, or “oh this song has a ____ feel”.
i wasnt expecting any kind of creative masterpiece. by this point, with this band and my expectations, id have been happy for an album id listen to more than once. i first spotted it with the end of the beginning youtube videos. “…so they add a note to black sabbath and call it a new song??”. and its painfully obvious when you hear the breakdown riff come in. after that point most of the song is original and fresh, save for the killing yourself to live riff, which thankfully sounds less deliberate and more coincidental to me.
all the blatant ripping off has given god is dead a much fresher feel on the album to me. loner is seriously offensive. its not made any less noticeable by the fact that ozzy sings johnny blade over it. the second riff of the song is slightly more disguised; i reacted with disgust when i heard the third NIB riff and the same melody sung over it. undeniable that this is deliberate and thats not something i can give a band for. there are original sounding parts to loner though that are enjoyable. theres enough creative and fresh material (most of the back half) on this album that theres absolutely no reason for all the recycling and cloning songs. zeitgeist?? they should sue themselves for NOT calling it “planet caravan II”. THAT would have been acceptable (or planet caravan ‘revisited’). when i heard the bongos i physically reacted. i saw someone mention that they were glad ozzys voice was “normal” on this song. not my intention to openly disagree with other opinions, but this is not ozzys normal voice. on planet caravan ozzy sang through a leslie rotating speaker. not so much a device to “alter” his voice, its something a lot of bands experimented with and i think it was a worthwhile experiment. on zeitgeist ozzy is singing through a very poor imitation/emulation of a leslie and all that does is further convince me there was genuine effort to rip themselves off. honestly though, if i can pretend ive never heard planet caravan, i like this song. since the band is black sabbath, i can even enjoy the ripping themselves off, i just dont feel good about it.
the rest of the album beginning with age of reason exceeded my expectations. though on further listens, one of my favorite tracks, live no more, more than smells of cornucopia, its just better disguised. and damaged soul is fine, i just wonder who said “well we did a bunch of bluesy jamming on the first album, so we have to do that.” no you dont; not just for the sake of doing it. its okay jamming though and doesnt directly rip anything off. im mostly thankful when i hear the harmonica that this whole thing isnt some bastardization of the wizard.
COMPLETELY agree with those that hate the drum sound. and as someone who learned to play the drums by playing along with paranoid, respect for brad wilk has soared. nothing over the top fantastic, but hes well suited and i can definitely get into a fair amount of the drum work. would i have rather had bill ward, absolutely, but im honestly not sure bill would have topped or necessarily matched the performance. ozzy sounds okay, but thats not surprising given hes in a studio setting. voice is a bit weak even at his best on here. iommis solos are all blistering and there are some great riffs when hes not ripping himself off. being my favorite bassist, geezer plays well enough that i can listen to god is dead just for the bass.
dehvyde ,
You are entitled to your opinion, but I have grown up on Sabbath and heard every album along the way. If you wanted them to sound like a “modern semi-hard rock band”, then I can see why you are disappointed.
I thought 13 brings it! Dark hard rock and R&B. What great artist does not sound the same to a certain extent? Hendrix, Metalllica, Iron Maiden and many more. I don’t want these guys sounding like Lincoln Park !! They brought new themes, and some bad-assed music. The drume and solos are tight, great to hear!!
One the Planet Caravan song though, I do agree with wit you, Zeitgeis should have been a “b” side tune at best.
