~ 
Side 2:
B1 - Orchid, written by Iommi* - 2:00
B2 - Lord Of This World, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 4:55
B3 - Solitude, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 8:08
B4 - Into The Void, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 3:08
Companies, etc.
Distributed By – RCA Music Service – R113365
Manufactured By – RCA Music Service – R113365
Produced For – Tony Hall Enterprises
Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Credits:
Art Direction – Mike Stanford
Design – Bloomsbury Group
Photography By [Poster] – Keef (4)
Producer – Rodger Bain
Notes:
RCA Record Club edition.
Has the code R113365 printed in white on the back of sleeve.
Green WB shield center labels w/ correct album title, & "After Forever (Including The Elegy)" as A2, credited to "Iommi-Ward-Osbourne-Butler".
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Today is the birthday of Tony Iommi, lead guitarist, co-founder & leader of heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. Iommi was ranked number 25 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
This is remarkable as, at
the age of 17, Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of
his right hand in an industrial accident on his last day of work in a
sheet metal factory.
Iommi described how he "was told 'you'll never play again'. It was just
unbelievable. I sat in the hospital with my hand in this bag and I
thought, that's it – I'm finished. But eventually I thought 'I'm not
going to accept that. There must be a way I can play'." After the
injury Iommi's factory foreman played him a recording of famous jazz
guitarist Django Reinhardt, which encouraged him to continue as a musician. As Iommi later wrote:
"My friend said, "Listen to this guy play", and I went, "No way! Listening to someone play the guitar is the very last thing I want to do right now!" But he kept insisting and he ended up playing the record for me. I told him I thought it was really good and then he said, 'You know, the guy's only playing with two fingers on his fretboard hand because of an injury he sustained in a terrible fire.' I was totally knocked back by this revelation and was so impressed by what I had just heard that I suddenly became inspired to start trying to play again."
Inspired by Reinhardt's two-fingered guitar playing, Iommi decided to
try playing guitar again, though the injury made it quite painful to do
so.
Although it was an option, Iommi never seriously considered switching
hands and learning to play right-handed. In an interview with Guitar World magazine, he was asked if he was "ever tempted to switch to right-handed playing." Iommi responded:
If I knew what I know now I probably would have switched. At the time I had already been playing two or three years, and it seemed like I had been playing a long time. I thought I’d never be able to change the way I played. The reality of the situation was that I hadn’t been playing very long at all, and I probably could have spent the same amount of time learning to play right handed. I did have a go at it, but I just didn’t have the patience. It seemed impossible to me. I decided to make do with what I had, and I made some plastic fingertips for myself. I just persevered with it.
Iommi had always played the guitar left-handed, so, he ultimately decided to continue playing it that way but had to make adjustments. He also began tuning his guitar to lower pitches, sometimes as far as three semitones below standard guitar tuning (e.g., on Children of the Grave, Lord of this World, and Into the Void, all on Master of Reality).
Although Iommi states that the main purpose of doing so was to create a
"bigger, heavier sound", slackening the strings makes it easier to bend
them. He reflected in 2016 saying that his greatest regret is losing his fingertips.
Some people say it helped me invent the kind of music I play, but I don’t know whether it did. It’s just something I’ve had to learn to live with. It affects your playing style; you can’t feel the strings, and there are certain chords I can’t play. Right at the beginning I was told by doctors: “You won’t be playing guitar.” But I believed I could do it, and I did.
I find this very interesting as Into the Void is one of the three songs I like the best on this album; the other two are Orchid and Solitude. Orchid is a quiet but fastly played guitar with could be a double bass or even an organ synth instrumental. Solitude is also a quiet and gentle trio with guitar, flute and voice; it has a moderately slow waltz tempo.
Also of interest, on Sabbath's first album there is a guitar, Jew's harp and vocal intro, A Bit of Finger that goes into the song, Sleeping Village; Finger is very quiet, almost wistful and very beautiful. (link below).
The album cover is pretty interesting as well; it is embossed. It's a little difficult to see but if you look hard you can make out the texture in the photo below.
vinyl LP front cover embossed detail
Design: Bloomsbury Group
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
On February 19, 1948, Iommi was born and ultimately raised in Handsworth, Birmingham, and attended Birchfield Road School, where future bandmate Ozzy Osbourne
was also a student one year behind him. At age 8 or 9, while being
chased by another boy, Iommi fell and suffered a bad cut on his upper
lip.
As a result, he gained the nickname "Scarface", which made him more
self-conscious of the scar, so he eventually grew his trademark
moustache as a means of covering it.
At about age 10, Iommi began working out and learned marshal arts and boxing as a means of protecting himself from the local gangs which congregated in his neighborhood.
He initially wanted to play the drums, but due to the
noise he chose the guitar instead as a teenager, after being inspired by Hank Marvin and the Shadows.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - Sweet Leaf, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 5:02
A2 - After Forever (Including The Elegy), written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 5:25
A3 - Embryo, written by Iommi* - 0:30
A4 - Children Of The Grave, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 5:15
A2 - After Forever (Including The Elegy), written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 5:25
A3 - Embryo, written by Iommi* - 0:30
A4 - Children Of The Grave, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 5:15
Side 2:
B1 - Orchid, written by Iommi* - 2:00
B2 - Lord Of This World, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 4:55
B3 - Solitude, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 8:08
B4 - Into The Void, written by Ward*, Osbourne*, Butler*, Iommi* - 3:08
Companies, etc.
Distributed By – RCA Music Service – R113365
Manufactured By – RCA Music Service – R113365
Produced For – Tony Hall Enterprises
Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Credits:
Art Direction – Mike Stanford
Design – Bloomsbury Group
Photography By [Poster] – Keef (4)
Producer – Rodger Bain
Notes:
RCA Record Club edition.
Has the code R113365 printed in white on the back of sleeve.
Green WB shield center labels w/ correct album title, & "After Forever (Including The Elegy)" as A2, credited to "Iommi-Ward-Osbourne-Butler".
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Label A): R113365A
Matrix / Runout (Label A): (S39928)
Matrix / Runout (Label B): R113365B
Matrix / Runout (Label B): (S39929)
Matrix / Runout (Label A): (S39928)
Matrix / Runout (Label B): R113365B
Matrix / Runout (Label B): (S39929)
Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality
Label: Warner Bros. Records – BS 2562, Warner Bros. Records – 2562
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Club Edition, Embossed Cover
Country: US
Released: 1971
Genre: Rock
Style: Heavy Metal
Label: Warner Bros. Records – BS 2562, Warner Bros. Records – 2562
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Club Edition, Embossed Cover
Country: US
Released: 1971
Genre: Rock
Style: Heavy Metal
Viewfinder links:
