BLACK SABBATH FIRST PRESSING GREEN LABEL 'PARANOID' 197I US WARNER WS-1887

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BLACK SABBATH 'PARANOID' FIRST PRESSING GREEN LABEL 197I US WARNER WS-1887
BLACK SABBATH BLACK SABBATH "PARANOID" LABEL: WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS  WS-1887 (S39786 / S39787) FIRST PRESSING ~ GATEFOLD ~ GREEN 'WB SHIELD' LABEL   RELEASED: JANUARY 7th 1971 COMPOSED BY: WARD. BUTLER, OSBOURNE, IOMMI RECORDED AT: REGENT SOUND STUDIOS / ISLAND STUDIOS RECORDING ENGINEERS: BRIAN HUMPHRIES & TONY ALLOM PRODUCER: RODGER BAIN MASTERED AT ARTISAN SOUND RECORDERS PRESSED BY COLUMBIA RECORDS PRESSING PLANT ~ SANTA MARIA ('CS'? 'CM'? IN MATRIX) ALBUM DESIGN & COVER PHOTO BY 'KEEF' RECORD COPANY: WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS, INC. MATRIX (SIDE A): (Etched) WS-1887-39786-3 (Stamped) [Artisan logo] MATRIX (SIDE B): (Etched) WS-1887-39787-1 (Stamped) [Artisan logo]
CONDITION:  VINYL: VG+  JACKET: VG+   A VERY NICE ORIGINAL 'GREENIE' COPY
I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this early original 1971 First US Pressing of 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath.
This is my original copy, purchased back in the very early 70's, shortly after it's release, that I've taken great care of for many years. It's still in fantastic, all original condition.
See details on Condition below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're an early fan of Black Sabbath, you can't get much better than this. These original American "Greenie" First Pressings sound amazing. A bit more meat and punch.
They just can't be beat, unless you can get your hands on a clean 1970 UK Vertigo pressing.
These original, first pressing, Green label Warners are a fun listen and sound truly amazing.
These First US pressing 'greenies' are renowned for their raw and powerful sound reproduction, which perfectly captures the gloomy and intense atmosphere of Black Sabbath's music. 
The music is relentless, punchy and dynamic and full of that classic, early, Sabbath 'sludge'.  This pressing has the kind of energy, presence, and fullness needed to bring the best out of Black Sabbath. The pure analog sound quality is awesome. Rich, heavy, clear, well balanced, and Ozzy's vocals are right in your face.
This is what Sabbath was meant to be. 
These early pressings allow you to hear and experience the raw energy of Black Sabbath in the way the band originally intended, and in a way that remains timeless and impressive. 
The sound on this record is deep and rich, with a clear focus on Tony Iommi's guitar playing. Those guitar tones sound so fantastic. 
1970 was a period of the heavy rock 'guitar gods'; Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Leslie West, so this was mastered with Tony's guitar more out front and the fantastic rhythm section of Geezer and Bill Ward a little lower in the mix.
Despite that, there's still plenty of depth and heaviness from Geezer Butler's thumping bass lines, and Bill Ward's full, heavy, drumming to emphasize and support the album's raw power, roughness and dark mood.
This album is also cut very dynamic. The heaviness really punches thru, but in the quieter sections, like in "Planet Caravan," the softer, subtle, sound textures and nuances also come thru, creating a quiet, haunting atmosphere. 
It's a real nod to the 'warmth' that 70's analog recordings can offer.
This early all-analog 'greenie' is a fantastic version of this monumental work. It offers an intensity and sonic depth that was never achieved on later digital pressings.
It's loud and punchy, with perfect tonal balance, decent extension on both high and low ends, and of course a spacious sound stage. Ozzy's vocals are mixed perfectly. 
A truly enjoyable and essential way to listen to this classic album! 
No heavy rock vinyl collection is complete without an early, original US Green label, 'Artisan' mastered, copy of Paranoid in it.
~~ Yes, the UK or German Vertigo 'swirls' sound a little better, crisper and clearer and Kevin Gray did a fine job remastering this album, but still, these green label artisan pressings are amazing.
This album has been remastered, re mixed, and re-interpreted by all the top recording engineers and top audiophile labels, but, nothing beats a First Pressing 'greenie'. 
These early greenies are a 'must have' because of their historical context and their exceptional sound quality.
