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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => The Ozzy Years => Topic started by: Zzzptm on November 13, 2020, 10:55:59 AM
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Time for NSD!
So... what do you think of that title track?
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As a pre-amble I think me and Charger will have vastly differing views of this album. For me it is the 3rd best Ozzy album after SBS and Sabotage, I know Charger hates it! It will be interesting to see if he likes anything on here! ;)
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Playing the title track now... NSD is a proper opening basher, plenty of energy, even if it sounds a little tinny. Not much doom at all in the title, lyrics, key, or general tune.
And, from looking at this Top of the Pops footage, Ozzy was on something pretty potent to sing the entire song without blinking!
The album is a bit of hit and miss for me, last I checked, but more hits than misses, relative to Technical Ecstasy. This one's one of the hits.
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We start with one of the weaker tracks on Never Say Die, namely the title track. I used to hate this one but my opinion has mellowed over the years. I feel they were looking for an uptempo way to start the album and just didn't put much effort into it, the song is very generic. As I say I like it better now than I used to but it's only Break Out which flatters it here.
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Had to come to this one....
Well...
Okay.
Never Say Die is the best track on this horrid album. It's actually not a half bad song. It's a nice fast rocker but it still sounds very little like the Black Sabbath we all know and love.
The riff is decent enough but it lacks all punch. It's like Tony just forgot how to play heavy guitar.
The late 70s was the starting point for proper heavy metal with bands like Judas Priest starting to get faster and heavier and what does Black Sabbath do? They go soft like an old man's...you know what.
Geezer isn't helping here either..granted his bass is mixed pretty low anyways but he used to play almost like rythm guitar adding some deep grunt but here there nothing like it.
That all being said this is a catchy tune though...sounding absolutely nothing like Black Sabbath but it is a catchy rocker and as such it has some value.
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It's definitely more radio-friendly in its production - and I think you nailed it with this being quite distant from NWOBHM bands like Judas Priest. Comparing this album with Heaven and Hell, we've got two totally different worlds, and H&H is definitely closer to NWOBHM than NSD!.
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:think: I think the real problem with people who complain about this album is, they can't accept the fact that Sabbath took a step away from an extreme doom sound. A bit more of an open mind might help.
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Never Say Die is a great opening number for this album. Slams right out there from the very first note and doesn't let up. Good pace, good energy, good start.
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Johnny Blade - I like it, well, once you get past the overblown keyboard intro which does nothing for the song, you find a really nice rocker where the less prominent keyboards actually help the sound. The lyrics are silly but again I quite like them.
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Johnny Blade proves how you can have some good hard rock & roll without the doom sounds. Good pace, nice use of keyboards, all around a great tune. I believe Geezer said that the lyrics described a relative of his who was always mad at the world.
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Johnny Blade is a an okay tune, the underline riff is pretty good but it's just buried underneath all in the mix and the over use of keyboard is annoying as hell.
The lyrics are silly and overall the song lacks all kinds of punch. Again it's like Tony forgot to connect his guitar to an amp...and Geezer went out to the pub to have a drink instead of recording some bass.
Ozzy also sounds very tired and he doesn't even bother much with the vocal melody..the whole Johnnyyyyyyyy Blaaaaaaaaadeeeeee thing is just bad..bad.
This is one of the three barely listenable songs on the album...but again it sounds nothing like Black Sabbath...
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Opening riff and ending of Johnny Blade are great. The middle part has always left me with a big "huh?" as it just dissipates the energy from the opening. I wish it didn't sound so tinny, as well. But back to that middle part, I never liked it as a kid and my tolerance for it has declined over the years. I might just one day take the MP3 of it and use Audacity to just cut the middle and have the opening and ending kept as they are.
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Juniors Eyes is probably my favourite track on the album and a top 10 one to boot. Nice emotional lyrics about loss, relying on bass and drum for the verses with minimalistic guitar until the rockier choruses. Ozzy sings with great emotion, and there's a nice solo... all told it's a great all round effort.
