5. Black SabbathSabbath Bloody Sabbath
This came out the year I was born but I came to it when I was in my metal phase. All my records were from Woolworths and John Menzies in Falkirk back then. The first record I got of theirs was called The Sabbath Collection, that’s where I first heard them, then I got into their back catalogue. I love the production on this record. I love the fact that it’s not a dumb metal record.
A lot of people hear Black Sabbath, they hear ‘Paranoid’ or ‘Iron Man’ and they think, oh yeah, doof doof, three-chord music for idiots. But this album is all over the place, and it’s quite intricate. I love the percussive outros, and there’s almost jazz influences in there. There’s lots of overdubs and stuff, too. I know this because I’ve read three Black Sabbath biographies in the past two years. Rick Wakeman plays on this album. He’s the piano player on ‘Sabbra Cadabra’, that’s my favourite song. I love the guitar playing. And the title track, that’s the biggest riff ever written. What more can you say?