HOARD ALMIGHTY
Box sets, underground oddities and all the essential merch you need this month
BLACK SABBATH
PARANOID: 50TH ANNIVERSARY SUPER DELUXE BOX SET
BMG
£75/£100
THE ALBUM THAT starts with the other greatest and most ominous intro of all time reaches its 50th anniversary this year, and seeing as it still sounds like aeons-old DNA being woken from its slumber, the fact that it’s manifested into two new forms should be another cause for celebration. Both the five-disc and the four-CD Super Deluxe Box Sets feature Black Sabbath’s masterpiece as an original recording and the super-rare quad mix from 1974, folded down to stereo. You’ll also find - released on vinyl for the first time - two live recordings from 1970: in Montreaux, just before Paranoid was released, and in Brussels. Both box sets come with extra gifts galore: a replica of the tour book from the Paranoid tour, a period poster and a stunningly designed hardback book stuffed with extensive liner notes, interviews with all the bandmembers, rare photos and various memorabilia. All of this might transport you back to 1970, but it’s also the very definition of timeless.