Black Sabbath. 1970-1978 – Ozzy Osbourne Years. 8 Classic albums
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | ~4 GB | Complete HQ Scans | JPG -> 600 MB
DVDA -> Folder | DTS/Dolby AC3 48000Hz 6/2ch 1 510 Kbps | 2.6 GB
Hard Rock | Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary
… 11 CD+DVDA, Remastered by Andy Pearce. Released at 2009…
Black Sabbath has been so influential in the development of heavy metal rock music as to be a defining force in the style. The group took the blues-rock sound of late ’60s acts like Cream, Blue Cheer, and Vanilla Fudge to its logical conclusion, slowing the tempo, accentuating the bass, and emphasizing screaming guitar solos and howled vocals full of lyrics expressing mental anguish and macabre fantasies. If their predecessors clearly came out of an electrified blues tradition, Black Sabbath took that tradition in a new direction, and in so doing helped give birth to a musical style that continued to attract millions of fans decades later.
The group was formed by four teenage friends from Aston, near Birmingham, England: Anthony “Tony” Iommi (b. Feb 19, 1948), guitar; William “Bill” Ward (b. May 5, 1948), drums; John “Ozzy” Osbourne (b. December 3, 1948), vocals; and Terence “Geezer” Butler (b. July 17, 1949), bass. They originally called their jazz-blues band Polka Tulk, later renaming themselves Earth, and they played extensively in Europe. In early 1969, they decided to change their name again when they found that they were being mistaken for another group called Earth. Butler had written a song that took its title from a novel by occult writer Dennis Wheatley, Black Sabbath, and the group adopted it as their name as well. As they attracted attention for their live performances, record labels showed interest, and they were signed to Philips Records in 1969. In January 1970, the Philips subsidiary Fontana released their debut single, “Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me),” a cover of a song that had just become a U.S. hit for Crow; it did not chart. The following month, a different Philips subsidiary, Vertigo, released Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album, which reached the U.K. Top Ten. Though it was a less immediate success in the U.S. — where the band’s recordings were licensed to Warner Bros. Records and appeared in May 1970 — the LP broke into the American charts in August, reaching the Top 40, remaining in the charts over a year, and selling a million copies.
Appearing at the start of the ’70s, Black Sabbath embodied the Balkanization of popular music that followed the relatively homogenous second half of the 1960s. As exemplified by its most popular act, the Beatles, the 1960s suggested that many different aspects of popular music could be integrated into an eclectic style with a broad appeal. The Beatles were as likely to perform an acoustic ballad as a hard rocker or R&B-influenced tune. At the start of the 1970s, however, those styles began to become more discrete for new artists, with soft rockers like James Taylor and the Carpenters emerging to play only ballad material, and hard rockers like Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad taking a radically different course, while R&B music turned increasingly militant. The first wave of rock critics, which had come into existence with the Beatles, was dismayed with this development, and the new acts tended to be poorly reviewed despite their popularity. Black Sabbath, which took an even more extreme tack than the still blues- and folk-based Led Zeppelin, was lambasted by critics (and though they eventually made their peace with Zeppelin, they never did with Sabbath). But the band had discovered a new audience eager for its uncompromising approach.
Black Sabbath quickly followed its debut album with a second album, Paranoid, in September 1970. The title track, released as a single in advance of the LP, hit the Top Five in the U.K., and the album went to number one there. In the U.S., where the first album had just begun to sell, Paranoid was held up for release until January 1971, again preceded by the title track, which made the singles charts in November; the album broke into the Top Ten in March 1971 and remained in the charts over a year, eventually selling over four million copies, by far the band’s best-selling effort. (Its sales were stimulated by the belated release of one of its tracks, “Iron Man,” as a U.S. single in early 1972; the 45 got almost halfway up the charts, the band’s best showing for an American single.)
