Spanners in the Works (Technical Ecstasy - Black Sabbath)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Technical Ecstasy - Black Sabbath
Date:	17/11/05 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of good songs and enjoyable blend of genres

Disadvantages: Poor musicianship and songwriting throughout

The penultimate offering from Black Sabbath’s classic line-up is evidently the start of the band’s decline. Far from the gloomy and gothic ‘evil blues’ of their debut and the more refined heavy metal sound they pioneered shortly after, ‘Technical Ecstasy’ attempts a more commercial hard rock avenue to their traditional back streets, reluctantly smashing through fences and driving over peoples’ gardens and patios in the process. Well, you get the idea.

Technical Ecstasy isn’t the band’s worst offering by any means, but its inclusion as part of the recently released Black Box simply for falling in at the tail-end of the Ozzy Osbourne era offers a spotlight it doesn’t deserve, especially compared to the excellent revival of the band’s spirit with their next vocalist Ronnie James Dio.


TECHNICAL ECSTASY

1. Back Street Kids
2. You Won’t Change Me
3. It’s Alright
4. Gypsy
5. All Moving Parts (Stand Still)
6. Rock and Roll Doctor
7. She’s Gone
8. Dirty Women

The first three tracks of this album are fairly promising, and their location together means that I usually only play this trio before quickly ejecting the CD and listening to something more worthwhile. Not that these tracks compliment each other perfectly by any means; ‘Back Street Kids’ is a catchy, synthesiser-influenced rocking opener, although nothing too special, while ‘You Won’t Change Me’ and ‘It’s Alright’ are both ballads. The former is an electronic power ballad with some uncharacteristically good vocals from Ozzy that manages to keep interest throughout its fair length, while ‘It’s Alright’ is a very unusual inclusion that somehow works really well: a soft acoustic song that sounds almost Beatlesesque, with drummer Bill Ward taking vocal duty for the first of several occasions. It’s actually a really pleasant song, even if purists would criticise its inclusion on a Sabbath LP.

It’s after these three songs that the album takes a real downturn, and the couple of entertaining moments across what is left of its 39 minutes and 59 seconds don’t redeem the lacklustre performances and uninspired hard rock. ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Dirty Women’ are both attempts at rockier offerings that don’t convince, although there are moments of good guitar work from Iommi in the second; his performance in the first, as well as through much of the album, is very disappointing. Both songs feel like they outstay their welcome, something that isn’t aided by the over-repetition of lyrics.

‘Rock and Roll Doctor’ is frankly a very rubbish song, but the band strangely performed it for many years. An infuriating chorus and seeming lack of effort (or perhaps ability) from all band members foreshadows some of Ozzy’s weaker attempts at rock and roll anthems in his up-and-down solo career. ‘She’s Gone’ isn’t too bad, yet it is a third ballad-type song on this rather short album that ruins the concept somewhat. The song does get some points for including a violin, and I suppose it’s a nice evolution of the famous ‘Changes’ from the Vol. 4 album, but I’m not a fan of these less subtle melodic songs or the way Ozzy carries them out.

To end on a more positive note, ‘All Moving Parts (Stand Still)’ is quite good, but nowhere near the level of the band’s earlier masterpieces. The chorus is memorable and the synthesisers are actually used fairly well here, creating the image of the technology mentioned in the title but nowhere near the level of Pink Floyd’s ‘Welcome to the Machine.’


VERDICT


There’s no such thing as a perfect Black Sabbath album, but everything they patched together in the early seventies showed that they were at least a force to be reckoned with, and not the dying, argumentative, drug-addled rockers responsible for the pompously titled Technical Ecstasy. For all its forays into different genres and accompanying synthesisers, this album isn’t even as experimental as their earlier classics ‘Vol. 4’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,’ relying too much on ballads and attempted radio friendly tracks that ended up being heard by no one.

Iommi’s guitar skill is really understated here, despite many opportunities for him to show off in the solos, and Ozzy’s vocals have really started to grate by 1976. The only real surprise here is how well Bill Ward can sing the softer side of Sabbath, and he would take over once again for the final track on the following album, either stealing or saving Ozzy’s swan song. That album, ‘Never Say Die,’ shows that the band really didn’t learn any lessons with this disappointing release, but at least some of them finally got the message that it wasn’t working out and decided to sack Osbourne and make a fresh start.

I’d recommend ‘Paranoid’ or ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ as an introduction to the band, although one of the many best-of collections could be a good starting point too. Technical Ecstasy is only really for the fans, and even then they’ll only play the first three songs. I suppose we should have all been warned by the cover, featuring two robots having a sort of sexual intercourse while travelling on escalators. I’m not sure exactly what that warning is.

Summary: Black Sabbath's seventh studio album, released in 1976.