Customer Reviews

Never Say Die (Dig)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished reading Tony Iommi's bio, so I know all the circumstances that surrounded the writing and recording of this album. I first bought "Never Say Die" on 8-track, then vinyl, then finally CD... so you have some idea of how long I've lived with it... I know that Tony was very disappointed in the album- In that it lacked continuity, mostly. Not knowing any of the band history back in the late 70's, I picked this one up randomly... Unaware of the band's previous work, line-up changes, drug abuse, and band politics... & I couldn't stop playing it!!! From the commercially viable title track to the sentimental "Junior's Eyes" to the dark, heavy "Shock Wave" and even the oddball ballad "Air Dance", I thought this album was a work of art! I just don't get how this album gets dismissed by so many people... including the band themselves...? Stepping back and looking this as a collection of songs, rather than what this band was "supposed to sound like" at this particular point in time, yields a brilliance never seen in the Ozzy-era... with perhaps "Sabotage" as an exception. Those people who think that only the first 4-5 Sabbath albums are worth your time... aren't worth your time. Think of this as what it is: Tony Iommi taking over the band's sound (because otherwise the band would have collapsed) and taking Sabbath in a new direction. That direction?... "Heaven & Hell"- One of the greatest albums of all time... What he needed was a good singer/song writer to work with. (R.I.P. Ronnie) TONY! Cut yourself some slack. This was a great one! ~ If you don't think "Iron Man" was the best song ever written, pick this one up. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

In 1978 Sabbath had much publicized internal personality and drug/lifestyle problems. To compound things they got little label support (it was all about post punk,and arena rock like KISS, Queen, Aerosmith etc...) and a bad decision to record in Toronto where they rehearsed and fought in frigid temperatures. I am a Sabbath fanatic (really....I was obsessed with them most my adolescence and collect all their stuff), and NSD is one of my absolute favorites. And as time goes on even more so. The songs are much more innovative and varied than on the previous Technical Ecstacy album. Johnny Blade, Juniors Eyes and Swinging The Chain may be the most fully realized tracks they ever recorded to my mind. Some jazzy diversions in tracks like Airdance and Breakout only show them going back to what they used to be- a jazz-influenced rock and blues band. You can hear Brian May's influence on Iommi's tones and layered guitars. The only thing I would change is the production. It is rather boxy and midrangy and hollow sounding at times. Sometimes it works to great effect, other times I wish I could get my hands on the mixer and EQ and really fill it out. Great material though. A crime to overlook. Go go go and buy it I say!

When you look back at the Black Sabbath recordings there are some albums that are looked at as being better than others and some that seem a little odd and out of place. Never Say Die fits into that second category, with its mixture of hard-rock and jazz it has a unique and interesting sound but not one that is Black Sabbath. Released two years after 1976's Technical Ecstasy (which was a bit of a departure for the band), Never Say Die was probably not the sound the fans expected to hear in 1978. NSD is often upon as being one of the worst Sabbath albums and one that is not worth hearing. I'm not saying that it is one of Black Sabbath's best albums, there are much better Ozzy and no Ozzy-eras albums, but it is a different one that I think is worth a listen. I never expected fans to like this one, in fact I was skeptical about the album myself when I first bought it. I'll admit the overall sound of the album can sound experimental to fans and it probably is because it has different musical elements thrown in that are not typical Sabbath. In fact, it's probably why so many fans didn't like it in the first place. I guess the problem is that it sounds so different from other Black Sabbath albums, it simply doesn't have that classic Black Sabbath sound fans love (myself included). Even the album cover art is far from your typical Sabbath cover; it's rather odd but cool at the same time. Interestingly enough, Ozzy's voice on NSD sounds closer to his solo beginnings than it sounded on previous Sabbath albums which is not a bad thing.

The title track is an undeniable classic, it has a sound that works well with earlier Sabbath and is quite edgy. Johnny Blade" is one of the few songs that fans seem to like from this album, good track. "Junior's Eyes" is to me the highlight of Never Say Die, the lyrics and chorus are amazing to me very clever and despite the Jazzy drums it's a rock' n 'roll song, Ozzy shows a lot of emotion with his voice here. I actually like "Hard Road", yes it sound perhaps too happy -go-lucky for Black Sabbath but it has a cool vibe and it's a underrated song. "Shock Wave" is not one of the best songs here but it works and it's a good song with a cool chorus. "Air Dance" is just about the farthest you can go from the classic Ozzy-era Sabbath sound and it's probably why I like it so much, because it's that different and brilliant. Air Dance has quite the Jazz sound and the piano work is incredible, clever lyrics, Ozzy's voice is terrific here. Unlike many fans I like "Over To You", nothing special about the song in particular as nothing stands out but it's a good track. "Breakout" is just this crazy swing big band instrumental thing that is far out, perhaps a bit too much to digest for the average Sabbath fan. I'm not really into that one and it is the weakest song here. "Swinging The Chain" is sung by Bill Ward, not awful by any means but its pretty much "just there", nothing special about this one at all I'm afraid.

Never Say Die is not your typical Sabbath album as I mentioned before, but if you give it a chance and accept that it's a "different" album you might like it. I don't think it's an exceptional album but I find plenty to like. I think Never Say Die is often judged without being heard because it has this reputation of being a bad album and the late 70's was not an especially great era for Black Sabbath. Yes it's different, that' why it's interesting and why I like it so much, the band experimented and had this cool trippy drugged and jazzy vibe that you either love or hate. Some songs obviously worked better than others but overall it's a great experiment that any Sabbath fan with an open mind should give a listen. Personally I enjoyed this one more than Technical Ecstasy. 3.5 /5.