Master of Reality, the third album, followed in August 1971, reaching the Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic and selling over a million copies. Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (September 1972) was another Top Ten million-seller. For Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (November 1973), the band brought in Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman on one track, signaling a slight change in musical direction; it was Black Sabbath’s fifth straight Top Ten hit and million-seller. In 1974, the group went through managerial disputes that idled them for an extended period. When they returned to action in July 1975 with their sixth album, Sabotage, they were welcomed back at home, but in the U.S. the musical climate had changed, making things more difficult for an album-oriented band with a heavy style, and though the LP reached the Top 20, it did not match previous sales levels. Black Sabbath’s record labels quickly responded with a million-selling double-LP compilation, We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll (December 1975), and the band contemplated a more pronounced change of musical style. This brought about disagreement, with guitarist Iommi wanting to add elements to the sound, including horns, and singer Osbourne resisting any variation in the formula. Technical Ecstasy (October 1976), which adopted some of Iommi’s innovations, was another good — but not great — seller, and Osbourne’s frustration eventually led to his quitting the band in November 1977. He was replaced for some live dates by former Savoy Brown singer Dave Walker, then returned in January 1978. Black Sabbath recorded its eighth album, Never Say Die! (September 1978), the title track becoming a U.K. Top 40 hit before the LP’s release and “Hard Road” making the Top 40 afterwards. But the singles did not improve the album’s commercial success, which was again modest, and Osbourne left Black Sabbath for a solo career, replaced in June 1979 by former Rainbow singer Ronnie James
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970) (2009, Deluxe Expanded Edition, 2CD)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 260+290 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 100 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2700818~9
Black Sabbath’s debut album is given over to lengthy songs and suite-like pieces where individual songs blur together and riffs pound away one after another, frequently under extended jams. There isn’t much variety in tempo, mood, or the band’s simple, blues-derived musical vocabulary, but that’s not the point; Sabbath’s slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness. Songs like the apocalyptic title track, “N.I.B.,” and “The Wizard” make their obsessions with evil and black magic seem like more than just stereotypical heavy metal posturing because of the dim, suffocating musical atmosphere the band frames them in. This blueprint would be refined and occasionally elaborated upon over the band’s next few albums, but there are plenty of metal classics already here. [Universal/Sanctuary's 2009 reissue of the album included a digitally remastered version of the original recordings, as well as a second disc stocked with nine previously unreleased tracks, nearly all of which are just alternate takes].
~ by Steve Huey, allmusic.com
Disk 1: Original Album
1. Black Sabbath – 6:20
2. The Wizard – 4:24
3. Behind The Wall of Sleep – 3:37
4. N.I.B. – 6:08
5. Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me) – 3:25
6. Sleeping Village – 3:46
7. Warning – 10:28
Disk 2: Bonus Tracks
1. Wicked World (Single B-Side, TF1067) – 4:45
2. Black Sabbath (Studio Outtake) – 6:22
3. Black Sabbath (Instrumenal) – 6:13
4. The Wizard (Studio Outtake) – 4:46
5. Behind the Wall of Sleep (Studio Outtake) – 3:41
6. N.I.B. (Instrumental) – 6:08
7. Evil Woman (Alternative Version) – 3:47
8. Sleeping Village (Intro) – 3:45
9. Warning (Part 1) – 6:58
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Bill Ward – drums
• Ossie Osbourne – vocals, harmonica
Original Black Sabbath album released on Vertigo Records VO6, Friday 13th February 1970.
Produced by Rodger Bain of Tuesday Production for Tony Hall Enterprises.
Engineer – Tom Allom & Barry Sheffield.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Expanded Edition Co-ordinated by Steve Hammonds & Jon Richards at SRG.
Art Direction & Design by Hugh Gilmour. Remastered by Andy Pearce at Masterpiece.
Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970) (2009, Deluxe Expanded Edition, 2CD+DVDA)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 270+250 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 100 MB
DVDA -> Folder | DTS/Dolby AC3 48000Hz 6/2ch 1 510 Kbps | 2.6 GB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 1782445~6
Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath’s most popular record (it was a number one smash in the U.K., and “Paranoid” and “Iron Man” both scraped the U.S. charts despite virtually nonexistent radio play), it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time.
