After forming Black Sabbath in 1969, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Terry “Geezer” Butler, and Bill Ward went on to record one of the most influential canons of music in the history of rock and roll.
Warner Bros./Rhino brings together the original quartet’s groundbreaking eight-album run for Black Sabbath: The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1978). The hard-hitting, eight-disc boxed set will be available on April 15 for a suggested list price of $64.98.
Presented in a clamshell box, the set contains all of the studio albums Black Sabbath recorded for Warner Bros. Records during the 1970’s, including its iconic, eponymous debut (1970), the multi-platinum landmark Paranoid (1970), the platinum albums Master Of Reality (1971), Vol. 4 (1972), and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973), as well as the gold albums Sabotage (1975), Technical Ecstasy (1976), and Never Say Die! (1978).
The past few months have been busy ones for Black Sabbath. Following hugely successful shows in North and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe, the band won its second Grammy® Award when the song God Is Dead? picked up the trophy for Best Metal Performance.
The group will kick off another North American tour on March 31st with a show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. In the weeks that follow, the trek will hit ten cities in Canada, including stops in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, before it wraps on April 26th at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA. These dates are part of the band’s final shows of its 2013-14 world tour in support of its first studio album in 35 years, 13. A resounding success, the album entered the charts at #1 in 13 countries (including their first #1 in the U.S.). Another run of European festivals and headlining shows will follow this summer.
First formed in Birmingham, England, Black Sabbath’s doom-laden sound pioneered a new kind of heavy rock music, a sound that would later influence hundreds of other bands. Many consider Black Sabbath to be the godfathers of heavy metal, but Sabbath was capable of surprising its fans with songs that showed other facets of their skills besides darkness and monstrous decibels. Decades after their initial impact, guitarists are still stunned by Tony Iommi’s jaw-dropping riffs, Geezer Butler’s swooping bass lines, and Bill Ward’s thunderous drums. And, of course, in Ozzy Osbourne the band has one of the most magnetic and unpredictable front men ever in rock, with a maniacal voice like few others before or since.
Black Sabbath: The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1978) album listing:
Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid (1970)
Master Of Reality (1971)
Vol. 4 (1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabotage (1975)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Never Say Die! (1978)
13 Responses
A re-issue of THE BLACK BOX? At this juncture, who doesn’t have these recordings. Great great stuff, but when will the Tony Martin era stuff be made available to fans ( HEADLESS CROSS thru CROSS PERPOSES LIVE). You can get used ones from England for insane prices.
I totally agree. The Tony Martin ones are the only ones I’m missing/looking for. I have a few places I check regularly to see if I can find them reasonably priced (need the physical copy). I read a rumor somewhere that they were being prepped for reissue sometime before 13 happened. Eddie, if you’re reading this…have you heard anything in regards to that being true?
That era of Sabbath is down the Memory Hole. It’s hard enough for Sharon/Ozzy to acknowledge the Dio years. One can only imagine the disdain they have for the Martin(and Gillan/Hughes) years. It’s pathetic how Iommi has caved to them. Read the great book “The Battle for Black Sabbath 1979-1997” by Gary Sharpe-Young. The only album from that era that Iommi regretted was the horrible 1995 “Forbidden”. But now it appears, the Martin years are being whitewashed and that sucks. No, it’s not classic Sabbath, but to just write it off, I think is insulting to Iommi’s fans.
You are better than Jar Jar Binks and Dave Holland as well.
Iommi’s greatest moment of the past decade, erasing any trace of Dave Holland from Iommi/Hughes Project. I would have done that BEFORE he diddled wheelchair bound teens.
i doubt they will be remastered. hard to believe 13 still hasn’t gone gold yet. sign of the times…
This kind of reissue is pretty pointless. Nearly all of their albums were remastered by Andy Pearce 4 years ago & were issued by Universal on the Sanctuary label, but not issued in the USA. Some even included bonus tracks.
What makes them worthwhile is that he didn’t compress the hell out of them (except for Never Say Die) & you DO get the FULL dynamic range of the original recordings. He also did a nice job on the early Dio albums & those of us stateside can’t (easily) get them here either. Granted, Rhino did a nice job on the recent vinyl reissues, but those are from different masters.
I’d be shocked in some moron over at Warner doesn’t have them compressed to make them louder for the idiots who are clueless as to what music is supposed to sound like. Even “Loud” music like Sabbath’s has to breathe. Remember; without soft, there can be no loud.
Glad I got my month they came out first two Sabbath albums on the green Warner labels….nice analog sound. I hope Jimmy Page is taking lots of time (and Atlantic loot) to remaster the first three in ’14 sound.
Why re-issue these albums on CD again? Why not do another box set of the Black Sabbath albums with Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin? We have these as the Black Box along with the Dio years. Why not re-issue the others that have not had their own Box Set.? Getting to be like KISS with releasing stuff we don’t need or need again!