This one is full of good hard rock songs that are not in the least occult related. The band was trying something new and the songs are more enjoyable here than on 'technical ecstacy' by a long shot. The band was coming apart at the time, but the playing and singing are excellent. IT's far different in style though than their classic earlier cd's and that threw off some fans at the time. But songs like " never say die' are still very good metal songs and that's enough for me. The dvd of a live show from this period is also excellent. Worth owning for metal , hard rock fans and that's why I say 'never say die' is a worthy sidestep in this bands career. But it's not classic metal like their first 6 cd's to be sure. (or the dio years either)

Good album worth picking up but dont start here if your new to sabbath but get when you have there earlier catalog.

I saw them on this tour when I was 15.Van Halen opened the show and blew em' away.Sabbath was terrible and didn't play long as they were mad at VH for blowing them away,but this album is one of my favorites.Not as strong as Master of Reality,but better than Technical Ecstasy.

The first time I heard this CD, I, like many others before and after me, was disappointed. I got hooked on Sabbath my senior year in high school (1988-89) and I spent a number of months buying up all the Ozzy/Dio- era albums. Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die were the last ones to be purchased, probably because they were the most obscure to me. I knew nothing from the former, and from the latter I was familiar only with the live version of "Never Say Die" found on Speak of the Devil. With the exceptions of the title track and "Johnny Blade," the songs seemed undynamic and incohesive. But, as so often happens in that magical, alchemical experience as one becomes acquainted with a piece of music, the songs took on shape and force. Before long, I was amazed at how good this album was: Never Say Die is an absolute scorcher, fit to be placed alongside Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and Heaven and Hell, and one of the best albums by any Sabbath lineup.

I can understand the rejection this album has faced by critics and fans alike. After all, I was on my own when discovering Sabbath, and was not influenced by popular opinion or critical consensus: Never Say Die's sneering dismissal was completely unbeknownst to men. My initial reaction, then, would seem to buttress the negative critical assessment it received ten years' prior, by fans more knowledgeable of Sabbath than I was.

What I can't understand is the fact that, more than 30 years after its release, this album has not received the reappraisal for which it is long overdue. It is extremely dispiriting to witness just how strongly initial reactions entrench themselves in the public mind, among critics and fan bases, so that they become self-perpetuating over the years, passed down from one generation of listeners to the next. It is even more dismaying that grown adults pushing 60 years of age hate this album for such puerile and trite reasons as the fact that there is no occult focus in the lyrics.

The problem Sabbath encountered, I suppose, is that this is not the album they needed at that point in time. The band were in a shambles, Technical Ecstasy was weak, and they were on the verge of imploding on themselves. Everyone was looking for a "comeback" album, which means, for an artist, "finding oneself again": i.e., marshalling one's forces, retreating to familiar ground (while avoiding self-imitation), and putting out some top-notch tunes. Instead, Sabbath produced an eclectic, initially inaccessible album, mixing heavy metal with jazz influences and adding some progressive song structures. Shock Wave is one such track, as it contains a non-traditional structure, transitioning effortlessly and seamlessly from one stanza to the next without repeating itself until the rhythm section of the guitar solo. It is one of Sabbath's supreme accomplishments: what seemed meandering and unfocused to me on my first listening metamorphosed into a cohesive and startling masterpiece.

Of course, those lemmings at AMG insult this remarkable album an inexcusably meager 1-and-a-1/2 star rating and dismiss it as "unfocused," a criticism leveled at albums that display more than a usually conspicuous degree of versatility. (Unfortunately, even Ozzy has said he's ashamed of Never Say Die: I wonder what he thinks of his last two or three mediocre solo albums.) They've leveled the same daft accusation at Megadeth's So Far, So Good... So What and Rush's Power Windows, spectacular albums in their own right, and largely ignored by the bands' respective fans. I am personally far less inclined to view a collection of songs as unfocused as I am a particular song. In fact, AMG's credibility is seriously questionable, as their taste and judgments are far too easily shaped by the commerical arc of a band's career and the reactions of the masses, both of which have decreed to us that the first five Sabbath albums are the best: they noted about Sabotage (album 6) that "the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Volume 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate." This, despite affording the album 4-and-a-1/2 stars, the same rating they gave to Black Sabbath and Sabbath, Bloody Sabbeth! Apparently, its critics are unable to trust their own judgment when it doesn't doesn't jibe with the common wisdom decreed by the so-called "test of time."

As it stands, Never Say Die is one of my very favorite Sabbath albums, and it contains versatility, blistering performances, and sensitive jazz nuances in equal proportions. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

I've been a Black Sabbath fan since 1975 and I rate this cd a only as decent.

Everyone knew that sabbath was ending. They put this out to try and stop it from happening. Hold the jokes that never say die is the opposite of what was achieved. People claim that the title track is the stand out but I actually thought the second track had at least some energy. One of sabbath's worst in the history of the band, to include Born Again, and Seventh Star. Not one really good track.

You have to be joking. Sabatage is the the sixth and LAST great OZZY Sabbath record. Technical Ecstasy and Never say die don't even have the hypnotic sound at all. The lyrics are NOT EVEN OCCULT!!!! There are six great Sabbath albums with OZZY. The last two are portraits of a band in total disarray.