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I agree, KDC. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me over time. The choruses are really heartfelt things, and I forgive the tinny production with Iommi's monster solo in it. I typically like to just skip directly from Never Say Die to Junior's Eyes (PROTIP: Typhon checks for spelling! :D ) and pass over Johnny Blade. After re-listening to Johnny Blade, I'd still do that move, because this song's energy keeps a focus and builds things up properly. It honestly feels very much like it splits the difference between SBS and Sabotage in terms of mood and feel.
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Junior's Eyes is the most creative song on this album. It is a tune that required the specialized skills of all 4 band members. Just another example of the innovative talent which puts Black Sabbath above any other band.
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Junior's Eyes finishes the listenable songs section of the album.
This is again decent enough soft rocker of a song...but again sounds nothing like Black Sabbath but atleast there is some creativity going on in the song unlike most of the other tracks on the album.
Lyrics are probably the best one's on the album. Still a far cry from Geezer's finest stuff but good enough.
The production again is god awful but that is the case on the entire album...
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Junior's Eyes finishes the listenable songs section of the album.
I still enjoy A Hard Road and Shock Wave, but, yeah, I'll be joining you in the unsatisfied column once those songs are cleared. I kinda like Swinging the Chain every now and then, but I have to be in the right mood to get a kick out of it.
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A Hard Road next, and a solid effort which has grown on me over the years. It maybe goes on a little too long, but that's ok. The first and only time that Tony and Geezer are credited with singing on a track.
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A Hard Road is another winner on this album. It is upbeat and energetic. KDC is correct about Tony and Geezer singing on this one. Hearing this song always makes me feel good, and I still say, this should have been Sabbath's final song in their final performance on The End tour. :partay:
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A Hard Road is a horrid commercial pop rock tune which is so out of character for a band like Black Sabbath it's not even funny.
The chorus is laughable and the rest of the lyrics are silly to say the least.
If Sabbath had done a song like this in the beginning of their careers the band would have been laughed out and they would have been lost to oblivion.
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I'll be disagreeing with the distinguished gentleman from Finland and concurring with the gentlemen from England, Old and New. :smug:
It's a singalong song, everybody join in! So, yes, the lyrics are pretty pedestrian. But that's so you can lean from side to side with your buddies as you all hold up your pints of whatever and sing and laugh and have a great time. It's an upbeat song and, yes, it's out of character for the band... but so is Sabbra Cadabra. I think this one could have been on SBS or the fragmented Vol. 4 and been just fine.
As for silly little songs at the start of their careers... I submit "The Wizard". :) That's a fun tune, and we all had a great time with it. Black Sabbath didn't take things too seriously, and that's a good thing in a band.
It's a perfect closer of a tune. And yes, imagine the audience in the final concert singing along at the end, there. Everybody join in!
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Shock Wave is far more in keeping with Sabbath's back catalogue, an uptempo song about occult matters.
To be honest this song passed me bye for many years, it wasn't bad so I didn't skip it but it didn't really register with me either... it was sort of "filler". But I realised later on that it was far better than filler, and infact it's a great song... oh! for a better, less tinny production.
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Shock Wave is another good song. It is somewhat heavier and gives a strong punch, while at the same time, keeping in line with the overall sound of the album.
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Shock Wave has a great opening riff, although the secondary riff kinda throws me a little until it goes with the verses, works better under Ozzy's vocal. The song goes through, what, five? six? different themes before the slower bridge section, all of which I enjoy very much... up to the bridge. That part took a while to enjoy, but I finally was able to get into it, thanks to the great solo. It's nice to go back through the earlier sections, but I question ending on that bridge section with a "whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo" refrain on the way out. Still, it's overall a song I like in and of itself. Along with the title track, Junior's Eyes, and A Hard Road, it's the half of the album that I enjoy most.
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Shock Wave might be the heaviest song on the album but calling it heavy would be like calling Nickleback Black Metal.
