BLACK SABBATH - VOL 4 1st UK Press VERTIGO SWIRL 1Y//1 2Y//1 EX "PORKY PECKO"

	£		101
	$		134

BLACK SABBATH -

"VOL 4"

                                                   VERTIGO
                                                    6360 071
                                            First Press UK 1972
                                   Machined matrices: 1Y//1 2Y//1 

This is an original first press with the correct earliest matrices AND "PORKY" "PECKO" etched into the run-out grooves. The vinyl is in an astonishing condition with only light retraction wispy traces to be seen under a strong light. A carefully looked after copy that has not been played much at all. Most of these were trashed and few survive especially in this marvellous condition. An upgrade for most collectors. I have played this in full on my high end equipment and the audio was as said astounding all the way through with no distracting features.

Vol. 4 sees Black Sabbath beginning to experiment with the heavy sound they had become known for. Although most of the album's songs are in the band's trademark heavy style, others demonstrate a more sensitive approach which the band had never attempted before. Perhaps the best example of this experimentation can be heard in the song "Changes". Written by Tony Iommi with lyrics composed by Butler, it is entirely in the form of a piano ballad with mellotron. Guitarist Iommi taught himself to play the piano after finding one in the ballroom of the Bel-Air mansion they were renting. It was on this piano that the song "Changes" was composed.

The album, Tony Iommi told Circus's sister magazine Circus Raves, "was such a complete change, we felt we had jumped an album, really… We had tried to go too far."

Black Sabbath have been quite candid about their heavy use of cocaine during the making of Vol. 4. Musically, the song "Snowblind" is perhaps the band's most blatant ode to the drug. "Snowblind" was also the album's working title, but Vertigo Records executives were quite reluctant to release an album with such an obvious drug reference as its title. The album's liner notes also thank "the great COKE-cola", another blatant ode to the band's cocaine use.

In June 1972, Black Sabbath reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their fourth album at the Record Plant Studios. The recording process was plagued with problems, many due to substance abuse issues. In the studio, the band regularly had large speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered. While struggling to record the song "Cornucopia" after "sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs" Bill Ward feared that he was about to be fired from the band. "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just horrible", Ward said. "I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like 'Well, just go home, you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired".

Vinyl: EX to EX+. A splendid vinyl that sounds marvellous all the way through. It has some wispy retraction type traces but is an above average quality vinyl that would please most collectors. This has a beautiful deep glossy sheen. It is indeed really hard to find early Sabbath vinyl in this great condition. Of course this is the earliest ultra heavy quality vinyl being an original first press. 1Y//1 and 2Y//1 matrices. Needless to say, NO skips, NO jumps, NO crackle. Not very many out there left now ....

Gatefold sleeve: VG++ to EX. Finding this matt sleeve without any damage is probably impossible. This is definitely one of the better ones although not perfect. "Printed and made by Howards Printers (Slough) Ltd."  Light wear on the spine and corners but sits fully flat without creasing and still has a crisp sharp opening. This has the full inner photo booklet still attached.The pictures tell all. VO Price Code" to the back. NO writing and NO smudging.

Inner swirl sleeve: EX. NO seam splits. This is the original Swirl inner polylined sleeve.

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