Black Sabbath – Sister Ray / Seraphim 7”
Single
Minotaur
Records (distributed from Belgium), 1971
Slowed down quite
a few notches and beset with a heaviness far exceeding that of the original,
Black Sabbath’s cover of The Velvet’s ‘Sister Ray’ is nothing short of
haunting. The chorus surges forth relentlessly like a storm tossed sea as the
vessel thereon heaves to and fro under a starless sapphire sky, ever
threatening to lose control as towering waves roll and break with the vengeance
of an insane god. Ozzy wails Reed’s lyrics with reckless abandon tempered with a
monotonous tremor reminiscent of such classics as Electric Funeral and Lord of
this World. I would never have thought that a phrase so ludicrous as “too busy
sucking on a ding-dong” could be delivered to such chilling effect.
Seraphim is a
paean to the many-eyed, six-winged fiery serpents encountered by the Jewish
people as described in the Old Testament Book of Exodus. The first half of the
song features Ozzy’s lurid descriptions of the fiery angels interspersed with
short licks from Iommi’s guitar, while the second half kicks into high gear,
depicting the descent of the angels onto a sleeping city and the resulting havoc
which befalls its terror-stricken inhabitants. The whole thing is simply
beautiful, featuring some of the most poetic lyrics in the whole of Sabbath’s
repertoire.
This hidden
gem is easily the jewel in Minotaur Records’ crown. As with all in the Minotaur
Special Dispatch series, this was extremely limited, and has never since been repressed.
Perhaps it will be released as part of a retrospective package someday. Or perhaps
not, as the band seems to have written it out of their history.
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