NEVER SAY DIE!

After Rick Wakeman who was responsible for the keys on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", it is the turn of Don Airey ("Rainbow", "Purple") to participate here. It will also be the last appearence of Ozzy on vocals on any "Sabbath" studio release. He is definitely too much drug addicted and he will be sacked after this release. It is a sad affair because he IS "Sabbath" voice (even if he is not a great singer).

Dear old "Sabbath" shows again that in terms of openers they quite know how to do it. The title track "Never Say Die" is maybe not an extremely good song but it is rocking like hell; borrowing a lot to "Purple". It is my fave of the album and fully hard-rock oriented (in opposition to heavy metal).

But the he sound of this album is more rock-oriented. Some heavy ones but not many (the closing "Swinging The Chain" for instance). This album will even show a tendancy to produce more poppish songs (like "Junior's Eyes"). Some heavy-AOR as well (a new style ?) with "hard Road". But the latter is nothing interesting. One of the dullest one in their career so far. But actually, the band has released very few poor songs in such a long time. They have always globally been truthful to their great and straight heavy metal. And probably therefore been praised so much.

This album shows another orientation, not prog of course (this will be for the fourth millenium) but more in the FM-radio style. Not any worse than lots of bands who have chosen this direction ("Yes", Kansas", "Heep" etc.) but not any better of course.

Highlights are very scarce. If you except the title track, I guess that only "Johnny Blade" stands out. One of the true "Sabbath" ones available here. The poorest being achieved with "Break out".

This album is rather insipid, transparent. I had already this feeling during the "Sabotage" sessions (but to a much less extent of course); and the descent is seriously amplified here.

Two stars.

As the album title "Never Say Die" it implies that this album represents the band's struggle for their existence in heavy metal scene. As far as you are heavy metal fan, you might not really regret to have this album in your collection. But is you have observed the band from its inception, you might find it disappointing. This album did not receive commercial success even though the title track became a U.K. Top 40 hit before the LP's release and "Hard Road" made the Top 40 afterwards. But the singles did not improve the album's commercial success, which was again modest. The major different, musically, is the way Iommi played his power chords he used to deliver in previous records. His guitar riffs and melody through this album do not spell out as Iommi's trademark. It's like what other rock guitar player can play. Ozzy's eerie vocal quality still serves as differentiator of Black Sabbath music from other bands. It's quite unique thing you might find here with this album where Bill Ward (drums) sings in "Swinging In The Chain". His voice is not bad at all and in fact makes the music of Black Sabbath is different than before.

Overall, this is not a bad album at all - as far as you consider it as rock music album without having to compare with previous albums of Black Sabbath - but it's definitely not a good album to start with. I recommend this album only for those who like Black Sabbath already, not for newbie. Keep on rockin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Black Sabbath have been quite a special band for me since my teen-age years, indeed I purchased all of their LP's back in 1989 ( released up to that point) and was fairly impressed with each and every one at some point. From their amazing debut, Sabbath created a new, 'heavy' genre in music, with a decent dose of 'doom' almost unheard of at the time. This to me is quite a 'progressive' move in itself. Most of us are familiar with many stories of legend surrounding the band, in particular lead vocalist Ozzy Osborne, with all the hedonistic tendencies (soap-boxes full of Cocaine brought to recording sessions.....) that go with 'superstardom' - it all ended up with Ozzy being booted out of the band after recording this album.

By now, Keyboarder Don Airey (from Jon Hiseman's Colosseum II) was brought in and that resulted in quite a different sound for the band. Beginning with the catchy title-cut, 'Never Say Die' rocks out with a simple melody and hard sound (kind of generic by that time) and became something of a minor hit for them. Things change rather abruptly as a very spacey synth arrangement introduces 'Johnny Blade', a tale of a street kid with an attitude problem (thereabouts). The song goes through many changes with guitarist Tony Iommi churning out some 'tough' riffs and energetic soloing, the song lasts almost 6 and a half minutes and is very good . An immediate fade-in of a cool, bass led riff backed with some almost jazzy drumming leads us into 'Juniors Eyes', another semi-lengthy track featuring crunching guitars at the choruses, and floaty keys during the verses. Great track. 'Hard Road' is quite a standard hard-rock song of which the master tapes should've been spliced up and recorded backwards at double-speed to make things sound just a little more interesting.