This record begs you to crank your system up and play this at top volume.
If you want to hear the best sounding pressing of this album you will ever hear in your life, these early 'greenies' probably aren't the one you want, but, they are still amazing and absolutely incredible in every aspect you could possibly imagine.
They remain a great listen even half a century later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, released in 1970, is undoubtedly one of the most influential albums in the history of rock and heavy metal. 
This album, and the pre-release single 'Paranoid', broke heavy metal through to a wider listening audience, and proved that it actually had legitimacy and something to say as a musical genre. 
'Paranoid' exploded Black Sabbath into becoming heavy rock icons.
In many ways, this album, and the band's self-titled debut, were groundbreaking. They single-handedly created a new music genre, but also created, defined and set the bar for all heavy metal rock to come.
Paranoid helped push rock music into new, dark, heavy, haunting realms in terms of sonic and thematic heaviness. 
Black Sabbath helped launch heavy metal not just as a genre but also as profitable niche for record companies.
~~ I'm old enough to remember when this first came out in the Winter of 1970/71 and listening to my older brother's fresh vinyl copy.
With the Viet-Nam war raging overseas, and a typical Chicago snowstorm raging outside, hunkering down in our bedroom, dropping the needle down on side one and hearing 'War Pigs' was an experience I'll never forget.
As a young impressionable teen, War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man were some of the greatest rock songs I had ever heard, and that was only side one! 
We listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Mountain, Uriah Heep, and a few others, but Black Sabbath had a distinctly doomy, sludgy, heavy sound back then that was unlike any other other band we ever heard.
Back then it was called 'power rock', not heavy rock or 'metal' yet, but there was really nothing else like it at the time.  Not only did this band and album practically invent a new genre, but it had some great songs that would go on to define heavy rock.
The impact this album made on the rock and metal world is undeniable. Over half a century later it still brings shivers to your soul.
Despite rock critic Lester Bangs famously calling them “unskilled laborers” at the time, many feel that "Paranoid" is the best album of the Ozzy era and represents Sabbath at its peak.
Black Sabbath went on to do loads more brilliant music, but Paranoid is an album where every track is simply awesome.
It remains one of the best, and most important metal albums of all time and easily one of the greatest albums of all time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  This album features the original 'classic' lineup of Black Sabbath:
Lead Guitar – Tony Iommi Vocals – Ozzy Osbourne Bass Guitar – Terry "Geezer" Butler* Drums – Bill Ward
As I mentioned, these First Pressing 'greenie' albums were mastered and cut with the mid-range slightly forward to emphasize Tony Iommi's guitar and Ozzy's powerful voice.
Tony Iommi is one of the all time great guitarists, and the tones he gets out of his Gibson SG, through Laney amps, are just incredible. Most guitarists were using Marshalls in those days, but Iommi liked Laneys, which gave him a distinctive tone.
This album is full of Tony's brilliant playing and his fantastic, monstrously heavy, thick, burning. powerful riffs.
Tony Iommi's guitar riffs are heavy, deep, forceful and dynamic
His dark, sludgy, inventive guitar work amazingly compliments the dark lyrics and Ozzy's voice.
Tony is the best kind of rock guitarist ~ simple, clean, yet brilliant. 
~~ Many of the songs on this album have Tony Iommi trading off, back and forth, with Ozzy's haunting, powerful voice. 
Ozzy at his most powerful and Tommy Iommi at his most creative make for music that's simply spectacular.
Many consider this the definitive Ozzy album.
His voice and unique vocal approach perfectly complements  the songs and fits Black Sabbath’s music like a glove.
Ozzy sounds deep and emotional, fittingly eerie and alien at times, and his voice is an inextricable part of the whole Sabbath sound.  
Ozzy has a very powerful, natural, haunting, iconic voice which perfectly enhances the dark menacing lyrics.
Not only does he (mostly) hit the right notes, but he actually improves the songs with his determinedly demonic execution. It just wouldn't be Black Sabbath without Ozzy's unique voice, as fans would come to find out.
Ozzy was the perfect 'metal' voice for Sabbath's tales of madness and despair. His vocals on Warpigs just leaves you speechless. 
~~ On this album, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward proved to many that they are the greatest rhythm section in heavy rock music.
Bill Ward's drums thunder on with explosive fills that blend with Geezer Butler's amazing distorted basslines to make the rhythm section have more of a voice, much more of a lead instrument, rather than just the groove and time-keepers. 
