![]() This mostly straight-forward, heavy jam contains some anti-war themes and has been cited by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne as the group’s most “kick ass song”. The half minute long “Embryo” is an odd interlude, which sounds like it has Scottish origins and acts as an intro to the dramatic side one closer, “Children of the Grave”. “Could it be you’re afraid of what your friends might say if they knew you believe in God above? They should realize before they criticize that God is the only way to love…” The lyrics were written by Butler and mainly focus on Christian themes, which contradicted the views that many held of Black Sabbath as Satanic “After Forever” has a less doomy, more upbeat rock feel with some synthesizer by Iommi who also provides a twangy but heavy opening guitar riff. The lyrics are an unabashed love song to a piece of choice vegetation and is credited and is cited as the birth of stoner rock. The song then instantly launches into a slow, simple but powerful distortion-drenched riff and, after two verses, Sabbath breaks into a rapid jam with bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward following Iommi in playing rapidly before returning to the main theme, which feels even more potent at this point. The album begins with its most indelible tune, “Sweet Leaf”, with an odd but memorable beginning which is actually Iommi choking on a joint between recording takes. Recorded: Island Studios, London, February–April 1971 The material on this eight-song album is also very diverse in themes, styles and rhythms. Leading the group’s sound was guitarist Tony Iommi, who expanded his instrumentation to include keyboards and flute and tuned his guitar down a few semi-tones to produce a darker sound. ![]() Master of Reality was recorded during the Spring of 1971 with producer Rodger Bain, the group’s third and final collaboration with this producer. Following Paranoid‘s release, Black Sabbath launched their their first tour of the USA. Combined, these first two albums altered the rock landscape by solidifying “heavy metal” as a sub-genre. To build on this momentum, Black Sabbath returned to the studio just four months after the debut’s release to record Paranoid, which migrated lyrical focus more towards real world themes. Recorded in late 1969, the group’s self-tiled debut album contained a heavy dose of dark themes but was a surprise hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The result was a highly influential album which was also the group’s most commercially successful record of their classic era. Some of this was by design and some by a spontaneous happy accident resulting from the frenzied recording sessions in between a relentless touring schedule. Watch the footage below of Black Sabbath performing their ode to marijuana, ‘Sweet Leaf’.Black Sabbath‘s third album, Master of Reality, sees the quartet building on the foundations of their two 1970 albums and exploring new fusions of heavy rock n roll. Later in the song, Osbourne proudly declares: “My life is free now, my life is clear, I love you sweet leaf, though you can’t hear.” He also thanks marijuana and adds, “You gave to me a new belief”. “When I first met you, didn’t realise, I can’t forget you or your surprise, You introduced me to my mind, And left me wanting you and your kind,” he sings in the first verse. In the track, Osbourne declares his love for the drug like it’s a love interest that has transformed his life for the better. I don’t smoke it myself, but if anybody wants to smoke it, fine. I’m all for the legalisation of pot, decriminalise it. I couldn’t smoke as many joints a day as I can this stuff. ![]() This, for instance, (waving his cigarette), tobacco. When asked about the difference between marijuana and other drugs, Osbourne defended the green substance and said it should be decriminalised. ![]()
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