The opening riff isn't too bad but it has no power, no energy and no punch...which is kind of the story of the whole album really.
Ozzy's vocals sound strained and forced and Geezer is still out having a beer in a local pub instead of at the album recordings...
The good in the song, the opening riff....the bad...everything else.
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A note on the studio... it was horrible! The band tried to make the sound better, but just couldn't. Hence, the TINNINESS!
As for the direction(s) the band were going in, Ozzy had left and returned and then his dad passed, so there was a 3-month break, Ozzy refused to do the material written for Dave Walker, then Ozzy refused to do some of what Geezer wrote, and then Ozzy had some really strong opinions (all bad) about the return of the Tony Iommi Jazz Trio. Ozzy basically checks out on Air Dance, Breakout, and Swinging the Chain.
8 months later, the band fired Ozzy after a tour with Van Halen as the opening act. Sabbath only played NSD from the album, everything else was from their back catalog.
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Sabbath only played NSD from the album, everything else was from their back catalog.
A small correction to the note here.
They also played Shock Wave.
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Ozzy basically checks out on Air Dance, Breakout, and Swinging the Chain.
Another small correction.
Ozzy did refuse to do Swinging the Chain because it was written for DW (who can blame him), but Breakout is an instrumental (so there was no vocal anyway), and he performed Air Dance without objection.
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Charger is correct - a few dates included that song.
Regarding Breakout, Nolan Stoltz indicated that it was released as an instrumental because Ozzy refused to sing on it.
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Next we come to Air Dance, which people seem to either love or hate. Personally I love it, the jazzy feel works really well in my mind and this just might be another top 10 song for me*.
* I may need to go back and check out how many Ozzy Era songs I've said are top 10, because there's another to come on 13!
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* I may need to go back and check out how many Ozzy Era songs I've said are top 10, because there's another to come on 13!
:)) Yeah, it can be difficult when going through them one by one like this.
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I very much enjoy Air Dance. It is really amazing how they can come up with this mix of light and heavy sounds, plus a little jazz touch, and make it all work.
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I'll have to part company with KDC and Typhon on Air Dance. It's a reluctant Ozzy vocal on top of the Tony Iommi Jazz Trio doing some exploratory fusion work. Somehow, though I enjoy jazz and I enjoy rock, I have never come to enjoy jazz fusion. Jazz-funk, absolutely yes. But fusion? Nope.
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Air Dance is indeed Black Sabbath trying to do Jazz fusion...
But this song makes Ian Gillan's Child In Time album look like a masterpiece.
What an utter turd this song. Bad vocals from Ozzy, horrid lyrics and musically awful.
Here's a prime example why this album sounds NOTHING like Black Sabbath. Burn after listening.
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Air Dance is indeed Black Sabbath trying to do Jazz fusion...
But this song makes Ian Gillan's Child In Time album look like a masterpiece.
What an utter turd this song. Bad vocals from Ozzy, horrid lyrics and musically awful.
Here's a prime example why this album sounds NOTHING like Black Sabbath. Burn after listening.
OOOOOOOooooooooooooooooohhhhh that Child in Time album is a nasty piece of crap.
But a valid comparison. Fusion was all over the place in the mid-late 70s. Nasty business, that fusion. Thank goodness for punk!
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Over to You follows and it's another great song that took me years to fully appreciate. I like the simple riff (no solo as such), and the underlying keyboards occasionally come to the fore, but Geezers bass really stands out here. Lyricly on similar territory as Juniors Eyes regarding unhappy childhoods.
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Over To You has a intro riff that isn't half bad actually but it lacks punch and once the verse kicks in the song takes a fast turn to worse.
Ozzy's vocals sound so strained and it's like he's half asleep singing. And the background keyboards are too high in the mix and very annoying. Horrible mixing.
Another song that sounds nothing like Black Sabbath...or good music for that matter.
