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Beard Of The Week #2: Samuel Beam
Beard Of The Week is a column of life, music, people, and their beards. Each week Lachlan Fletcher of The Subplot and Unabridged will give you a great beard and shed some light on its significance, hopefully helping both the bearded and unbearded alike down the road to enlightenment.
Samuel Beam,
of Iron & Wine
The Best (And Worst) In The World Of Wu
The Wu-Tang Clan is a vast army of slang-slinging, an enterprising group of hustlers who have no lost love for each other. But brotherhood is brotherhood and as such, they've managed to put out collective albums that have lasted beyond the ages. Hell, even their last record wasn't that bad. But their vast wealth of solo material available continues to boggle the mind as all 9 members (even Ol' Dirty Bastard, from beyond the grave) continue to put releases out that vary vastly in quality, so in that spirit we'll be looking at some of the great (and downright terrible) records members have put out.
Top 5 solo albums
5. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
ODB, bless his heart, was at his very core a man always struggling in-between being the designated wildcard of the group and trying to find some semblance of artistic integrity. Joe Bananas tiptoed that high-wire very deftly on this, his first record. Released in the aftermath of the ultra-successful 36 Chambers album (as well as Method Man's platinum-selling debut) and with production duties largely handled by Wu architect RZA, Russell Jones starts his album off with an eccentric 5-minute intro that sees him quoting Blowfly and pretending to emote through a series of feelings he can't seem to properly project. At first glance a strange left-turn, it makes perfect sense for a man known mostly for his comic-like antics. From then on ODB manages to bring the ruckus all on his own with the piano-driven 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya', before moving on to the vastly under-rated 'Raw Hide' (which features great verses from Meth and Raekwon). The album continues to astound with stellar track 'Brooklyn Zoo' (and its sequel, Brooklyn Zoo II) as well as several posse cuts. The real winners here are the beats RZA constructs for Big Baby Jesus: playful, vibrant, resonant with the personality spitting lyrical on it. An album that steps out of the standard rap pattern and delivers a product that is full of unforeseen twists and turns, engaging the listener far more than typical rap fare.
4. GZA - Liquid Swords
The first Wu member to wrangle himself a record deal prior to the group's debut album, the Genius jumps outta the gate as part of the first-wave of post 36 Chambers releases. The RZA once again comes to the rescue on this album, orchestrating a collection of dusty beats that feel as if they were laying dormant decades prior to being utilized by the GZA. The intro sample, lifted from 1980's Shogun Assassin, sets the mood for the rest of the album: rapper as warrior, man as a creature constantly seeking conflict. Spiritual, introspective and laid back, the record brings the goods consistently, the GZA's almost-mumbled prose definitive, his aim sure. The RZA and the GZA both hit the mark on this one.
3. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Ghostface Killah is perhaps the most soulful of the Wu-Tang set. His albums have always been chock-full of soul-based, string-laden beats that find the Wallabee Champ perpetually living in a '70s haze. Ghostface is also gifted with the inate ability to tell stories with such gusto and a keen eye for detail that following Ghost down the lyrical rabbit hole as he spits is no easy task, but rewarding if done right. Dude is more enthralling than most suspense flicks and it feels as though he finally combines his most gangster moments along with some grasps at his ladies man persona, careful to appear thug even through his most difficult moments. It doesn't hurt that the stellar production on the album brings out the best in Ghost, as he comes full circle, combining the best parts of his prior albums. Debut solo album Ironman was too hard on the gangster tip, and follow-ups Supreme Clientele, Bulletproof Wallets and Pretty Toney Album found Ghost relying a bit too much on the soulful atmosphere he so loves, creating an uneven output that finally coalesces into a complete package on this album. Oh, and just for kicks, the album ends on one of the best posthumous Biggie collabs you will ever hear, as if the album couldn't get any better.
2. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Raekwon is definitely one of those 'practice what you preach' fellahs. The man, who during his tenure in Camp Wu, has allegedly spent his free time involved in various illicit activities (as corroborted by the RZA), helped pioneer the mafia gangster genre. Along with Jay-Z's debut album and albums by Nas and AZ, this strictly New York phenom quickly spread to the rest of the country, inspiring many. This landmark, street-tough release found Rae living up to his chef moniker. The dude was on fire, enlisting the help of Ghostface Killah throughout most of the disc as his lyrical cohort, extolling the virtues of a drug-dealin', mafia-inspired, enemy-hating lifestyle. Raekwon's subsequent output has been far inferior to his debut release, marked by repetitive lyrics and boring production, rarely living up to his abilities to enthusiastically come at the genre as he should. Rae himself has acknowledged this fact and OB4CL2 ended up slaying, despite the fact that we've all been waiting 15 years for a proper follow-up.
1. Method Man - Tical
Bring The Pain. Meth Vs. Chef. All I Need. Release Yo Delf. Case closed.
Actually, not so fast. The dirty and down-low production (the beats had to be reconstructed in a matter of days by the RZA after an accident destroyed the originals) add a distinctive flavour. Meth as a street hustler, bringing in the ladies with promises of growing old together. Lots of great guest spots and Meth definitely shows up to play on every track. Simply mesmerizing, musically and lyrically. To understand is to listen. Over and over.
4 Wu albums that disappointed
4. Wu-Tang Forever
Now I know I'm gonna catch some shit, but damn. The second group album (a two-disc marathon) was wildly inconsistent, spreading material thin and giving the world subpar solo joints. Stand-out cut (and first single) 'Triumph' sets itself apart from an album of boring, forgettable raps. Concise is the key to victory in the land of the Wu, and this album is a product of excess, of celebrity and an unsureness about where to go next on the part of the RZA, who applies a 'throw it against the wall and see what sticks' approach, trying to cater to whoever will listen.
3. The World According to the RZA
The RZA decided to use his clout as an industry figure to put out, for all intents and purposes, what one would consider a compilation album of rap acts from around the world. Label politics forced him to release this as a solo record, and he does sporadically show up to spit, though he leaves that largely up to the contributors. A strange pele-mele of various styles and languages that is nothing beyond a novelty, unfortunately. Stick to Bobby Digi releases and we won't have a problem. Also has the fuckin' worst album cover ever. 1994 called, they want their shitty fonts and halo effect back.
2. Raekwon - Immobilarity
From riveting gangster accounts to overdone and droning. This follow-up to OB4CL finds Rae trying to display the fact that he can go out on his own, eliminating one of the features that made his debut memorable (the exclusion of Ghostface), utilizing other guests sparingly over RZA Lite beats from producers who studied the Wu Architect and tried their best to sound like him. It goes nowhere quickly, and is worth barely a second listen. The Chef keeps the drug element around but is unsure about how to best talk about it, instead just relating hood stories in a tone that makes him sound bored. Also, it has the worst Method Man guest appearance I've ever witnessed. Meth, sounding thin and haunted, delivers line after line in an off-putting cadence.
1. Method Man - Judgment Day
Bloated, skit-loaded, boring. The follow-up to Tical fails in every respect, barely containing any of the memorable tracks that made Tical a classic. A truly sad moment. No keepers. Who the fuck wants to listen to a skit that's merely an 8-second phone call from Donald Trump? No one. That shit ain't gangsta in the least, it's tacky and shitty. Fuck. Thankfully, Meth's recent output has changed the current of my feelings towards his work.
3 solo collabs that make you say "hold up"
3. Beyonce feat. Ghostface Killah - Summertime
2. Shaquille O'Neal feat. The RZA and Method Man - No Hooks
1. Mariah Carey feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Fantasy
2 Wu-Tang members that should forever work together
Ghostface Killah and Raekwon. Have appeared together on countless songs, and continue to collabo to maximum effect to this day. The ying and the yang, the sun and the moon, the obvious and the metaphorical. They complement each other, almost like rap's Hall and Oates. Good apart, stellar together.
The most consistent Wu member
Without a doubt, Ghostface. Even his lesser albums feature engaging production and several rough gems to enjoy. Ghost is fearless, flirting with pure R&B tracks and guesting on tracks that you wouldn't normally associate him with. There is something for everyone on all of his tracks, and he's usually engrossing, lyrically-speaking. Also, he has a song all about being Santa-like. Who can't get behind that?
