Johnny Blade strikes me as the opening theme song to an action flick. Had it not been released in 1978 it might have been a hit. The tracks: Never Say Die has a great hook. Some of those contributions do not belong on a Black Sabbath album, yet there they are. He’s not a bad musician, and he does make a lot of good contributions. I almost wonder if he was taking advantage of the rest of Sabbath’s constant intoxication to make this a showcase for his talents. The thing is that it IS a Sabbath record so those that can’t or won’t see it as anything but can be forgiven for thinking this album sucks, even if they’re wrong.Įach track has something that’s fairly good, and sometimes that’s Don Airey’s showboating. If someone suspends their disbelief and listens as if this is a band with a singer that sounds just like Ozzy Osbourne, a great bassist, guitarist and drummer, and a keyboard player who's really swingin’ for the fences it becomes a much more enjoyable record. When The Wizard is compared to Air Dance, the contempt for this album is deserved. It’s hard to recognise this as the same group that is so crucial to the development of heavy rock. So I think the problem with the hate of this album is that it’s judged as a “Black Sabbath album” and not as an album on its own merits. The drugs certainly were taking their toll and this record is really not prime Sabbath and I can understand why it’s been so derided. It has been dismissed as a low point in Black Sabbath’s career, and that’s true from the point of view that personally and professionally the band was having lots of problems. It is a shame." ( Sputnik Music (opens in new tab))Īndy Hubble: I think this album is a lot better and quite a bit more important than many people believe. Apart from Osbourne recognisable (and very annoying) performance, you wouldn’t even guess this is a Sabbath record. On this record, Black Sabbath officially stopped being Black Sabbath. Junior’s Eyes, for example, tries to be epic, but falls flat on its face, and by the time we’ve come to the brass arrangements on Breakout, which are far from interesting, we’ve completely given up. "The opener title track is already a laughable attempt to create a powerful start, and it doesn’t get any better from there. For a band that not only was well known for playing heavy metal, but creating it, it must have surely been a shock to some listeners." ( Magnet (opens in new tab)) "The exploration of new sounds is part of the reason why Never Say Die! is looked down upon by many fans. The same was true of half-hearted performances like Shock Wave and Over to You, and there were several songs on the record that sound strangely disjointed, specifically Junior's Eyes and the synthesiser-doused Johnny Blade. "Even the surprisingly energetic title track, which seemed to kick things off with a promising bang, couldn't entirely mask the group's fading enthusiasm just beneath the surface after a few repeated listens. Listen on Apple Music (opens in new tab)Įvery week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.And amidst all the trauma, Never Say Die! may be one of Sabbath’s most underrated album. They’d turn up and jam, but by that time I’d lost the spark, you know? Even to this day I don’t know the details, but I assume – and I’m very likely wrong – that Tony wanted me out of the band."īut even when carrying their singer, Sabbath still produced flashes of brilliance on the album’s explosive title track, slow-rolling boogie A Hard Road, and the beautiful, jazz-influenced Air Dance, featuring Don Airey (Rainbow/Deep Purple) on piano. "The rest of Sabbath wouldn’t get up until late because they’d been doing their drugs, or whatever it was, all night. So I’d be up at 7 o’clock and out of my mind by 11, drinking and getting fucked up. "But no matter how fucked up I was, I’d still be up early in the morning because I’ve always had this sleeping disorder. Having briefly quit Sabbath in 1977, Ozzy was by his own admission, rather worse for wear during the recording of Never Say Die! "Everybody was fucked up," he said.
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