Artist
|
Black
Sabbath
|
Title
|
Black
Sabbath
|
Design
|
Keef
|
Photography
|
Keef
|
Record
Company
|
Vertigo,
1970
|
Outer gatefold. Original UK Vertigo Swirl First Pressing.
Outer gatefold. Clean artwork.
Black Sabbath's eponymous first album, released on 13 February 1970 in the United Kingdom, and on 1 June 1970 in the United States, has been commonly described as the first heavy metal album. This can be argued but what it’s clear is that it’s one of the first records to have all the key elements in place and its influence on the genre is unquestionable. From the occult lyrics to the guitar tone, the aesthetics of the band itself and, of course, the dark cover artwork.
The album's original UK release (Vertigo, V06) was a gatefold sleeve featuring on the front sleeve an eerie photography of a woman wearing a black cloak in a field beside a lake, with a water mill in the background. According to some sources[1],[2], the woman is holding a black cat though is very hard to see. A raven is visible among the trees on the back cover. The perfect image for the music enclosed on this album.
The sleeve was designed and photographed by Vertigo Records' in-house
designer Keith Macmillan under the pseudonym Keef (also known as Marcus Keef, a
frequent source of confusion). He is also the man behind the cover artwork of
Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, Colosseum's Valentyne Suit and Rod Stewart’s UK solo
debut An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down among many others.
Cover artwork of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, Colosseum’s
Valentyne Suit and Rod Stewart’s An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down.
His album cover art for the Vertigo, Neon, and Nepentha labels of the early
'70s is very distinctive. Often gatefold, widescreen works, Keef's photos
usually manipulate color, obsess about old British households, creepy
interiors, dusty attics, and occasional shots of the band members sitting
around looking lost and/or freaked out[3].
He frequently used false color infrared photography[4], as in
the Sabbath’s debut. Basically, where chlorophyll is present (plants, trees) a
red tint is achieved using particular photo film, and the human skin can be
green or pink depending the technique in use[5].
“I used to go to Keef”
notes Olaf Wyper (the man who signed Black Sabbath to Vertigo Records) “and
give him the music and say, ‘All right, listen to this and come back with some
ideas.’ Without any precondition or anything else. And he knew that what I was
interested in was the picture telling a story. The routine was, he would come
back with some ideas, and he would show them to the art department and me, and
we would look at them and say, Hmm, I think you can work on that one, don’t
like that, don’t like all of them, like all of them. He would start usually
with just some simple pencil sketches or a Polaroid or something like that. But
usually it was sort of sketches and perhaps an odd… His girlfriend was very photogenic,
and he used to take pictures of her, in Polaroid, and it would be something
like this, but then of course it’s going to be treated in a particular way. His
ability to come up with something arresting, powerful, that told the story, was
indeed quite unique”[6].
Keef moved into music videos in the late 70s, collaborating with Kate Bush,
Paul McCartney and Blondie among others.
”I started in the
business as a photographer and sleeve designer” recalls Keef “About 1968 I
started, I used to photo and design album sleeve covers and I did that for
seven or eight years. I got a bit fed up doing that because I'd done basically
over a thousand by then and I was just basically a little bored with it. And
[I] really thought that the up and coming thing was film and specifically video
tape for the music business. One of my early successes and one I'm quite proud
of was one I did for Kate Bush […]. This was “Wuthering heights”[7].
The mill featured on the cover is Mapledurham Watermill, a historic
watermill in the civil parish of Mapledurham in the English county of
Oxfordshire. The mill is driven by the head of water created by Mapledurham
Lock and Weir and is preserved in an operational state[8].
The mill is located in the grounds of Mapledurham House, and like the house
is open to visitors on weekend and bank holiday afternoons from April to
September. The water mill is normally working on opening days, and visitors can
visit both main floors of the mill, and see (and feel) its operation[9].
The Mill at Mapledurham is the only mill on the Thames still working and
producing high-quality stone-ground flour[10].