Book Review: Rope Opera – How WCW Killed Vince Russo
If you speak to someone who has worked with Vince Russo over the last few years, particularly someone who had worked with him in years past, then your likely to hear about how he is changed man. I’ve been told this by some of his peers who I have spoken to, but I had nothing to take their word by, nor to disbelieve their word by. I’ve never met Vince Russo but like many of you I have heard or read some nasty things about him. Much of this negativity stems from his days in WCW, while some of it is a result of his time in TNA (which is often jokingly referred to as WCW as well).
I, like many of you, have certainly criticized some of his writing over the years, and while it's easy to have an opinion on what you like or dislike on a wrestling program, I’ve found it funny that some take it to a personal level. Chances are no one reading this knows Vince Russo on a truly personal level. The opening pages of his new book Rope Opera – How WCW Killed Vince Russo puts the personal side of Vince Russo into perspective as two of his children talk about Vince Russo the man, not the wrestling writer. From there on, over the next 260 pages Russo takes you on a explanation of his personal life, while at the same time dishing the inside story on the roller coaster ride that has been his professional life in the world of wrestling.
Written over a three year period, Rope Opera is presented in a uniquely “Russo” way. As you read the first few chapters, it's easy to notice that unlike most books, it is not presented in chronological order. In one chapter you will be reading about Russo’s childhood or his home life, while in the next you’ll be hearing about how he felt walking into the building the first Nitro he worked for WCW. Which can be quickly followed up by a chapter pondering how and why wrestling fans let the product consume their life. To say the least this is not your typical wrestling autobiography, and as Russo openly admits, he wanted it that way in hopes that he could not only give you the details that a wrestling fan wants to know about his career but at the same time trying to get a message across about his views on life, God, and other “important” topics.
With that being said I’m sure some will take negatively to the book much like some take negatively to some of his wrestling television writing. I for one am not looking to be preached to and as I began the book I was a bit worried that this would turn out to be more preach than the topic at hand, however I think that Russo found a good balance as the chapters or paragraphs he peppers in to discuss an topic apart from wrestling are kept somewhat short and to the point avoiding the loss of attention, But If your one who really cant stand any discussion apart from the wrestling topics then your likely to be annoyed enough to skip a chapter here and there. However I feel obliged to point out that it’s the personal chapters which will help you understand How WCW Killed Vince Russo
When it comes to the wrestling topic, the story begins in late 1999 as Russo slips into Titan Towers for the last time to empty out his office before flying down to meet with WCW officials and take the reigns of what was a sinking ship. Similar to his first book, Russo is not afraid to speak openly about the topics at hand. At times he names names, but other times holds back but even when he does that he still provides the meat and potatoes of the story without burying anyone six feet deep.
The chapter that I’m sure everyone wants to hear about is amongst the ones I enjoyed the most and that is the infamous Bash At The Beach 2000 incident. Russo states that it’s the question he is asked most and for 10 years now he has refused to truthfully answer it. I debated about how much I would reveal in this review, since it is one of the bigger selling points of the book, but Russo lays out the entire incident as he saw it go down, explains what was real, what was fake, and how the defamantion of character lawsuit ended up coming about.
Almost equally as intriguing is the chapter on David Arquette. Talk about Vince Russo’s career to any one of his critics and chances are Arquette “reign “ as world champion will be amongst the first things to come up. Russo has been bashed for it for a decade now, but surprisingly he doesn’t regret it. His argument? If people are still talking about it all these years later it must have been a hell of a storyline irregardless of how dumb it may have been to have Arquette as champ. That isn’t suprising to hear, instead the more interesting thing is the admission that eventhough he gave it the stamp of approval, he has been taking heat for something he didn’t even come up with, so who’s to blame? Tony Shiavone!
Russo’s entire TNA run is also covered, from the intial call, to his obsession with the S.E.X. angle, and his initial departure from the company are all discussed. His return and working with Dixie Carter vs Jeff Jarrett, and wrapping it all up with the chapter about the announcement of Hulk Hogan coming to TNA, it’s all there.
The book closes with a short diary entry dated November 5th 2009, Russo is getting along with Eric Bischoff, and is about to meet with Hulk Hogan for the first time. Russo hopes he can make this work, because if he does, it will be the greatest accomplishment of his personal life, note that its not his professional life, but rather his personal life.
