I was four years old in 1971 when Paranoid came out. I don't recall the Old Man having a copy, and it wasn't until a decade later in 1981 that Black Sabbath came to mean anything to me. An essential part of the 'unholy trinity' of British Heavy Metal that kicks off this compilation, they were one of the bands in heavy rotation when I 'put away childhood things' and switched over from AM (630 CHED) to FM radio (K-97 - 'Edmonton's only rock!'). I was allowed to go to the concert with my friend Brian Kassian (who would go on, eventually, to become guitarist Mangus Hung in the AC/DC cover band BC/DC). Not the first concert I attended unchaperoned (that honour goes to the Streetheart / Aldo Nova concert a year earlier), but memorable for having rushed the stage and for the fact that a biker got stabbed during the opening set by The Outlaws. We didn't witness the stabbing, but did worry that if news of it reached our parents our concert going would be brought to an abrupt and premature end. Also noteworthy for the purchase of my first concert t-shirt - a totally outrageous thing with 'Mob Rules' on the front and a winged demon superimposed over a pentagram on the back.More on Brian Kassian and the obligatory concert t-shirt purchase later...
As for Black Sabbath, Paranoid-era Sabbath remains a mainstay album of Classic Rock stations. I defy you to listen for more than three hours without hearing one of their songs.
Somewhat disturbingly, both The Outlaws and Black Sabbath continue to tour.
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The memory of that tour remains. I had the honour of seeing the Mob Rules line-up in 2007, the first time they had played together in 15 years, but obviously Dio's death has put an end to Sabbath Mk.II (or was it III?).
It was a great show, even without biker violence(btw, I knew a guy who vividly described the stabbing). Even though I no longer had to worry about parental disapproval or censure, there was another message from on high: http://www.straight.com/article-74911/heaven-and-hell.
Even if one lets Newton be, all will neither be light nor right. He is wrong (Megadeth finished with "Holy Wars", not "Peace Sells") and his own preview article of a week and a half earlier explained why Tony Iommi didn't play "Supernaut" (because the tour had been doing only Dio material).
Also, Ronnie James Dio hadn't grown or gotten any prettier since 1982, so I don't know what he was expecting from the singer. Kevin Dubrow hair transplants?
Furthermore, since the early 70s, Sabbath numbers have often started plodding, moved up-tempo, but then returned to the same plodding beat, refusing to cater to the listener's desire for a high-energy finish ("Heaven and Hell" is an exception to this rule, but tunes like "Into the Void" or "Under the Sun" are excellent early examples). Opening with "E5150" and leading into "After All" was an excellent live demonstration of Sabbath's tone. Sabbath plays slow heavy songs. That's what they do best.
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