Regards
richard,
i appreciate the feedback, i just think you got me wrong on this. by no means did i want what you call a “moden semi-hard rock band”. discovering black sabbath when i did, as im sure it did for 99% of us here, forever changed how i listen to music, and has been my standard ever since. its not the ‘sound’ or the ‘style’ that i have a problem with. its what i perceive to be clear and contrived efforts at painstakingly recycling their songs. and that offends me as a fan. i dont think we are talking about “sounding the same to a certain extent”. you can take sabbath with ozzy and sabbath with dio and say they “sound the same to a certain extent”. i think this was deliberate. i think that cheats you and i. there are some fresh and creative efforts on this album that i think makes it even clearer that half the album is deliberately recycled.
have you ever watched a television show where instead of actually using a real song, they get another band to record a VERY slightly modified version that to the casual listener would sound like exactly the same song? for a good example just google comedian lewis black appearing on the daily show. they use an ever so slightly modified version of back and black by acdc to introduce him. now thats obviously a contrived effort you have there and there arent any bones about it; its to avoid royalty fees or because the artist didnt give permission. i am accusing black sabbath, arguably and in many cases my favorite band of all time, of going through this process with their own songs. i assume you are more than familiar with the songs NIB and black sabbath. if you examine them and their structure, and then listen to end of the beginning and loner, you will find a strikingly mimicked structure, and you will notice exactly the same riffs. albeit SLIGHTLY reworked. end of the beginning is black sabbath + 1 note, including the break down riff where ozzy sings the whole “is it the end my friend satans comin round the bend” part. the stops are the same, the riffs are the same. the rest of end the beginning is not the same. i dont think that refutes my claim. im obviously not the first person to compare NIB and loner. but i do more than compare them. there are three riffs that make up NIB. all three of them can be found, in succession, on loner, with the second riff not being quite as striking. again, there are parts of loner that are nowhere to be found in NIB and thats great, but again, i dont think it refutes my claim.
i also, actually enjoy zeitgeist, and probably for no good reason really. but we have the same problem. it IS the planet caravan riff. the bongos only heighten that, and then they had the audacity to use that weak leslie emulation.
my problem, to reiterate, is not black sabbath “sounding like black sabbath”. of the eight albums with ozzy, all of them are VASTLY different, yet all of them, unmistakably “sound like black sabbath”. and i can give you plenty of examples of bands as old as black sabbath that either still make albums, or have reunited to make an album. jethro tull for example. ian anderson has been churning out albums since 1968. as you might imagine, the majority of them pale in comparison to albums jethro tull put out through the 70s (mostly due to the great original line up being lost). but on not one album will you ever catch anything even approaching an attempt to recreating something like aqualung. tom petty has been putting out albums since 1979, some of them hit or miss; you dont hear him mimicking something like free fallin. why? it would offend his fans and it would offend himself as a musician. it would be akin to davinci merely changing the background of the mona lisa. not davinci having a relatively identifiable style from painting to painting. sabbath did not ever once attempt to recreate iron man for the same reason. they evolved as a band. they made new songs. thats all i asked of them as a fan. and given ozzys creative bankruptcy, and given the very little wed had to judge (ive listened to scary dreams ad nauseum and i count it) i didnt expect to even really like any of those songs. and heck, in some cases my expectations were actually exceeded, and that makes it all the more disappointing. honestly, this is a band i can enjoy even at their worst, and im playing this album far more than i expected to. im hopeful about the bonus tracks too, cause i liked what i heard of methademic.
anyway, again, i appreciate the differing opinion, i do, i just wanted to harp on what i feel was a missed point, and im also feeling a little preachy about this because im honestly dumb struck that no one on here seems to feel as strongly as i do about the band DELIBERATELY ripping themselves off. and im not the only one. my circle of friends and relatives who have also listened to sabbath all their lives heard it instantly and feel the same way i do. its possible it has something to do with having been in a band, and having played a load of sabbath in that band; NOT that that puts me in some kind of elite circle, i just listen with a keen interest on song structure and those sorts of things, and that may make some things about what i consider rip offs a little more glaring.
sorry to spoil the excitement guys but the album is NOT good. The riffs are totaly generic, most of the songs seem like cover versions of old ones, ozzy’s voice is over over produced and …is there actualy someone that plays drums here? I realy don’t see the point in releasing someting like this…sorry.
