BLACK SABBATH - Never Say Die (1978)
This is the first Sabbath album I ever heard and there are days when, in some ways, I still find it the
most impressive piece of work they ever did. The hours I spent with that old cassette tape never fails
to make sense when I revisit this highly complex, truly underrated piece of rock mastery.
A track by track breakdown seems the only appropriate approach to tackling what has been such a strangely misunderstood and often ignored album in the arsenal of albums from the original Black Sabbath:
Never Say Die - The title track hits you right in the gut. This is Sabbath combining heavy guitar riffing with the jazzy, busy drumming that Ward had such a knack for. Butler's bass work is simply sensational here. Extremely busy, but mixed so that it adds to the overall sonic goals instead of taking over. Ozzy's vocals are high in both tone and clarity. There's a certain charm in this album right from the start because while it is clear that the band are beginning to fall apart, they are still so good that it is ridiculous. The guitar solo at the end is not to be believed. I've seen one transcription of it where the writer explained that he was truly amazed after slowing it way down to get it close to right how all the notes are there. It is so fast that he was amazed that the notes were actually hit with such precision even when analyzed at a very slow speed.
Johnny Blade - Don Airey makes his debut with Sabbath here and it is brilliant. Polyphonic synths abound, and it just goes to show that Sabbath had a knack for finding an original sound no matter what they did. Even when brining in other musicians, they somehow manage to never sound like anybody else! Airey's intro is astoundingly original, dark and sets the tone for the jazzy, marching...