Photo by Chris Wood. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapledurham_Watermill
Photo by Chris Wood Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapledurham_Watermill
The watermill has been
featured in several films and tv shows. Perhaps the best known example is its
appearance in the 1976 film The Eagle Has Landed, directed by John Sturges and
starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert
Duvall. At the end of the movie the American troops blow up the mill. To
protect the historic mill the movie crew built a false part in front of the
real one.
Poster of the film
Screenshots of the film The Eagle Has Landed
The mill also appears in the introductory
credits to the BBC television programme, Richard Hammond's Blast Lab, as
the supposed hidden location of the underground lab.
Screenshots of the TV show Richard Hammond's
Blast Lab
It is also
featured in the episode 'The Fisher King' of the British television detective
drama Midsomer Murders, aired on ITV.
Screenshot of the TV show Midsomer Murders.
There are several rumors
surrounding the strange woman on the cover. Some people said she was only
someone passing by, others said she was the owner of the mill, or that it was
an old witch living nearby. All of these don't seem likely. Other rumors
claimed that she is Bill Ward's first wife. Others say that is Ozzy himself.
These are completely untrue because the band has repeatedly claimed
that they didn't have anything to do with the cover[11], [12],[13]. The craziest of all these gossip is the one that claims that there was no
model, that they photographed the Mapledurham watermill and that this
mysterious shape just appeared on the pictures out of nowhere…[14]
The reason for all
these rumors is that there is barely any information about
the girl. According to Pete Sarfas, from the now disappeared Black Sabbath
Appreciation Society, she was an actress/model that was hired for the photo
shoot[15].
A girl claiming to
be the model in the photograph turned up at a Sabbath gig in Holland one night
and spoke to Richard ‘Spock’ Wall who had just started to work for Sabbath as
their tour manager at the time of the (first) album release. Spock didn’t know
whether or not to believe the ‘model’, since there were all sorts of strange
people rolling up at the gigs[16].
On the original UK
release, the inner gate-fold sleeve featured an inverted cross with a poem and
the credits written inside of it. Vertigo, the band's UK record label, were
responsible for adding the cross. Allegedly, the band were upset when they
discovered this, as it fueled allegations that they were Satanists or
Occultists[17], Geezer in particular figuring, given his strict
Catholic background, that his parents would freak when they saw it[18].
Sabbath complained that they had not seen the sleeve artwork and the inverted
cross until it was too late to do anything about them[19].
“The record company came
up with the artwork for the first album and had that inverted cross on the
inside, plus the verse on the inside. That was out of our control, we weren’t
allowed to have anything to do with mixing or album sleeves or anything like
that.” Geezer Butler[20]
However, in
Osbourne's recent biography, "I Am Ozzy", he says that to the best of
his knowledge nobody was upset with the inclusion.
"Suddenly we had
all these crazy people turning up at shows," Iommi remembered in Mojo in 2013[17]. "I think Alex
Sanders (high priest of the Wiccan religion) turned up at a gig once. It was
all quite strange, really." The album was not packaged with a gatefold
cover in the US. In the liner notes to Reunion, Phil Alexander states, "Unbeknownst to the
band, Black Sabbath was launched in the US
with a party with the head of the Church of Satan, Anton Lavey, presiding
over the proceedings...All of a sudden Sabbath were Satan's Right Hand Men."
Inner gatefold first UK press Vertigo. Source: http://rarerecordcollector.wordpress.com/vo1-vo7/vo6-black-sabbath/
Note that Ozzy Osbourne is spelled on the sleeve notes as Ossie Osborne.
The album was not
packaged with a gatefold cover in the U.S (Warner Brothers WS 1871) and several
other countries thus losing the inverted cross.
On the
mid-eighties UK re-release, on NEMS, the sleeve is the same as the original
release, except that the inner sleeve background is white.
