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Black Sabbath / Paranoid super deluxe

By Paul Sinclair

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37

paranoid_superdeluxe

album, live concerts and a two-channel quad mix!

Rhino are to issue a four-disc super deluxe edition of Black Sabbath‘s second studio album Paranoid.

This new edition uses the 2012 remaster of the 1970 album and includes the 1974 quad mix of Paranoid. Bizarrely, the quad mix isn’t on a DVD (or blu-ray) but on CD. Since CDs cannot deliver audio in a surround sound format, this rare quad mix is ‘folded down’ to stereo. It will still sound different to the master version, but the whole point of quad mixes was to deliver a surround sound experience via four channels – something this CD won’t do. Truly perverse.

The other two CDs contain two concerts from 1970, from Montreux (recorded shortly before the album was issued) and Brussels (recorded during the band’s television performance for public broadcaster RTBF). The latter has been widely bootlegged, but for this set, the entire show has been sourced directly from the RTBF master tapes for optimum quality.

The four-disc set comes with a hardbound book with extensive liner notes featuring new interviews with all four band members, rare photos, and memorabilia, a poster, as well as a replica of the tour book sold during the Paranoid tour.

This Paranoid super deluxe edition will be issued on 11 November 2016.

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Black Sabbath

Paranoid Super Deluxe Edition

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track_listing

CD1 – Original Album (2012 Remaster)
01 War Pigs/Luke’s Wall
02 Paranoid
03 Planet Caravan
04 Iron Man
05 Electric Funeral
06 Hand of Doom
07 Rat Salad
08 Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots

CD2 – Quad Mix Folded Down To Stereo of Original Album
01 War Pigs
02 Paranoid
03 Planet Caravan
04 Iron Man
05 Electric Funeral
06 Hand Of Doom
07 Rat Salad
08 Fairies Wear Boots

CD3 – Live at Casino de Montreux – Montreux, Switzerland 08/31/1970
01 Intro
02 Paranoid
03 N.I.B.
04 Behind The Wall Of Sleep
05 Iron Man
06 War Pigs
07 Fairies Wear Boots
08 Hand Of Doom

CD4 – Live In Brussels 1970
01 Paranoid
02 Hand Of Doom / Rat Salad
03 Rat Salad
04 Iron Man
05 Black Sabbath
06 N.I.B.
07 Behind The Wall Of Sleep
08 War Pigs
09 Fairies Wear Boots

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37 Comments

37 thoughts on “Black Sabbath / Paranoid super deluxe”

  1. The incredulity regarding the “quad mix” is misplaced and it is a worthwhile addition. It is not the quad mix which is available elsewhere, but the Quadradisc (or CD-4) mix. This mix is two channels, designed to be decoded to four. As has been pointed out, CD’s frequency limitations mean that it would not be possible to decode this in the unlikely event that you owned the correct decoder, but that misses the point that it was also designed to be listened to in a two-channel system. For the Black Sabbath completist, this represents a unique mix (or remix) that has never received a digital release. If you want the quad release, that’s already available very cheaply from the original four-track master on DVD.

  2. This set blows – I got it to be a completist and for a decent pre-order price I won’t complain much, but the Deluxe Edition with 2 CD and DVD has the ACTUAL quad mix, as well as the studio mix, and all kinds of REALLY interesting alternate tracks (like Planet Caravan with the effects on the vocals). If you can only get one, look for THAT edition, unless there’s something particular about the live shows you must have
    CD 1:
    1.1 War Pigs
    1.2 Paranoid
    1.3 Planet Caravan
    1.4 Iron Man
    1.5 Electric Funeral
    1.6 Hand Of Doom
    1.7 Rat Salad
    1.8 Fairies Wear Boots

