Black Sabbath: Technical Ecstasy
1976
Warner Bros Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 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
Hey! This album came out in 1976! That was the year I was born! A lot of you might not know this but there's strong photographic evidence that I was once a baby!
Here's one taken of me in the 70's wearing a Gene Simmons costume...I believe the person holding me is my cousin Darlene and the girl to the right of me is my sister, Meme... And to celebrate the joyous occasion of my birth, Black Sabbath decided to release their first lackluster album...
Nahhh, I'm exaggerating, a bit...It's not bad at all...Jut a little off-putting at first because it's a relatively normal sounding hard rock record...Normal? From Ozzy-era Black Sabbath? I can see Tony Martin singing normal sounding hard rock maybe, but Ozzy Osbourne?!?! Before he met Zakk Wylde no less?!?!
(Squeeeee!!! (pinched harmonic...)
It's just weird to hear Black Sabbath aim for the Arena crowd, with big synthesizers and Tony Iommi performing lighter-waving guitar solos...I think I probably did a double-take when I first heard Bill Ward getting all Eric Carmen on the piano pop track "It's Alright." Wha-?
But to be totally honest, if I didn't know this was a Black Sabbath album, (like, for instance, if it said Styx on the cover.) I'd probably be praising the shit out of all the catchy stadium-rock songs .. "Gypsy" would sound great as you're eating $8.00 nachos and staring at the lasers from the cheap seats at the Miller Lite-Dome...
So, I'm going to defend "Technical Ecstasy." They played with the formula a bit and side one is strong...Side two sags a bit with the generic "Rock N' Roll Doctor" and "She's Gone" which is the droopiest ballad ever...But whatever...It's a pretty good time-waster...
So let's waste some time and listen to "Back Street Kids" by Black Sabbath...
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