In the book Vince Russo says he felt like he owed something to ECW Press. They let him write what he wanted how we wanted when he released his first book, Forgiven. In return he felt like he owed them this “wrestling” book so they could make the money they didn’t necessarily make off Forgiven, That being said I don’t consider this to be a throwaway, put a bunch of stories on paper and get people to mark out book.
Every story has two sides to it. We’ve pretty much all heard one side of the story when it comes to Vince Russo, and If you’ve been on that one sided bandwagon, then I think you at least should hear the other side of the story. It might change your mind, It might not, but from what I can tell Russo has pleaded his case and tried to teach you a thing or two along the way, and thus id recommend checking this out.
Rope Opera – How WCW Killed Vince Russo is now available from ECW Press. For more information or to order your own copy check out http://www.ecwpress.com/books/rope_opera
You can catch Steve Rockamaniac with cohost Ryan Rider on Main Event Radio, from 10:30 until noon on Sundays.
The Residents @ Club Soda
Who are the Residents? Except for those close to band, no one really knows. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever want to find out.
Since 1969, the Residents have been performing their unique brand of avant-garde (a fancy term for weird-ass) music and visual art. All the while, the members of the band have been concealed by costumes and masks. The most famous of these costumes being giant eyeball heads, top hats and tuxedos.
Their music is odd. Dissonant, seemingly out of tune and unpredictable in that the next note in any song is not the note you would expect to hear.
I would not consider myself a hardcore fan of the Residents. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever sat and listened to an entire album in one sitting. What I love is the concept of a band that has managed to maintain their anonymity for over 40 years. Well... and the eyeball/skull imagery is pretty damn cool too.
My first exposure to the Residents was through the band Primus and their covers of “Sinister Exaggerator”, “Hello Skinny” and “Constantinople”, all from the Residents 1978 album Duck Stab/Buster & Glen. I have bought one album by the Residents; the 1997 career-spanning compilation Our Tires, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses, somewhat of a greatest hits album.
All this to say that I’m what you would call a casual Residents fan.
I missed the Residents the last time they came to Montreal, at Le Spectrum (RIP) in 2001 for the Icky Flix tour where the Residents projected a recently-released DVD of the films they had created throughout their career and played the music live behind screens. I regretted not going to that show, so when I heard that they were coming back, I did not hesitate.
Then I read something on their site that got me worried; that this 'Talking Light' tour would “be an experiment in new directions deviating rom the more “band” productions”. What had I gotten myself into...
"What are ghosts?" ask The Residents - spirits of those no longer inhabiting the flesh, but unable to leave their lives behind? Or could ghosts be a manifestation of something even less tangible, like loneliness, unfulfilled desire or isolation? In a world where nearly everything has become defined and categorized, how do we fill our obvious, purely human need for the fuzzy , vague and supernatural - with TV commercials?
The ghost of a morbidly obese woman haunts her lesbian lover, filling the void of death with food commercials and Dr. Phil. A man becomes obsessed by the spirit of an executed serial killer who stuffed the mouths of his victims with Pudding Roll Ups, an extinct kid's food from the 1980s. A dead boa constrictor named Leonard (after Leonard Cohen, of course) plagues the mind of its former owner, currently consuming Oscar Meyer hot dogs by the dozen. These are just a few of the "ghost stories" told through the magic of The Residents' Talking Light.
After all, even in death, will you ever forget that COCA COLA ADDS LIFE?
The above description from the band’s site summarizes the show very nicely.
The stage was made up to look like a living room. There was couch, and a fireplace with a small TV displaying a constant static and a draw-string lamp on the mantel. The band arrived on stage to the tune of the Coke jingle “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” which then segued into a pastiche of what sounded like manic advertisements. There was “Randy” on vocals, a balding old man with bizarrely hairy ears, in his pajamas. Chuck (on keyboards) and Bob (on guitars) were dressed all in black, with what looked like dreadlocks sprouting from their heads, and wearing large dark goggles. As “Randy” explained during his banter after the first 2 songs, the Residents were a 4-piece, but Carlos retired and is back in Mexico taking care of his mother. They miss Carlos, but they didn’t miss his long drum solos.
That was the first of many genuinely, and surprisingly, funny bits from the show.
