Black Sabbath Vol. 4

Black Sabbath Vol. 4
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Black Sabbath Vol. 4

Studio album by Black Sabbath
Released 25 September 1972
Recorded May 1972 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, Snowblind/Tomorrow's Dream backing tracks recorded Jan/Feb/March 1972 at Marquee Studios, over-rdubs, mixing, mastering, at Olympic/Trident Studios, UK, June 1972)
Genre Heavy metal
Length 42:38
Label Vertigo
Producer Patrick Meehan, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath chronology

Master of Reality
(1971) Black Sabbath Vol. 4
(1972) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
(1973)



Black Sabbath Vol. 4 is the fourth studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in September 1972.


Contents
1 Recording
2 Music and lyrics
3 Artwork
4 Release and reception
5 Track listing
6 Cover versions
6.1 "Changes"
6.2 "Cornucopia"
6.3 "Snowblind"
6.4 "Supernaut"
6.5 "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes"
6.6 "Wheels of Confusion"
6.7 "Tomorrow's Dream"
7 Personnel
8 Sales accomplishments
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
Recording

In June 1972, Black Sabbath reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their fourth album at the Record Plant Studios. The recording process was plagued with problems, many due to substance abuse issues. In the studio, the band regularly had large speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered.[1] While struggling to record the song "Cornucopia" after "sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs",[2] Bill Ward feared that he was about to be fired from the band. "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just horrible", Ward said. "I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like 'Well, just go home, you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired".[3]

However, the seeds were planted for what would eventually be the demise of the classic Sabbath line-up. As Butler told Guitar World in 2001: "Yeah, the cocaine had set in. We went out to L.A. and got into a totally different lifestyle. Half the budget went on the coke and the other half went to seeing how long we could stay in the studio... We rented a house in Bel-Air and the debauchery up there was just unbelievable." In the same interview, Ward said: "Yes, Vol. 4 is a great album, but listening to it now, I can see it as a turning point for me, where the alcohol and drugs stopped being fun."

Patrick Meehan, the band's then-manager, was listed as co-producer, though his actual involvement in the album's production was minimal at best. Guitarist Tony Iommi handled the majority of the production himself.[1]

The track "FX" came about unexpectedly in the studio. After smoking hashish, the crucifix hanging from Iommi's neck accidentally struck the strings of his guitar and the band took an interest in the odd sound produced.[1] An echo effect was added and the rest of the band proceeded to hit the guitar with various objects to generate odd sound effects. Iommi calls the song "a total joke".[1]

The acoustic guitar instrumental "Laguna Sunrise" is aptly titled. After being up all night and watching the sunrise at Laguna Beach, Iommi composed the track.[1] In the studio, an orchestra was brought in to accompany Iommi's guitar, although the orchestra refused to perform until their parts were properly written out.[1] The same orchestra also performed on the track "Snowblind".[1]
Music and lyrics

Vol. 4 sees Black Sabbath beginning to experiment with the heavy sound they had become known for. Although most of the album's songs are in the band's trademark heavy style, others demonstrate a more sensitive approach which the band had never attempted before. Perhaps the best example of this experimentation can be heard in the song "Changes". Written by Tony Iommi with lyrics composed by Butler, it is entirely in the form of a piano ballad with mellotron. Guitarist Iommi taught himself to play the piano after finding one in the ballroom of the Bel-Air mansion they were renting. It was on this piano that the song "Changes" was composed.[1]

The album, Tony Iommi told Circus's sister magazine Circus Raves, "was such a complete change, we felt we had jumped an album, really… We had tried to go too far."[4]

Black Sabbath have been quite candid about their heavy use of cocaine during the making of Vol. 4.[5][1] Musically, the song "Snowblind" is perhaps the band's most blatant ode to the drug. "Snowblind" was also the album's working title, but Vertigo Records executives were quite reluctant to release an album with such an obvious drug reference as its title.[1] The album's liner notes also thank "the great COKE-cola", another blatant ode to the band's cocaine use.[1]
Artwork



Cover art

The album cover features a monochrome photograph of Ozzy Osbourne with hands raised, taken during a Black Sabbath concert. The album's original release (on Vertigo in the UK, on Warner Bros. in the US and on Nippon Phonogram in Japan) features a gatefold sleeve with a page glued into the middle. Each band member is given his own photo page, with the band on-stage (and photographed from behind) at the very centre.

The album's original cover art has proved iconic, and has been imitated and parodied on numerous occasions, such as on the 1992 Peaceville Volume 4 compilation album, the 1992 Volume Two EP by the band Sleep, and the 1994 Planet Caravan EP by Pantera.
Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [6]
Rolling Stone favourable[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [8]


Vol. 4 was released in September 1972, and while critics of the era were dismissive of the album, it achieved gold status in less than a month, and was the band's fourth consecutive release to sell one million copies in the United States.[9] It reached number 13 on Billboard's pop album chart[10] and number 8 on the UK Albums Chart.[11] The song "Tomorrow's Dream" was released as a single but failed to chart.[12] Following an extensive tour of the US, the band toured Australia for the first time in 1973, and later Europe. Black Sabbath also appeared on the UK's Top of the Pops in 1973, sharing the stage with such diverse acts as Engelbert Humperdinck and Diana Ross.

