Celebrating the short, but powerful solo career of Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, BMG are poised to release both a comprehensive box set and a condensed, seventeen-track best of. This review covers the single-disc Very Best Of… and contains portions lifted from our comprehensive review of the box set (Manipulations Of The Mind) found here.
As with the box set, the most contentious part of this set is the absence of any form of liner notes. Housed in a digipack, a fold-out booklet offers nothing but some binary code, a single press shot of Geezer and the most basic details imaginable. Beyond that, the newcomer is left without any sign of who was involved in the making of the albums beyond a credit for the writing of the music (citing Peter ‘Pedro’ Howse and Geezer Butler). There’s nothing to even tell you that Pedro was also the guitarist on the albums. This seems an astonishing oversight given that Geezer was personally involved in the track selection, and it’s disappointing to note that, at a time when physical formats are battling against streaming, so little thought would be put into the booklet.
Nevertheless, if the packaging feels lacking, the music does not. With six tracks each from Plastic Planet (feat. Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell on vocals) and Black Science and a further five from Ohmwork, it’s a stuffed disc that offers a comprehensive overview of Geezer’s career. Although no exclusives are offered here to tempt in long-time fans, the box set has a wealth of unreleased material, and the feeling is very much that this compilation is pitched at the casual Sabbath fan looking to explore the various members’ solo projects without committing to the whole catalogue.
Opening with one of Geezer’s strongest tracks, the compilation hits the ground running with Drive Boy Shooting*, a Burton powered nightmare from Geezer’s best album, Plastic Planet. It’s a rousing start and it’s immediately followed up with the bruising Man In A Suitcase#, which, despite having a new singer on board, does much to showcase the consistency of Geezer’s output. Keeping things heavy, Geezer hits us with the gruelling Misfit^ (Ohmwork’s opening gambit), before unleashing Burton once more on The Invisible*. This is great music and it certainly showcases Geezer at his brutal best. True, while the ‘tallica-does-Pantera-isms of Box Of Six# may not be Geezer’s finest hour, the punishing Pardon My Depression^ is undoubtedly an Ohmwork highlight that sees Geezer giving some serious bottom end to a track that sits somewhere between Alice in Chains’ sludgy grind and Mudvayne’s elastic groove.
Burton’s ferocious performance on House Of Clouds* reminds us why Plastic Planet is Geezer at his unstoppable best and it pairs well with the eerie, Mysterons#, one of the best and most understated tracks from Black Science. The ludicrously-titled Aural Sects^ is a bit of an odd choice (seriously, why choose this over Alone), but its soon eclipsed by the jazzy overtones of Detective 27*, which comes on like Henry Rollins fronting Fear Factory. The grinding Number 5# shows just how weird Geezer and his gang could get, and it’s almost with a sense of relief that the acoustic I Believe^ provides a calmer moment amidst the sturm und drang.
Leading the charge in the album’s final third, both Catatonic Eclipse* and Among The Cybermen# are fantastic tracks that showcase Geezer and his band at their absolute best. In contrast, Prisoner 103^ is a decent take on the nu metal tidal wave engulfing the world in 2005 that, ultimately, lacks the fire found elsewhere. Fortunately, the disc wraps up with two bruising monsters in the form of Plastic Planet*, a track that feels eerily prescient now, and Area Code 51#, a surprisingly catchy morsel from Black Science.
As noted on the box set review, Geezer’s solo efforts could be something of a patchy affair. The best of the three albums is surely the Burton-fronted Plastic Planet, a bruising debut that easily sits alongside its influences, with strong lyrical themes and committed performances. The overlong Black Science is well-represented here, and the five tracks on offer are well-chosen, while the somewhat bumpy ride of Ohmwork should surely have been represented by Alone, although the tracks that do make the cut are still decent. For the uninitiated, this CD showcases both Geezer’s skill and, perhaps more importantly, his all-pervading love of heavy metal in all its forms. As such, it is a powerful collection that arguably offers the best way to get to grips with Geezer’s three-alum solo career and, despite its somewhat weak packaging, there is no doubting the quality of the music on offer. 8.5/10
