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Black Sabbath - Paranoid



9.2 | 2024 votes |
Release date: 18 September 1970
Style: Doom metal, Hard rock, Heavy metal

Owners:

2757 have it
142 want it
2 trade it


Disc I
01. War Pigs
02. Paranoid
03. Planet Caravan
04. Iron Man
05. Electric Funeral
06. Hand Of Doom
07. Rat Salad
08. Fairies Wear Boots

Disc II [2009 Deluxe Expanded Edition DVD Audio]
01. War Pigs [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
02. Paranoid [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
03. Planet Caravan [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
04. Iron Man [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
05. Electric Funeral [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
06. Hand Of Doom [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
07. Rat Salad [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]
08. Fairies Wear Boots [1974 Quadraphonic Mix]

Disc III [2009 Deluxe Expanded Edition bonus]
01. War Pigs [Instrumental]
02. Paranoid [Alternative Lyrics version]
03. Planet Caravan [Alternative Lyrics version]
04. Iron Man [Instrumental]
05. Electric Funeral [Instrumental]
06. Hand Of Doom [Instrumental]
07. Rat Salad [Alternate mix]
08. Fairies Wear Boots [Instrumental]

Top 20 albums of 1970: 1
Top 200 albums of all time: 7
Featured In "Getting Into: Black Sabbath"

Additional info
Recorded at Regent Sound and Island Studios.
Released in the U.S. in January, 1971.
This was originally supposed to be called "War Pigs", but the record company objected due to the Vietnam War.
Reissued as a 3-disc set by Sanctuary in April 2009.
Produced by Rodger Bain.

Guest review by
Ozzy
Rating:
9.0
1970 was an intense and highly satisfying year for Black Sabbath. February of that year saw the release of their eponymous titled first album and, by the end of that year, they issued their second album, the legendary Paranoid.

The album contains some of the bands most enduring material. "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Fairies wear Boots" and of course the title track On the cover, a futuristic looking soldier waving what looks like a lightsaber! What can I say, they though it looked good!

Read more ››
published 26.04.2004 | Comments (12)

I'm not going to go to the same effort that I did to mark the half-centenary of Black Sabbath, but I do think that Paranoid is the superior album by far - it was one of my first metal albums (mine and the rest of the world's) and it remains one of my favorites. The guitars, bass, and drums on this album are simply flawless, and the vocals are pretty good, too. I would tentatively say that heavy metal has not yet produced another work as instrumentally well-rounded and complete as "War Pigs." Every groove of this album is the very essence of metal incarnate, and while you are correct in noting that we mostly use the Staff Picks feature just to mark anniversaries nowadays, there are few albums worth celebrating as much as Paranoid. It boggles the mind to consider that this album has been in the world for 50 years and it is still looked upon as a masterpiece.

ScreamingSteelUS's picks | More picks ››

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Comments page 2 / 2

Comments: 44   Visited by: 2502 users
01.09.2019 - 13:50
Rating: 10
wimplord

Whoever doesn't get Sabbath or at least doesn't understand their significance in music history shouldn't discuss about music with me seriously.
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19.11.2019 - 19:49
Rating: 7
LedZep

Overrated a bit imo, not top 3 of Sabbath. It's influential, sure, but not as much as the debut or Master of Reality, and Heaven & Hell is just a better record
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17.12.2019 - 14:39
Metren
Dreadrealm
Love this album, even though the title-track is and overrated and overplayed one. Also, I can't possibly be the only one who thinks J. Hetfield drew inspiration from War Pigs for MoP.
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17.12.2019 - 15:01
Metren
Dreadrealm
Written by LedZep on 19.11.2019 at 19:49

Overrated a bit imo, not top 3 of Sabbath. It's influential, sure, but not as much as the debut or Master of Reality, and Heaven & Hell is just a better record


Heaven And Hell is the overrated one IMO. Not a bad album by any means, but it relies too heavily on Dio's godlike vocals and less on atmosphere and Tony's riffing.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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05.03.2020 - 01:59
Rating: 10
Metal Rasputin

This album is crazy good, I love it. Nearly every track here is a classic of some sort, like War Pigs, Iron Man, Planet Caravan... Electric Funeral also has that one awesome "whang whang" -effect that hits me every time just in the right place. The title track is overrated as hell, maybe it's just so simple and catchy that pretty much everybody can get into it and learn to sing and play it regardless of age or taste.
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You've got a lot of guts. Let's see what they look like!
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05.03.2020 - 07:58
Rating: 8
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Metal Rasputin on 05.03.2020 at 01:59

This album is crazy good, I love it. Nearly every track here is a classic of some sort, like War Pigs, Iron Man, Planet Caravan... Electric Funeral also has that one awesome "whang whang" -effect that hits me every time just in the right place. The title track is overrated as hell, maybe it's just so simple and catchy that pretty much everybody can get into it and learn to sing and play it regardless of age or taste.

