The late ’70s were not kind to the members of Black Sabbath.
\nSince their
\nSabotage<\/i> album in 1975, the group had been fighting both
\ncreative burnout and attempts to overhaul their sound. Their 1976
\nrelease
\nTechnical Ecstasy<\/i> was a shade better, but further
\nillustrated that Tony Iommi and crew were not the same band who did
\nearlier works like “War Pigs” and “Iron Man.”<\/p>\n
\nNever Say Die!<\/i>, their 1978 release, suggested that the other
\nshoe had indeed fallen. Gone were the demon-invoking images that
\nmade up their early works. In were songs which dared to be
\nradio-friendly – and, in one case, even hinted at influences like
\nthe Allman Brothers Band. Whatever the case, it was a bad move –
\nthough there are even a few diamonds in the rough of this disc.<\/p>\n
Up until
\nReunion<\/i>, this album was notable for being the final
\nappearance of Ozzy Osbourne with Black Sabbath. Too bad he couldn’t
\nhave had better material to go out with. Sure, the title track
\nswings, and has enough groove to rival a lot of the musical output
\nof this time period. But when the first song is the most accessible
\nout of the group, you know you’re in trouble.<\/p>\n
Indeed, it takes much more than a cursory listen to appreciate
\nsome of the finer points of
\nNever Say Die!<\/i> – and even after five listens to the first
\nfour songs, I still found myself saying, “I don’t get it.” I still
\ndon’t understand why Black Sabbath would tackle a song like “Johnny
\nBlade” or “Swinging The Chain,” and I sure as hell don’t know
\nwhat’s with the “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” teaser in the latter
\nhalf of “Air Dance.” Cripes, I kept waiting for Dickey Betts to
\nburst through the speakers.<\/p>\n
If you think that Black Sabbath was merely going through the
\nmotions, you’re not alone in that belief. Often, it sounds like
\nIommi and crew are turning in barely mediocre performances in order
\nto just get this chapter of their history behind them. As a result,
\nsemi-decent songs like “Over To You” and “Hard Road” get lost in
\nthe malaise.<\/p>\n
I think that’s what bothers me the most about this disc.
\nNever Say Die!<\/i> Could have been a great album, something that
\nOsbourne could proudly look back on as one of the defining moments
\nof his career. Instead, it’s left as a half-baked effort which
\nmight have been best left on the cutting room floor – or, maybe, as
\nspecial unreleased “bonus tracks” for later compilations. While
\nBlack Sabbath was by no means throwing in the towel,
\nNever Say Die!<\/i> Suggested that the group might want to think
\nabout saying that one little word, instead of “oops.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5638],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-37513","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-black-sabbath","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37513"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}