Considered by many to be the first heavy metal band, Black Sabbath was formed in 1968 by Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. The band's original name was the Polka Tulk Blues Band (later shortened to Polka Tulk) and later Earth before becoming Black Sabbath.
Contents. Recording The first new recording Black Sabbath made after the Heaven and Hell album was a version of the title track ' for the soundtrack of the film. The track 'E5150' is also heard in the film but not included on the soundtrack. According to guitarist 's autobiography Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath, the band began writing and rehearsing songs for Mob Rules at a rented house in Toluca Lake in Los Angeles. Initially the band hoped to record in their own studio to save money and actually purchased a sound desk; but, according to Iommi, 'We just couldn't get a guitar sound.
We tried it in the studio. We tried it in the hallway. We tried it everywhere but it just wasn't working. We'd bought a studio and it wasn't working!' The band eventually recorded the album at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
Mob Rules was the first Sabbath album to feature on drums, who had replaced original member in the middle of. Asked by in 2007 if working with a new drummer was jarring after so many years, bassist and lyricist replied, 'No, because Vinnie was a big fan of the band and loved Bill's playing. Bill was one of his favourite drummers and so he knew all his parts and my bass parts and he adjusted accordingly to everybody in the band. He was brilliant.
He came in and totally filled in Bill's shoes.' In an interview for the concert film Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven and Hell, Butler cites 'The Sign of the Southern Cross' as his favourite Mob Rules track because 'it gave me a chance to experiment with some bass effects'.
The album was the last time the band worked with producer and engineer Martin Birch, who went on to work with until his retirement in 1992. Iommi explained to Guitar World in 1992, 'We were all going through a lot of problems at that time, most of it related to drugs. Even the producer, Martin Birch, was having drug problems, and it hurt the sound of that record. Once that happens to your producer, you’re really screwed.'
Mob Rules would be singer 's second and final studio recording with Black Sabbath until the Mob Rules-era line-up reunited for 1992's Dehumanizer. The seeds of discontent appear to have sprouted when Dio was offered a solo deal by, with Iommi stating in his memoir, 'After the ( Heaven and Hell) record became such a great success, Warner Brothers extended the contract at the same time, offering Ronnie a solo deal. That felt a bit odd to us, because we were a band and we didn't want to separate anybody.'
Dio confided in an interview on the Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven and Hell DVD that the recording of Mob Rules was far more difficult for him than Heaven and Hell because 'we approached the writing very much differently than the first one. Geezer had gone so we wrote in a very controlled environment in a living room with little amplifiers.
And with Mob Rules we hired a studio, turned up as loud as possible and smashed through it all. So it made for a different kind of an attitude'. Iommi reflected to Guitar World in 1992, ' Mob Rules was a confusing album for us.
We started writing songs differently for some reason, and ended up not using a lot of really great material. That line-up was really great, and the whole thing fell apart for very silly reasons — we were all acting like children.' The major problem, noted by Mick Wall in his book Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe, was that the balance of power within the band had shifted: 'With Bill and Ozzy happy to leave the heavy lifting to Tony and Geezer, in terms of songwriting, coming into the studio only when they were called, even as their flair deserted them over the final, dismal Ozzy-era albums, at least everybody knew where they stood. Now, though, the creative chemistry had shifted.' 'I still like that album,' Iommi reflected in 1997. Artwork The cover art is a modified version of artist 's piece entitled Dream 1: Crucifiers from 1971, with Black Sabbath licensing its use for the cover of Mob Rules.
Some fans claim the name 'Ozzy' was spelled out on the album cover, something Iommi dismisses as 'rubbish' in his autobiography: 'There was a little controversy about some stains on the floor in the picture. According to some people it spelled out 'Ozzy'.
Somebody mentioned it to us and we went: 'What?' .I never noticed anything and I still wouldn't know where to find it.'
