This morning, Rhino announced the latest two titles in its Rhino High-Fidelity series, and both titles are available now for shipping directly from Rhino.com.  With Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Alice Cooper's Love It to Death both newly remastered with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray for the audiophile-standard series, hard rock is the order of the day.  Both titles are pressed on 180-gram vinyl and limited to 5,000 units each.

Black Sabbath's 1970 LP Paranoid remains a watershed release, auguring for the eventual transition from "hard rock" to "heavy metal." Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward followed up their self-titled debut with Paranoid, recording it in London in June 1970.  Black Sabbath placed auspiciously at No. 8 on the U.K. chart and No. 23 in the U.S., but its successor fared even better. Boasting such key tracks as "Iron Man," "War Pigs," and the U.K. Top 5 title track, Paranoid made it all the way to the top of the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 12 in the United States. It sold more than four million copies in the U.S., and has since been certified 4x platinum.  Rhino released its immersive quadraphonic mix last year on Blu-ray Audio; now its thunderous stereo mix returns on vinyl.

The deluxe packaging of the Hi-Fi edition offers new liner notes from Hugh Gilmour, who interviewed original engineer Tom Allom for the release.  As quoted in the press release, Allom remembers the band recording live: "I think [Iommi's] guitar was the loudest thing I ever heard in my life.  I think he had two 4 x 12s in that room at Regent. God, it was loud. Absolutely deafening, I'm surprised he could hear the drums."  He also shares with Gilmour some of the techniques that made Paranoid such a sonic stunner, including the use of vocal echo on Osbourne's leads of "Iron Man" and "Planet Caravan": "That was his vocal through a thing called a ring modulator. It adds frequencies into what you have recorded, and you can distort it to how that vocal sounds. It was an old device that they used to use on Dr. Who, and things like that, to create the Dalek voices, and all that stuff. It was one of those gizmos that was around at the time that you could use to feed your recording into, and it would."

Paranoid is joined by an American rock classic from Detroit's own Alice Cooper.  Numerous LPs from Cooper's early years have been reissued by Rhino in recent months including expanded editions of Killer and School's Out in 2023; a Quadio Blu-ray and expansion of Billion Dollar Babies; and last year's deluxe box set of Muscle of Love with both stereo and quadraphonic mixes on CD and Blu-ray, respectively. (A vinyl counterpart was also released.)

1971's Love It to Death was Cooper's third studio album and first produced by Bob Ezrin (co-credited here with Jack Richardson).  The album moved away from the psychedelic and experimental tendencies of Alice's first two albums, instead paving the way for the theatrical shock-rock that would become Cooper's trademark.  Ezrin understood that the bandmates - Alice Cooper [vocals, harmonica], Glen Buxton [lead guitar], Michael Bruce [rhythm guitar, keys], Dennis Dunaway [bass], and Neal Smith [drums]--were pushing the envelope of hard rock and finding a new sound all their own.  The anguished teenage lament "I'm Eighteen" became Alice Cooper's first hit, peaking just outside of the U.S. Pop Top 20.  Love It to Death made the top 40 and was eventually certified Platinum.

Like Paranoid, the Hi-Fi presentation of Love It to Death features an insert with new liner notes.  They're based on a conversation between writer Jaan Uhelszki and producer Bob Ezrin, who describes in detail the sessions and shaping the vision of the Alice Cooper group.  Ezrin comments, "I went in as a fan. I'd seen them and loved them, so I went in wanting that feeling but knowing we'd have to get it without any other people in the room. The people who were going to be listening to this record would be listening by themselves, usually in their bedroom. So that means it's a very special job, to re-create the excitement of their show just by the songs and the sound of the record." Ezrin also reflects on his long-term collaboration with Cooper and his band: "They changed me by giving me confidence," he admits. "I've always been really confident and a little bit brash. But underneath it all is a healthy level of anxiety. By us succeeding together at such an early point, they helped me to believe in myself in a big way, because they believed in me."

Both albums are available now from Rhino.com and from select Warner Music Group stores internationally.  You'll find order links and the track listings below!

Black Sabbath, Paranoid (Vertigo (U.K.) 6360 011, 1970 - reissued Warner/Rhino, 2025)

Side One

1. War Pigs/Luke's Wall
2. Paranoid
3. Planet Caravan
4. Iron Man

Side Two

1. Electric Funeral
2. Hand of Doom
3. Rat Salad
4. Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots

Alice Cooper, Love It to Death (Warner Bros. WS 1883, 1971 - reissued Warner/Rhino, 2025)

Side One

1. Caught in a Dream
2. I'm Eighteen
3. Long Way to Go
4. Black Juju

Side Two

1. Is It My Body
2. Hallowed Be My Name
3. Second Coming
4. Ballad of Dwight Fry
5. Sun Arise​