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On its own, it's much better than being a slow/mellow song in between two fusion numbers. The grand piano runs lose me, but the stronger guitar tone around 3:45 brings me back for about 5 seconds of riffy fun. But the verses... turgid things, those verses. It's a very laborious song. With the fade out, it's just monotonous.
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Being my favorite song on the album, Over To You is a hidden gem. Love the rhythm throughout the tune as well as the use of the piano sounding keys. With great lyrics describing how society can rule your life, this song winds up in the later half of my Top 10 best Sabbath songs. Terrific track. :partay:
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Next we come to the jazzy instrumental Break Out. Aparently concieved to have a vocal track that Ozzy refused to participate on, I wonder if the horn section was added afterwards to fill out the sound? Anyway, it's not actually dreadful, they've done worse instrumentals (and even full songs), but it's a little throw away and does nothing for the album.
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Break Out is an absolutely horrid number. The stupid horns and ridiculous jazz fusion garbage is just too much to handle.
Hands down one of the worst tracks Sabbath has ever done.
I think Ozzy put it quite well:
Fuck this, I'm off ... The bottom line was that 'Breakout' was stretching it too far for me. With tracks like that on the album, we might as well have been called Slack Haddock, not Black Sabbath
And yeah...this album is far more Slack Haddock than it could ever be Black Sabbath.
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The album closes with Swinging the Chain. Sung by Bill, it's not a dreadful song, and infact I quite enjoy it if I'm in the mood. It would be interesting to know how it would have sounded with Ozzy on vocals, but I guess he'd given up by this point.
It has a lot of harmonica on it instead of a solo from Tony. There are some iffy lyrics, but it's far from the worst song they ever made.
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Swining The Chain is yet another dreadful song. Horrid even one might say.
This was a track they wrote with Dave Walker and Ozzy refused to sing it...for obvious reasons I would imagine...one of them ofcourse being that the song is horrible.
If Am I Going Insane is the worst song Ozzy ever sang for Sabbath, this would be the worst song anyone else sang for Sabbath.
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Because Break Out wound up as the Lead-In to Swinging The Chain, I chose to review them together. I'm fine with this LI and it smoothly transitions into the closer. It's an okay song and Bill surprised me a bit with the strength of his singing voice. Once again, the use of so many unexpected instruments applied to hard rock music, is quite imaginative.
Sometimes, as this final tune fades out, I stop and have a moment of bitter-sweet reflection, thinking "Well, that is it. The era is over. The end of the greatest stretch of rock music there ever was, or ever will be." I'm so thankful that I was lucky enough to be able to have lived with it.
:rockon:
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Break Out - The Tony Iommi Jazz Trio goes it alone, does not deliver. It's time for a retooling.
Swinging the Chain - Another jazzy number, less so that the previous track, but it's still got a jazzy hook to it. I like the first part, but the second just crashes on the rocks.
Overall, I think there's a good album to be had in picking out the best of TE and NSD!, but on their own, they show a band that burned out after the stress that produced the epic Sabotage.
What comes next on Heaven and Hell is totally different in terms of sound, lyrical direction, production, everything - but it's also much more alive and energetic than the two albums preceding it. For Ozzy, it's his first two epic solo albums that are about to come out. So TE and NSD! are not cases of a band that's past its prime. It's a band that's in need of a break from itself.
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The listing goes something like this:
1= Juniors Eyes
1= Air Dance
3. Over To You
4. Johnny Blade
5. Shock Wave
6. A Hard Road
7. Swinging The Chain
8. Never Say Die
9. Break Out
Next time do we want to do '13' to complete te Ozzy Albums or go on to Heaven and Hell?
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I'm up for a Dio run, but I'll let one of y'all start the next song by song thread. Surprise me. :smug:
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Inserting my final rating of the albums for completion's sake.
Never Say Die = 9/10
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Never Say Die
½
One word:
TURD
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Never Say Die
½
One word:
TURD
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^^^^
:rofl:
I got two this year though! Granted one I bought for myself! :D
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Fear not, Charger, as all is forgiven by the Deep Purple Santa. :D