Side 2 - 'Shock Wave' is a decent track with some blistering guitar work (even including some strummed acoustic) but the end riff drags on a little long. Next up is what I consider as Sabbath at their most 'prog' - the often overlooked track 'Air Dance', a composition which displays adept technical understanding and ability - it contains some of Ozzy's most accomplished vocals, Airey's keyboard work is absolutely spot-on, riffs, tempos and melodies chopping and changing all the time, a very atmospheric interlude and incredible outro, just when the song takes off and could've been worked into a lengthy epic of sorts, it ends. Still, a superb song, with all band members in top form and one many proggers should enjoy. 'Over To You' is pleasant but a bit middle-of-the-road, the short instrumental 'Break Out' is based on a simple riff featuring a brass arrangement - it doesn't really amount to much, but is quite different and off-the-wall for Sabbath. Album closer 'Swinging the Chain', is a rather strange song, with some vocals from drummer Bill Ward, and hints at the state of the band at the time. 3 and a half star effort, some really good songs here, but some average efforts as well.

Black Sabbath meets Colosseum II

After the uneven and slightly disappointing, but still good, Technical Ecstasy album, Black Sabbath once again changed direction (or progressed, if you like). This time the change is for the better! One thing to notice about this band's entire output is that they were never afraid of trying out new things and Never Say Die is no exception to this general rule as it contains some surprising, and surprisingly successful, new influences for the band. While this album hardly matches the band's masterpiece albums from the first half of the 70's, I nevertheless think that Never Say Die is a very underrated effort; especially so by Prog fans who ought to appreciate the interesting Jazz-Rock/Fusion influences on several of the album's songs. I strongly recommend not giving up on this album until you get to the second half since it is here that you will find the best songs. All the songs from Shock Wave to Swinging The Chain are great!

The album opens with the almost punky title track, being something of this album's version of Paranoid. The hard rocking Johnny Blade follows. The latter song features a keyboard introduction that sounds very similar to what Ozzy would go on to do on his Mr. Crowley on his first solo album just a couple years later (a great album too by the way!). Incidentally, the keyboard player is Don Airey on both albums (which probably isn't a coincidence, after all). Airey's presence here certainly adds to the overall mix and there is some really good keyboard work on many of the tracks. Junior's Eyes is a pretty good song with a strong melody and some slight surprises. Hard Road is the track that most resembles the traditional heavy Black Sabbath sound and it would not have been out of place on Paranoid or Volume Four.

Now on to the second half of the album, which I must emphasise again, is the by far more interesting half of the album. Here, there is a distinct jazzy feeling on several tracks. Air Dance in particular is a very surprising track on this album and the closest Black Sabbath ever came to Jazz-Rock/Fusion, and it is probably also the best track on Never Say Die. Don Airey had just come from working with Colosseum II and he does an excellent performance on the keyboards here. Air Dance sounds a bit like Colosseum II actually; interesting tempo changes, very good piano work and some very tasteful use of synthesizers. Over To You, again features piano and a strong vocal. The instrumental Breakout even features a brass section! The last track, Swinging The Chain is a bluesy Hard Rock song that features Bill Ward on vocals. It is very much better than his out-of-place contribution to the previous album. This song also features harmonica!

Never Say Die would be the last Black Sabbath album to feature Ozzy Osbourne on vocals and is a very unusual album in the band's discography. It is far more progressive and adventurous than anything the band would do with Ronnie James Dio or Ian Gillan.

Highly recommended and very underrated album!

