Sold Date: June 5, 2017
Start Date: May 29, 2017
Final Price: £63.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 19
Seller Feedback: 2573
Buyer Feedback: 18

BLACK SABBATH - 

VO 6

VERTIGO

 UK Press 1970

Machined matrices  1Y//1   2Y//1

This auction is for the formidable first self titled Black Sabbath album. This is a fantastic classic album that needs exploring by all lovers of well crafted music. 

's debut album is the birth of heavy metal as we now know it. Compatriots like , , and  were already setting new standards for volume and heaviness in the realms of psychedelia, blues-rock, and prog rock. Yet of these metal pioneers,  are the only one whose sound today remains instantly recognizable as heavy metal, even after decades of evolution in the genre. Circumstance certainly played some role in the birth of this musical revolution -- the sonic ugliness reflecting the bleak industrial nightmare of Birmingham; guitarist 's loss of two fingertips, which required him to play slower and to slacken the strings by tuning his guitar down, thus creating 's signature style. These qualities set the band apart, but they weren't wholly why this debut album transcends its clear roots in blues-rock and psychedelia to become something more.

 's genius was finding the hidden malevolence in the blues, and then bludgeoning the listener over the head with it. Take the legendary album-opening title cut. The standard pentatonic blues scale always added the tritone, or flatted fifth, as the so-called "blues note";  simply extracted it and came up with one of the simplest yet most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time. Thematically, most of heavy metal's great lyrical obsessions are not only here, they're all crammed onto side one. "Black Sabbath," "The Wizard," "Behind the Wall of Sleep," and "N.I.B." evoke visions of evil, paganism, and the occult as filtered through horror films and the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft, and Dennis Wheatley. Even if the album ended here, it would still be essential listening.

I have played this in FULL> The replay is ASTOUNDING!!! There are not any jumps, pops or skips.  One very shallow wispy hairline on side 1. Otherwise just the usual paer retraction traces produced by taking the vinyl in and out of its inner sleeve, these are not visible in normal daylight, just under a very strong light source.Very remarkable for this 1970 vinyl!!! The vinyl with high groovewalls provides a great audio experience with channelling not equalled by later re-issues. I played this on my Technics turntable with a Linn cartridge and through my very revealing B&W three way speakers!!! A beautiful CLASSIC with supreme songcraft, a joy to listen to!!!! 

ELUSIVE PROGMONSTER!!!! VINYL IN A GREAT ABOVE AVERAGE EX CONDITION!!!

****ELUSIVE HEAVY PROG MONSTER!!!****PERPLEXING SONGCRAFT!!!***AN INSPIRATION TO MANY SUBSEQUENT TOPACTS!!!***

Vinyl: EX .  A sensational find!!! I have played this in FULL twice over> The replay is ASTOUNDING!!! I first played for a general listen and a second time for a more detailed observation. Only one hairline can be spotted but does not have any audio effect apart from two low level clicks and that's it!! Fantastic songcraft!! This will be an upgrade version for most collectors. Outstanding audio delivery in all respects with a crystal clear, deep, rich, warm and detailed sound and on playback at a loud volume (which is how I always listen to my LPs prior to listing and it's always an immense pleasure to return to this one) there is barely ever any surface noise. This is a great clean pressing (and I must emphasise again how difficult it is to find a copy which plays this well). The whole LP sounds absolutely great and plays to a high standard with superb clarity, no groove-wear and no distortion and is very strictly graded a strong VG++ to EX  for audio without anything untoward, barely any static or crackle at all - great copy!! Of course, NO skips, NO jumps.

Gatefold Sleeve: EX.  A gatefold sleeve with fantastic colours and without any damage whatsoever, just light moderate storage wear on the top and bottom edges. No splits and no creases. No writing or marks. All in all this is in the top 10% bracket for this sleeve. The spine is still 100% although the red writing has faded somewhat and looks pinkish. This will please most heavy psych/prog/metal collectors.

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.