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You can, however, find 'Paranoid' covered in many places in the 1970s, by musical cabaret troupes like The Les Humphries Singers, on several supermarket pop-cover cash-in LPs of the time, and a punk version by The Dickies in 1978. One that has become widely posted since the dawn of the internet is Cindy & Bert's entertainingly bizarre "Der Hund von Baskerville".
Paranoid was apparently regarded as a catchy. floor-filling, chart hit. German No.1, Dutch No.2 and UK No.4, among other top-10 entries around the world, it achieved platinum sales.
I had to include a few examples of Paranoid covers here, but seeing as I could probably do two whole volumes of just that one song, I have looked hard for other songs that were covered during the '70s, and there aren't many. I was lucky to have come across some of these randomly years ago while delving into various countries on other searches. There is no sure-fire way to find them all, as so few are specifically documented or credited as Sabbath covers, and may have names not related the the original song names, on top of that, in different languages.
This leaves the question, how many more are out there? How many Singaporean show band EPs like The Commandos, or small-town USA private 45s like Meloncolony, containing early Sabbath covers, are left to be discovered?
If anyone would like to contribute some contrasting views on this subject, maybe people who were around to remember the '70s (I was at least alive when one of the songs in this set was recorded), feel free to comment at the end of this post, or via my social media / email. I'd be glad to add them here!
01. Orchestra And Chorus Les Humphries - Paranoid (1971)
from album Singing Revolution
02. Los Shain's - Wicked World (1970)
from album Singles 1969-1970
03. Crow - Evil Woman (1969)
from album Crow Music
Les Humphries was a Brit who ran an international music troupe. They covered pop hits of the time and the performances were of a high standard, often including names that have cropped up here in TDATS before, such as Earl Jordan (of Jodo link), John Lawton (of Lucifer's Friend and Uriah Heep) and Inga Rumpf (Frumpy, Atlantis).
Los Shain's appear with a very early Sabbath cover, I can count on one hand the number of bands that had recorded Sabbath covers at this point in 1970. They were one of Peru's popular rock acts, you can read more about them in v104 (link).
Crow have appeared here before (vols 13 & 60), they peddled great horn-laden hard rock. Sabbath covered Evil Woman as their debut single in January 1970 at the urging of manager Jim Simpson, who wanted a commercial track. Tony Iommi replaced Crow's horns with heavy guitar.
Tyke were a trio from Sheffield comprised at this song's time of Paul Jarvis (bass, vocals), Dave Robinson (guitar, keys, vocals) and drummer Ken Markham. It appears their two LPs were fun pub rock affairs, self-released on their own label, Magnum. They covered a number of hits of various styles, and according to Discogs, backed pop singer Dave Berry in their formative years.
If you liked this please explore this site further, with 150+ similarly researched collections and articles / interviews. My social links are below, I also have a youtube channel (link).
Thanks for reading! I'm off to nosh on a bat's head sandwich....
Rich
Welcome to volume 159! The name of my webzine, 'The Day After The Sabbath', has sadly become true in a way that I did not originally intend when I started 16 years ago, but this is the time we are in now. I won't wax lyrical about the recent sad news, suffice to say this site would be very different, or maybe not exist at all, if it wasn't for Ozzy Osbourne, as with the rest of the Birmingham UK band, Black Sabbath.
I have always been intrigued by cover versions, and have based previous TDATS volumes on the subject already (v105, v138). Since I started, it's been inevitable that a Sabbath-related collection of some kind would happen, and now seems the natural time.
Here we have a set of Black Sabbath cover songs, all recorded in the 1970s or earlier. The "or earlier" part can be explained; the direction of cover goes both ways, and included here are some songs by other acts that Sabbath themselves covered early in their career.
Here we have a set of Black Sabbath cover songs, all recorded in the 1970s or earlier. The "or earlier" part can be explained; the direction of cover goes both ways, and included here are some songs by other acts that Sabbath themselves covered early in their career.
If this was a Hendrix, Cream or Deep Purple covers comp, it would have been easier to make; it is notable, for a band that is so well-known now, how few times the large majority of Black Sabbath songs were covered on record within the 1970s, except for one song elaborated below. The reason for this would seem to be that although Sabbath became popular with a select group of rock fans early-on (the ones with especially excellent taste, hehe), they did not achieve the same duration of mainstream recognition as some other heavy acts during the '70s. I can only assume that they were generally too heavy and scary for the mass market as it was then.
The earliest recorded evidence of Sabbath being covered live was by Scotland's Iron Claw (link), who played their songs at shows from 1970 onward, sometimes before they had even been released by Sabbath themselves, as you will read below.