Ozzy's last studio album but as far as the BAND goes this is not half bad. In some respects better than Technical Ectasy. Never Say Die is a suitable description for a band that hung in there during the most formidable of times in terms of band personality clashes. Don Airey on keyboards has definitely changed the sound of the band and for those people pro the evolution of prog related music, will find this studio album refreshing. My personal favourite on this release is ' Swinging The Chain' and ' Air Dance' and ' Shock Wave' are also great. The 80's had not even began yet Black Sabbath continued to make an impact albeit with their more devout fanbase. A solid three stars.

The bottom line

Ozzy's final album with Black Sabbath. While Sabbath was going down in that period, leaving place and space to a newer generation of hard/heavy bands with a fresher sound and a more solid aproach of thier music like Judas priest, AC/DC, UFO, Thin Lizzy , Scorpions, just to name a fiew , not to mention the explosion of a new genre - NWOBHM (New Wave of British heavy Metal) who realy took everything from Sabbath dream to catch new fans with thir new musical aproach on Never say die from 1978. To me this is the worst studio album of them along with Born again, realy, almost unlistenable, totaly unintristing, the band realy struggle to keep the fans together, not to mention the tension between members were at the highest lefel. The conclusion is easy : a mediocre album made by one of the most heavier and doomy band in history of music, with real contribution to the music and a real influence for thousands of bands from the next decades. In oposite with Sabbath career Ozzy will go solo after this deseppointig final release of his mother band and create a real solid albums in the early to mid '80's, leaving again Sabbath in shadow. Anyway this is worst then previous one Technical ecstasy (who aswell was not a milestone in their career but was not a bad album at all), not to mention from early albums and is 100 times worst than the excellent next couple of albums with DIo. Not a piece stand as realy good, so 2 stars for this one.

Never Say Die is the eigth full-length studio album by UK ( Birmingham) heavy metal act Black Sabbath. Lead singer Ozzy Osbourne left the band only a few days before the band was set to enter the studio to record the album and the late months of 1977 was a confusing time for the band. Former Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker was brought in and the band started to work on new material with him. Ozzy Osbourne had a change of heart in January 1978 and re-joined the band but he refused to sing the melody lines which the band had made while rehearsing with Dave Walker. This meant that when Black Sabbath entered Sound Interchange studios in Toronto, Canada they would have to make new vocal lines as they went on which made it a very difficult and stressful work process. Black Sabbath spend five months in the studio. Tony Iommi has later commented on the experience:

We were getting really drugged out, doing a lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day.*

Probably not the most healthy environment to create music in. Never Say Die was released on the 28th of September 1978 and did fare pretty well in the charts, reaching number 12 in the UK charts and number 69 in the US charts. It was nothing compared to earlier achivements though and the reviews of the album were generally not favorable.

The music songs vary greatly in quality and highligts are few IMO. The title track and album opener is by far the best track on the album. A real Black Sabbath classic. The two next tracks Johnny Blade and Junior´s Eyes are respectable and good rocking tracks. But from then on the album goes from mediocre to below average reaching bad on the last song Swinging the Chain which features drummer Bill Ward on vocals. Swinging the Chain is a basic blues song made a bit more heavy because of the distorted guitars. Maybe it´s just me but generally when a band resorts to playing simple blues instead of developing their trademark sound it´s almost always a sign that they have run out of creative ideas. Air Dance touches jazz/ rock which doesn´t become Black Sabbath well IMO and Break Out with its brass arrangement is a rather odd choice for a Black Sabbath album. It´s nice that the band wants to explore new territory but it doesn´t work well for them.

The musicianship is great as ever but Ozzy Osbourne does sound a bit uninspired on some of the more mediocre tracks. It´s as if he knew these songs weren´t that good and he really didn´t care to make them better.

The production is a bit more raw than the production on the predecessor Technical Ecstasy (1976) which was a more polished affair. Especially the guitar sound is more mean.

Never Say Die comes of as a very mediocre album from Black Sabbath. I wouldn´t call it a below standard album though and the album does feature at least one Black Sabbath classic and a couple of respectable songs. A small 3 star rating is warranted.

