Search - Black Sabbath :: Best of

Mark L. (MarkL) from WALNUT CREEK, CA
Reviewed on 3/19/2007...

Awesome collection. Two discs.

This is the "Castle" remaster

bostonears | Lincoln, MA United States | 12/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When you read various reviews of Black Sabbath, you will inevitably see mention of the remasters done circa 1996 by Castle. Castle is a division of Sanctuary Records Group in the U.K. The version of "Best of Black Sabbath" referenced here is the original 2000 U.K. release of the Castle remaster compilation. The discs are "Made in England", and also carry the label "Metal-Is", the name of another Sanctuary division.



Amazon also offers versions of this two-disc "Best of Black Sabbath" collection from record label "Essen" (perhaps actually Essential, another Castle-related company), and Musicrama (USA), and I have seen in stores a version from BMG (now Sony BMG Music) and another from Brazil.



All of these releases have the same cover art, and are probably from the identical remasters from Castle/Sanctuary. They all contain the booklet with liner notes written by Hugh Gilmore, although the discs might be manufactured in different countries.



Overall, the quality of these remasters is fairly good, although the earlier tracks contain signs of hiss suppression and similar efforts to improve on old master tapes. I'd rate the sound quality as acceptable but not perfect. Regarding the music, if you've read this far, you already know whether or not you're going to like it."