BLACK SABBATH PARANOID ULTRA-RARE ORIG ‘70 WARNER WHITE LABEL PROMO LP

$

113

BLACK SABBATH – PARANOID – ORIGINAL  WARNER BROTHERS 1970 STEREO LP WS-1887

ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

*** WHITE LABEL PROMO ***

ORIGINAL WARNER BROTHERS LABEL WITH A “SHIELD” (WB) LOGO AT THE TOP OF THE LABEL, EARLY 70’s STYLE, WHITE PROMOTIONAL VERSION

ARTISAN PRESSING, PASSADENA, CA

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER, MADE OF THICK CARDBOARD (AMERICAN STYLE)

CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

FAIRLY THICK VINYL PRESSING

MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-1B/-1B'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!) 

Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath's most popular record (it was a number one smash in the U.K., and "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" both scraped the U.S. charts despite virtually nonexistent radio play), it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. Paranoid refined Black Sabbath's signature sound -- crushingly loud, minor-key dirges loosely based on heavy blues-rock -- and applied it to a newly consistent set of songs with utterly memorable riffs, most of which now rank as all-time metal classics. Where the extended, multi-sectioned songs on the debut sometimes felt like aimless jams, their counterparts on Paranoid have been given focus and direction, lending an epic drama to now-standards like "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" (which sports one of the most immediately identifiable riffs in metal history). The subject matter is unrelentingly, obsessively dark, covering both supernatural/sci-fi horrors and the real-life traumas of death, war, nuclear annihilation, mental illness, drug hallucinations, and narcotic abuse. Yet Sabbath makes it totally convincing, thanks to the crawling, muddled bleakness and bad-trip depression evoked so frighteningly well by their music. Even the qualities that have caused critics to regret the album (and group) over the years reinforce the overall effect. It's the technical simplicity of Ozzy Osbourne's vocals and Tony Iommi's lead guitar vocabulary. Where the lyrics fall into melodrama and clumsiness. Lack of subtlety and rare dynamic contrast. Everything is more than the sum of its parts, as if the fear behind the music simply required the band to achieve catharsis by beating everything in its path, including its own limits. Monolithic and inherently powerful, Paranoid defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history.

IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; I grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

THE VINYL HAS MULTIPLE LIGHT MARKS THAT WILL CAUSE NOISE WHEN PLAYED.

The record comes in the original stock inner sleeve.

The record is pressed on a fairly thick, inflexible vinyl. This is NOT a thin, flimsy ('dynaflex' type), vinyl, but not the thickest, most rigid vinyl, either.

This is the White Promo Label version of this title and is much rarer that a regular, commercially released, version of this title. It has been estimated that stock copies of this album outnumber promo copies by a ratio of at least 100:1.

Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

THE COVER IS ALSO VG FOR GENERAL WEAR (SEE PHOTOS). BUT THERE ARE NO SEAM SPLITS AND THE SPINE IS SOLID.

International shipping is through the Global Shipping Program.