The earliest recorded evidence of Sabbath being covered live was by Scotland's Iron Claw (link), who played their songs at shows from 1970 onward, sometimes before they had even been released by Sabbath themselves, as you will read below.
You can, however, find 'Paranoid' covered in many places in the 1970s, by musical cabaret troupes like The Les Humphries Singers, on several supermarket pop-cover cash-in LPs of the time, and a punk version by The Dickies in 1978. One that has become widely posted since the dawn of the internet is Cindy & Bert's entertainingly bizarre "Der Hund von Baskerville".
Paranoid was apparently regarded as a catchy. floor-filling, chart hit. German No.1, Dutch No.2 and UK No.4, among other top-10 entries around the world, it achieved platinum sales.
I had to include a few examples of Paranoid covers here, but seeing as I could probably do two whole volumes of just that one song, I have looked hard for other songs that were covered during the '70s, and there aren't many. I was lucky to have come across some of these randomly years ago while delving into various countries on other searches. There is no sure-fire way to find them all, as so few are specifically documented or credited as Sabbath covers, and may have names not related the the original song names, on top of that, in different languages.
This leaves the question, how many more are out there? How many Singaporean show band EPs like The Commandos, or small-town USA private 45s like Meloncolony, containing early Sabbath covers, are left to be discovered?
If anyone would like to contribute some contrasting views on this subject, maybe people who were around to remember the '70s (I was at least alive when one of the songs in this set was recorded), feel free to comment at the end of this post, or via my social media / email. I'd be glad to add them here!
TRACKS
01. Orchestra And Chorus Les Humphries - Paranoid (1971)
from album Singing Revolution
02. Los Shain's - Wicked World (1970)
from album Singles 1969-1970
03. Crow - Evil Woman (1969)
from album Crow Music
04. Iron Claw - Fairies Wear Boots (1970)
live unreleased
05. Tyke - Paranoid (1977)
from album Picture Postcard
live unreleased
05. Tyke - Paranoid (1977)
from album Picture Postcard
06. Suck - War Pigs (1972)
from album Rock Today With The Big Heavies
07. Billy Walker - Changes (1973)
from album The Hand Of Love
from album Rock Today With The Big Heavies
07. Billy Walker - Changes (1973)
from album The Hand Of Love
08. Jiří Schelinger & F. R. Čech - Metro, Dobrý Den [A National Acrobat] (1975)
from album Nemám Hlas Jako Zvon
09. Soreng Santi - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng [Iron Man] (1970s)
single
10. Meloncolony - The Wizard (1971)
single
11. Skupina F. R. Čecha - Báječní Muži [Into The Void] (1975)
from album Báječní Muži
12. The Commandos - Penyesalan [Paranoid] (1970)
from EP 'Derita'
from album Nemám Hlas Jako Zvon
09. Soreng Santi - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng [Iron Man] (1970s)
single
10. Meloncolony - The Wizard (1971)
single
11. Skupina F. R. Čecha - Báječní Muži [Into The Void] (1975)
from album Báječní Muži
12. The Commandos - Penyesalan [Paranoid] (1970)
from EP 'Derita'
13. Elf (Ronnie James Dio) - War Pigs (1972)
from album Live At The Bank
from album Live At The Bank
14. The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation - Warning (1967)
single
15. Crystal Saint - Changes (1973)
single
16. The Norman Haines Band - When I Come Down (1971)
from album Den Of Iniquity
17. Rolf Kühn - Paranoid (1971)
from album New Happy Discothek
single
15. Crystal Saint - Changes (1973)
single
16. The Norman Haines Band - When I Come Down (1971)
from album Den Of Iniquity
17. Rolf Kühn - Paranoid (1971)
from album New Happy Discothek
18. Flower Travellin' Band - Black Sabbath (1970)
from album Anywhere
from album Anywhere
The Lowdown
Les Humphries was a Brit who ran an international music troupe. They covered pop hits of the time and the performances were of a high standard, often including names that have cropped up here in TDATS before, such as Earl Jordan (of Jodo link), John Lawton (of Lucifer's Friend and Uriah Heep) and Inga Rumpf (Frumpy, Atlantis).
Los Shain's appear with a very early Sabbath cover, I can count on one hand the number of bands that had recorded Sabbath covers at this point in 1970. They were one of Peru's popular rock acts, you can read more about them in v104 (link).
Crow have appeared here before (vols 13 & 60), they peddled great horn-laden hard rock. Sabbath covered Evil Woman as their debut single in January 1970 at the urging of manager Jim Simpson, who wanted a commercial track. Tony Iommi replaced Crow's horns with heavy guitar.