“Randy” then got to the heart of the show, the first of many ghost stories told/sung and interspersed by videos of the characters within the story. “Randy” used a small hand-held projector to move the video between the three circular screens setup on the stage. He also warned us that the stories may be a little “spoooooooooky” (add echo effect)
My favourite was the “Unseen Sister” featuring a warped video of women chain smoking recounting the story of how her mother tripped, fell into the stove, spilling a hot pot of christmas themed pasta on her head (in July). Later in the song, she explains how her mother then trips over the toaster and electrocutes herself. With a slight pause she then remembered the time when her goldfish died.
A recurring element of the show was “Randy” telling stories about the mirror people that would appear to him. This culminated to a manic moment late in the show where “Randy” showed us the mirror people in a small hand mirror that suddenly lit up with a jolt of music from the band. This was a very effective shock moment in the show.
The music was uniformly excellent, with some fine guitar by “Bob”, sometimes a lot heavier then I was expecting the music to be. The keyboards were appropriately atmospheric, and the vocals has some very interesting effects added for drama.
The only song I recognized during the show was “Semolina” (from Duck Stab/Buster & Glen). This is not my favourite song off of that album, but it was nicely updated with a jungle beat in the background.
The last song of the main set was a very intense and heavy song that could pass as industrial. A vertically rotating red spotlight lit up the room in a way that I wished I had been on some sort of hallucinogen. The band returned for a 2-song encore, and after about 2 hours, the show was done.
In the end, my original fears were unfounded as The Residents put on an amazing show. As any good concert should, I now have renewed appreciation for the band and will be revisiting their prolific catalog in the near future.
By the way, at some point later in the show, “Randy” introduced the band again and with a slight pause, added: “Fuck Carlos”.
As a sidenote, the Residents are recording each of the shows and making them available for sale on their site. The Montreal shows is available here and is well worth picking up.
CJLO News February 22nd 2010
Read and Produced by Gareth Sloan.
Stories written by Chris Hanna, Jose Espinoza and Emily Brass.
CJLO News February 19th 2010
Read by Erica Fisher.
Produced by Drew Pascoe.
Stories written by Alina Gotcherian, Jose Espinoza and Jonathan Moore.
CJLO News February 17th 2010
Read by Yael Ossowski.
Produced by Justin Trubiano.
Stories written by David Adelman, Matthew Phelps, Sophia Loffreda and Gareth Sloan.
CJLO News February 15th 2010
Read and Produced by Gareth Sloan.
Stories written by Chris Hanna, Sarah Deshaies, Jose Espinoza and Emily Brass.
Misstress Barbara Warmly Received By MTL Crowd
On a cold February night where Montreal found warmth in the Habs’ come-from-behind win over the Boston Bruins, Misstress Barbara took to the stage of Club Soda and delivered a stellar performance following local act Winter Gloves. Hailing from similar backgrounds, Misstress Barbara and Winter Gloves both originated as individual projects using minimal equipment; now both have joined the often unfulfilling ranks of live bands. Mind you, Sicilian-born Misstress Barbara or Barbara Bonfiglio’s 15 years experience as an international club DJ hasn’t hampered the development of her new project, ‘Girls on a Ducati’ from reaching new levels.
Having been to Misstress Barbara’s show back in April where she opened the much smaller venue Zoobizarre for local underground high-fliers Akido, I was very curious to see if all the radio coverage she has received had taken her new image to that next level. Constantly revisited and over-exposed songs such as ‘I’m Running’ (featuring Sam Roberts) and the Bjorkesqe “J’etais une Fleur’ have brought the Sicilian huge crowds and success.
The high-energy trio Winter Gloves warmed the audience up with their mustaches, mod looks and neo-Radiohead meets-the-Postal Service sound. Hunched over his keyboard, , assisted by gimmicks such as the use of his feet instead of his hands to mash the keys lead signer Charles F brought the Club Soda crowd to a dancing frenzy. They did what any good opening act should do, got in, dazzled, and got out before the unruly crowd starts losing their patience for the headliner.
