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Black Sabbath - Never Say Die! Audio CD

A fair review of the Black Sabbath "Never Say Die!" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Black Sabbath reviews here, or go back to the Black Sabbath tabs.

Black Sabbath Band: Black Sabbath
Title: Never Say Die!
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Never Say Die 2: Johnny Blade 3: Junior's Eyes 4: Hard Road 5: Shock Wave 6: Air Dance 7: Over to You 8: Break Out 9: Swinging the Chain

Excellent Sabbath, Underrated Work
I don't get the negative comments. This album has everything all the previous great sabbath albums had. I love Never Say Die, Johnny Blade, Air Dance. . it's all here. I mean, if you keep a group in a box and say they are supposed to remain one way or the other, they certainly live up to the first three albums and some of the fanciness on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage. It almost is like Vol. 4 in that sense.

So, look, remain objective about this album. I mean there are some great tracks on this, It's a Hard Road, Over to You. . . not a big fan of swinging the chain but I find myself skipping ahead on some tracks on their supposed marquis efforts too. It's not possible to like every track on a sabbath record, but I can say Sabotage fits that bill the closest. Give Never Say Die a chance and forget what everyone says is their best. This album is one of their best, the song writing, Ozzy's singing, the production. Great last effort for a dying band, but it don't sound like it's a dying band. .


Controversial but better than most say
Ozzy was largely refusing to spend time in the studio with the band - so much of the work on Never Say Die! is actually done in one take. To really review this album fairly, one must first understand some of the issues with its initial development (which allow us to better rate this album and how it fares when compared to the rest of their work). There were plans for Ozzy to step aside allowing another singer to come in. . and the music was initially written for him. Ozzy decided to participate and so many of the songs' lyrics were changed just prior to production. In addition, the band was internally reeling from debate over whether they'd really played to the best of their abilites on the preceding album (Technical Ecstasy); an LP Tony Iommi was tremendously dissatisfied with (he wasn't a big proponent of changing their sound too much but supposedly Ozzy and Bill Ward wanted to experiment more musically akin to what Led Zeppelin had done).

The result of this turmoil was an experimental album (by Sabbath standards) that is altogether more 'cheerful' than their famous doom and gloom albums . . . but also returned them to some of their more bluesy roots like those seen on their first two albums. Ozzy even plays harmonica on Swinging the Chain (and tears it up nicely). Breakout and Swinging the Chain are really the most significant drivers of debate about this album. Breakout (which is more like an extended prologue to 'Swinging') includes sax and a full horn section. . . all of which were unexpected for a band like Sabbath. And most notably, Swinging the Chain is famous for being the final track recorded during the Ozzy years. . . but does NOT feature Ozzy singing (instead, he plays harmonica and the drummer Bill Ward sang). There's considerable argument about whether Bill can sing. . . for my part, I actually find the first 2/3 of this song to be among the best moments on this album. . . but a bizarre time shift occurs which provides a jarring conclusion to this song (as if they melded two totally disparate songs together).

This isn't Sabbaths best work. That much is clear. . . but what might surprise you is how some of the tracks seem more inventive and relevant over time - and make for an enjoyable listening experience.


Black Sabbath no need explanations
Never say die it is acid, some psichodelic, hard, fast. Don't mind how old are you, if you think that you are a hard rocker, yo must buy Black Sabbath complete collection. . . some sad and angry, very good.


never say die
i love this album as well as sabbath bloody sabbath, sabatoge and technical ecstacy, i can only imagine what great lengths this band would have accomplished if it had kept going in this direction, i am fed up with all the bands trying to keep up with each other and see how much they can sound like each other instead of experimenting with the music as sabbath did with never say die, will there ever be anything like what came from this time in music? i certainly hope so, but i wont hold my breath.


Why the hate?
Sure, it's nothing like the first 4 albums, but it's on par with "Sabbath, Bloddy Sabbath". This is an awesome album. In fact, I think I like it better than "SBS" because Don Airey's keyboards are way better than the synths used on "SBS". The title track off this album is awesome.


You can see a complete list of all Black Sabbath discography, or go back to the Black Sabbath tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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