Black Sabbath is their first studio album and features the female model Louisa Livingstone. The album was recorded in one 8 hour session in October 1969 at Regent Sound Studios. The original European version of the record featured the pre-album single "Evil Woman" as the first track on the B-side while the North American version featured the song "Wicked World" (the B-side to the "Evil Woman" single) as the lead track on the second side of the record. Some current CD versions of the album now feature both tracks.

The North American version also features more song titles than actual songs. These extra titles are often believed to refer to the intros of certain songs:
"Wasp" is believed to refer to the intro of "Behind The Wall Of Sleep"
"Bassically" refers to the bass solo that opens "N.I.B.".
"A Bit Of Finger" is believed to refer to the acoustic intro of "Sleeping Village".
North American versions also usually group "Wasp", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep", "Bassically", and "N.I.B." on one track and "A Bit Of Finger", "Sleeping Village" and "Warning" on another single track, while European versions separate all the tracks.

First Black Sabbath album in the UK on the iconic Vertigo Swirl label has been issued three times before eventually being reissued on the Spaceship label:
This 1st UK press with large swirl logo and ‘A PHILIPS RECORD PRODUCT’, erroneous 'Warning' credits
This 2nd UK press with large swirl logo, correct credits
This 3rd UK press large swirl logo, different label text position and letter at credits
This 4th UK press small swirl logo and different letter at credits