Black Sabbath’s 20 best songs, from wicked to freakin’ awesome

By Steve Newton Sabbath Bloody Sabbath rules. 20. "Junior's Eyes" (Never Say Die, 1978) 19. "A National Acrobat" (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, 1973) 18. "Into the Void" (Master of Reality, 1971) 17. "Wishing Well" (Heaven and Hell, 1980) 16. "War Pigs" (Paranoid, 1970) 15. "Sabbra Cadabra" (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, 1973) 14. "Dirty Women" (Technical Ecstasy, 1976) 13. … Continue reading Black Sabbath’s 20 best songs, from wicked to freakin’ awesome

Black Sabbath gets all Paranoid at final Vancouver gig

By Steve Newton Every Black Sabbath freak has his fave Sabbath album. I for one have long trumpeted the supreme awesomeness of 1975's Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. Others point to the band's spooky self-titled debut of 1970 as its pinnacle achievement. But most of the Sabbath fans I've encountered tend to regard Paranoid--also released in 1970--as the heavy-metal … Continue reading Black Sabbath gets all Paranoid at final Vancouver gig

Ear of Newt’s Top 30 Rock Albums of 1973

I've been reminiscing a lot lately about rock stuff that happened 30 years ago. I recently posted interviews originally published back in '83 with such still-active artists as British guitar phenomenon Allan Holdsworth and legendary Aussie earbusters AC/DC. Then I started thinking about maybe doing a list of my fave rock albums from 30 years back, … Continue reading Ear of Newt’s Top 30 Rock Albums of 1973

The Sabbath Time Machine

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 18, 2013 By Steve Newton Black Sabbath (without Bill Ward) isn't giving any interviews in advance of its show at Rogers Arena this Thursday (Aug. 22), but that's okay with me. It just gives me an excuse to crawl back into my '70s time machine and reminisce, home movie-style, about what … Continue reading The Sabbath Time Machine