Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality

Is children of the grave super quiet on anyone else’s copy?

This pressing is a different cut with much more pronounced bass. The inner groove etching numbers are identical, however, slightly different in the '5' and '2', hence a re-cut. The dead giveaways for this version are the label misprints and extra tunes. I believe later editions had a different mix and/or eq curve.

All of Sabbath's first four releases (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality and Vol 4) had extra song titles added on the Warner Bros versions. Master Of Reality is the only one that has not had all the extra song titles replicated on CD releases (The Elegy has appeared a few times). So, the question is - why not? Maybe it's because fans care and record companies do not. It's about time Master was released in it's full song titles version by Warners. Anybody who knows somebody who works for Warners please point this out this curious omission to Warners and let's get it released!!

dear God in heaven. this pressing sounds FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! the kick drum just punches you in the chest on every beat, you can clearly hear the reverb decay on Ozzy's voice, the guitars sound so full and warm while they cut like a honed razor blade, and Geezer's bass is so full of pop and punch on every finger pick and slap that you can almost feel his fingers hitting his pick guard and the fret board. theres some tape hiss and room artifact here and there, but thank God that the mastering/cutting engineer at Artisan Sound Recorders left everything that was on the tape in the mix, rather than doing what most mastering engineers think they should do, like going and 'fixing' stuff like that. ive had 3 or 4 hammered copies of early WB green label pressings over the last 40 years, but finally having an EX+/NM- pressing with the misprint labels, wow. its like i'm finally hearing this for the first time.

dont get me wrong, though. ive had a super clean VG+/ borderline EX copy of this pressing for over 30 years-
https://discogs.programascracks.com/release/9348509-Black-Sabbath-Master-Of-Reality
and it sounds great and is very enjoyable, but its re-cut and has some gating and compression that allowed the mastering engineer to make it a much louder cut, but a slight bit of the warmth and overall dynamic is lost when compared to the Artisan cut. i wouldnt say its "night and day" because both sound great. they really do compare to each other quite well, but they do have some slight differences in over-all dynamics, and i must say that i prefer the Artisan, and cant recommend it enough!!! theres just no comparison.

well, ok, ive never heard or owned a Vertigo swirl pressing of this. but i have had a strong VG UK Vertigo swirl of the first LP in the past, and that sounded really dark and murky, and pretty bad in general, compared to my Artisan cut of the first LP. so, based on a sort of controlled experiment of that LP, i dont feel the need to drop down a couple of paychecks for a UK Vertigo swirl of this specific lp. i have no faith in it sounding any better, or even as good. idunno, im just saying...

This is the original first pressing of this LP in the USA which contains the extra song titles added by Geezer Butler because of his concern that people might not buy the LP because it apparently had few songs on it! Releases that do not have these extra song titles are later pressings. The poster was also included (smaller than the Vertigo version) with the catalog number in the bottom corner. A lot of the information on the Discogs website is confusing and also opinionated. Take it from me this is the original release!!

I own a copy that has the embossed cover, but has a WHITE warner brothers label that also says "promotion not for sale".
Any info on this one? as I dont see a promo vinyl release listed.