Black Sabbath – Vol 4 – Aus Press – LP
Vol. 4 is the fourth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in September 1972. It was the first album by Black Sabbath not produced by Rodger Bain; guitarist Tony Iommi assumed production duties. Patrick Meehan, the band’s then-manager, was listed as co-producer, though his actual involvement in the album’s production was minimal.
The recording was plagued with problems, many due to substance abuse. In the studio, the band regularly had speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered.
In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne speaks at length about the sessions: “In spite of all the arsing around, musically those few weeks in Bel Air were the strongest we’d ever been.” But he admits, “Eventually we started to wonder where the f&ck all the coke was coming from … that coke was the whitest, purest, strongest stuff you could ever imagine. One sniff, and you were king of the universe.”
Rock critic Lester Bangs, who had derided the band’s earlier albums, applauded Vol. 4, writing in Creem:
“We have seen the Stooges take on the night ferociously and go tumbling into the maw, and Alice Cooper is currently exploiting it for all it’s worth, turning it into a circus. But there’s only one band that’s dealt with it honestly on terms meaningful to vast portions of the audience, not only grappling with it in a mythic structure that’s both personal and powerful but actually managing to prosper as well. And that band is Black Sabbath.” Bangs also compared the band’s lyrics to those of Bob Dylan and William S. Burroughs. [Wiki]
Listen to Black Sabbath – Vol 4 online here.
Tracklist
- A1 Black Sabbath 6:15
- A2 The Wizard 4:20
- A3 Behind The Wall Of Sleep 3:37
- A4 N.I.B. 6:04
- B1 Evil Woman 3:21
- B2 Sleeping Village 3:45
- B3 Warning 10:29
Details
- Label: NEMS – L-35,860
- Format: Vinyl, LP
- Country: Australia
- Released: 1976
- Genre: Rock
- Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
- Condition: NM- / EX- Great shape!
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