Ten Albums I Listened to A Lot in 2016: #03 - Black Sabbath "Paranoid"

I went on an old-school kick for a major part of 2016, listening to Bill Ward's magic on the drums, Ozzy's vocals, Tony Iommi's guitar wizardy and Geezer Butler's bass rumblings. Black Sabbath went on their Farewell tour and while I would have loved to see them in concert, it didn't work out. The closest they played to my home was Omaha, NE, and (I think) it was on a night when I had other commitments. The other newsworthy item about the band in 2016 is that there was a feud between Bill Ward and the other 3 members. Sharon Osbourne was involved and it all went to hell. Listening to "Paranoid" was my way of ignoring all the bad words being flung at each other by the four members. It was really sad for me because, with all the great musicians that have passed away, here was Black Sabbath, with all 4 original members "still alive" and they were unable to figure out how to go on a farewell tour together.

I would argue that I am not really a Black Sabbath "fan" because, frankly, outside of this album, I know very little of the band's material. I know I have spot-checked some of the band's other releases, but probably because I heard this album first, it is my favorite Black Sabbath release. Maybe some day, in the future, I will ingest the rest of the band's material and be able to judge, perhaps more fairly, where this album fits into their catalog. For 2016, though, I am content to say it is the BEST Black Sabbath album they ever released.

Notes from the Editor:

• Including an album in this Top Ten list should not imply an endorsement of the album as being "good" - nothing in the title of these posts states that these are "Ten GOOD Albums I Listened to A Lot in 2016". Pay attention to details.
• Also, this is a post in a series of 10 that began being published at 7:30 PM on 12/28. The #1 album was to be posted at 11:59 PM on 12/28, with this schedule, but sometimes "life" takes away plans.
  1159 - 1
  1129 - 2
  1059 - 3
  1029 - 4
  0959 - 5
  0929 - 6
  0859 - 7
  0829 - 8
  0759 - 9
  0729 - 10