Black Sabbath - Sabotage Full Album 1975

Sabotage is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in July 1975.[1][2][3][4] The album was recorded in the midst of a legal battle with the band's former manager, Patrick Meehan.[1][2][5] The stress that resulted from the band's ongoing legal woes infiltrated the recording process, inspiring the album's title. It was co-produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and Mike Butcher.[2][5]

Recording
Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England, at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London. The title Sabotage was chosen because the band was at the time being sued by their former management and felt they were being "sabotaged all the way along the line and getting punched from all sides", according to Iommi.[6] "It was probably the only album ever made with lawyers in the studio," said drummer Bill Ward.[7] Iommi credits those legal troubles for the album's angry, heavier sound.[6]

In 2001, bassist Geezer Butler explained to Dan Epstein, "Around the time of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, we found out that we were being ripped off by our management and our record company. So, much of the time, when we weren't onstage or in the studio, we were in lawyer's offices trying to get out of all our contracts. We were literally in the studio, trying to record, and we'd be signing all these affidavits and everything. That's why it's called Sabotage – because we felt that the whole process was just being totally sabotaged by all these people ripping us off." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, singer Ozzy Osbourne confirms that "writs were being delivered to us at the mixing desk" and that Ward "was manning the phones". In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, Butler claimed the band suffered through 10 months of legal cases and admitted, "Music became irrelevant to me. It was a relief just to write a song."

Iommi later reflected, "We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else, which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really."[8] According to the book How Black Was Our Sabbath, "The recording sessions would usually carry on into the middle of the night. Tony Iommi was working really hard on the production side of things with the band's co-producer Mike Butcher, and he was spending a lot of time working out his guitar sounds. Bill, too, was experimenting with the drums, especially favouring the 'backwards cymbal' effect." Osbourne, however, grew frustrated with how long Black Sabbath albums were taking to record, writing in his autobiography, "Sabotage took about four thousand years."

According to Iommi, the Sabotage sessions were the scene of a legendary jam session between Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.[9] Iommi's recollection may be inaccurate, however, as records show that Zeppelin were on tour in the US at the time Sabotage was being recorded. Ward's recollection of the exact timing of the Zeppelin jam session is also fuzzy. "I don't even know what album we were working on", the drummer explained. "But one of John (Bonham)'s favourite songs was 'Supernaut' – so, when they came down to the studio, he wanted to jam 'Supernaut'."[10] It is more likely that the jam session took place during the recording of the previous album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.[6]

Track listing

All tracks written by Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward).

Side A
No. Title Length
1. "Hole in the Sky" 3:59
2. "Don't Start (Too Late)" (instrumental) 0:49
3. "Symptom of the Universe" 6:29
4. "Megalomania" 9:42
Side B
No. Title Length
5. "Thrill of It All" 5:55
6. "Supertzar" (instrumental - with vocalizing choir) 3:44
7. "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" 4:14
8. "The Writ" 8:45
Total length: 43:44
2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Two (North American Tour Live '75, Part 1)
No. Title Length
1. "Supertzar / Killing Yourself to Live" 6:45
2. "Hole in the Sky" 4:36
3. "Snowblind" 6:44
4. "Symptom of the Universe" 4:34
5. "War Pigs" 8:23
6. "Megalomania" 10:59
7. "Sabbra Cadabra" 5:20
8. "Jam 1 / Guitar Solo" 7:52
9. "Jam 2 / Drum Solo" 6:06
10. "Supernaut" 2:21
11. "Iron Man" 6:16
Total length: 69:58
2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Three (North American Tour Live '75, Part 2)
No. Title Length
1. "Guitar Solo / Orchid / Rock 'n' Roll Doctor / Don't Start (Too Late)" 8:46
2. "Black Sabbath" 6:46
3. "Spiral Architect" 5:15
4. "Embryo / Children of the Grave" 6:00
5. "Paranoid" 3:03
Total length: 29:50
2021 Sabotage Super Deluxe, Disc Four (Japanese Single)
No. Title Length
1. "Am I Going Insane (Radio) - Single Edit" 3:27
2. "Hole in the Sky" 3:59
Total length: 7:26
Notes
Some versions of Sabotage contain a short hidden track entitled "Blow on a Jug" at the end of "The Writ", recorded at a very low volume.
Discs two and three of the 2021 Super Deluxe edition feature a live recording of the band's performance on 5 August 1975 at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Tracks 2, 4, and 6 of disc two were previously released on the 2002 live album Past Lives, while tracks 1, 3, 5, 7–11 of disc two and tracks 1–5 of disc three were all previously unreleased.[30][31] Despite that, this entire recording has been available on bootleg releases for many years.
Disc four of the 2021 Super Deluxe edition features a single edit for “Am I Going Insane (Radio)”, followed by “Hole In The Sky” (being the B-side on the vinyl version), with artwork replicating the very rare Japanese release of the single.[31]