    DVD (1974 Quadraphonic Mix,
    DVD Audio: 5.1 STS / 2.0 LPCM Stereo)
    2.1 War Pigs
    2.2 Paranoid
    2.3 Planet Caravan
    2.4 Iron Man
    2.5 Electric Funeral
    2.6 Hand Of Doom
    2.7 Rat Salad
    2.8 Fairies Wear Boots

    CD 2 (Bonus Tracks, Regent Sound Studiios, 16. & 17. June 1970)
    3.1 War Pigs
    3.2 Paranoid
    3.3 Planet Caravan
    3.4 Iron Man
    3.5 Electric Funeral
    3.6 Hand Of Doom
    3.7 Rat Salad
    3.8 Fairies Wear Boots

  3. I didn’t buy this, and I won’t, even though the live shows are worth having – but CD1 has already been released, and CD2, well, quad folded down to stereo???? Some commentators above seem optimistic that it is nevertheless somehow playable @ 4 channels (or do I misunderstand you guys?), but from what I have heard, it is really simply a redbook stereo CD, nothing else. Can somebody who actually has bought the box set confirm? Thanks and best.

  5. Also, keep in mind that a DTS stereo stream which can be converted into 4 channel sound works on the same exact 4-2-4 principle as SQ/QS quad did back in the 70’s. 4 channels of audio encoded and matrixed down into 2 channels for delivery and then un-decoded back to 4 channels by the receiver. Since pretty much all modern receivers can decode a 2 channel DTS stream that is why you will see a lot of “DTS-Quad” cd’s out there and why it was chosen as the original delivery format for the re-releasing of a lot of these old quad mixes in the modern age before DVD-A or BluRay were available. I would bet what is on this “Quad CD” is exactly that… a two channel SQ or QS quad fold-down of the 4 tracks just waiting to be undecoded on the back end by a receiver.

  6. More likely than not what is contained on the so called “Quad” cd contained in this set is the original 4-2-4 SQ/QS fold down intended for vinyl. It seems like some bonehead at the label thought you could just slap this on a cd and most modern receivers would be able to play it back in Quad. If modern receivers had the SQ/QS decode facility more likely than not we would be able to hear this in quad as intended. I have little doubt if they claim it’s a “folded down” quad mix it most likely is… the first half of the 4-2-4 process without the ability to take the 2 channels back out to 4 because todays receivers don’t have the decoding facility in them like the SQ/QS receivers from the 70’s did. It seems the record company blew it in not properly realizing modern receivers no longer have this ability and not decoding this back into 4 channels first and then putting it on a DVD/Bluray.

  8. wow and a deluxe version just came out this year which has a different second disc (which looks better to me though I don’t have it yet). don’t really see how it can be considered super deluxe if it doesn’t have that material much as it might have displeased those who bought the deluxe early. they probably could have spread those other bonus tracks out evenly over the first 2 cds and wouldn’t have had to add a cd to the set but whatever. poor choices.

    1. I can’t help noticing that ya gotta but BOTH, the Deluxe and the Super Deluxe, if ya wanna get the full package- and then ya got an overlapping CD1, the album proper… or will this result in two different remasterings (ie 2009/2012)? Well, at any rate such a buyer will have the quad-quad and the quad-fold, so … yay?

    1. Sound quality great, pristine & clear. Both performances recorded professionally. Not sure about multitrack, which may preclude the option to remix. Performances really good but near carbon copies (although I guess can count on Ozzy for a few random lyrics). Early Sabbath, mind you, before Ozzy had developed his stage presence. Both audiences very polite & quiet, which was still typical then. If you’re expecting bunch of yelling & screaming, you will be disappointed. Truth is, British/Euro bands were still getting used to the wild American audiences whom were considered unruly. I have listened to an excellent show from The Who performed the same year in the US, Pete is lecturing the crowd to please sit down & shut up telling them they sound like a herd of elephants!