Misstress Barbara had no problem following their act; she even started without her back up Girls on a Ducati who are actually two guys on instruments. She started it all off with an incredible performance of I’m No Human, the title track off her newly released debut that she extended for a couple minutes in order to flaunt her Djing abilities. Her echo effects, distortion and other forms of vocal-manipulation held the crowd in awe for most of the night. She played the majority of her new album, much of which features guest artists who obviously can’t always attend her shows. This has left her making excuses for Sam Roberts’ constant absence: “last time he was hit by a train, the fist time he broke his leg and this time… Sam’s been kidnapped this time” she mused. The fans were upset to lose Sam but appreciated her sense of humor.
Covers, Covers, Covers…
Her latest album includes a cover of Leonard Cohen’s famed tune ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’ which has been brilliantly re-worked and is pretty unrecognizable from the original. In addition to this cove,r she spiced up her set with some other surprising covers: a fun and faster version of Come Together by the Beatles, a chant-along version of Tears for Fears’ shout shout let it all out, and, most surprising of all, the Talkshow Host, Radioheads’ hit from the modern Romeo and Juliet Soundtrack (think Claire Danes and Di Caprio). This last cover was played in the encores along with some non-album Misstress Barbara tracks, tracks from her DJ days for the real fans that had stayed until the end.
Expect More Misstress Barbara in the days to come.
Point/Counterpoint: Black Sabbath
Manley and Hastie go at it hard about a subject that keeps them up at night: Is Black Sabbath awesome, or merely pansies? The question is posed.
Point: Alexander Manley
I got into a bunch of hot water with Hastie a week or so ago. He was extolling the virtues of Black Sabbath (much as he extolled the virtues of DMX yesterday) and I was having none of it. He was all "Sabbath bla bla bla" and "Ozzy bla bla bla" and I was like "Nuh-uhh."
My thinking was, Black Sabbath is a band built around a concept. That concept is that they are evil. It's pretty basic. Their name is Black Sabbath, and literally everything they do is draped and shrouded in gloom, murk, doom, and terror. It's the essential conceit of metal music. Just like rap: we are harder than you. Now just as rap has its Will Smiths, metal has its Mike Pattons as well. But the majority of metal bands are hell-bent for leather on seeming tough and evil and mysterious. It's why they use Latin words as song titles, it's why Scandinavia has produced so many seminal metal bands, and so on. In many cases, the posturing works.
Why does it work? Because the music backs it up by actually sounding evil. This is where my problem with Sabbath comes in: they don't. They don't fucking sound evil. They don't sound scary. I remember watching a video of Ozzy doing an acoustic cover of the Beatles' "In My Life" a few years ago and there was nothing incongruous about it. For one, Ozzy doesn't have a particularly intimidating voice. For two, he doesn't really push it to its limits. He doesn't scream, he doesn't growl. He sings. He practically fucking croons. And for three, the music he sings over is... blues-based rock. It's not very heavy, it's not very fast. It doesn't sound like it's going to tear the shit out of your house. It... it's just not powerful-sounding.
Now, the main thing to keep in mind here is that it's not Sabbath's fault. They are old as hell. When they were getting started, there were no pre-existing metal bands for them to evolve from. They represent a logical step in the progression of music from black American blues to white British rock and so on through the NWOBHM and then to the present. Without them, none of the heavy music I respect—Cancer Bats, Protest the Hero, Propagandhi, Genghis Tron, HORSE the Band, etc.—would probably ever have come to be. But when it comes to that short path between my ears and my brain, they leave me dissatisfied. I like Chuck Berry and I like the Rolling Stones. Sabbath? Not so much. They're a heavier, gloomier version of the Beatles parading around like they're the most evil and Satanic thing on the planet. Please.
So. I will stick to listening to Trap Them—who sound like the sort of horrific, shit-tearing-up music that I mentally associate with Sabbath's posturing—and Hastie can have his old-school metal.
Coming Later: Part 2: Why this doesn't apply to The Clash, but does apply to the Sex Pistols.
Counterpoint: R. Brian Hastie
Being a life-long fan of most of Sabbath's catalogue (yes little Billy, Hastie even likes late '80s Sabbath), I feel the need to clear up some points Manley may have not thought of while composing his last entry.
Firstly, check out the title track of their self-titled debut. Sabbath guitarist-cum-god Tony Iommi makes effective use of the Devil's Third. Also known as the diabolus in musica, the thing just reeks of scary. The three notes employed by Iommi handily do the trick over a drawn-out, nightmarish backbeat. The story the Ozzman telleth is one of seeing a spirit (possibly even Satan!) that actually happened to bassist Geezer Butler before Sabbath's formation. Close your eyes and listen to the 6-minute opus and then then wonder if there's a sense of danger in there. I do belive there is.