Inner gatefold NEMS, NEL 6002, UK, December 1986
Poem
Still falls the rain,
the veils of darkness
shroud
the blackened trees,
which,
contorted by some unseen
violence, shed their
tired
leaves, and bend their
boughs
towards a grey earth of
severed
bird wings. Among the
grasses,
poppies bleed before a
gesticulating death, and
young
rabbits, born dead in
traps,
stand motionless, as
though
guarding the silence
that
surrounds and threatens
to engulf
all those that would
listen.
Mute birds, tired of
repeating
yesterdays terrors,
huddle together
in the recesses of dark
corners,
heads turned from the
dead, black
swan that floats
upturned in a
small pool in the
hollow.
There emerges from this
pool
a faint sensual mist,
that
traces its way upwards
to
caress the chipped feet
of
the headless martyr’s
statue, whose
only achievement was to
die to
soon, and who couldn’t
wait to
lose.
the cataract of darkness
form
fully, the long black
night begins,
yet still, by the lake a
young girl waits,
unseeing she believes
herself unseen,
she smiles, faintly at
the distant
tolling bell, and the
still falling rain.
Commonly, the font
used for the title on the cover is referred as Manuscript Capitals by
Letraset. It isn't exact, but it's close. The copyright for the font in
the Letraset catalogue says ©1972, two years after the release of the
album. The font doesn't exist in digital form, at least not commercially[21].
Taken from 1979 Letraset catalogue:
Fonts: Original cover font (up) vs Manuscript capitals
font (down)
The Manuscript Capitals font is used on the cover of Kingfish' eponymous debut album (1976).
Kingfish - kingfish (1976)
This is not meant
to be an exhaustive list. For more exhaustive information on the
different international releases go to: http://www.sabbath.se/Discography/blacksabbathvinylLP.html or
UK VERSION
Side A:
1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
4. N.I.B.
Side B:
1. Evil Woman
2. Sleeping Village
3. Warning
US/CANADIAN/VENEZUELAN VERSION
Side A:
1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. WASP
4. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
5. Bassically
6. N.I.B.
Side B:
1. Wicked World
2. A Bit Of Finger
3. Sleeping Village
4. Warning
Evil Woman is on
non-US releases of BLACK SABBATH. On US releases it is replaced by Wicked
World.
Vertigo, 6360 047, Argentina, 1973
Somewhat different
backsleeve, with translated song titles.
Vertigo, 6360 047, Columbia, 1970?
- No gatefold
- Titled "Black Sabbath 2" on cover
- Black and white back sleeve, with translated song
titles.
Phonodor, 12182, Israel, ?
- Different back cover
- No gatefold
-Producer Roger Bain is misspelled Boger Bain
Vertigo, 847 903 VTY, Singapore, ?
- Different outer gatefold cover
Vertigo, VO 6 (847 903 2Y), South Africa, May 1970
- Cross on back sleeve
- No gatefold
Vertigo, VO 6/847 903 VTY, Spain, ?
- Different cover
- Different inner gatefold
Fontana, 11.108, Venezuela, 1971
- Different back sleeve
- Same track order as the US and Canadian LPs
- No gatefold
BLACK SABBATH - PARANOID Vertigo,
6360 011-1430 6, Switzerland, 1970
- Swiss
'Special Edition'Black Sabbath’s second album uses the picture of the
first album cover
- Liner notes in German and
French on the back cover
The packaging of
the Japanese psychedelic band Acid Mothers Temple’s album Starless and the
Bible Black Sabbath (Alien8 Recordings 2006) is a reworking of the original
cover of Black Sabbath’s debut, only this version features AMT’s Kawabata
Makoto in the cover photo instead of the woman[22].The title refers to the
King Crimson’s album Starless and Bible Black (1974) and a
self-titled album by Black Sabbath. This isn’t the first time (nor the last
time) that this prolific group (here with the appendage Cosmic Inferno) reworks
an iconic cover or its title (e.g. Son of a Bitches Brew, Dark Side of the
Black Moon, Are We Experimental?, Minstrel in the Galaxy and Electric
Heavyland).
