Technical Ecstasy [Import, Original recording remastered]

Black Sabbath | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Castle Music UK
• ASIN: B000006ZDT
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,993 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Back Street Kids

2. You Won't Change Me

3. It's Alright

4. Gypsy

5. All Moving Parts (Stand Still)

6. Rock 'N' Roll Doctor

7. She's Gone

8. Dirty Women

Editorial Reviews

1996 reissue on Castle of their 1976 album for WarnerBrothers, remastered from the original master tapes and withfaithfully restored artwork. Eight tracks, including 'BackStreet Kids', 'Gypsy' and 'Rock 'N' Roll Doctor' and 'DirtyWomen'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slick, subdued, July 11, 2001

By 

R. Reece (Orinda, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Technical Ecstasy (Audio CD)

This album was a byproduct of the creative tug-of-war between Ozzy and Tony Iommi, who wanted the band to experiment with more styles. If you saw the "Technical Ecstasy" tour, not a lot of these songs fit into the show--"Dirty Women" and "Gypsy" being the best. The best part of this album is its production quality, which is exceptional and certainly needed no remaster. "All Moving Parts" and "Rock & Roll Doctor" are well-executed, dispensable pop lacking the teeth that Sabbath fans crave.

When Sabbath hit this period, I strayed to bands like Judas Priest that displayed more emotion and energy (at the time). Since then, the band's drug problems and internal strife during the recording of this album have been well-documented. In retrospect, it is amazing this album is as good as it is.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten, but fantastic. Go see the Rock n' Roll doctor NOW, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Technical Ecstasy (Audio CD)

Sabbath was unravelling. They made an album full of angry humor, dark images of reality -- something Sabbath had avoided since it's inception. Almost an underground kind of album for one of the biggest bands in the world; an inverted magnum opus of sorts, with the same kind of disjointed brilliance as something like The White Album. I'd love to see a two-disc set of this with demos, outtakes, rejects, maybe some tape of a drunken Ozzy and Geezer shouting at each other. This is not in the same class of influence as the 70-74 stuff (a lot of it isn't even metal), TE nonetheless deserves very high marks on a number of levels: musical experimentation, letting the drummer sing (Beatles style no less! And it charted in England! Ha ha ha), the artwork (fully restored here). With Hugh Gilmour's typically excellent liner notes and a very sharp remastering job, the Castle remaster is the Technical Ecstacy to get.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT'S STILL SABBATH!, July 9, 2006

By 

Jeffrey D. Elsenheimer "Still hip after all t... (Lake Hamilton,FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Technical Ecstasy (Audio CD)

I, like certain others, feel this album got some bum reviews. To me, this really reflects the time it was written in. Gone was the apocalyptic fear of "going to Nam" and some of the racial unrest that I'm sure influenced some of Sabbath's earlier writings. And I appreciate the more up- front sound of Iommi's guitar. Where it was sludgy and heavily distorted (Paranoid or Masters...)or heavily compressed (Sabotage,) on this release it is in- your- face and rump- kickin'! And the leads are some of the most blistering laid down by Big Tony! This album, I feel, speaks more of the decadent, self- indulgent atmosphere at the time (Rock-n-Roll Doctor and Dirty Women, Backstreet Kids.) The mood may be lighter, but the music is still heavy. "You Won't Change Me" is vintage Sabbath, with slow, heavy guitar riffs and great vocals by the Ozz. Sure it may not contain the most profound lyrics, but it still rocks hard. And "Gypsy" is another headbanger. "She's Gone" has some of the most passionate vocals ever recorded by Ozzy (except maybe Mama I'm Coming Home.) Sure It could be included in a sountrack for a chick- flick, but haven't we ALL been there? And that brings me to another point: Sabbath's lyrics have always enabled the listener to become a participant in the story by using great imagery, and that includes this album as well. I enjoy every track here, even Bill Ward's stab at being Ringo on "It's Alright." Hey, the guitar in the midsection is cool! This may not be as heavy as some of Sab's earlier efforts,but it was still one of the heaviest around at the time. I'd rather listen to this than "Stayin' Alive".....