Black Sabbath-Greatest Hits 1970-1978 (2006)
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: Greatest Hits 1970-1978
Label: Warner Bros./Rhino
Format: CD
Cat #: R2 73365
Year of Release: 2006
Country and Year of Edition Issue: US BMG Music Club Edition
Listed Condition: VG+/VG+
Sell Date: 7/23/25
Sell Price: $3.59
Discogs Last Sold: 7/23/25 VG/VG+ $4.00
Low: $1.99
Median: $4.99
Average: $6.31
High: $21.28
Current low price: $1.50
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 33
Have/Want: 1463/60
Where: Geneva, IL
Time it took to sell: 9 years
Where and When Bought: consignment collection
Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B
Sad To See It Go: No
While all the music on Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits 1970-1978 is A level and beyond, even though this is the only compilation to cover the entire Ozzy years in the 70's in one 75-minute CD, it falls flat in numerous ways. You get all the obvious hits like "Paranoid," "Iron Man," "War Pigs," "Black Sabbath" hell even "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," but it tapers off when lesser lights from the final three are given their space and anomalies like "Changes" are chosen over obviously superior tracks. Even if you go back to ACTUAL CHARTING SINGLES in the UK, there were five. "Paranoid" was #4 UK and #52 US as well as #1 Germany, #54 Canada, #12 Ireland, #2 Netherlands, #3 Austria, #26 Australia and #2 Switzerland. That's the Gold standard even if the song has yet to be certified RIAA (the album and We Sold Our Soul compilation have, interestingly this one has not). "Iron Man" peaked at #61 in US and 68 in Canada. "Never Say Die" was #21 in the UK and #18 in Ireland. The NME in the UK charted "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" at 51 and "A Hard Road" at 33. Other songs were released as singles that didn't chart: "Evil Woman," "Sweet Leaf," "Children Of The Grave," "Into The Void," "Tomorrow Dream," "Changes," "Tomorrow's Dream," "Am I Going Insane (Radio)," "It's Alright," "Gypsy," "She's Gone," and "Back Street Kids" were all singles mostly in the UK but sometimes in the US or somewhere else. Many of those got passed over in the court of popular opinion by their album tracks which were sold in greater numbers on albums.
The 10 track NEMS UK Greatest Hits from 1977 didn't include anything from Technical Ecstasy or Never Say Die, but that wasn't much better. We Sold Our Sold For Rock N Roll, the double album from 1975, remains the benchmark Black Sabbath compilation. My only quibble with that one is no "Into The Void" or "Symptom Of The Universe" i.e my two favorite songs. For this reason, I always feel an affront that some bean counter or managers idea of how Black Sabbath should be presented was codified in this manner. Better to stick with the 8 original albums as God intended. Yes, even Never Say Die!
Now that Ozzy is a God passed Into The Void, much is made of His greatness as a celebrity. I never used or even heard the term "Prince of Darkness" in his heyday. Now I see it on bar chalkboards outside advertising a party in memory of The Ozz. I find that to be a bit of bullshit. He wasn't dark at all, even if Dave Marsh or whoever it was said they had an "everything is shit" nihilist philosophy. That's part of the taking the piss, life affirming charm! Heck, Lester Bangs couldn't enjoy Sabbath. Even The Dean didn't get it (although he upgraded his 70's book E grade to a C- on his website).
It was just a couple weeks ago a friend of mine flew to Birmingham for the final show and had the time of his life. I felt bad missing it. Ozzy was my first arena show on the Speak Of The Devil tour in 1983 in Worcester after Randy Rhoads was already gone. My friend next door discovered the first three Sabbath albums for 50 cents each from a yard sale up the street and soon after we got into Blizzard of Ozz and the "newer one" Diary of a Madman. My obsession with Ozzy fell off after trudging through an actual blizzard to get Bark At The Moon and being deeply disappointed, but my love of the first 8 albums or the 1980-1983 period of either camp never went away.
I missed Ozzy the rest of my teen years as he took Motley Crue and Metallica on tours in the mid 80's I saw the various Sabbath reunion shows after in the late 90's and beyond, often multiple dates in a tour, sometimes with Ozzy doing an opening solo set in a festival situation. It always bothered me that I got to the 2014 Brooklyn show on the final tour slightly late and missed "Wheels of Confusion," but that show is my last memory of seeing Ozzy in person. I will just to live with that as my final experience of Ozzy.
I'll never understand why "Changes" always gets included on a retrospective and Symptom/Void are not. I guess it's for the type of people who think that somebody like Yungblud should have been anywhere near a microphone on Ozzy's final stage (unless, of course, it was faulty and could deliver a performance preventing shock). NEMS upped the ante in 1977 and included "Laguna Sunrise" as a hit in ADDITION to "Changes." Anyway, Black Sabbath's Ozzy years, much like the Beatles, couldn't be tarnished by the couple subpar 1998 studio tracks on Reunion. I rather liked 13 from 2013 even if nobody cared and just wanted to hear the hits that tour.
God is Dead?
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