Review Summary: Sabbath copies Boston. And fails. Miserably.
By the time the late 70’s had rolled around, Black Sabbath had run their course. Ozzy was a drugged buffoon that every other Sabbath member was long tired of, Tony Iommi was running out of song ideas, Bill Ward couldn’t stop getting injured, and Geezer was admittedly getting tired of writing lyrics. After the disappointing and, in my opinion, complete waste of time known as 1976’s Technical Ecstasy, people were beginning to lose their interest in the band. People were going to Sabbath concerts only to see opening act Van Halen, and it was only a matter of time before the band got in their cars and headed home for good.
So, when in doubt, just do what’s popular. In the mid 70’s, a fairly new sound become all the rage, and Boston were at the forefront of it. Mixing rock ‘n’ roll with bluesy riffs, Boston had four number one hits in 1976 alone and I’m guessing they were impossible to escape. Black Sabbath’s 1978 release Never Say Die is a dull and absolutely forgettable effort, whether you want to forget it or not, and it should qualify one of Sabbath’s more embarrassing moments.
The title track is, quite honestly, one of the best thing Sabbath has ever done. Yah, I know, all this bashing and then suddenly a major complement, but I mean it; this song is great! It instantly begins with a kickass riff, one of the fastest they had done at the time. The lyrics are good, the chorus is catchy, the guitar solo is awesome, and Ozzy actually sounds talented on this track. It was wise to place this as the opening track because it pulls you in and doesn’t let you go, and the listener will expect the entire album to sound this awesome. It was a genius move, but a deceiving one at that. “Never Say Die” is awesome.
Tracks two and three, “Johnny Blade” and “Junior’s Eyes” are both decent tunes, but they suffer from the same problems. Both tracks drag on for over six minutes and could easily be edited down to three minutes and sound just fine. “Johnny Blade” has this bizarre ‘buzzy’ riff over a 2/4 time signature drum beat that is not very easy on the ear…that is, after the even more bizzare electric organ intro that sounds completely out of place. The song sounds like it was written for a TV show intro to a superhero cartoon, and as James Rolfe put it, “it sounds like a comic book come to life.” That is quite appropriate as the song revolves around the actions of a superhero. On that account, the song succeeds. However, most TV show themes aren’t anything over a minute, while “Johnny Blade treads on for six unnecessary minutes. “Junior’s Eyes” has good lyrics, but if weren’t for the very catchy chorus, it’d probably be one to skip. The main riff is a sleep-enducing drum beat with Tony Iommi having a seizure over his wah-wah peddle, and it stretches on for what seems like an eternity.
Time to turn off the album. From track four up to the very end, Sabbath just threw their hands up and said “we don’t give a ***”. The Hard Road is when the album really begins to become truly abysmal. I’m offended that Black Sabbath actually tried to pass this track off as a radio single with a music video and everything. It appears Ozzy and friends turned on the radio, heard what was popular, and said “well hey, we can do that“ and the result is this. If the stock ‘duh, duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh,” riff doesn’t make you hurt, then perhaps the clap sound effects over the snare drums or the bouncy bass will. How the bloody hell did they really think this could slip by fans? The same Sabbath that made gloomy classics like “N.I.B.” and “Electric Funeral” now releasing happy, feel-good, uninspired rubbish.
“Shock Wave” has to be one of the most disgustingly generic songs I’ve ever heard, even more so than the previous track. That riff, that solo, those lyrics, hell, even the title of the song is unbelievably cliché. Every time I hear it, I think to myself “this is Boston.” I seriously feel as if Sabbath snuck into Boston HQ at the dead of night and stole pertinent song files Mission Impossible style. Unfortunatly, Sabbath appears to have robbed from the trashcan next to the locked file cabinet because this song is atrocious.
“Air Dance” begins with, admittedly, a really cool guitar riff, and you think “hey, this song might kick ass!” But 34 seconds into the song, it transforms into a soft ballad with pianos and gently filtered guitars combined with a jazzy blues kind of sound; it’s horrible. That riff never makes another appearance again. A perfectly good riff wasted on awful evaluator music. Imagine how awesome the song could’ve been if it had stuck with the riff and branched off on it! We could be living in a different world! Imagine: a world where Bush Junior didn’t win the presidency. Imagine: a world where the Oklahoma Panhandle actually became its own state. Imagine: a reality where 911 didn’t happen! Oh man the possibilities!
Need any more proof that Sabbath was out of ideas? Well, they copied the “The Hard Road” and put it on the album twice, renaming it “Over To You”. Both songs have the exact same riff and lyrical themes. You cannot tell me that these are two separate songs. Next.
“Breakout” is a two-minute instrumental, only because Ozzy was in and out of a drug enduced leave from Black Sabbath, and the song is really nothing special, but it leads into the final track, “Swinging The Chain” with drummer Bill Ward on vocals. I do not remember the song at all. Seriously, I’m listening to it right now, but I cant remember anything about this song! That’s always a good sign of great songwriting.
If you need any proof that Sabbath was a dying band, Technical Estacy was the evidence. If you need any proof that Sabbath had finally died, Never Say Die is all you need. Fortunately, Sabbath replaced their lead man with a particular fiery elf and rose back to the top, but it must have been a bad time. I wasn’t around in 1978, but people must have been hating on these guys. Oh well, the first song kicks major buttocks, and both Ozzy and Black Sabbath split ways and recovered two years later to each release historical metal albums in unison.