After touring for the album Black Sabbath spend almost a year writing and rehearsing for a new album but the band´s and especially Ozzy Osbourne´s abuse of alcohol and drugs deteriorated to a point where it was impossible for the band to keep working with him and Tony Iommi made the decision to fire Ozzy.

Tony recalls: We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like 'Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow.' It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out.*

Drummer Bill Ward was chosen to tell Ozzy Osbourne that he was fired. Bill Ward recalls:

I hope I was professional, I might not have been, actually. When I'm drunk I am horrible, I am horrid, Ward said. Alcohol was definitely one of the most damaging things to Black Sabbath. We were destined to destroy each other. The band were toxic, very toxic.*

So Ozzy Osbourne era Black Sabbath ended on a sad note. Fortunately both Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne would continue seperate succesful music careers.

*Tony Iommi and Bill Ward´s comments are taken from Wikipedia.

With Technical Ecstasy, Sabbath hit rock bottom. Never Say Die couldn't possibly be any worse and luckily it wasn't. There's nothing here levelling with earlier glory but a few songs are worth hearing for Sabbath fans.

The original A side of the album is acceptable, Never Say Die might even pop up on the occasional best off. It sounds more like Kiss then like Sabbath but it's a decent song, be it rather sloppy, both in execution and recording. Johnny Blade has an intro that might make you think you're inside a Rainbow album. Also Junior's Eyes will never be a Sabbath classic but it isn't a bad track neither, slightly bluesy and with good melodies but again it's must have been performed in Ozzy's bathroom after a sleepless night. Terrible sound.

After those 3 it's completely over. All that's left is the pedestrian cliché rock of Hard Road and Shock Wave or incredibly lifeless attempts at pop-rock like Over To You. Bill Ward's vocal on Swinging the Chain is better then his contribution on Technical Ecstasy but the song is possibly worse. Third-rate blues performed by amateurs at your local pub, that's how it sounds.

A modest 2 stars.

After total disaster of Technical Ecstasy, Black Sabbath released their last studio album ever with Ozzy on vocal.

Ex-Colosseum II Don Airey came with keyboard addition in band's sound. No, no way return to form. Nothing great, nothing new.

But in comparence with previous album, this one is more focused, more energetic, and at least listenable.

There are even few stronger songs there. Again simplistic and a bit monotonous, all of the same tempo and rhythm, it still sounds as lower than average but Black Sabbath album.

Strong sign of Ozzy's Sabbath era down, this album should be interesting for band's fans and collectors mainly.

Total mark 2,5.

What you think about "Never say die" depends a whole lot on where you come from. If you like me started off with the early stuff or even the Dio-years I suspect you'll find "Never say die" a bit tough to chew. God knows I did. I took me years and years to come to grips with it. But like all other "hard to break"-albums the reward is greater than the effort when you see the light. I seldom or ever meet anyone who gets the same kicks out of this album as I do. It's simply a question of seeing it in another light. You cannot see it as the equivalent of "Sabbath, bloody sabbath" or "Heaven & Hell", you've got to see it as an album in itself, not comparing it with other releases. And I gúarantee it, if you get past that obstacle you'll find alot to cherish.

"Never say die" is for me one of the top albums in the Sabbath discography. The music stems out of frustration and anger, which makes the music so raw, despite it's well produced and sometimes slick, jazzy sounds. It may be a confused album in the sense that the band kind of lost it's way in a haze of drugs and alcohol but still it's both concise and together in a way that astounds me. What you have is a progressive, jazz-tinged heavy rock-album, far from the bluesy debut or the furious "Master of reality". Well, that's only just true. The jazz and progressiveness of Sabbath was always there but this is slicker and clearer. I can honestly say I love every track on the album but adore "Junior's eyes", "Air dance" and "Shock wave". It's a marvellous album. Bloody marvellous. Sit yourself down, drop your conventions and listen to the last breath of the Ozzy-era (so far, at least) and be amazed at it's greatness. It may be the last stand of an epoch buth what a last stand it is!

