Apparently the plan was to call this LP "Walpurgis" - The Witches' Sabbath. But the obsession with evil magic and satanism was beginning to cause problems for the group who were just about to tour in the US. Therfore the track Walpurgis was changed to become War Pigs and the lyrics rewritten to reflect the change in title. Then, in a hurry to get the the album released, they organised a hurried photo shoot with a man in a pig mask. All of this was much against the will and taste of the band members. The final insult, was to change the name from War Pigs to Paranoid, again against the band's wishes with no coherence between the blurry picture of a man in a pig's head mask and the title Paranoid.
Having said all that, this album is universally considered a classic, so I don't think the story of the cover really detracts from what a stupendous record Black Sabbath produced for their second LP release.
With a nod to kab2112, tidier cover scans added and with a nod to gregs45s, tidier No "Jim Simpson Management" Inner Right Gatefold added. As usual, feel free to use or delete any or all images
Thanks HawkMarty, you haven't mentioned the variants that have "Rodger Bain" spelled thus rather than as Roger Bain. The label spells him Roger and the sleeve Rodger. On my French issue it spells him as Rodger Bain both on the sleeve and labels.
More details:
First issues had the larger swirl logo above the spindle hole, as image 2691.
The sleeve had the Jim Simpson Management info. These are allegedly quite scarce.
The same label design then appeared in sleeves without that info.
The next variant had a smaller swirl logo and the Vertigo name above the spindle hole and there are three documented variations;
one with "Produced by Roger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises" on one line and the (P)1970 above the 33⅓,
one with "Produced by Roger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises" on one line and the (P)1970 below the 33⅓
and another with "Produced by Roger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises" on two lines and the (P)1970 below the 33⅓.
The final Vertigo variant is the spaceship label.
Some if not all of the sleeves from the second spiral variant onwards were laminated.