I think the album is damned good! Many many times better than what I was expecting. Yes, you can hear echoes of previous Sabbath songs, but I’m pretty sure that was intentional, as this is obviously a summation and valedictory statement for Sabbath.
The only thing I would have liked to see was more of the progressive elements that they started including from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath forward. A little too much ‘basic doom’ like the first three albums, and not enough “Spiral Architect” or “The Writ.” I’m probably in the minority in that view, though.
“The only thing I would have liked to see was more of the progressive elements that they started including from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath forward. A little too much ‘basic doom’ like the first three albums, and not enough “Spiral Architect” or “The Writ.” I’m probably in the minority in that view, though.”
if you are, im with ya! though i reacted very pleasantly to what i considered a fairly, and in due justice, progressive album.
So to those who just say no I wonder – Do you remember when you were 10, 13, 16?
Before we all came to know the insides and out of metal (or all forms of music for that matter) we didn’t pick it apart and create a thesis about it – WE ROCKED THE FUCK OUT – AIR GUITAR AND ALL!!!
I think it would do you justice to listen through the prism of a 13 year old.
What other 60+ DINOSAURS today might inspire a kid to slay on guitar or play a bass like its being fucked? Stones, Dylan, Cooper, Bowie, Eno -nope. Who’s left that has made a current record that truly kicks ass?!!! A record you will buy – not download the best tracks or burn for free.
Actually, who the fuck is still alive from that era anyway?
I’m 44 and what did I do after I listened to 13? I picked up that SG I don’t know how to play and thought – maybe I should give this another shot.
This is a gift from our grandpa and if you’re pissed because it’s not the “i-FLUFF” you begged for than fuck off – you’re ungrateful and probably too old and boring to deserve anything but solitude and tinnitus. If you go see Sabbath live – have a blast by the exit doors- I’m sure you’ll be the first one to bail before it’s over.
again, not my intention to come here and debate really, but its 3:47 am here, and well, that about says it :)
knnevil, i remember very vividly my first exposure to black sabbath. it was the paranoid album. on a vacation during my summer before seventh grade. and yes it most definitely made me want to rock out. i proceeded to learn to play the drums by drumming to black sabbath and my best friend and i formed a band.
where i disagree with you slightly is that while i did want to rock the fuck out, and did, the complexity of black sabbath music was like nothing id ever heard in my life. i was convinced for many years that not a band on earth even remotely compared. i did frankly, kinda want to write a thesis on it. black sabbath at the time, and still today, are largely my standard, with anything i listen to. i didnt just want to rock out. i wanted to cry (not literally ;) ) to solitude. the thirty seconds that is embryo shook my world and is still one of the coolest things ive ever heard.
but back to paranoid. for twelve hours straight i did nothing but play the two songs paranoid and iron man, until i could allow myself a second from them, and move to war pigs and electric funeral, and by that point my mind was radically blown. what the hell ARE those songs? what the hell is war pigs?? its 7 minutes of just….part, after part, after solo, after part…its WORTH writing a thesis about. i listened closely, and then closer, and then closer. ozzys uncanny voice, these lyrics about subject matter id never even entertained let alone heard. and i loved it, i ate it, i lived it. i couldnt fathom the long, badass intro to fairies wear boots. i hadnt heard jamming like rat salad. and then of course i moved to the black sabbath album, and master of reality. three utterly different worlds. i felt, as we all have, that someone had dug into my head and was producing sounds my ears were created to love, yet that i had never dreamt of. then of course i had to have every album, and the rest was history. i know the feeling(s) and i still recall it.
anyway, i guess my point is really that im certain black sabbath blew all of our minds around the age of thirteen and thank god none of us will ever recover. i just would suggest some experiences differed. even at 13, black sabbath introduced me to the concept of listening to music very critically. its not so much about writing a thesis, its holding the same band to the same standard they created for me.
also i dont mean to come on here and be an argumentative troll. it hardly angers me to see people raving about the album. again, its now 4 in the morning and ive little better to do than sleep :)