Greatest Hits

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Distilling the Black Sabbath years with Ozzy Osbourne as their lead singer into one solid album is only difficult in terms of what to leave <i>off</i>. Anyone with a competent knowledge of the band’s eight albums together (before their 2013 reunion album, <i>13</i>) would be able to count off 20 or 30 songs worthy of such a collection. Final edits are brutal. An earlier collection from the vinyl era—<i>We Sold Our Soul for Rock ’n’ Roll</i>—created a decent 16-track (sometimes 17, depending on the issue) double album from the first <i>six</i> albums. This was tougher. “Dirty Women” aside, there isn’t a debatable track here. All tracks from the first side of the self-titled debut are here. The three big songs from <i>Paranoid</i> are present (“War Pigs,” “Paranoid,” “Iron Man”). Two strong songs from <i>Master of Reality</i> (“Sweet Leaf,” “Children of the Grave”) are also chosen, and a generous three tunes from <i>Vol. 4</i> make the cut. One track apiece from <i>Sabbath Bloody Sabbath</i>, <i>Sabotage</i> and <i>Never Say Die</i> and <i>two</i> from their penultimate album together <i>Technical Ecstasy</i> round off the collection. Bravo!

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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