'Never Say Die!' - Black Sabbath (4/10)

By this point in Black Sabbath's career, the album title seems to be a pretty spot-on indication of the band themselves realizing they were losing it. The band's past work "Technical Ecstasy" wasn't necessarily a bad album, but in the context of following six classics of heavy metal, it could only disappoint. Of course, based on what I had heard from others, I was not expecting much different from "Never Say Die!", the last album Black Sabbath would do before being revived by the vocal talents of the late Ronnie James. Although it's relieving to know that Sabbath would yet release some great material with Dio, "Never Say Die!" is a whimper, arguably even less successful than "Technical Ecstasy". Once again, Black Sabbath may not be total goners here, but they might as well be; the band's eighth studio album is one that should be overlooked.

Stylistically, Black Sabbath developed and tweaked their sound quite a bit within a few years, exploring heavy metal, progressive rock, and everything in between. Although it was no surprise to hear Sabbath doing something new in "Technical Ecstasy", their new, more straightforward hard rock style was void of both the heaviness and sophistication that defined each earlier album. "Never Say Die!" continues this lackluster rock sound, although the music is arguably even worse off. It's no secret that Black Sabbath had been going through some problems over the years leading up to this, and it's evident that the constant arguing and drug excess had gone too far. Although Sabbath still manage to cobble together a functional collection of songs, the performance feels muffled, and the songwriting seemingly done out of obligation rather than inspiration.

"Johnny Blade" is a perfect example of how far Sabbath had fallen. Although it still shares Iommi's thick riffing style and Ozzy's nasal vocals in common with an album like "Paranoid", nothing really stands out as being impressive, or even that much enjoyable. Whether the blame may be pointed towards the muffled production or the paint-by-numbers approach to his rock riffs, Tony Iommi feels like a declawed lion here, his usual genius with the guitar clouded by ambivalence and 'x' number of different drugs they were taking at the time. Even Ozzy's vocals- which had blown me away only years earlier with his delivery on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and "Sabotage"- are strained and lifeless.

"Never Say Die!" is not without its merits, of course. In particular, the song "Air Dance" is a refreshing break from the boring hard rock formula, taking in some unique jazz structures in a piece which could have fit into the band's 'prog' era easily. "Break Out" is also an interesting song, taking the jazz approach further with a big band arrangement and brilliant saxophone solo. These moments feel very out-of-place in the context of an album that sounds as if the band had given up on trying to progress their music any further. "Heaven & Hell" would hear the band playing with a revived vigour. "Never Say Die!" is fortunately not the end for Sabbath, but it's a dismal way to end the classic line-up for one of the greatest bands in rock history.

If Technical Ecstasy suffers of an unfairly maligned reputation, NSD really justifies it, and really smelled the rot settled in the band. Ozzy had been shortly replaced by Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker, but the Oz was back for this album, which is completely uninspired. NSD is a downright poor album, exuding boredom that even the album title screams out loud; and the grim pilot of death and doomy artwork is just as boring. Though maybe not as evident as on Technical Ecstasy, a few track titles just hint at the lack of inspiration that permeates through the album. Part of the problem is of course the very standard song structures, and Ozzy's voice, often bordering the annoying.

If I spoke of filler track in the previous paragraph, it's clear that absolutely no NSD tracks would've earned a spot on Master Of Reality or Sabotage, save (maybe) Johnny Blade, this despite a very poorly chosen synth early on in the track. The only other tracks really worth mentioning are the album-lengthiest Junior's Eyes or the more aerial Air Dance. The rest of the album is mostly made of lacklustre stuff, like the opening title track, Hard Road, Shock Wave, Over To You, Break Out (despite some brass arrangements ala VdGG's Jaxon)) or the closing Swinging Chain.

Ozzy will get the boot once more after this album and the band would enter some kind of lethargy for a year or so, until they found a superb albeit diminutive new frontman. Ok, NSD might not be as bad or hopeless as I might hint at, but it's definitely their poorer effort of their first 15 years of existence. Don't get me wrong though: a poor Sabbath album was always superior to a Thin Lizzy, many Judas Priest or most Blue Oyster Cult albums. .