They are as much of the Black Sabbath 'sound' as Ozzy is.
Bill Ward doesn't get enough credit and recognition for his contributions to Black Sabbath.
Bill Ward's wild, chaotic, complex, but rhythmic, drumming is amazing.
Bill Ward has a strange style, keeping the straight forward beat of typical rock drummers, but also playing around the riff, jazz-style, with accents, rolls and amazing cymbal work, instead of providing the steady back beat.
It's a perfect blend of soulful jazzy drumming mixed with the thunder of heavy metal.
Most of Sabbath's backbeat is provided by the combined guitar/bass riffs. 
Geezer Butler plays some amazing fuzzy dark basslines, usually slapping, but occasionally using a pick for precision.
The result of these 4 unique musicians is outstanding and what makes early Black Sabbath sound like no-other band.
~~ This record comes with 2 different early Warner Brothers inner sleeves that were still inside the jacket when I pulled it off my shelves.
One is a very early '$2 Limo' sleeve and the other is an early off-white Warner Brothers 'Loss Leaders' (WBLL) paper inner sleeve. I think the original 1971 copies came with a black WBLL inner, but these are both early Warner sleeves that add some authenticity and a nice touch to this early First pressing. (see pic) 
~~ This is an original First Pressing with the gatefold sleeve.
The gatefold is still in great condition. Clean and bright with a tight unsplit seam. No marks or stains. The light color of this gatefold is notorious for showing dirt, fingerprints and stains from various substances, but this one looks terrific. Crisp and clean. 
This album even revealed a nice loud, nostalgic, 'crack' when I opened it up to photograph it.
The gatefold reveals an awesome picture of the band, song titles, and recording and production information. Later pressings did away with the gatefold as it wasn't considered 'essential'. I think the gatefold adds a lot and 'completes' this album.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can't talk about Paranoid without mentioning the crazy album cover art.
Marcus Keef’s strange, fuzzy, long-exposure photograph, of a 'soldier' wearing pink-ish orange leggings and a cape, wielding a scimitar sword, holding a shield, and emerging from the dark woods like a crazed sci-fi Roman soldier on Acid.
Supposedly he's a 'War Pig', meant to be the originl title of the album, but it has to be one of the strangest album covers of all time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black Sabbath was made up of four blue-collar, working class lads from the tough city of Birmingham England.
Birmingham, at the time, was an economically struggling town with little hope, outlook or future for it's youth.
Early on, Black Sabbath realized that they had an out, that there was an alternative to going to war or going to work at a factory. They could form a band and sing and play their way to freedom, getting themselves out of the middle of Birmingham's turmoil.
Osbourne had worked in an abattoir, literally killing animals for a living, and had spent time in prison for burglary; Iommi lost the tips of two fingers on his last day at a sheet metal factory and was so determined to be in a band, he made his own prosthetics so he could play guitar. 
The guys in Black Sabbath had little left to lose and set about a career in rock’n’roll that was not only a way out of the doom and gloom of Birmingham but by playing their own style of music, with enthusiasm, it would free them and liberate them.
Their music was 'different' and their sound and lyrics were noticeably darker than what other bands were doing or writing at the time. This album is pretty much devoid of the 'flower power' scene that was happening in music at the time.
They wrote songs about the darker aspects of the world - war, drug abuse, mental illness, gang violence and apocalyptic scenarios that were on the minds of the youth of Birmingham at the time.
Geezer Butler recalled “I was fed up listening to every band and singer singing about falling in love or breaking up"...“I wanted a more meaningful, realistic, working-class point of view in my lyrics.”
Sabbath's songs and lyrics focused much more on real-world issues, singing about the dangers of technology, mutually assured destruction, mental breakdown, and drug abuse
The lyrics, although simple and rather clumsy at times, are utterly unrelentingly, depressingly dark. and reflect the actual hardships that they were experiencing and living thru at the time. 
Although the lyrics are simple, they paint fairly stark and honest images and they get their message across very well. 
Ozzy was the perfect voice for Sabbath's tales of madness and despair.
He delivers his vocals in a unique, emotional and convincing fashion and his voice creates the post-apocalyptic feel and atmosphere of the album perfectly.
'War Pigs' sung by anyone else but Ozzy just wouldn't have the same effect.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Paranoid' was famously recorded in just a couple of days due to both the band and the record label lacking any real funds.
