feature: check out the visuals to charles bradley’s incredible cover of black sabbath’s “changes” #soundcheck

As badass as Black Sabbath may be, on the eve of their retirement, it’s time to be honest: the emotional subtlety and honesty required to pull off a ballad has never been Ozzy’s strong suit. And that’s fine. Emotional honesty isn’t really what we come to the man who gave us “Iron Man” and “Crazy Train” for. That brings us to “Changes.” This is a song I consistently skip when I’m binging on Sabbath, but clearly I didn’t hear what Mr. Charles Bradley, the Screaming Eagle of Soul, heard when he listened to it. In Bradley’s hands, the otherwise lukewarm song about Sabbath drummer Bill Ward’s 1972 divorce becomes as heart wrenching and painful as anything in Bradley’s repertoire. There’s no shortage of creative reinventions of Sabbath songs out there (The Cardigans’ “Iron Man” remains a personal favorite). But this is the rare Black Sabbath cover that doesn’t just reinvent the original, it fully eclipses it.

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor

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As badass as Black Sabbath may be, on the eve of their retirement, it’s time to be honest: the emotional subtlety and honesty required to pull off a ballad has never been Ozzy’s strong suit. And that’s fine. Emotional honesty isn’t really what we come to the man who gave us “Iron Man” and “Crazy Train” for. That brings us to “Changes.” This is a song I consistently skip when I’m binging on Sabbath, but clearly I didn’t hear what Mr. Charles Bradley, the Screaming Eagle of Soul, heard when he listened to it. In Bradley’s hands, the otherwise lukewarm song about Sabbath drummer Bill Ward’s 1972 divorce becomes as heart wrenching and painful as anything in Bradley’s repertoire. There’s no shortage of creative reinventions of Sabbath songs out there (The Cardigans’ “Iron Man” remains a personal favorite). But this is the rare Black Sabbath cover that doesn’t just reinvent the original, it fully eclipses it.

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The track was released as a limited edition single for Record Store Day, and now is set to appear as the title track to Charles Bradley’s forthcoming new album. The track was released as a limited edition single for Record Store Day, and now is set to appear as the title track to Charles Bradley’s forthcoming new album.

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