The Scottish band Iron Claw have featured many times here, in 2011 I interviewed founding guitarist Jim Ronnie at the time of their reformation and new album (link). This live recording of The Claw playing Fairies Wear Boots was made in July 1970, just before Sabbath had released the Paranoid album. This was possible as Iron Claw bass player Alex Wilson was an avid fan of Sabbath, at a time when his band and Sabbath were fledgling acts playing the same circuit. He would memorise Sabbath's songs at shows c.1969 and also create or obtain recordings of them, thus he has some of the earliest DIY recordings of Sabbath ever made. Alex has a youtube (link) where he has uploaded three of Iron Claw's early live Sabbath covers.
Suck formed in what used to be called Rhodesia, in southern Africa. They existed for less than a year but managed to get one of the region's first ever hard rock albums recorded, filled with covers of bands such as Sabbath and Deep Purple, plus a Sabbath-like original of their own called 'The Whip' (see v22). The album is called 'Time To Suck'.
Billy Walker was an American country music singer and guitarist best known for his 1962 hit, "Charlie's Shoes". Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charting records during a 60-year career, and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Jiří Schelinger & F. R. Čech, two guys who often worked together, were in the former Czechoslovakia. They have two tracks here, Into The Void and A National Acrobat, from two different albums, and both covers are killer. When I eventually investigate the Czech / Slovakian region of Europe further for TDATS, I will surely dig deeper with these guys!
Soreng Santi was a Thai singer, songwriter, and composer for other artists. This exotic 'Iron Man' interpretation appeared on a Finders Keepers comp entitled "Thai? Dai! (The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground)", after they first put it out as a limited 7 inch. I'm glad to have come across these releases as they will be very useful when I eventually cover more of South East Asia, I have already done a couple of Indonesian volumes 98 & 106. This is the only early Iron Man cover (if you can call it that) I have come across so far. Crazy to think, but understandable as the single did not perform well on release.
From my rare singles volume - 155: Space Machines (link):
"Meloncolony - The Wizard. Here's a really interesting single on a small Iowa label. The catalogue number puts it somewhere around 1971. Again we have a band doing an early cover of Black Sabbath, with a more fuzzy, psychedelic approach. In particular, the stripped-down production and keyboards give this a very different feel.
On the flipside, they give the same treatment to Speed King by Deep Purple. I have seen this for sale on auctions and in one case the seller claimed it was from Des Moines. I must give the band a hats-off for their name, which I had read many times as "Melancholy" before suddenly realising it is melon-colony, and laughing my head off as a result. Gotcha! Soon after posting this, a helpful member of the TDATS facebook group linked us to a picture of Meloncolony (link), this link shows the band as a three-piece with names left to right below: Wayne Groff (keyboards), Bob Curtis (drums) and Chuck Vail (vocals)."
From my limited understanding, The Commandos were an Indonesian / Singaporean act who usually worked as backing band for various pop singers. They recorded a solo 7 inch EP in 1970 with a song called 'Penyesalan' (Regret), and nowhere on the record does it credit Black Sabbath or Paranoid. I have encountered his kind of cheeky international plagiarism many times before, and it's not the only example in this comp alone!
Elf was Ronnie James Dio's first hard rock band before going on to fame in Rainbow and beyond. This track is from a live bootleg that purports to be at "The Bank" in Cortland, NY, 1972. They also regularly covered Led Zep, Jethro Tull and Link Wray among others. At this time the band was still called The Elves but changed to ELF when their album was released later the same year. You have to assume that Ronnie, 'Ronald Padavona' at the time he was in Elf, had no idea he would eventually join Black Sabbath, when he was covering them in New York bars. Guitarist David 'Rock' Feinstein has also become a notable name in US metal since. As such he's appeared herein TDATS twice before in (v126) & (v155).
The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation's track is here as another example of something Sabbath covered for their debut album. The Retaliation was a vehicle for Dunbar, after stints in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Jeff Beck Group. He continues to perform occasionally with the World Classic Rockers, a band he has been part of since 2003, which features a rotating lineup of classic rock musicians.
Crystal Saint is a left-field find. The credited writer and (presumably) singer is Lyndy Mar, although she obviously didn't write this side! The 45 is on the Wichita, Kansas label, Kanwic Records.
The Norman Haines Band's tune here may not immediately strike you as Sabbath-related, but this tune was recorded by Earth, the previous form of Sabbath, whose demos have been floating around bootleg land for years. Although "When I Come Down" was not released by Haines' own band until 1971, he shared the same manager as Earth, Jim Simpson, which granted Earth early access to some of Haines' compositions. As luck would have it, this year (2025) sees the first ever officially sanctioned release of the Earth demos, coming in September from Big Bear Records, Jim Simpson's own label. (link). Exciting stuff!
