Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | 
 enlarge | Artist: Black Sabbath
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $7.44
You Save: $4.54 (38%)
New (44) Used (21) Collectible (2) from $4.79
Rating:  157 reviews
Sales Rank: 6303
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 2695
UPC: 759927272280
EAN: 0075992727228
ASIN: B000002KET
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | | • | A National Acrobat | | • | Fluff | | • | Sabbra Cadabra | | • | Killing Yourself to Live | | • | Who Are You? | | • | Spiral Architect | | • | Looking for Today |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
As if their dark lyrics and wall-of-sludge sound didn't already have an epic sweep, Black Sabbath braved an even more ambitious approach on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, adding synthesizers and even strings to tracks such as "Who Are You?" and "Spiral Architect." But even without them, the Sabbath classics "Killing Yourself to Live," "National Acrobat," "Looking for Today," and the title track pack a thunderous sonic wallop. "Fluff," a bit of ponderous musing on acoustic guitar and keyboards, adds variety to the disc but brings the headbanging pleasure of the rest of the album to a screeching halt. Beyond that misstep, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is as slow and deliberate as a lava flow, and just as powerful. --Daniel Durchholz
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| Customer Reviews:
 Timeless classic September 14, 2008
D. Wiley (Missing Finger, VT)
I bought this album when it was released in 1974. (I was 15, so I had to hide it from my parents because of the "scary" cover!)
I couldn't get enough of this album then, and now 34 years later, I still love it. The songs are absolutely infectious, displaying a high degree of musicianship, the lyrics are just ambiguous enough to let your imagination go wild, and Ozzy has never sounded better with his signature style of controlled hysteria. This album is a timeless classic.
One of the standout tracks for me is Spiral Architect. It perfectly encapsulates Ozzy's take on false prophets and personal redemption:
"Sorcerers of madness/Selling me their time/Child of God sitting in the sun/Giving peace of mind/Fictional seduction/On a black snow sky/Sadness kills the superman/Even fathers cry/Of all the things I value most of all/I look inside myself and see my world/and know that it is good."
This song gets me every time.....
Awesome riffs/drums September 13, 2008
Renaissance man (NH)
If you love heavy riffs and great drumming there is no way you can't love this album. SBS has it all....killer guitar, jazzy drums, and cool Wakeman piano.....people often overlook how great each player was in this band. Turn Sabra Cadabra up to MAX volume and feel the chills as the bass kicks in to that awesome guitar riff.....Billy Ward banging away with cool fills.....and it's a love song WTF? A couple of duds I could do without like Fluff and Who are You? But the rest rock.....SBS, National Acrobat, KYTL, and Looking for Today all rock out. Tough to be heavy and melodic but they hit it here. Cheers!
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath May 20, 2008
Morton (Colorado)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Black Sabbath-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ****1/2
When I was asked to describe Black Sabbaths sound in my music journalism class all I could say was "Pompei, Black Sabbath is like the slow crawl of the volcano erupting and covering the village in certain death,' that explanation is about a cheesy and dead on as you can get. Ozzy's shrieks of heaven, hell, and strange dimensions in between combined with Iommi's under appreciated guitar work, and Geezer Butler and Bill Wards wall of rhythm, which by the way is the best in rock in roll, make this one of the heaviest albums of all time. I don't mean heavy as in loud and fast, I mean heavy as in slow, chugging, dark, scar the pants of your mother heavy.
The only misstep on the album is, and now this is a big one, 'Fluff.' The song is useless. It is a beautiful acoustic melody from Iommi, but it does not work here, yes it does give variety to the album, but it takes away from it as a whole. It worked on other albums but not here boys. The legendary title track, 'A National Acrobat' my personal favorite 'Sabbra Cadabra' with it's stellar guitar riff, and 'Killing Yourself To Live' all went on to become Black Sabbath classics. 'Who Are You' can be trying at times, but more often than not is enjoyable, and 'Looking For Today' is an underrated gem. 'Spiral Architect' closes out the album, and just might be the craziest thing the original line up of Sabbath ever recorded.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is easily one of the greatest albums in the bands canon. It might not be the bands heaviest (see Vol. 4) or their most popular (see Paranoid) but it is a classic that any fan would be happy to own.
 More of the same, yet very different... May 7, 2008
Stephen Hearn (Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Despite what the blurb above says, Black Sabbath cast off some of their gritty bombast to produce a more measured and experimental effort with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The killer riffs are still there, but a little of the high-volume was replaced with some high-fidelity. I initially found this disappointing - it is nowhere near as viscerally exciting as the Paranoid album for example - but it was necessary to make space for the plethora of other instruments & ideas to take hold. As such the listening experience is more complex and more interesting, but with less raw energy.
Others have done the detailed track analyses & I don't intend to repeat them here, but I would take issue however with the claim that the track "Fluff" is a misstep: far from it. Apart from being a worthy musical contribution in its own right, it provides a wonderful counterpoint to the heavier material on the album. They did a similar thing with "Changes" on Volume 4, and these quieter interludes have become a feature of Black Sabbath's releases. Not only is Tony Iommi the ultimate riffmeister of his generation, but he is also aware of the overall listening experience, providing a kind of aural intermission. This album-oriented approach is typical of a lot of 70s records where singles success was spurned in favour of a more wholistic musical goal.
The 70s influence of prog-rock really comes to the fore here too, with some of Sabbath's most interesting and experimental material. As is the nature of prog-rock, some of it is a little challenging, but it's fascinating to hear them try. And who could be a better partner in this endeavour than Yes boardsman Rick Wakeman? How I would love to have been a fly on the wall during these sessions to see the creative process at work.
An album of its time, and one that stretched Sabbath to the outer reaches of their creativity, and arguably to places they have never revisited (except perhaps briefly on the follow-up Sabotage). One of my favourites.
Expect the Unexpected February 19, 2008
SabbathFan (America, MN)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I recently bought this album, only expecting a little more then what Never Say Die had to offer, but listening to some of these tracks blew me away.
Basic reviews on songs I particularly enjoyed.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath-Great song. I liked the acoustic jams in between the main riff, as well as the heavy riff towards the end.
A National Acrobat-This song has a good guitar solo, and the main riff with the two separate guitar recordings Iommi made sounds really cool.
Fluff-This might sound strange coming out of a sabbath fans mouth (listen to the song and you'll know why) but this song is beautiful.
Sabbra Cadabra-This was a nice song which in some ways reminded me of old 50's rock tunes, mainly because of the chord progression and the lyrics.
Looking for today-A good fast paced song that makes you want to get up and dance.
Spiral Architect-This song is epic,almost like something out of a movie, really good song.
The other songs were OK but they did not stick out to me as GREAT.
Over all this is a great album, but don't expect another Paranoid album. I think that this album is sometimes underrated but it deserves respect as one of Sabbaths best albums. This album defiantly brought a lot of experimental elements into it (Rick Wakeman from Yes on keyboards was cool) but don't let that deter you from buying this. It is a must have album and all Sabbath fans cant live without it.
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