Technical Ecstasy - Black Sabbath

Advantages: Solid and consistent quality
Disadvantages: Ozzy's voice!

"Technical Ecstasy" is (oddly in my opinion) one of Black sabbath's more underrated albums. Coming at the tail-end of the first Ozzy Osbourne period, there is a common idea tha the band were beginning to lose some of their sparkle by this point. However, the music proves otherwise. "Back Street Kids" is intense, driving and straight to the point, and "You Won't Change Me" boasts some classic, monolithic Sabbath riffs. The only thing that lets this ...
...has never been that great, but on this album it does start to grate a little more than usual. This is most noticeable on the ballad "She's Gone". There are a couple of poor tracks- "Rock 'n' Roll doctor" is just silly, and "It's Allright", despite featurng Bill Ward on vocals, really sounds less than relevant compared to the rest of the album. However the closing tracks "Gypsy" and "Dirty Women" groove and rock as hard as anything before them and ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic Music
Disadvantages: Couple of weaker moments

...does it? All the ones you would expect are here: "Mr Brownstone", "It's So Easy", "Welcome To The Jungle", "You're Crazy", "You Could Be Mine", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City". There is also a rarely-heard personal fave of mine from the "Lies" album - "Used To Love Her". Great to hear that one live. "Move To The City" also stands out more than it did in the studio, with its extended brass section. The one unreleased track is "It's Alright", recorded by Black Sabbath on "Technical Ecstasy" in 1976. A strange choice, this is a three-minute Axl and piano job - hard to imagine the Sabs doing this. There is no doubt that this does a magnificent job of capturing the essence of a live GnR experience, but leaves us with a great sense of what a waste of a great band. Their comparatively paltry output over the six years is criminal... Read review

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Advantages: The essence of GNR live
Disadvantages: Few unless you are not a fan

...does it? All the ones you would expect are here: "Mr Brownstone", "It's So Easy", "Welcome To The Jungle", "You're Crazy", "You Could Be Mine", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City". There is also a rarely-heard personal fave of mine from the "Lies" album - "Used To Love Her". Great to hear that one live. "Move To The City" also stands out more than it did in the studio, with its extended brass section. The one unreleased track is "It's Alright", recorded by Black Sabbath on "Technical Ecstasy" in 1976. A strange choice, this is a three-minute Axl and piano job - hard to imagine the Sabs doing this. There is no doubt that this does a magnificent job of capturing the essence of a live GnR experience, but leaves us with a great sense of what a waste of a great band. Their comparatively paltry output over the six years is criminal... Read review

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Advantages: Tony Iommi wanted to try something new.
Disadvantages: Tony Iommi tried something really old.

..., and none apart from keyboard player Geoff Nicholls had been associated with the band prior to this. The deliberate departure from the sound Iommi and his previous band members had pioneered and developed throughout the seventies and early eighties makes this a difficult album for long-time fans to appreciate, but the orientation towards a more commercial sounding form of rock would continue through the next three albums, assuring this record's influential place in the canon. I should probably point out at this stage that this is my least favourite Black Sabbath album for all the common reasons, but still has enough in its favour as a release that was attempting to diversify to rate it at least equally to the albums 'Technical Ecstasy' and 'Forbidden' that capture different incarnations of Black Sabbath at their most tired and apathetic. Glenn... Read review

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