The album had been reissued twice under the title Children of the Grave with a live version of that song, originally released on the Master of Reality album, included.[citation needed]

Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 48 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[13]

In June 2000, Q magazine[14] placed Vol. 4 at number 60 in its list of The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever[15] and described the album as "the sound of drug-taking, beer-guzzling hooligans from Britain's oft-pilloried cultural armpit let loose in LA." Frank Zappa has identified the song "Supernaut" as one of his all time favourites.[16] Supernaut was also one of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's favourite songs by Sabbath.[17]
Track listing

All music written by Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward); all lyrics by Geezer Butler. Note that the song subtitles "The Straightener" and "Every Day Comes and Goes" do not appear on original North American pressings of the album and all the remastered editions. The 10th track Under the Sun contains a two minute segment – often given its own independent title as 'Every Day Comes And Goes' which transitions back to "Under the Sun" to close out the album.[18]
Side one

No. Title Length

1. "Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener" 8:02
2. "Tomorrow's Dream" 3:12
3. "Changes" 4:45
4. "FX" (instrumental) 1:44
5. "Supernaut" 4:50

Side two

No. Title Length

6. "Snowblind" 5:33
7. "Cornucopia" 3:55
8. "Laguna Sunrise" (instrumental) 2:56
9. "St. Vitus Dance" 2:30
10. "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes" 5:53

Cover versions

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2013)

"Changes"
In 1999, thrash metal band, Overkill for their Coverkill album.
Sampled by rapper Eminem on the song "Going Through Changes" for his Recovery album.
A new version with altered lyrics appeared on Prince of Darkness with Kelly Osbourne and Ozzy singing a duet version.
Hell Is for Heroes covered this song as a B-side to their single "Night Vision".
Fudge Tunnel covered this song on Earache's Masters of Misery compilation.
Japanese melodic punk band Hi-Standard covered this song on their Making the Road album.
Nashville garage rock duo JEFF the Brotherhood included a cover of this song as the final track on their album Hypnotic Nights.[citation needed]
"Cornucopia"
In 1999, thrash metal band, Overkill for their Coverkill album.
British sludge metal band Iron Monkey on the rarities album Ruined By Idiots.
New York City-based grindcore band Brutal Truth on In These Black Days: Vol. 2.
Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura on their live album Under a Pale Grey Sky (main riff played before "Cut-Throat").
"Snowblind"
Alternative metal band System of a Down for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black II. This version also appears on The Osbourne Family Album, as a B-side of "Aerials" vinyl and on "Lonely Day" single.
Converge live on their EP Y2K.
Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society on Alcohol Fueled Brewtality.[19]
Stoner metal band Sleep on Masters of Misery-Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute[20] and later on a re-issue of their album Sleep's Holy Mountain.
Rock band Pigboat on their 2009 release Float.[21]
"Supernaut"
1000 Homo DJs on their Supernaut single, and for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black. An alternate version featuring vocals by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails appears on the Black Box – Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years compilation.
Coalesce on the 2007 reissue of their Led Zeppelin tribute EP entitled There is Nothing New Under the Sun and also on the Hydra Head Records Black Sabbath tribute album In These Black Days: Vol. 3.
Ministry on their 1992 Psalm 69 tour, and on their album Cover Up.
O'Connor (from Argentina) for Hay un Lugar (1999).
Turisas for a cover CD issued by UK magazine Metal Hammer.
The joint venture of Los Coronas and Arizona Baby covered the song in their 2011 live album Dos Bandas y un Destino.[22]
"Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes"
Soulfly for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black II.
Bongzilla for Stash.[23]
Entombed for Family Favourites.[24]
"Wheels of Confusion"
Estonian band Rondellus on their tribute album Sabbatum, sung by two female voices accompanied by a frame drum. Their version has lyrics translated into Latin, and the song has been retitled "Rotae Confusionis".[25]
Doom metal band Cathedral on the tribute album Masters of Misery – The Earache Tribute.
"Tomorrow's Dream"
Seattle band Screaming Trees as the b-side of their 1992 single "Dollar Bill".
Canadian band Sheavy on their Untitled 3-song 7".[26]
Personnel
Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
Tony Iommi – guitars, piano, mellotron
Geezer Butler – bass guitar, mellotron
Bill Ward – drums, percussion
Colin Caldwell, Vic Smith – engineering
Patrick Meehan – production
Sales accomplishments


RIAA certification[27] (United States)
Date Designation Total Sales
6 November
1972 Gold 500,000
13 October
1986 Platinum 1,000,000


CRIA certification[28] (Canada)
Date Designation Total Sales
1 September
1977 Gold 50,000
1 September
1977 Platinum 100,000


See also