As a positive consequence, those lacking funds also meant no access to mountains of drugs and rivers of booze while recording, which would have distracted them.
The band was forced to pull themselves together, go into the studio, and perform the songs efficiently, almost live, just like they had rehearsed them and polished them on tour.
As a result, the band sounds amazingly tight and the final mix had a clean, balanced sound, where every note by every instrument is clearly heard. It sounds raw, live and organic. Fantastic.
Sabbath's true power as a unified band really emerged on this record. 
The recording session was professionally engineered and produced, and there are no studio "experiments" in the band's playing or in the production. Just clean, raw, powerful music, very well recorded.
The performance of the band members is all top-notch, and the tempos of the songs, even the slower numbers, are all crushing and wicked. 
There are a few places where Tony overdubs himself on 2nd lead guitar, but the sound and playing is tight, hungry, and angry, and lacks any of the 'excesses of success' that would appear and 'spoil' later Sabbath albums.
'Paranoid' was a quantum leap forward from their debut, in terms of song writing and band cohesiveness. 
The songs are better composed, focused, and have a lot more aggression and energy. The whole band is much tighter, playing more as a single unit of interwoven energies. 
This is an album where the band knew what it wanted to do, and did it very effectively.
There are no cover songs either, just eight original compositions, all fully formed and well-constructed. A simple, short album. Just 8 songs, 4 per side, but what a perfect album. I personally don't think Side One of Paranoid has ever been bettered.
'Paranoid' features a heavier, tighter, and all around more refined sound, more compact and coherent songs, and has a distinctly heavier and doomier sound than their debut. 
Looking back, the production and mixing is pretty 'average' by today's s standards, but when you think about the year it was released, the short time it was recorded over, and the ridiculously low budget, the results are simply astonishing and amazing.
The album sounded fantastic when it was released. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures. I purchased this copy back in the early 70's, 50 years ago, on one of my regular vinyl digs in those days, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL:  The vinyl still looks very nice, clean and shiny.
There might be a few hairlines and paper scuffs, but no significant flaws. No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. It's been played a few times over the years, but always well taken care of. It still looks great. I'll call it at least VG+ as I rarely call any used vinyl EX. 
The Deadwax has the early etched matrix numbers and the Artisan mastering mark.
The pressing plant marks are very tiny and hard to see, but it looks like 'CS' or CM', which would make it a Santa Maria pressing, I think. Hard to say as the pressing plant marks aren't obvious.
See the full Matrix numbers above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how good it still looks. Still very clean and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 50 years, since Nixon was in office. It could use a good deep cleaning to make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is. 
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' early green Warner Brothers labels. An original 'greenie'.  This First Pressing has the early Green Warner Brothers labels with the orange 'shield' logo at the top, 'stereo' at the bottom and "Produced by Roger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises" across the label.
"Luke's Wall" and "Jack The Stripper" are not included in track listing on the back of the jacket, but are included on the labels.
The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 50 year old copy. 
Usually these dark jackets show significant wear and ringwear, but this copy still looks terrific.
These albums were typically played to death under unusual, sub-optimal conditions, so clean jackets and vinyl are quite rare. I took care of my records, even 50 years ago, and this one survived quite well.
There is some mild ringwear at the top of both the front and back covers, but not bad. (see pics)
The artwork is bold and bright, the colors just Pop and the corners are sharp.
The surfaces of the jacket is still smooth and beautiful. No dings or damage. A nice survivor.
As mentioned above, this still has 2 original early Warner inner sleeves, but likely not the 'correct' ones. That's something we never paid much attention to back then.
This has been stored in a poly-lined inner sleeve for decades.
This record has been sleeved and stored properly for Decades, and, as you can see from my pictures, is still quite nice for an early first pressing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Even today 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath remains a Quintessential masterpiece of Rock and Metal, and your Metal journey will not be complete without this album in your collection.
The fact that this amazing album came out 50 years ago just boggles my mind. Black Sabbath isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you like 70's rock, Heavy Rock and Heavy Metal and collect records, you really need this absolutely essential  album in your collection.
Add this classic, First Pressing, green label copy of 'Paranoid' to yor collection today.
~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS AND WE WISH YOU MUCH PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN THE YEAR TO COME!! ~~ JOHN