Product Notes
UK vinyl LP pressing. Digitally remastered edition of this 1976 album from the veteran Heavy Metal madmen. Technical Ecstasy was born of fire and raised in flames. What emerged was definitely several steps removed from those far off days of their eponymous debut in 1970. But this was a band who were several years further down the musical dirt track and one not prepared to repeat the past. Sabbath retained their trademark ability to riff and blaze like no others on the planet, but they were also expanding their universe, proving to everyone they could not only march boldly on towards the end of their first decade together, but could adapt and mature into the bargain. This remastered and sumptuous edition of the album boasts comprehensive story of the album sleeve-notes by renowned Rock critic Malcolm Dome and a plethora of rare and previously unseen photographs and items of memorabilia. Sanctuary. 2009.
Product Reviews
Black Sabbath was unraveling at an alarming rate around the time of their second to last album with original singer Ozzy Osbourne, 1976's Technical Ecstasy. The band was getting further and further from their original musical path, as they began experimenting with their trademark sludge-metal sound. While it was not as off-the-mark as their final album with Osbourne, 1978's Never Say Die, it was not on par with Sabbath's exceptional first five releases. The most popular song remains the album closer, "Dirty Women," which was revived during the band's highly successful reunion tour of the late '90s. Other standouts include the funky "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" and the raging opener, "Back Street Kids." The melodic "It's Alright" turns out to be the album's biggest surprise -- it's one of drummer Bill Ward's few lead vocal spots with the band (Guns N' Roses covered the unlikely track on their 1999 live set, Live Era 1987-1993). ~ Greg Prato, Rovi