Audio CD review:
Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!

Band: Black Sabbath Title: Never Say Die! Rating: Release Date: 30 June, 1998 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

Customer Reviews Ozzy's swan song with Sabbath still holds up nearly 30 years on The album was self-produced by the band and recorded in Toronto, Canada to escape England's awful tax law. Black Sabbath's eighth album Never Say Die was released in October of 1978. Before the album was made, lead singer Ozzy Osbourne briefly left the band and was replaced by Dave Walker of Savoy Brown. Bass player Geezer Butler also quit as well but was back in no time with Ozzy to join guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward to record the original lineup's farewell album Never Say Die. The cover had another classic Hipgnosis cover and is surprisingly a great album. I first got this CD in May of 1995 and loved it immediately. The album kicks off with the hit single which was the album's title cut which was one of Sabbath's best songs. The next track "Johnny Blade" is a cool song with wild synths from Don Airey and a great metal rocker. Junior's Eyes follows and is one of my favorite songs on the album and was about the death of Ozzy's father. The first half closed with the anthemic "A Hard Road" which was another great song on the album. The first half is a great half. The second half kicked off with "Shock Wave" which had one of the coolest guitar intros I've ever heard and is a great song as well. The weird but killer "Air Dance" follows. "Over To You" follows and was Ozzy's final vocal on a Sabbath track until 1998's Reunion studio track Psycho Man. The instrumental "Breakout" is a great jazzy tune with some weird sax. The closing track "Swinging the Chain" had drummer Bill Ward singing on this song and doing a great job and had killer harmonica work by Ozzy. Unfortunately, when Never Say Die was released, the album was the second Sabbath album in a row to flop here in the States reaching a deplorable #69, it would eventually go Gold in later years. Also, the band was upstaged by an up and coming hard rock act named Van Halen on the accompanying tour. As everyone knows, Ozzy got canned in January of 1979 after the tour in support of this album was finished. This album is highly recommended! . Great Album! If thats the case I think its great. Ive heard that Ozzy didnt do much on this album and showed up for single takes. I like all the albums and Never Say Die and Sabotage are my favorites. This is a beautiful album, but thats just my thoughts. Title Track Rocks but not much else I might have overlooked one or two other songs that are decent on this CD but really, the only reason to buy this CD would be for "Never Say Die". I love the Title Track but I think that the rest of the CD is plain and has no punch. . You can see a complete list of all Black Sabbath discography, or go back to the Black Sabbath tabs