Rolf Kühn was German jazz composer and performer (clarinet and saxophone), born September 29, 1929, in Cologne. In the early '70s he made a couple of 'Happy Discothek' pop cover LPs, and thanks to those we have this entertaining instrumental of Paranoid! This particular record also has novel renditions of Black Magic Woman The Kinks' Apeman.
Jiří Schelinger & F. R. Čech, two guys who often worked together, were in the former Czechoslovakia. They have two tracks here, Into The Void and A National Acrobat, from two different albums, and both covers are killer. When I eventually investigate the Czech / Slovakian region of Europe further for TDATS, I will surely dig deeper with these guys!
Soreng Santi was a Thai singer, songwriter, and composer for other artists. This exotic 'Iron Man' interpretation appeared on a Finders Keepers comp entitled "Thai? Dai! (The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground)", after they first put it out as a limited 7 inch. I'm glad to have come across these releases as they will be very useful when I eventually cover more of South East Asia, I have already done a couple of Indonesian volumes 98 & 106. This is the only early Iron Man cover (if you can call it that) I have come across so far. Crazy to think, but understandable as the single did not perform well on release.
"Meloncolony - The Wizard. Here's a really interesting single on a small Iowa label. The catalogue number puts it somewhere around 1971. Again we have a band doing an early cover of Black Sabbath, with a more fuzzy, psychedelic approach. In particular, the stripped-down production and keyboards give this a very different feel.
On the flipside, they give the same treatment to Speed King by Deep Purple. I have seen this for sale on auctions and in one case the seller claimed it was from Des Moines. I must give the band a hats-off for their name, which I had read many times as "Melancholy" before suddenly realising it is melon-colony, and laughing my head off as a result. Gotcha! Soon after posting this, a helpful member of the TDATS facebook group linked us to a picture of Meloncolony (link), this link shows the band as a three-piece with names left to right below: Wayne Groff (keyboards), Bob Curtis (drums) and Chuck Vail (vocals)."
 |
| Meloncolony on stage (source) |
Elf was Ronnie James Dio's first hard rock band before going on to fame in Rainbow and beyond. This track is from a live bootleg that purports to be at "The Bank" in Cortland, NY, 1972. They also regularly covered Led Zep, Jethro Tull and Link Wray among others. At this time the band was still called The Elves but changed to ELF when their album was released later the same year. You have to assume that Ronnie, 'Ronald Padavona' at the time he was in Elf, had no idea he would eventually join Black Sabbath, when he was covering them in New York bars. Guitarist David 'Rock' Feinstein has also become a notable name in US metal since. As such he's appeared herein TDATS twice before in (v126) & (v155).
The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation's track is here as another example of something Sabbath covered for their debut album. The Retaliation was a vehicle for Dunbar, after stints in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Jeff Beck Group. He continues to perform occasionally with the World Classic Rockers, a band he has been part of since 2003, which features a rotating lineup of classic rock musicians.
Crystal Saint is a left-field find. The credited writer and (presumably) singer is Lyndy Mar, although she obviously didn't write this side! The 45 is on the Wichita, Kansas label, Kanwic Records.
The Norman Haines Band's tune here may not immediately strike you as Sabbath-related, but this tune was recorded by Earth, the previous form of Sabbath, whose demos have been floating around bootleg land for years. Although "When I Come Down" was not released by Haines' own band until 1971, he shared the same manager as Earth, Jim Simpson, which granted Earth early access to some of Haines' compositions. As luck would have it, this year (2025) sees the first ever officially sanctioned release of the Earth demos, coming in September from Big Bear Records, Jim Simpson's own label. (link). Exciting stuff!
Rolf Kühn was German jazz composer and performer (clarinet and saxophone), born September 29, 1929, in Cologne. In the early '70s he made a couple of 'Happy Discothek' pop cover LPs, and thanks to those we have this entertaining instrumental of Paranoid! This particular record also has novel renditions of Black Magic Woman The Kinks' Apeman.
Flower Travellin' Band were one of Japan's premiere early heavy acts along with the likes of Blues Creation and 'Speed, Glue & Shinki'. At that time, and to this day, Japan showed a total understanding and appreciation for metal and took to it like a duck to water, as you can hear on volume 36: Rising Sun (link).
-------------------------------------------
If you liked this please explore this site further, with 150+ similarly researched collections and articles / interviews. My social links are below, I also have a youtube channel (link).
Thanks for reading! I'm off to nosh on a bat's head sandwich....
Rich
Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 95: A Shrine To DooM Foregone [second doom special]
The Day After The Sabbath 105: Goin' Down [covers special]
The Day After The Sabbath 105: Goin' Down [covers special]
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