The always excellent Classic Albums series from Eagle Rock Entertainment has finally gone over to the 'dark' side, with this fascinating look at Black Sabbath's monumental album Paranoid. Basically the blueprint for all the heavy metal to follow, Paranoid announced the arrival of Sabbath to the masses, showing that their self-titled debut was no fluke, and started a successful run that continued throughout the 1970's. The also happens to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the release of Paranoid, way back in 1970.
Filled with interviews with Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, and a sometimes incoherent Ozzy Osbourne, the documentary breaks down the creation of the album with engineer Tom Allom, who also plays various tracks from the existing master tapes. Each song is looked at and dissected, and there's plenty of vintage live footage of the band sprinkled throughout. Iommi, Ward, and Butler really come across as likable chaps, who fondly recall the time when these songs were created, and each shows the viewer how certain riffs and passages were played on their respective instruments. The Blu-ray picture quality is quite good, and it's especially nice to watch Iommi's close up riffing in hi-definition, plus there's an additional 42 minutes of interview segments not shown on the original TV broadcast.
A 'classic album' indeed!
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
