13. Black SabbathHeaven And Hell
Without question the finest album ever made is this 1980 classic. There is no argument about it; if you think otherwise, you are wrong. It also has the greatest cover.
It’s a wonderful sleeve: subtle, perfect and very funny. Angels having a cheeky fag and a little flutter. An afterlife of utopian perfection would in all reality be a very boring existence. Eternity without angst, infraction and disappointment? It’s not for me. I need a little bit of misery and futility, it makes life worth living. As Ronnie tells us on the album: "They say that life’s a carousel. Spinning fast, you’ve got to ride it well."
The cover is called ‘Smoking Angels’ by Lynn Curlee and is inspired (or stolen, depending on your interpretation) from a 1928 photograph of women having a fag break at a college pageant.
