Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Completely besting the once-classic and classically named best-of, We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n' Roll, Symptom of the Universe captures one of rock's heaviest tidal forces in all their glory--and in some more compromising moments. Ranging from the eponymous dirge that opens the set to the boogie-laden energy of more minor Sabbath gems like "Evil Woman" and "After Forever," this two-disc overview doesn't skimp on stone-cold gems like "Paranoid," "War Pigs," "Iron Man," and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." The second CD serves up the solo acoustic "Snowblind," a piano-and-Ozzy interlude, "Laguna Sunrise" (from the album Black Sabbath, Vol. 4), and the silly, aptly named "Fluff." Here the quartet reaches beyond their grasp, eschewing the grinding, hefty sound that fit Ozzy's flat vocal delivery like a glove; this stuff isn't great, but it's revealing. Decades after their debut, Sabbath's dystrophic rejoinder to '60s and '70s rock still energize nearly all hard rock. So this is rock history, and a blast at that. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description
Full Title - Symptom Of The Universe - The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978. 2 CDs presenting 29 tracks form the bands earliest days and most popular era with Ozzy Osbourne as co-founder and front man. Includes the rare 'Evil Woman' non-LP single, available on CD for the first time in the US. Digitally Remastered from the original tapes, 2 individual digipaks with separate booklets all in a slipcase with special embossed artwork. Warner/Rhino. 2002.

Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978, Music, Black Sabbath, Album Rock, British Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Pop, Rock

Average customer rating:

THIS IS IT!! The most COMPLETE and BEST collection of Black Sabbath in the 70's.

Best of the REAL Black Sabbath

Great for newbies... like me!

The Masters of Heavy

Don't think I missed much . . .

Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978
Black Sabbath
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00006LHW1
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Tracks:

Black Sabbath
N.I.B.
The Wizard
Warning
Evil Woman
Paranoid
Iron Man
War Pigs
Fairies Wear Boots
Sweet Leaf
Children Of The Grave
Into The Void
Lord Of This World

Tracks:

After Forever
Snowblind
Laguna Sunrise
Changes
Tomorrow's Dream
Supernaut
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Fluff
Sabbra Cadabra
Am I Going Insane (Radio)
Symptom Of The Universe
Hole In The Sky
Rock 'N' Roll Doctor
Dirty Women
Never Say Die
A Hard Road

Amazon.com

Completely besting the once-classic and classically named best-of, We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n' Roll, Symptom of the Universe captures one of rock's heaviest tidal forces in all their glory--and in some more compromising moments. Ranging from the eponymous dirge that opens the set to the boogie-laden energy of more minor Sabbath gems like "Evil Woman" and "After Forever," this two-disc overview doesn't skimp on stone-cold gems like "Paranoid," "War Pigs," "Iron Man," and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." The second CD serves up the solo acoustic "Snowblind," a piano-and-Ozzy interlude, "Laguna Sunrise" (from the album Black Sabbath, Vol. 4), and the silly, aptly named "Fluff." Here the quartet reaches beyond their grasp, eschewing the grinding, hefty sound that fit Ozzy's flat vocal delivery like a glove; this stuff isn't great, but it's revealing. Decades after their debut, Sabbath's dystrophic rejoinder to '60s and '70s rock still energize nearly all hard rock. So this is rock history, and a blast at that. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description

Full Title - Symptom Of The Universe - The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978. 2 CDs presenting 29 tracks form the bands earliest days and most popular era with Ozzy Osbourne as co-founder and front man. Includes the rare 'Evil Woman' non-LP single, available on CD for the first time in the US. Digitally Remastered from the original tapes, 2 individual digipaks with separate booklets all in a slipcase with special embossed artwork. Warner/Rhino. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

THIS IS IT!! The most COMPLETE and BEST collection of Black Sabbath in the 70's........2006-07-17

This collection contains the greatest hits of Black Sabbath in the 70's without a single song missing!!!!

No "greatest hits" collection of Black Sabbath has ever been this complete.

P.S: Is MUCH better than "The Best of Black Sabbath" collection.

