BLACK SABBATH - Universal Music To Issue Paranoid On Double Vinyl And Deluxe 3 CD Set
Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 13:03:52 EST

BW&BK have received the following press release:

Throughout the history of rock some albums are considered to be historic works either for breaking a new sound or transforming a little known band into Icons of their genre.

IRON MAIDEN's debut album, METALLICA's Black Album, LED ZEPPELIN's IV and BLACK SABBATH's Paranoid are just four legendary albums of a list of possibly only 10 or 12 masterpieces.

On September 29th, Universal Music are issuing Black Sabbath Paranoid on Double Vinyl and a Deluxe 3CD Set.

Paranoid is the second album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. It was released in the United Kingdom during September 1970, and contains some of their most famous work, including the songs 'Iron Man', 'War Pigs' and the title track. The album is regarded as a classic of the heavy metal genre and one of the most influental heavy metal albums. It has been certified 4x Platinum, having sold over four million copies in the US alone, making it Black Sabbath's best-selling album.

The 'Paranoid' single, released before the album, reached number four in the UK. Pushed by its success, the album hit number one in the UK, and is the only Black Sabbath album to have done so. The US release was held until January 1971, as the Black Sabbath album was still on the charts at the time of Paranoid's UK release. The album broke into the top ten in the US in March 1971, and would go on to sell four million copies in the US alone, with virtually no radio airplay.

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2008 digitally remastered and expanded deluxe three CD edition of the classic sophomore album from the Heavy Metal kingpins led by Ozzy Osbourne. Originally released in 1970, [title]Paranoid[/title] still stands as an important milestone in the history of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. This ultimate edition features a beautifully remastered version of the album, an alternate version of the album including instrumental mixes, alternate recordings and more plus the SACD 5.1 audio mix of the album. Majestic Metal, indeed. Sanctuary.

Disc 1 (Original Album):
1. 'War Pigs'
2. 'Paranoid'
3. 'Planet Caravan'
4. 'Iron Man'
5. 'Electric Funeral'
6. 'Hand Of Doom'
7. 'Rat Salad'
8. 'Fairies Wear Boots'

Disc 2 (SACD - 1974 Quadraphonic Mix):
1. 'War Pigs'
2. 'Paranoid'
3. 'Planet Caravan'
4. 'Iron Man'
5. 'Electric Funeral'
6. 'Hand Of Doom'
7. 'Rat Salad'
8. 'Fairies Wear Boots'

Disc 3 (Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks):
(Tracks 1-8 recorded at Regent Sound Studios, June 16th and 17th, 1970)
1. 'War Pigs' (instrumental)
2. 'Paranoid' (alternative lyrical version)
3. 'Planet Caravan' (alternative lyrical version)
4. 'Iron Man' (instrumental)
5. 'Electric Funeral' (instrumental)
6. 'Hand Of Doom' (instrumental)
7. 'Rat Salad' (instrumental)
8. 'Fairies Wear Boots' (instrumental)

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D2AYCI/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001D2AYCI/?tag=imwan-21

This will certainly be a British import, because Sanctuary Music(which was recently purchased by Universal Music) has only the non-U.S.A. rights on the first 8 Black Sabbath albums. No problem though. I'll order the import.

I fail to see why they're including the quadrophonic mix. Well, I guess it's so they can say it's a "three-disc" set. As a two disc set, it's intriguing. Probably too expensive for me, so I'll pass. Would have made one hell of a "deluxe edition." Maybe Rhino will give this some sort of US release.

Here's why there will never be any U.S. release: despite Warner Bros.' perpetual U.S.A. license on the first 8 Black Sabbath albums, It's Sanctuary who owns the recordings(and posesses the masters & multitracks). But deals made decades ago ensure that Sanctuary will never have the U.S.A. rights(a similar situations exists on the 1967-70 Kinks recordings). From a business standpoint, Why should Sanctuary give Warner Bros. Records access to the unreleased material? In the end, Sanctuary gets our business(on an imported basis) whether or not they can actually officially release their 3-disc set in the U.S.A.(same as with their 3-CD set of "The Kinks-Village Green Preservation Society")

Yes, Warner Bros. Records does have a copy tape of the "Paranoid" quadrophonic mix in their archives, but these days, the only type of surround sound releases that Warner Music Group does is lossy compressed Dolby Digital & DTS. They can stuff their low-rez surround releases. We audiophiles want SACD or DVD-Audio. Sanctuary is going to give us SACD. Bravo!

Ahh, I didn't need to buy another version of Paranoid anyway! There are some "basement tape" versions of the early Sabs songs on the original pressing of Ozzy's comp The Ozzman Cometh, so I guess those will have to suffice.