      1. By the way, I believe the Brussels recording is from the video which syndicated to air on the BBC and elsewhere a number of times way back when. Never advertised as coming from Brussels in my recollection, but it did. Too bad it wasn’t cleaned up & re-presented visually here…

    2. You can find songs from both shows on youtube.

      The Montreux show sounds good, with the vocals being a bit loud in the mix.
      The Brussels show (often mislabeled as Paris) sounds great, and they were able to use the RTBF master tapes this time, so it will probably sound even better than the bootleg versions.

      So if you are interested in early Sabbath live shows, these are the ones to get.

  10. I do have a few DTS-CD’s – not to be confused with DTS-DVD’s. Paul McCartney’s Venus and Mars is one that springs to mind. The discs plays like a CD and can be copied like a CD the only problem is without a DTS decoder on your player, it will make a lot of noise. With the DTS decoder on your amp or DVD player the disc will play in surround.
    I wonder if the Black Sabbath disc can be played to sound quadrophonic rather than a 2 channel fold-down mix.

    1. I have some Yes CD’s with surround; a Symphonic Yes sampler with Jon Anderson and one of their later albums “Open Your Eyes” was issued as a DTS-CD also. At least it says DTS, not quite sure anymore.

  13. Paul, might now be an opportune time for you to have a gentle word in someone’s ear at Rhino and ask them what the !*%! is going on with the idea of released a stereo version of a quad mix?

    Almost certainly too late to change anything – but might make them think twice about pulling a similarly ridiculous (or ‘truly perverse’ to use your coin of phrase) stunt the next time….

  14. If they can’t find the original quad master tapes (hardly surprising after 46 years; Ozzy and Bill probably only know who they are on good days, let alone where the tapes have gone), then they should leave needle drop/fold down mixes well alone. Anyway, I don’t normally need needle drops, that’s what I bought a second-hand Rega P3 for. The live stuff might be useful, though.

  17. The not-quad mix is confounding. While both live recordings are quite excellent, this will need to be on sale to find its way onto my shelf (and I don’t own the previous deluxe ed).

  18. Wait… there’s more : Don’t forget that the Quad Mix on the last edition was ripped from noisy vinyl. I can only assume it’s the same source tampered with further for absolutely no good reason.

  21. Being of an age who can remember when there were, briefly, at least 3 different quadraphonic systems vying for prominence, it could be possible that a cd could have the 4 channels there. There was the discrete CD 4 system (nothing to do with cds!) which had 4 separate, readable signals in the lp grooves. Then there were the matrix systems (SQ and QS) which had 2 readable signals in the grooves (just like a stereo lp) but also something else in there which allowed these 2 signals to be decoded with an appropriate bit of equipment into 4 channels. So it may be that those 2 cd signals could have the seperatable 4 channels!

    1. Some compact discs contained decodable signals. An early cd version of Larry Fast’s first Synergy album left the matrixed signals in the mix. Certain decoders could play it back because the matrixed signal was at 25Khz, the same as early Dolby. Rumors of Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” having surround material also surfaced some time ago.

      1. Tom, 25kHz is beyond the available frequency range of CD audio, which maxes out at 22.05 kHz. Certain vinyl cartridges can resolve frequencies above that, which is why CD-4 used them for encoding surround content. I believe the compact disc ‘redbook’ standard provided the option for discrete Quadrophonic playback but it was never implemented.

  22. A swing and a miss, as baseball fans would say.

    Release the quad mix or don’t release it. Hybrid mixes serve nobody.

    Also is this the version with awful dynamic range compression?

  23. So why isn’t the quad mix included in surround? It was on the last deluxe edition. So we now have a ‘super’ deluxe edition which should have included everything available regarding this particular album, but which is actually less super than the standard deluxe edition from 2009.

    Beyond dumb.

  24. Wow, a fold-down of the quad mix already available on the previous deluxe set which I already have. How utterly pointless.
    I can live without the two concerts tbh.
    At least I get to save a few pence on the ridiculous amount of stuff I’ll actually be buying this year.

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