"Snowblind"

Taken from the 1979 Never Say Die tour the video shows Sabbath at the height of their greatness before Tony Iommi got Bill Ward to fire Ozzy from the band due to Iommi's jealousy of Osbourne's connection with the fans , no doubt Ozzy knew he was for the chop but could have had no idea that it was he who would have the last laugh.


Bill Ward was thunderous , Geezer Butler imperial and Ozzy as endearing as ever ... While Tony was just an arrogant git through and through.

a reply to: gortex

Ozzy was good but Sabbath couldn’t have made out any better replacing him with Ronnie Dio.
Dio was a better all around singer than Ozzy.

originally posted by: gortex
Taken from the 1979 Never Say Die tour the video shows Sabbath at their height of their greatness before Tony Iommi got Bill Ward to fire Ozzy from the band due to Iommi's jealousy of Osbourne's connection with the fans , no doubt Ozzy knew he was for the chop but could have had no idea that it was he who would have the last laugh.

Bill Ward was thunderous , Geezer Butler imperial and Ozzy as endearing as ever ... While Tony was just an arrogant git through and through.

They don't make bands like this anymore either. My 2 older sisters used to blast Master of Reality on their old suitcase record player, was my first introduction to Black Sabbath circa 1971-72

a reply to: RazorV66

Sabbath were never Sabbath with Ronnie for me , without Ozzy they lost the spark.

Much preferred Dio as Dio , the only Dio Sabbath song that did it for me was Die Young.

a reply to: gortex

I've said it before and i'll say it again. Sabbath stopped sounding like Sabbath when bill ward left. Heaven and hell was a decent album better than never say die and technical ecstasy, Mob Rules had some good songs but lacked that punch. Vinnie apice just isn't as a hard hitting of a drummer and he doesn't have the same groove. The version of Mob Rules on the heavy metal movie soundtrack has bill ward on drums, it's way better than the version on the album.

Bill Ward's drumming is almost jazzy but heavy. Vinnie appice is just straight heavy metal drumming.

a reply to: gortex

I think fully trying to understand all of their dynamics would take checking out Rainbow, Dio (solo), and Deep Purple. So many connections between them all, and still so different in their approaches. Ozzy was the wild card there. We just drove back from Florida with Ozzys Boneyard playing for most of it. Who the F would use a harmonica, and a juice harp in different songs on the same album? Ozzy would.

a reply to: network dude

The Wizard is a great song.

originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: gortex

I've said it before and i'll say it again. Sabbath stopped sounding like Sabbath when bill ward left. Heaven and hell was a decent album better than never say die and technical ecstasy, Mob Rules had some good songs but lacked that punch. Vinnie apice just isn't as a hard hitting of a drummer and he doesn't have the same groove. The version of Mob Rules on the heavy metal movie soundtrack has bill ward on drums, it's way better than the version on the album.

As a hard rock/metal drummer myself, Ward and Appice are both excellent drummers.
They would both make it into my top 10.
I don’t think Sabbath missed a beat replacing Ward with Appice, no pun intended.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: RazorV66

Sabbath were never Sabbath with Ronnie for me , without Ozzy they lost the spark.

Much preferred Dio as Dio , the only Dio Sabbath song that did it for me was Die Young.

Die Young is one of my all time favorite songs for sure.

Black Sabbath Vol. 4 , and one of my favorite all time songs.
An overlooked gem.

a reply to: RazorV66

Not that he's bad, just that the style changed. Kinda like when primus changed their drummer. Drummers are the base of the band. They carry the whole song. Every drummer's got a different style. Bill Ward's gave Sabbath their particular groove and style. I like most black Sabbath albums, it's just the later ones tend to lean more towards a generic heavy metal sound and the mob rules was the start of that.

a reply to: dug88

Or when GnR got rid of Steven Adler.

Huge Ozzy/Sabbath fan here. Snowblind is one of the few songs I can play (not lead) on guitar.

I have an interesting (to me anyhow) story that I have with Sabbath that I never expected. So I think about 6 years ago my pal was over drinking with me and we were talking at length about our love of Black Sabbath and in that of course mentioned Ozzy several times.

At the same time my daughter who was about 10 or so at the time and her best friend were playing within earshot of our discussion. When there was a break in our banter my daughters pal said, "Hey, I know Ozzy Osbourne!" We were both sort of thinking this kid was just being a kid and who knows what. Eventually we get out of her that her father was Geezer Butlers sound manager and whenever Black Sabbath reformed and unformed and formed again her dad would always take her to at least one show to meet his coworkers. I verified this with the dad. Very cool guy, nice as can be.

Apparently, my understanding is that Geezer lived in Saint Louis area for some amount of time or something. Kind of hazy on that... But was odd to meet someone that actually knows Ozzy on first hand basis.

a reply to: RazorV66

Dio is a buttrocker, imo.

No Ozzy, no Sabbath.

Love Ozzy and Dio!
I do prefer early Sabbath with Ozzy and Dio as Dio though.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: network dude

The Wizard is a great song.

Since you've been gone..another great song by performance Bonnet, although it was a cover from the original, sometimes the thing is that great things are also in small episodes, and also evokes how crazy the times in which they were made.
Rainbow are still at it, I have no clue as to who is now in the cast other than Blackmore.

Then there was The Marbles, 'By the light of the burning candle' and, 'Only one woman' great songs in fitful times.

a reply to: gortex

I read your title and mistook it for "Snowblind" from Styx on the Paradise Theater album.

So for fun I went to my vinyl...

Found the laser etched album and am listening to side 2 now.

And I will put on the Reo Speedwagon album "You can tune a piano, but you can't tune a fish" after.

So sorry that I can't contribute to Black Sabbath's version of it...

But THANK you for reminding me of my albums.

I'ma root through them tonight and see what I forgot.

a reply to: RazorV66
Yes, Dio was the man..got to see Sabbath with Dio fronting in 07. Saw with Ozzy a few times, 1999, meh, Ozzy was not great, then the final tour..Ozzy rocked that time, so glad to have seen both. Would of been cool to see them with Ian Gillan.

a reply to: Lumenari
I thought the same thing upon reading the title..lol

I haven't spun a record for a few weeks, I'm inspired, I did pick up a Chris Rea..Road To Hell..almost fitting, I'll spin it.