Brian May recently spent an afternoon with his friend, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, as they took part in the filming of a documentary on guitar riffs. May posted photos of them together playing each other’s guitars.
In other Sabbath news...In the late '60s and early '70s, British music magazine Melody Maker invited musicians to share their opinions on a selection of "Tracks of the Week" in its weekly column, "Blind Date."
In 1970, both Paul Rodgers, who was in Free then, and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters were each asked to review a few songs. Included in both their selections were two different songs by Black Sabbath.
In the January 10th issue, Waters reviewed "Evil Woman" off their self-titled debut album. He wrote, "Well, well, well... I'm speechless - well almost. It's got that kind of Dragnet, Peter Gunn, American detective series beginning. You keep thinking it's going to start. You think that for the first minute but then, if you are really perceptive, you realize it isn't going to start, and that's all there is."
And in the August 1st issue, Rodgers had a go at the title track of their second album, Paranoid. "This is a heavy sound, but I don't know who it is. It's very well recorded but I feel like I have heard so many things like this before. The bass and the drummer don't seem very together, and neither does the guitarist really. Maybe they are better on stage. I like things to sound heavy but melodic at the same time, as well as tight together."
That review was not lost on Sabbath's Tony Iommi who discussed it with Planet Rock Internet radio in 2017. Thinking it was the Roger Waters review, he said, "I used to read the slaggings we’d get and I’d just think 'Why?' He gave it such a terrible review. I thought 'Blimey!' Hearing that from a fellow musician seemed really harsh."
While it may have been harsh, it did nothing to tarnish the song's legacy as it's one of Sabbath's signature songs, as well as always ranking among the top hard rock and heavy metal songs.