Happy 40th Anniversary - Black Sabbath Vol. 4

[Shawn]

Black Sabbath Vol. 4 was released on September 25, 1972.

Geezer Butler calls this album "Snow Blind in L.A."

Vol. 4 was the first Black Sabbath album to be recorded outside the UK. The band rented a posh house in Bel Air for rehearsals and the parties are the stuff of legend. Vol. 4 was most definitely a cocaine album, as evidenced by the band giving a thank you credit to their dealer in the liner notes "Thanks to the great COKE cola company of Los Angeles" and by this classic song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHal84S_XkI

Vol. 4 was a transitional album, bridging the gap between the more straight-ahead thunder of Master Of Reality and the more Prog Rock direction they would take on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage. Tony Iommi was handling all the arrangements by this point and also supervising the recording sessions, his growing maturity as an artist is evident on this album. Iommi was also the most sober by this point, so he had to take control as Ozzy, Geezer and Bill were starting to spiral out of control. Despite the massive drug use the album is chock-full of classic songs...

The Iommi arranged epic "Wheels Of Confusion/The Straightener", first single "Tomorrow's Dream", the futuristic "Supernaut" with the awesome acoustic guitar/percussion breakdown in the mid-section, the aforementioned head bobbing classic "Snowblind" and Iommi's memorable acoustic number "Laguna Sunrise", book ended by one of his most evil sounding doom riffs in "Under The Sun". There is also the widely debated ballad "Changes" which seems to be either loved or despised depending on who is listening. Cornucopia and St. Vitus' Dance are still influencing stoner bands to this day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8LbhQlOYc

An absolute classic album.