Surely they could find some live stuff from this period to include in this. That would be much better to me than instrumental versions and quad mixes.

For those of us who like surround sound, I look forward to again hearing the Quad mix for the first time since the mid-1970's(when I had equipment to play quadrophonic records & tapes)

Pretty weak I must say. There are a handful of deluxe reissues that deserve the term deluxe, this is not one of them. For the hefty 3-disc price we get a alternate mix and a few instrumental versions- who gives a shit.
There must be better vintage Sabbath archives in the vaults, right? Radio shows, concerts, studio outtakes?
Are these releases meant to hasten the death of the CD?

Withhold judgement until you actually hear the quadrophonic(I.E. 4.0 surround) version of the album. I assure you that it will be worth it.

It's way past time for this album to be given a sound upgrade. I've never heard the Quad mix, so will be looking forward to that one.
Agree with Technophallus, though, on the third disc. That one sounds like a bunch of junk that would be better left in the vaults.

Oh I'm sure the quad mix will be great. But the album isn't close to 80 minutes long and they could have packed a lot more into this to make it truly definitive (as the album deserves). They've spread 1.5 discs worth of material out to 3 discs. Sheer greed.

Does Dolby Pro Logic II have any effect on a CD with a quad mix? I think I read somewhere that it does, but I fail to see how it could.

It decodes QS correctly and adds some logically extrapolated centre channel and subwoofer information. Unfortunately most of the quad mixes which have appeared on CD are SQ, not QS, and DPLII is hit and miss with that ~ about as successful as it is with plain stereo mixes. Sometimes great, sometimes weird and "wrong" sounding.

QS? SQ? Please don't make me go to the Hoffman board for explanations, Miss Linda.

Please clarify.

You're unlikely to get explanations there, Chris. You'll probably get the standard "We only have two ears therefore stereo is good enough, right Steve?"

Quad had multiple encoding formats such as SQ, QS and Q4. DPLII can decode QS recordings on CD into the original 4-channel mix plus additional info in the other two speakers (which you can switch off if you want to hear the pure original mix as envisioned by the artist and producer).

For the record, the original format for the "Black Sabbath-Paranoid" Quadrophonic L.P. was CD-4(Also known as quadradisc). This featured discrete(pure) separation, required a special phono stylus(Shibata sylus) and a "Demodulator" box(Technics made them). The records featured the music plus ultrasonic signals(up to 45Khz) which told the demodulator how to reconstruct the music into quadrophonic. The down side:if the ultrasonic frequencies eventually wore off the vinyl, the record could no longer be successfully demodulated. CD-4 was supported by RCA & Warner/Elektra/Atlantic.

Amazon is currently showing this as an SACD. Assuming that's true, will the hi-rez layer contain the original quad mix in 4.0?

I have a Deep Purple Machine Head CD with some quad mixes included. How do I know which quad format I have? Is there a way to identify? I believe the Allman Bros. box has some quad mixes as I recall, too.

Not that this is related to Sabbath, but I picked up Joe's Garage by Zappa this weekend. That puppy sounds trippy in Dolby Pro Logic II. Some weird panning between back and front speakers. And this is my first time hearing this album. I don't think you'd even need a discrete surround mix for this one!

As a Sabbath fanatic, I have no interest in this. And, if this is from the masters that Sanctuary has, it will be inferior, as the masters that Rhino has (I believe they are the originals-not quite sure) blow away the Sanctuary ones (which were originally owned by Castle before Sanctuary bought them out).
One listen to the Rhino masters is all a Sabbath fan would need for proof of how amazing they sound-it's not even close.
I'm sure the band has little if not nothing to do with this-they had nothing to do with the previous Castle/Sanctuary masters. The Quad mixes are radically different-my friend had that on LP years ago, but I don't care too much, and that third disc is useless crap.
I guess Phil might know what the deal is with the rights issues with Sanctuary in the UK and Warner/Rhino in the US, but I have the Sanctuary Sabbath remasters and some are OK, others have a slew of glitches and the Rhino ones are beautiful.
I'd expect this to remain a UK release.

Seems like a amazingly USELESS release . The Quad mix when folded to stereo is pretty much the same and a WHOLE CD of Ozzy-less Sabbath seems torturous. Funny how people are slobbering over this elsewhere. But posters here "get it".

I wonder why record companies don't make these things worthwhile? Seems like more than a few of us here would actually jump at the chance to buy a real deluxe version. Are they just putting in the very least amount of effort that will make a 3-disc Paranoid seem worth buying to the largest amount of ignorami?

Unless that Quad mix disc is an SACD Hybrid Multichannel like the Moody Blues imports a few years ago, this release is a waste.