Paranoid refined Black Sabbath’s signature sound — crushingly loud, minor-key dirges loosely based on heavy blues-rock — and applied it to a newly consistent set of songs with utterly memorable riffs, most of which now rank as all-time metal classics. Where the extended, multi-sectioned songs on the debut sometimes felt like aimless jams, their counterparts on Paranoid have been given focus and direction, lending an epic drama to now-standards like “War Pigs” and “Iron Man” (which sports one of the most immediately identifiable riffs in metal history).
The subject matter is unrelentingly, obsessively dark, covering both supernatural/sci-fi horrors and the real-life traumas of death, war, nuclear annihilation, mental illness, drug hallucinations, and narcotic abuse. Yet Sabbath makes it totally convincing, thanks to the crawling, muddled bleakness and bad-trip depression evoked so frighteningly well by their music. Even the qualities that made critics deplore the album (and the group) for years increase the overall effect — the technical simplicity of Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals and Tony Iommi’s lead guitar vocabulary; the spots when the lyrics sink into melodrama or awkwardness; the lack of subtlety and the infrequent dynamic contrast.
Everything adds up to more than the sum of its parts, as though the anxieties behind the music simply demanded that the band achieve catharsis by steamrolling everything in its path, including its own limitations. Monolithic and primally powerful, Paranoid defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history.
~ by Steve Huey, allmusic.com
Disk 1: Paranoid (CD, Original Album):
1. War Pigs – 7:58
2. Paranoid – 2:54
3. Planet Caravan – 4:34
4. Iron Man – 5:57
5. Electric Funeral – 4:53
6. Hand Of Doom – 7:08
7. Rat Salad – 2:31
8. Fairies Wear Boots – 6:14
Disk 2: Paranoid – 1974 Quadrofonic Mix DVD (5.1 STS/2.0 LPSM Stereo):
1. War Pigs – 7:58
2. Paranoid – 2:54
3. Planet Caravan – 4:34
4. Iron Man – 5:57
5. Electric Funeral – 4:53
6. Hand Of Doom – 7:08
7. Rat Salad – 2:31
8. Fairies Wear Boots – 6:14
Disk 3: Paranoid (CD, Bonus Track, Regent Sound Studios, 16 & 17 June 1970)
1. War Pigs (Instrumental) – 8:02
2. Paranoid (Alternative Lyrics Version) – 2:52
3. Planet Caravan (Alternative Lyrics Version) – 6:04
4. Iron Man (Instrumental) – 5:59
5. Electric Funeral (Instrumental) – 4:54
6. Hand Of Doom (Instrumental) – 7:17
7. Rat Salad (Alternative Mix) – 2:32
8. Fairies Wear Boots (Instrumental) – 6:17
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Bill Ward – drums
Original Paranoid album released by Vertigo Records (6360 O11) September 1970.
Produced by Rodger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises.
Engineers – Tom Allom & Brian Humphries.
Album designed and photographed by Keef.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Expanded Edition Co-ordinated by Steve Hammonds & Jon Richards @ SRG
Design by Hugh Gilmour. Sleevenotes by David Wells. Re-mastered by Andy Pearce @ Masterpiece
Original tape to digital reclamation and transfer by Tim Hunt
Additional photographs taken from the Paranoid tour programme ’71
Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality (1971) (2009, Deluxe Expanded Edition, 2CD)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 215+240 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 85 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2701107~8
With Paranoid, Black Sabbath perfected the formula for their lumbering heavy metal. On its follow-up, Master of Reality, the group merely repeated the formula, setting the stage for a career of recycling the same sounds and riffs. But on Master of Reality Sabbath still were fresh and had a seemingly endless supply of crushingly heavy riffs to bludgeon their audiences into sweet, willing oblivion. If the album is a showcase for anyone, it is Tony Iommi, who keeps the album afloat with a series of slow, loud riffs, the best of which — “Sweet Leaf” and “Children of the Grave” among them — rank among his finest playing. Taken in tandem with the more consistent Paranoid, Master of Reality forms the core of Sabbath’s canon. There are a few stray necessary tracks scattered throughout the group’s other early-’70s albums, but Master of Reality is the last time they delivered a consistent album and its influence can be heard throughout the generations of heavy metal bands that followed.
