Boys and girls, I've always disliked, but it's massively popular.
Tracy Jacks has a great chord progression in the verse, but the chorus is grating. Generally a decent track.
End of a century is really good, catchy and enjoyable.
What can I even say about Parklife? It's iconic to the point where being critical is a bit meaningless.
Bank holiday was filler rubbish.
Badhead was a surprising track, lots of musical maturity, evocative of Caravan. My favourite track up to this point.
Debt collector feels like self-aware filler, but it's still filler.
Far out is also filler.
To the end is decent if a bit generic. Quintessential song that your dad would like.
London Loves is pretty forgettable. Sort of an 80s Bowie caricature.
Trouble in the message centre is forgettable. Bit too much on the production, gives it some Eurotrash energy.
Clover Over Dover takes us back to that Cambridge Sound from Badhead, absolutely lovely guitar parts and the chord progression has a satisfying and enjoyable turnaround. At first the Harpsichord felt a bit ham-fisted, but it really grew on me, this is my favourite track so far.
Magic America is very Brit-pop. The electro drums and sound effects are bit grating, but it's overwise quite a nice track with a nice hook.
Jubilee sounds like a send-up of the Sex Pistols made by Iggy Pop. Decent track.
Nice guitar parts on This Is A Low, spacey and gritty. Drags on a bit though.
Lot 105 is a strange way to send the album off. I don't know if it was originally an end of Vinyl run-off extra or something, but it's of no consequence, sounds like the Monty Python intermission music.
Overall and very hit and miss album. The high points are excellent, (Clover Over Dover, Badhead, Parklife and End Of a Century) are all tracks that any other album would be happy to have as their lead single, but the lows really do detract.
This may not be the case, but the feeling I get is of a band maturing and ready to write deeper and more sonically interesting sounds, held back by a desperate desire to be fun and relatable.
It's common for people to hide passion or intensity out of fear of ridicule. I'm not saying that is what Blur are doing on the throwaway tracks, but when a properly constructed, deep and engaging track pops up amongst the filler, I can't help but feel that they were too concerned with staying cool and disinterested, rather than let their obvious musical talent fully shine.
7/10, should have embraced pretention.
Wheels of confusion/The Straightener is phenomenal. Walking through changes in pace, tone and style, backed by the exceptionally drumming from Bill Ward. The last two minutes, with the repeating 5 note motif and roaring solo from Tony is some of the bands best playing. A key part of Sabbath that is often overlooked is the high level of proficiency in each band member, the opener absolutely allows everyone to shine. Incredible opening to the album.
Straight into the thick and heavy Tomorrow's Dream, Ozzy's vocals are quality on this track, pulling off his iconic high-pitch but softening the grating edge that puts many off. All over a simple but brilliant blues riff and progression.
From that we get to the legendary Changes. A piano ballad on a heavy metal album? It wasn't supposed to work but it does, it has now become a common part of heavy metal album writing to include a softer tune to remind people that the musicians are more than just loud and fast. Ozzy's vocals are vulnerable and touching, the string section is absolutely smothered in reverb and the piano a simple but lovely progression. A powerful and touching tune that resonates with people to this day, only a ballad this good could bring ballads to heavy metal.
As was becoming more common on rock/metal albums by the mid 70's we get a bit of sound effect filler with FX. Normally this would be a ninety second waste of vinyl, but strangely it does a great job of palette cleansing between the wistful Changes, and the riff focused banger of our next track, Supernaut.
This track is all Iommi, with guitars upon guitars upon guitars, Tony decided that this song wouldn't have a riff, it would have all of them. Classic Sabbath, nothing to blow your mind, but a tight and well-composed four and a half minute tune.
Snowblind is a track that has always fascinated me, something about it is just very distinctive, that I've never been able to put my finger on. It is still built around a simple and solid riff, with your staples of Sabbath, Jazz drumming, Syncopated and melodic bass lines, many big fat solos and Ozzy shouting away. I reckon it is the progressive structure of Snowblind, it's very Jazzy and Progressive in its Head->Solo structure, it creates and unpredictable and attention-grabbing track which mirrors the drug for which it is referencing. Top-tier Sabbath track.
Here comes a big Doom Metal riff to the face, I can imagine that Cornucopia got a lot of listen two decades later by the Doom/Stoner icons Electric Wizard. Cornucopia is one of those Sabbath songs with great phrasing and structure, reinventing itself throughout to keep you hooked. Simple lyrcis, huge riff, quintessentially Sabbath.
In stark contrast to Cornucopia we go into the soft and breezy acoustic instrumental Laguna Sunrise, a staple of Tony Iommis songwriting to include a quaint English countryside sounding guitar and strings piece, like Fluff on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, or Orchid on Master of Reality. A nice and out-there piece for a heavy metal album, but not particularly interesting musically.
Back to riff-rock we get the short but sweet St. Vitus Dance. Decent riff, lyrics and vocals, a perfectly fine but forgettable penultimate track.
Finally we get Under The Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes. Built around and solid staccato doom riff and classic Sabbath lyrics resisting religion and 'the man', the track is very much a signal of what we'd be getting on the next album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Bill Ward has some great moments on this track with some short and tasty Tom heavy drum solos. A great send-off for the album that sounds more like three distinct Sabbath tracks smashed together, very much a mirror of the opener. The outro loop and solo are infectious, with tasteful licks borrowed from early Sabbath (definitely a lick from a solo on Warning referenced here).
Overall a tight, consistently excellent album with a few iconic Sabbath moments. Like Pink Floyds run of albums from DSoTM to the Wall, any of Sabbaths first five albums could be argued as the greatest, Vol 4 makes a bloody good case for the crown.
