Track Listing

1. Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener
2. Tomorrow's Dream
3. Changes
4. FX
5. Supernaut
6. Snowblind
7. Cornucopia
8. Laguna Sunrise
9. St. Vitus Dance
10. Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6462 in Music
• Released on: 1988-07-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

.....I'm going through (GREAT) changes......................
Dear God. Sabbath changed their sound. They showed that they had creativity much like Zeppelin did starting with Zeppelin III. I hate all these people who complain when bands change their sound because they want to hear the same (...) all the time. Take it from someone who plays an instrument. After a while, it gets boring to repeat yourself and as a musician you wish to become more creative and change things. Read on for my review of this great piece of work.
1.Wheels of Confusion/The Straightner- A fantastic 8 minute epic that is basically four minutes of a song that sounds very similar to most songs off of Paranoid and Master of Reality except with strings and whatnot creeping in the backround. The last four minutes are a huge jam of Tony showcasing his soloing abilities.
2.Tomorrow's Dream- a good hardrocking three minute song with a riff that much like NIB is instantly recognizable and will make you wonder where you've heard it before.
3.Changes-A great simplistic catchy ballad where Sabbath finally bare their souls unlike Master of Reality's Solitude.
4.FX-Random effects and harmonics collage. The reason for four stars. Need I say more my fellow Sabbath worshippers.........
5.Supernaut-Back to the rocking. You'll all probably love the big like minute long drum break where Bill toys with all these cowbells and and weird drum sounds. The downside to this song is that it's really got a feeling like during that minute he could've actually played a cool drum solo.
6.Snowblind-COCAINE ROCK ladies and gentleman. Best song on the album and one of Sabbath's best. I especially like both of Tony's solos and the backround keyboards seem to really help set the doomy mood. Excellent use of keyboards.
7.Cornucopia-short rocker. Fun song. No solo. tear.
8.Laguna Sunrise-Tony whips out the acoustic guitar for this interesting Fluff like interlude. Fluff is better though.
9.St. Vitus' Dance-Short sweet hippie song. Really happy which was unusual for Sabbath at this point. Nice acoustic work by Tony.
10.Under The Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes-Don't let the title fool you. This is one of Sabbath's better shorter doom and gloom songs. It sets this really dark mood and the guitar riff sounds as if it was lifted from the sessions for their first album.
Overall-A great piece of work for the open minded Sabbath fan that doesn't mind change. It's personally my favorite album because of its creativity with Never Say Die as a close second. But what do I know. I'm just as musician who loves creativity. Listen with an open mind. Keep on Rockin. That's my two cents.

Where Sabbath started getting expanding their sound
After primarily concentrating on heavy metal with killer riffs on their first three albums, Volume 4 showed Black Sabbath adding new elements to their sound. Many times when bands do this they're usually unsuccessful and go back to their roots on their next album. But the diversity works well here and surprisingly it's the heavier stuff that doesn't work nearly as well on Volume 4.

Not that the heavier stuff isn't good. The tracks "Supernaut" and "Snowblind" are certainly two of the better heavy songs that they've recorded with the former featuring a killer riff from Tony Iommi and the latter describing the effects of cocaine. The epics "Wheels Of Confusion" and "Under The Sun" are both good tracks, but not as definitive as other long tracks they've recorded like "Iron Man" and "Children Of The Grave." However, this album is best known for the previously unchartered waters found in the piano ballad "Changes" and the strings and acoustic guitars of "Laguna Sunrise." While these songs are truly a change of pace for the band, both work surprisingly well, especially "Changes" which has albeit on a smaller scale become to the band what "Beth" has become to Kiss, one of their most popular tracks despite sounding totally different from the rest of their catalog. The tracks "Tomorrow's Dream", "Cornucopia", and "St Vitus' Dance" are also decent, if not among their best work. A strong album, albeit not on the same level as Paranoid and Master Of Reality.

Sabbath the Great
I don't think there is a hard rock song cooler than Supernaut. It is, I think, one of their best. I have so much difficulty ranking the Sabbath oeuvre. There are moments in all of them that I think sag somewhat, if I'm being honest. But, in total, they are all (especially the first 6) such complete and powerful metal experiences that I can't give them anything less than 5 stars.