No one at this time was making music that was inherently evil at the time. Their peers, like Pentagram, didn't start up until 4 or 5 years after Sabbath's apparition. Sabbath was, as Manley noted, singular and so didn't have a preset path to follow. Some of their riffs were based around blues-rock, sure, but Iommi also recognized the need to amp it up and so in a live setting he plays loud as fuck (employing multiple Laney stacks) and tunes down to C. He played beyond those blues riffs and created his own brand of riffing that incites instant recognition. How's that for powerful-sounding?
Secondly, Electric Funeral. The song itself, a testament to apocalyptic war, is aided by another nasty riff and Ozzy's lower register. Shit just sounds EVIL (even live). Ozzy's "crooning" works effectively here once more.
Watching Ozzy cover 'In My Life' isn't considering the fact that he makes/made up one-fourth of the members of Sabbath. One latter-day piece of work by one member of the band doesn't necessarily taint the whole band, I feel. Also, Tony Iommi's Iommi album features a host of screamers and screechers on there anyways.
Similarly, I could argue that watching HORSE The Band cover the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles song lowers them down by sounding like a second-rate punk band throughout most of the song. They don't sound evil, they sound snotty and and whiny, like prepubescent teeangers extolling their love of cartoons, but that would be taking the entirety of their music out of context too.
Manley's problem is that he equates fast music with evil. All of the bands he listed as contemporaries love to play fast. Sabbath's idea of being a lumbering giant in the night, destroying the shit out of stuff with giant prodding footsteps is in stark contrast to Manley's quest for speed, and therefore evil. Staying at a certain BPM (usually under 100) automatically takes a band out of the running for "evil".
Manley's assertion that Sabbath are just "a heavier, gloomier version of the Beatles parading around like they're the most evil and Satanic thing on the planet" is plainly false. When's the last time the Beatles wrote a song about the perils of cocaine? Or about the horrors of the war in Vietnam? Or about hell? No other band dealt with these aspects head-on, preferring to drape their musings in heavy metaphors for fear of being labelled 'Satanic'. The Beatles were all about having a good time and keeping their songs at the 3 minute mark, something that the Sabs blatantly disregarded. The Beatles embraced radio play while Black Sabbath never went looking for it, preferring the tried-and-true live route as the big way to gaining more fans.
The differences listed above are integral to each band's make-up. The Beatles were a pop band because their songs were cheery and radio-friendly, their albums packaged in a message of peace and love. Black Sabbath were angry and confused, their songs overtly long and only finding a pseudo-home once FM radio came to prominence in the '70s and even then played sparingly. Pop music's main objective is to reach as many people as possible (hence the popular moniker). Sabbath understood that they were a niche, an acquired taste, a real alternative to the Led Zeppelins, Deep Purples and Yes' of the day. Zeppelin, who definitely copped a few (dozen) riffs from the blues-rock domain sang about love and hot summer days. Yes crafted intricate concept albums that emphasized the use of synthesizers and a distinctive sonic space. Deep Purple similarly looked towards synth use as a primary vehicle for their music, as well as the need to jam things out in a live setting, like their 'Stairway to Heaven' brethren. Sabbath stood in defiance, offering up songs in a live setting that had a little bit of tweaking but largely remained the same, offering up a selection of evil-sounding songs and a message of danger.
Sure, the occasional love song would slip into Sabbath's repertoire ('Sabbath Cadabra' comes to mind), but they were mostly a bunch of evil-sounding Negative Nancys. Sabbath understood their place in the world and continued onwards, undettered. I do believe they sound evil and threatening, and are far removed from the pop moniker Manley wishes to attach to them.
NOTE: I've decided to stick with the "classic" '70s line-up due to the fact that they managed to stay together for most of the decade and have a lasting legacy. Dio's involvement in Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell was all start-stop-start-stop and the various incarnation of the band in the '80s and '90s make it hard to judge because of lack of consistency.
-You can find these two geniuses fighting it out on a weekly basis on Countdown to Armageddon, Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m.
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