~ by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com
Disk One: original album, 1971
1. Sweet Leaf – 5:06
2. After Forever – 5:27
3. Embryo – 0:28
4. Children Of The Grave – 5:16
5. Orchid – 1:31
6. Lord Of This World – 5:26
7. Solitude – 5:02
8. Into The Void – 6:11
Disk Two: bonus tracks, previously unreleased
1. Weevil Woman ’71 – 3:00
2. Sweet Leaf (Studio Outtake Featuring Alternative Lyrics) – 5:04
3. After Forever (Studio Outtake – Instrumental) – 5:20
4. Children Of The Grave (Studio Outtake Featuring Alternative Lyrics) – 4:36
5. Children Of The Grave (Studio Outtake – Instrumental) – 6:01
6. Orchid (Studio Outtake With Tony Count-in) – 1:40
7. Lord Of This World (Studio Outtake Featuring Piano & Slide Guitar) – 5:37
8. Solitude (Studio Outtake – Intro. With Alternative Guitar Tuning) – 3:45
9. Into The Void “Spanish Sid” (Studio Outtake – Alternative Version) – 6:24
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Original ‘Master Of Reality’ album released on Vertigo Records (6360 050) 21st July 1971.
Produced by Rodger Bain for Tony Hall Enterprises.
Art Direction: Mike Stanford. Design: Bloomsbury Group.
Original Poster Photography: Keef.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Co-ordinated by Steve Hammonds & Jon Richards.
Sleevenotes by David Wells, design by Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastered by Andy Pearce at Masterpiece Production.
Co-ordination by Michelle Callaghan, Darren Cain & Darren Owen
Original tape to digital reclamation and transfer by Tim Hunt.
Black Sabbath – Vol.4 (1972) (2009, Remastered)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 290 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 50 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2716857
Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 is just a cut below its two indisputably classic predecessors, as it begins to run out of steam — and memorable riffs — toward the end. However, it finds Sabbath beginning to experiment successfully with their trademark sound on tracks like the ambitious, psychedelic-tinged, multi-part “Wheels of Confusion,” the concise, textured “Tomorrow’s Dream,” and the orchestrated piano ballad “Changes” (even if the latter’s lyrics cross the line into triteness). But the classic Sabbath sound is still very much in evidence; the crushing “Supernaut” is one of the heaviest tracks the band ever recorded.
~by by Steve Huey, allmusic.com
Tracklist:
1. Wheels of Confusion – 8:03
2. Tomorrow’s Dream – 3:12
3. Changes – 4:45
4. FX – 1:43
5. Supernaut – 4:43
6. Snowblind – 5:31
7. Cornucopia – 3:55
8. Laguna Sunrise – 2:53
9. St. Vitus’ Dance – 2:29
10. Under the Sun – 5:53
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar & keyboards
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Original Vol.4 release by Vertigo Records, September 25, 1972, #6360 071.
All arangement by Blac Sabbath. Produced by Patrick Meehan and Black Sabbath.
Engineers: Colin Caldwell/Vic Smith. Recorded at Record Plant Los Angeles.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Project Consultants – Steve Hammonds and Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastering by Andy Pearce, assisted by Matt Wortham @ Wired Masters.
