Description
Offered for sale is a 1971 U.S. pressing of Master of Reality by Black Sabbath, including the rare poster that was included only with early pressings of the album and with the cover still in the original shrink wrap.
About this copy: This copy of Master of Reality is a 1971 pressing on the green Warner Brothers label.
This is technically a second issue of the LP, as the song titles do not include titles for the introductions to the songs. This version was pressed at Columbia Records’ Santa Maria, California pressing plant, and was mastered by Artisan Recorders, as the Artisan logo is etched in the dead wax.
The second track on side one is incorrectly credited to “Ioomi-Ward-Osbourne-Butler.”
The cover retains the original shrink wrap and is M-, with trace wear at the lower right hand corner.
The original Warner Brothers “Loss Leaders” inner sleeve is included and is M- with no splits.
The ultra-rare poster is M-, with no rips, tears or holes.
The disc is M-, with a couple of faint scuffs from the paper inner sleeve that are common on 1970s Warner Brothers pressings.
There are no spindle marks on the labels; the record may be unplayed. Clean disc!
A beautiful copy of a classic LP that is usually found with cover wear, and the nicest copy we’ve ever seen.
Background: Master of Reality was Black Sabbath’s third album, and while it didn’t sell as well or get as much airplay as Paranoid, it still reached #8 on the U.S charts and #5 on the charts in the UK and was certified 2x platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA.
The opening song, “Sweet Leaf,” may have the best intro of any hard rock song ever recorded.
Allmusic.com gave Master of Reality a rare 5 star review:
The shortest album of Black Sabbath’s glory years, Master of Reality is also their most sonically influential work. Here Tony Iommi began to experiment with tuning his guitar down three half-steps to C#, producing a sound that was darker, deeper, and sludgier than anything they’d yet committed to record. (This trick was still being copied 25 years later by every metal band looking to push the limits of heaviness, from trendy nu-metallers to Swedish deathsters.) … If Paranoid has more widely known songs, the suffocating and oppressive Master of Reality was the Sabbath record that die-hard metalheads took most closely to heart.
You can listen to “Sweet Leaf” here:
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| Country of origin: | U.S. |
| Size: | 12″ |
| Record Label: | Warner Brothers |
| Catalog Number: |
BS 2562 |
| Year of Release: | 1971 |
| Format: | Stereo |
| Share: |       |
