I needed an album like this today. Mournful, but powerful, it’s not about giving into despair but to empower one’s soul to move past it, to move past all the tragedy. It’s Dark Bruce but it’s not a cold and wrathful Bruce. Just one who’s gonna go into the dark places he may have been afraid to go before this. Like street racing and teenagers bedrooms. So Beach Boys territory. Anyways, there’s some electric moments from the E Street Band, highlights include “Badlands”, “Adam Raised a Cain”, “The Promised Land” and “Streets of Fire”.
1001 ALBUMS, 1001 NIGHTS - NIGHT #3
Black Sabbath - the cool version of Led Zeppelin. Or at the very least the only one of the two that's actual heavy metal. This album may not match the heaviness of its predecessor Master of Reality and it's not as tight as their first three but the variety here is more interesting and the band sounds as good as ever. Wheels of Confusion has some amazing playing by Iommi and Ward, Tomorrow's Dream has great sludgy riff. Changes isn't bad per se, but it's such a bizarre swerve, most definitely the most significant departure from their previous style yet. Nice to see Tony on piano though, and Ozzy's singing is great. FX is a throwaway, a bunch of bullshit, literally a bunch of stoners throwing stuff at their guitars. I found this profoundly irritating that this has to be stuck in the middle of an otherwise spectacular album. Thankfully, that is followed up by Supernaut, which...oh my. Supernaut kicks ass. The solo in the middle of the song is one of Iommi's best, and it leads into a weird percussion break that I really liked, which leads into another great solo! This album had one single and it was Tomorrow's Dream, which, like, OK! But Supernaut could have been a hit single. But I also think "Black Sabbath" would have made for a great single. Whatever.
Snowblind opens side 2, which is basically for cocaine what Sweet Leaf was for marijuana. That is significantly less cool. Of course, coke use wouldn't exactly play out well for our friend Ozzy, but this is still a pretty good song. Those strings at the end! Cornucopia is built upon another killer stoner metal riff, no idea what it's about. He's trying to save my brain? I'm beyond saving, man. Laguna Sunrise is another swerve, but this one is very nice. Some really romantic acoustic guitar, like something from an old western. St. Vitus Dance also dares to be different, occasionally dipping into a strange kind of boogie rock, before being dominated by that heavy ass riff. It's a song constantly fights its inner urge to dance. In the end, the boogie rock wins. That is, until Under the Sun starts, with another suffocating riff. Admittedly, Sabbath songs can kinda fade together for me just because of how repetitive they can be (riff, Ozzy singing for a bit, some crazy playing by the boys, riff, Ozzy jumps back in, yknow.), and usually it's that opening riff that helps give each one a decent identity. Of course, they weren't really a singles band, and despite my prior protests, this certainly isn't a singles album. Outside of Changes I guess, but that song doesn't fit here period. It's a shame, this would probably be a 10/10 if it wasn't for that weird 2-song detour into dumbland. I don't hate Changes like some people do, but I always thought that was on one of their later, slightly more radio friendly albums. I love pretty much any other time this album tries to break the mold the previous three albums created, but Changes ain't it. Beyond that, and the nonsense that is FX, this is just as perfect a metal record as those previous three.
