![]() From that, things take a decidedly left-field turn with It’s Alright, a piano-led pop song/ballad. Piano-led popĬontinuing in this vein, You Won’t Change Me is an organ drenched Gothic outing that wouldn’t seem to be out of place on their earlier outings, the impressive guitar solo and descending pattern wreathed in atmosphere. What added another layer to the work was the use of Jeff Woodroffe on keys, his playing sprinkling a little magic throughout the album and a revelation to those stumbling upon the opener, some splashes of extra colour in amongst the attack of Iommi and Co. Heavy-duty riffing and the thunderous pairing of Bill Ward and Geezer Butler adding weight and excitement, alongside Ozzy howls, “I’m a rock ‘n’ roll soldier, gonna play it until I’m dead” all adding up to something that bordered on cliché but was done with such intent as to be a statement of intent, rather than tropes of the genre. There’s the fiery spirit of The Who that seems to permeate Back Street Kids, the first number of the album a straight-ahead hard rocker made with wrecking ball intensity. Despite the critical hammering and public disappointment at the time, there is much more of a subjective view to be taken of the work now and whilst certainly eschewing rose-tinted spectacles, admitting some of it was far from their best work to date, it’s certainly a thing to be listened to and even is loved and cherished by many. ![]() ![]() The fact they managed to pull together enough to record the album was monumental, and the fact that so much of it was so good in itself was a miracle. Fractures began to appear, the quartet starting to let the musical differences and drug and alcohol addiction tear apart their relationships with each other. The tales of the recording are well known, the guitarist allegedly trying to steer the band towards much more radio-friendly fare that would see them accepted by a larger audience as the world sought something new and fresh musically. Whilst the general atmosphere was much more relaxed, Tony Iommi had the weight of producing the opus land on his shoulders, offsetting any benefit he may have seen by recording very much on their own terms and in their own way in the Miami studio. The centrepiece, though, is the original album, its eight diverse tracks marking a time when the band were able to stretch out, relaxed in their own abilities and leaving behind the turmoil of the legal struggles that overshadowed the recording process of the previous year’s Sabotage. Time has been kind, though and whilst this may not be in the same mould as previous releases, it still remains an album that has a huge amount to recommend it.Īs part of the ongoing deluxe reissue series, Technical Ecstasy will be available in a magnificent five heavyweight vinyl or four-CD box set, including Steven Wilson remixes, live performances from the accompanying tour, replica tour book and a forty-page tome recording the album and colour poster. The truth lay somewhere between these two, consciously expanding their sound whilst still able to lay down something utterly primal and earth-shaking. ![]() The truth is that the band were in a difficult position, faced with the process of repeating past glories that would please the fans or trying to do something new and therefore stretch themselves as artists even further. Much maligned at the time, people said that, after an untouchable run of six classic albums, the wheels had finally come off of the Heavy Metal locomotive that was Black Sabbath with the 1976 release of Technical Ecstasy.īlack Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy – Deluxe Boxset (BMG)
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