Their 2. Best same whit ozzy, only self titeled are better
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Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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19.12.2020 - 23:56
Rating: 10
Redel

I have always thought: No need to comment on this classic album. It is all there, oh so obvious.
The foundation of everything we are talking about here. The ultimate album.
Now I just thought: Reminding everybody of this fact might still be worth a comment.

(please dont take him too seriously sometimes )
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20.12.2020 - 00:35
nikarg

Written by Redel on 19.12.2020 at 23:56

I have always thought: No need to comment on this classic album. It is all there, oh so obvious.
The foundation of everything we are talking about here. The ultimate album.
Now I just thought: Reminding everybody of this fact might still be worth a comment.

(please dont take him too seriously sometimes )

You got an upvote from me on the Epicus Doomicus Metallicus thread for the same reason that you get one here too. It is always good to be reminded what a true 10 really is. It may even help reduce our vote abuse problem, because it gives perspective of what a real masterpiece sounds like. Keep doing what you are doing
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20.12.2020 - 01:03
Rating: 10
Redel

Written by nikarg on 20.12.2020 at 00:35

You got an upvote from me on the Epicus Doomicus Metallicus thread for the same reason that you get one here too. It is always good to be reminded what a true 10 really is. It may even help reduce our vote abuse problem, because it gives perspective of what a real masterpiece sounds like. Keep doing what you are doing


Thanks, nice to know.
With the ratings, I dont know. For me they are a relative matter anyway. Meaning, I have 10s on my most appreciated albums of all time. And I allow myself 10s on some undefined fraction of the total number of votes I have (be it something in the range of 1% and 2%). Meaning, with increasing number of albums I vote for, I will also be allowed to increase the number of 10s I give. Whereas, most of the people on MS seem to vote in absolute terms -- 10s only on albums that are "perfect".
Anyway... happy to see you replying frequently on my posts
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04.03.2021 - 17:03
Rating: 9
majormalfunction

The classic of the classics.. this one set the standard for heavy metal and to this day not many have been able to outperform it.
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17.05.2021 - 18:42
Rating: 10
nonZero

Significantly better than their groundbreaking but inconsistent debut.

9.7/10 for me - 'Planet Caravan', 'Hand Of Doom' and 'Rat Salad' are weaker than the other songs.
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03.07.2021 - 05:10
Rating: 9
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
Written by Mountain King on 22.04.2018 at 21:19

They paved the way for pure metal music but I don't like this album despite some goods songs and good parts in some songs. 1 or 2 songs from each Ozzy era album and that's it for me.

If a band is responsible for creating a genre or paving a way doesn't mean that their albums are 10/10 and 11/10. Taking the date of release aside, Heaven and Hell or Headless Cross are way way better than any Sabbath album from the 70's. I don't see why an album needs to be regarded as legendary just because some people thought it is and it went on for the next 50 years.

Edit:

I upped my rating from 5 (which was of course too harsh) to 7 because despite this not being in my top albums, some songs have finally grown on me for some reason (War Pigs and Fairies Wear Boots). It is also the most consistent and most enjoyable Ozzy Era album for me.

My favorite Ozzy album is Master of Reality. Every song on there is nice. I'm generally more of a Dio fan, so I also love Heaven and Hell. Mob Rules is also good. I agree that a couple of songs from Sabbath's 70s albums are great, but it's tough to find consistently good albums. That's why I look for compilation albums
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16.07.2021 - 05:01
Rating: 9
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
Paranoid was of course innovative for its time and very influential. The guitar, bass, and drums are undeniably great. However, I don't like Ozzy's vocals on this album - they get kind of annoying. (I prefer his vocals on Master of Reality.)
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04.12.2023 - 04:10
Rating: 10
xenomorph100

Absolutely perfect
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