Release and reception Mob Rules was released on November 4, 1981 to mixed reviews. It went gold and in the UK it reached the Top 20 and spawned two chart singles, the title track and 'Turn Up the Night'. 's Greg Prato calls the album 'underrated' and enthuses, ' Mob Rules was given a much punchier, in-your-face mix by Birch, who seemed re-energized after his work on upstarts Iron Maiden's album. Essentially, Mob Rules is a magnificent record, with the only serious problem being the sequencing of the material, which mirrors Heaven and Hell's almost to a tee.' Iommi acknowledged this common criticism in his memoir, admitting that he was frustrated at being accused of making Heaven and Hell part two' and speculating that the band would have been criticised regardless of their approach. Appraising the album in the February 1986 edition of Rolling Stone, writer J.D. Constantine trashed Mob Rules.
Profiling the album in 2008, Bryan Reesman noted, 'Even with Dio bringing in more fantasy-based lyrics, and moving the group away from seemingly verses, the title track to Mob Rules, not to mention its menacing cover, could easily imply a call to. But beyond the snarling guitars and vocals is actually a cautionary tale against mindless mayhem.' Track listing All songs were written by, and. All lyrics were written by except where noted. Title Length 1. 'Turn Up the Night' 3:42 2. 'Voodoo' 4:32 3.
'The Sign of the Southern Cross' 7:46 4. 'E5150' 2:54 5. ' 3:14 Side two No. Title Length 6.
'Country Girl' 4:02 7. 'Slipping Away' 3:45 8. 'Falling Off the Edge of the World' 5:02 9. 'Over and Over' 5:28 2010 Deluxe Edition Disc 2 is a repackaging of the previously released Limited Edition CD Disc 1 No. Title Length 1.
'Turn Up the Night' 3:42 2. 'Voodoo' 4:32 3. 'The Sign of the Southern Cross' 7:44 4. 'E5150' 2:54 5. 'Country Girl' 4:02 7.
'Slipping Away' 3:42 8. 'Falling Off the Edge of the World' 5:03 9. 'Over and Over' 5:28 10. 'Die Young' (Live, 12' Single B-Side of Mob Rules) 4:04 11. 'The Mob Rules' 3:14 Disc 2 No.
Title Recording date Length 1. 'E5150' 2 January 1982 1:18 2. ' (Dio, Iommi, Butler, ) 2 January 1982 4:37 3.
' (, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 1 January 1982 5:16 4. ' (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 1 January 1982 6:07 5. 'Country Girl' 1 January 1982 3:53 6.
' (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 31 December 1981 8:24 7. ' (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 1 January 1982 7:40 8. 'Slipping Away' 31 December 1981 3:18 9. ' (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 1 January 1982 7:04 10. ' 31 December 1981 3:35 11. ' (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 1 January 1982 14:24 12.
' (Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, Ward) 31 December 1981 3:21 13. 'Voodoo' 2 January 1982 5:45 14.
Rivadavia, Eduardo. Retrieved 24 January 2009. (19 February 1986). Retrieved 28 February 2012. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
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(1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties., Canada:. Retrieved 24 January 2009. Saulnier, Jason (24 March 2012). Music Legends.
Retrieved 6 May 2013. Scott, Peter (May 1998). 'Tony Iommi Interview'. Southern Cross (Sabbath ) #21. Prato, Greg.
Retrieved 14 September 2011. ^ Mob Rules (CD) album notes. Records, Inc. Retrieved 24 January 2009. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. Select albums in the Format field. Enter Mob Rules in the search field and then press Enter.
TRACKLIST: Artist: Black Sabbath Country: UK Release: Mob Rules Deluxe Edition Year: 1981 Genre: Heavy Metal File Type: mp3 320 Info: Mob Rules is the second of the two 'original' Dio-era Black Sabbath albums. It is both similar to its predecessor, Heaven and Hell, as well as very different. The album is just as heavy yet more consistent. The highs of Mob Rules ('Turn Up the Night,' 'Falling Off the Edge of the World') are not quite as high as Heaven and Hell ('Neon Knights,' 'Heaven and Hell') but the lows ('Country Girl,' 'Over and Over') aren't as low ('Lady Evil,' 'Walk Away.'