Adios

Best of the REAL Black Sabbath.......2006-03-23

This is Black Sabbath as you remember them, and as your parents most despised them.

If you only buy one Black Sabbath album, make it this one.

Great for newbies... like me!.......2006-03-21

Well, first I bought 'Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits 1970-1978'. It was a good intro, but after it was done... I WANTED MORE!
So I found a copy of 'Symptom' in the Amazon Marketplace, brand spankin' new for $13. Got it today and listened to it all in one shot. The sound is ferocious! It was just what I needed.
Another factor in buying this 2 disc set was reading all the reviews about how certain songs should have been on the one disc, like "Fairies Wear Boots", and how "Iron Man" got cut in half.
I'm glad I bought this. The booklet was so informative about the band's history, and their story and the music gave me a real appreciation for Ozzy Osbourne... something I never thought possible!
As for the music, the early stuff DOES remind me of Zeppelin, not a bad thing. But as it progresses BS really does come into their own. Disc two's songs are pretty diverse. Who knew they could do an old fashioned rave up like I heard on "Rock and Roll Doctor"? Not me!
Another surprise was the lyrics; again pretty diverse. None of the themes are really pleasant (nuclear war, paranoia, alienation), but they had something to say.
My fave Sab is Bill Ward. Sometimes his drumming is like John Bonham's, yet other times he sounds like a jazz drummer (check out "War Pigs".).
The only thing I don't like about this set is the title, 'Symptom of the Universe'. 'Anthology' would have sufficed.

So take it from someone new to the greatness that is Black Sabbath; skip their new one disc best of and buy this instead. You will be so glad you did.

The Masters of Heavy.......2006-03-19

The works of the original Black Sabbath lineup definately beg for the two cd's in this collection versus the abbreviated "We Sold Our Soul for Rock and Roll" and the more recent 'best of' samplings. It unfortunately leaves out some of the more eclectic songs such as "Planet Caravan" and "Electric Funeral" from "Paranoid," as well as "A National Acrobat" and "The Thrill of it All" from SBS and Sabotage respectively... Still, short of getting every album, such exclusions are to be expected; every fan will find something to be annoyed with, but damn, there's a whole lot of great one-of-a-kind music here! Bone crunching metal of a type not heard before or since and always earnest lyrics, sometimes niave yet oftentimes inspired and surprisingly timeless -- songs about war and our search for a higher purpose never go out of style.

More positives: the "Symptom of the Universe" collection comes with a booklet containing some very interesting notes on the evolution of Black Sabbath. Evolutionary notes such as: the genesis of the song and band name Black Sabbath; the band's fascination with early Led Zeppelin -- you can definitely hear some heavy LZ musical (not lyrical) influences prior to "Master of Reality" whereupon the bands radically diverged; how the Ozzy years of Black Sabbath eventually disintegrated under a haze of drugs and strange followers, and so on -- a neat compact Bio with many photos including a concert shot of Ozzy costumed for "Fairies Wear Boots"!

Overall, 4 1/2 stars. Not that they were all that bad (just not as good), I would preferred to have seen Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die songs left for completists and include a few more of the better songs from albums 2-6... OR, better yet add a third disc and you would have a great price and room for nearly everything from the original lineup's '70-'78 output -- as it is, this collection already contains well over 50% of albums 1-8...

Don't think I missed much . . ........2006-03-12

when I missed out on the days of Black Sabbath's live existence (after deciding, upon Jim Morrison's death in 1971, that most popular music reeked). Black Sabbath does deserve credit as a precursor of Goth (if Goth is defined as "depressed nihilism" as opposed to "angry nihilism").

Ozzy Osbourne is a competent vocalist, but too whiny.

The prosodic clumsiness of Black Sabbath's lyrics is remarkable, with the stress falling ("crashing" is more like it) again and again upon the least important words (such as "the").

I give this collection three stars because the musicianship is competent, it would be immoral to pretend my tastes aren't as trashy as they in fact are, and some of the tunes are catchy (I'm trying to get "Iron Man" out of my head at this very moment).

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