Black Sabbath announced a 50th Anniversary box set of their second album Paranoid out October 9. The set includes the original album, a rare 1974 quadraphonic mix, three albums covering two 1970 concerts, a hardbound book featuring interviews with band members, limited photos, a poster and a replica of the band’s Paranoid 1970-1971 tour book. According to Rhino Records, the original quadraphonic mix was “released on vinyl and 8-track cartridge in 1974, but subsequently long out of print, the quad mix has now been made available as a fold-down to stereo mix on vinyl for this set.”
The final three albums cover two 1970 live performances. The first album is a debut vinyl print of the band’s concert in Montreux, Switzerland, on August 31 shortly before Paranoid‘s release. “It captures the band, already a tight musical unit, thundering through new songs like ‘Hand Of Doom’ and ‘Iron Man’ while mixing in ‘N.I.B.’ and ‘Behind The Wall Of Sleep’ from the band’s debut album,” explains Rhino Records. The second album is also a debut vinyl print of another concert the band performed on television in Brussels shortly after Paranoid’s release. According to Rhino Records, the “Unofficial versions of this classic show have circulated in the past, but they’ve never sounded this good.”
Black Sabbath got its start in Birmingham, England, in 1968. Their original lineup was Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar, Bill Ward on drums, and Geezer Butler on bass guitar. They are considered “the forefathers of heavy metal.”
Black Sabbath released both their self-titled debut album Black Sabbath and their sophomore album Paranoid in 1970. Paranoid reached number one in the United Kingdom and sold over four million copies in the United States.
The band parted ways with Ozzy Osbourne in 1979. Since then, Ozzy Osbourne launched a successful solo career and Black Sabbath went through many lineup changes. The band reunited several times since 1979, once for a one-off Live Aid benefit concert in 1985, once in 1998 for a reunion tour, once in 2012-2014 for another reunion tour, and once for a farewell tour in 2016-2017 in which Ward did not take part.
Ozzy Osbourne made 12 studio albums from 1980 until 2020. His album Ordinary Man, released earlier this year, was the singer’s first album in 10 years. He is 71 years old and has been in relatively poor health over the past two decades, suffering from a serious ATV accident in 2003, and pneumonia, a severe fall and a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2019. Despite the singer’s setbacks, his wife Sharon Osbourne has recently revealed that Ozzy Osbourne is back in the studio recording his 13th album confirming, “He’s getting stronger every day. You can’t stop him.”
According to Loudwire.com, fans have been calling for another reunion tour. Earlier this year, Iommi affirmed that he is “not opposed” to standalone show. Ozzy Osbourne also stated that he would like to do another reunion with Ward on drums.
In other news, The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne produced by Osbourne Media is premiering on A&E on Labor Day, Sep. 7. It is a two-hour documentary featuring exclusive interviews, archival footage, and tracks Ozzy Osbourne’s history from his early days to present.
LP 1: Paranoid (original album) track list
Side A
“War Pigs / Luke’s Wall”
“Paranoid”
“Planet Caravan”
“Iron Man”
Side B
“Electric Funeral”
“Hand Of Doom”
“Rat Salad”
“Jack The Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots”
LP 2: Paranoid Quadradisc Mix in Stereo track list
Side C
“War Pigs / Luke’s Wall”
“Paranoid”
“Planet Caravan”
“Iron Man”
Side D
“Electric Funeral”
“Hand Of Doom”
“Rat Salad”
“Jack The Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots”
LP 3: Live in Montreux 1970 (Part One) track list
Side E
“Intro”
“Paranoid”
“N.I.B.”
“Behind The Wall Of Sleep”
Side F
“Iron Man”
“War Pigs”
LP 4: Live in Montreux 1970 (Part Two)/Live in Brussels 1970 (Part One) track list
Side G
“Fairies Wear Boots”
“Hand Of Doom”
Side H
“Paranoid”
“Hand Of Doom”
“Rat Salad”
“Iron Man”
LP 5: Live in Brussels 1970 (Part Two) track list
Side J
“Black Sabbath”
“N.I.B.”
Side K
“Behind The Wall Of Sleep”
“War Pigs”
“Fairies Wear Boots”
Photo Credit: Aisha Humphrey
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