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) (2009, Remastered)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 290 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 50 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2716846
Many consider Black Sabbath’s 1973 release, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, to be the original lineup’s last true classic album. Drug use and alcoholism were beginning to overtake the band (leading to Ozzy Osbourne’s eventual departure by decade’s end), yet they were still firing on all cylinders. While the casual fan may only be familiar with one selection (the storming title track), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath follows in the tradition of its predecessors, delivering a consistent set of songs from beginning to end. Tony Iommi’s riff for “A National Acrobat” remains one of his best and heaviest, while other highlights include the strangely uplifting “Sabbra Cadabra” (which Metallica would cover 25 years later for their Garage Inc. compilation), the cautionary tales “Killing Yourself to Live” and “Who Are You,” plus the sci-fi-tinged “Spiral Architect.” As with past albums, a tranquil selection is included as a break from all the metallic fury; in this case, it’s the gorgeous yet melancholic instrumental “Fluff.” Sabbath Bloody Sabbath remains one of Sabbath’s all-time best albums.
~by by Greg Prato, allmusic.com
Tracklist:
1. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath – 5:47
2. A National Acrobat – 6:16
3. Fluff – 4:13
4. Sabbra Cadabra – 5:59
5. Killing Yourself to Live – 5:40
6. Who are You? – 4:11
7. Looking for Today – 4:59
8. Spiral Architect – 5:30
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Original album release by Vertigo Records, December 1, 1973.
Produced by Black Sabbath for Excellency Production.
Engineered by Mike Butcher. Coordination by Mark Forster. Direction: Patric Meehan.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Project Consultants – Steve Hammonds and Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastering by Andy Pearce, assisted by Matt Wortham @ Wired Masters.
Black Sabbath – Sabotage (1975) (2009, Remastered)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 300 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 55 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2716664
Years of constant touring, alcoholism, and drug abuse finally began to affect Black Sabbath around the time of their sixth release, 1975′s Sabotage. While it’s not a bad album (in fact, it’s one of their most underrated), you can sense that the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Vol. 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate. But guitarist Tony Iommi again comes equipped with an arsenal of sturdy, ultra-heavy riffs, as evidenced by the raucous album opener, “Hole in the Sky,” as well as the drug-induced anthem “Symptom of the Universe” — both tracks coming as close to garage rock as Sabbath ever got. But the album’s biggest surprise is the melodic, synth-laced “Am I Going Insane (Radio),” which is more akin to ’70s power pop than to the band’s patented doom metal (although the lyrics are what you’d expect — detailing a person’s downward spiral into dementia). Although often overlooked, Sabotage remains an interesting and challenging release.
~by Greg Prato, allmusic.com
Tracklist:
1. Hole in the Sky – 4:00
2. Don’t Start (Too Late) – 0:49
3. Symptom of the Universe – 6:29
4. Megalomania – 9:43
5. The Thrill of it All – 5:56
6. Supertzar – 3:44
7. Am I Going Insane (Radio) – 4:16
8. The Writ – 8:44
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Original Sabotage album released by NEMS Records, September 1975, #9119 001
All soongs written/arangement by Black Sabbath. All instrumentation be Black Sabbath.
Produced by Black Sabbath with Mike Butcher.
Engineered by Mike Butcher and Robin Black. Tape Operator ans saboteur – David Harris
Recorded at Morgan Studios, London and Brussels. Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York.
English Chamber Choir arranged by Will Malone.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Project Consultants – Steve Hammonds and Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastering by Andy Pearce, assisted by Matt Wortham @ Wired Masters.
Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy (1976) (2009, Remastered)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 320 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 55 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2716550
Black Sabbath was unraveling at an alarming rate around the time of their second to last album with original singer Ozzy Osbourne, 1976′s Technical Ecstasy. The band was getting further and further from their original musical path, as they began experimenting with their trademark sludge-metal sound. While it was not as off-the-mark as their final album with Osbourne, 1978′s Never Say Die, it was not on par with Sabbath’s exceptional first five releases. The most popular song remains the album closer, “Dirty Women,” which was revived during the band’s highly successful reunion tour of the late ’90s. Other standouts include the funky “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” and the raging opener, “Back Street Kids.” The melodic “It’s Alright” turns out to be the album’s biggest surprise — it’s one of drummer Bill Ward’s few lead vocal spots with the band (Guns N’ Roses covered the unlikely track on their 1999 live set, Live Era 1987-1993).