Cover of Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno’s
Starless and the Bible Black Sabbath
Hardcore punk band BL’AST!’s 2013 album, entitled Blood (Southern Lord
Records 2013) and composed of unreleased mid-80s material, also mimics the
cover of Black Sabbath’s debut, with the use of infrared photography
and a strange woman staring at the viewer.
Cover of BL’AST!’s Blood
Illustrator Tim
Bower did a painting of the band in front of the watermill for the Rolling
Stone’s special issue "100 Greatest Artists".
Illustration by Tim Bower
Official Black Sabbath site.
A fan site with lots and lots of information.
1. Tangye,
Dave; Wright, Graham (2005), How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized
View from the Crew, Macmillan UK, p. 36, ISBN 0330411942, 9780330411943.
2. VO 1 - 6360
013, http://www.vertigoswirl.com/vertigouklp1.html. Retrieved 06 Mey
2012.
3. Marcus Keef
that 70s guy. Stone Cold Pimpin'. www.tedmills.com/ http://www.tedmills.com/2008/05/marcus_keef_that_70s_guy.html Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
4. 01/22:
Gettin' Swirled With Vertigo. http://www.rotterandfriends.com http://www.rotterandfriends.com/wisdom/index.php?itemid=76 Retrieved 29 Jul 2015
5. Colours
List #1: False Colors (or infrared) (when vegetables become red!). http://rateyourmusic.com. http://rateyourmusic.com/list/alabaster/colours_list__1__false_colors__or_infrared___when_vegetables_become_red__ . Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
6. Popoff,
Martin (2011), Black Sabbath FAQ. All That's Left to Know on the First Name in
Metal, Hal Leonard Corporation, p. 9, ISBN-10: 0879309571, ISBN-13:
978-0879309572.
7. Keith "Keef" Macmillan. Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words http://gaffa.org/cloud/subjects/keith_keef_macmillan.html Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
8. Mapledurham
Watermill. http://en.wikipedia.org/. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapledurham_Watermill Retrieved 29 Jul
2015.
9. "Opening
times, directions and prices".http://www.mapledurham.co.uk/visit.php Mapledurham Estate. Retrieved 06 May 2012.
10. The Old
Watermill http://www.mapledurham.co.uk/history/watermill/ Mapledurham Estate. Retrieved 06 May 2012.
11. Tangye,
Dave; Wright, Graham (2005), How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized
View from the Crew, Macmillan
UK, ISBN 0330411942, 9780330411943.
12. Popoff,
Martin (2011), Black Sabbath FAQ. All That's Left to Know on the First
Name in Metal, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN-10: 0879309571, ISBN-13:
978-0879309572.
13. McIver, Joel
(2007), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Omnibus Press, ISBN-10: 1844499820, ISBN-13:
978-1844499823.
14. Mapledurham
Watermill. Where Rock Lives. http://whererocklives.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/mapledurham-watermill.html Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
15. BLACK
SABBATH – FAQ. http://www.black-sabbath.com http://www.black-sabbath.com/faq/faq.html#faq61 Retrieved 06 May 2012.
16. Tangye,
Dave; Wright, Graham (2005), How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized
View from the Crew, Macmillan
UK, ISBN 0330411942, 9780330411943.
17. Black
Sabbath (album). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath_(album) Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
18. Popoff,
Martin (2011), Black Sabbath FAQ. All That's Left to Know on the First
Name in Metal, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN-10: 0879309571, ISBN-13:
978-0879309572.
19. Tangye,
Dave; Wright, Graham (2005), How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized
View from the Crew, Macmillan UK, ISBN 0330411942, 9780330411943.
20. McIver, Joel
(2007), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Omnibus Press, ISBN-10: 1844499820, ISBN-13:
978-1844499823.
21. BLACK
SABBATH FONTS. Black Sabbath Resource. http://blacksabbathresource.blogspot.com.es/ Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
22. Acid Mothers
Temple: Starless and the Bible Black Sabbath. Alien8 Recordings. http://www.alien8recordings.com/releases/starless-and-the-bible-black-sabbath Retrieved 29 Jul 2015.