~by Greg Prato, allmusic.com
Tracklist:
1. Back Street Kids – 3:48
2. You Won’t Change Me – 6:43
3. It’s Alright – 4:06
4. Gypsy – 5:11
5. All Moving Parts (Stand Still) – 5:05
6. Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor – 3:34
7. She’s Gone – 4:57
8. Dirty Women – 7:10
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Keyboards and additional arrangements by Gerald Woodruffe .
Vocals on “It’s Alright” by Bill Ward.
Original Technical Ecstasy album released by Vertigo Records, October 1975, #9102 750.
All songs written and arranged by Black Sabbath.
Produced by Black Sabbath.
Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida.
Engineered by Robin Black, assisted by Spock Wall Mixed at Criteria Studios by Tony Iommi and Robin Black.
Mastered at Warner Bros. Studios, California, by Tony Iommi and Bob Hata.
Strings on “She’s Gone” arranged and conducted by Mike Lewis.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Project Consultants – Steve Hammonds and Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastering by Andy Pearce, assisted by Matt Wortham @ Wired Masters.
Black Sabbath – Never Say Die! (1978) (2009, Remastered)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 350 MB | Complete HQ Scans | 55 MB
Label: Universal Music/Sanctuary | Catalog Number: 2716533
After going their separate ways for a brief period following the emotionally taxing and drug-infested Technical Ecstasy tour, Black Sabbath and singer Ozzy Osbourne reconciled long enough to record 1978′s Never Say Die! — an album whose varied but often unfocused songs perfectly reflected the band’s uneasy state of affairs at the time. Even the surprisingly energetic title track, which seemed to kick things off with a promising bang, couldn’t entirely mask the group’s fading enthusiasm just beneath the surface after a few repeated listens. The same was true of half-hearted performances like “Shock Wave” and “Over to You,” and there were several songs on the record that sound strangely disjointed, specifically “Junior’s Eyes” and the synthesizer-doused “Johnny Blade” — as though their creation came in fits and starts, rather than through cohesive band interaction. But when it came to wild, stylistic departures, one’s disappointing realization that the lurching, saxophone-led “Breakout” came from — and then went back to — absolutely nowhere was easily offset by the stunningly successful oddity that was “Air Dance.” Arguably the most experimental song in Black Sabbath’s entire canon, this uncharacteristically mild-mannered and effortlessly evocative ballad saw Tony Iommi’s normally bullish guitar giving way to simply mesmerizing piano flourishes performed by leading session keyboardist Don Airey. If only it had represented a bold new direction (albeit one that die-hard fans would never have accepted) rather than just another sign of the band’s quickly fraying sense of identity, Black Sabbath’s original lineup may have found a way to save itself — but Never Say Die!’s incoherent musical aggregate in fact betrayed the harsh reality that it was indeed too late. So even though those same die-hard Black Sabbath fans and completists will likely find some redeeming value in Never Say Die! after all these years, the original lineup’s final gasp will hold little interest to the average heavy metal fan.
~ by by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com
Tracklist:
1. Never Say Die – 3:50
2. Johnny Blade – 6:28
3. Junior’s Eyes – 6:43
4. A Hard Road – 6:05
5. Shock Wave – 5:15
6. Air Dance – 5:17
7. Over To You – 5:23
8. Breakout – 2:35
9. Swinging the Chain – 4:07
• Tomy Iommi – lead guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Bill Ward – drums
Additional musicians: John Elstar – harmonica, Don Airey – keyboards.
Original Never Say Die! album released by Vertigo Records, October 1978, #9102 75.
All songs written by Black Sabbath. Produced by Black Sabbath.
Engineered by Dave Harris, assisted by Spock Wall.
Recorded at Sounds Intercharge, Toronto, Canada.
2009 Re-Issue Credits:
Project Consultants – Steve Hammonds and Hugh Gilmour.
Re-mastering by Andy Pearce, assisted by Matt Wortham @ Wired Masters.
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