Days before a new album was about to be recorded, Ozzy Osbourne announced his withdrawal from the band:
"The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing for me. I was doing it for the sake of what we could get out of the record company, just to get fat on beer and put a record out. "
~ Ozzy Osbourne
Osbourne was replaced by Dave Walker, formerly of Fleetwood Mac, but this wouldn’t last for long. In the meantime, Osbourne had been making plans for a solo career, but only a few months later, just as the new Black Sabbath was about to try starting anew, he changed his mind. Rejoining in early ’78, the return of the vocalist made the original formation complete again, but the problems that had ever plagued the band since Vol. 4 were about to take their final toll. It had been only a matter of time before drugs would drive the group and their creativity apart, and mar the recording of the band’s eighth album:
"It took quite a long time. We were getting really drugged out, doing a lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day."
~ Tony Iommi
Eventually though, the new effort Never Say Die! was completed. It release and subsequent world tour did not fare well. Black Sabbath were now being described as ‘tired and uninspired’, a stark contrast from the band’s glory days earlier in the decade. And indeed, when listening to their eighth album, one could not do other than fell the very same judgement. Never Say Die! sounds like it’s being played by a tired, worn out group who have completely lost inspiration, and it is equally tiring to listen to it. Gone are Iommi’s monstrous riffs of doom. Gone are Butler’s prominent, outstanding bass skills. Gone is the tolerability of Osbourne. Gone are Ward’s always satisfying drum fills. It is this record that showed that, inevitably, Black Sabbath was as dead as a doornail. Less than ten years earlier with the releases of Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality, Black Sabbath were the first march of heavy metal. At the end of the 70’s, they had turned into an average rock ‘n’ roll band recording tiring material. The opener title track is already a laughable attempt to create a powerful start, and it doesn’t get any better from there. 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. On this record, Black Sabbath officially stopped being Black Sabbath. Apart from Osbourne recognizable (and very annoying) performance, you wouldn’t even guess this is a Sabbath record. Such talent wasted. It is a shame.
Things weren’t about to get better. Sabbath spent nearly a year trying to convey a new record, and with Osbourne’s behaviour growing out of bounds, Iommi made the decision he could have made after Sabotage. He fired Ozzy Osbourne.
"At that time, Ozzy had come to an end. We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like 'Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow.' It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out."
~ Tony Iommi
As such, a problem-ridden band broke down, and no one knew what the future could possible hold…
Tracklist for Never Say Die!:
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. Breakout
9. Swinging the Chain
"The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing for me. I was doing it for the sake of what we could get out of the record company, just to get fat on beer and put a record out. "
~ Ozzy Osbourne
Osbourne was replaced by Dave Walker, formerly of Fleetwood Mac, but this wouldn’t last for long. In the meantime, Osbourne had been making plans for a solo career, but only a few months later, just as the new Black Sabbath was about to try starting anew, he changed his mind. Rejoining in early ’78, the return of the vocalist made the original formation complete again, but the problems that had ever plagued the band since Vol. 4 were about to take their final toll. It had been only a matter of time before drugs would drive the group and their creativity apart, and mar the recording of the band’s eighth album:
"It took quite a long time. We were getting really drugged out, doing a lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day."
~ Tony Iommi
Eventually though, the new effort Never Say Die! was completed. It release and subsequent world tour did not fare well. Black Sabbath were now being described as ‘tired and uninspired’, a stark contrast from the band’s glory days earlier in the decade. And indeed, when listening to their eighth album, one could not do other than fell the very same judgement. Never Say Die! sounds like it’s being played by a tired, worn out group who have completely lost inspiration, and it is equally tiring to listen to it. Gone are Iommi’s monstrous riffs of doom. Gone are Butler’s prominent, outstanding bass skills. Gone is the tolerability of Osbourne. Gone are Ward’s always satisfying drum fills. It is this record that showed that, inevitably, Black Sabbath was as dead as a doornail. Less than ten years earlier with the releases of Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality, Black Sabbath were the first march of heavy metal. At the end of the 70’s, they had turned into an average rock ‘n’ roll band recording tiring material. The opener title track is already a laughable attempt to create a powerful start, and it doesn’t get any better from there. 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. On this record, Black Sabbath officially stopped being Black Sabbath. Apart from Osbourne recognizable (and very annoying) performance, you wouldn’t even guess this is a Sabbath record. Such talent wasted. It is a shame.
Things weren’t about to get better. Sabbath spent nearly a year trying to convey a new record, and with Osbourne’s behaviour growing out of bounds, Iommi made the decision he could have made after Sabotage. He fired Ozzy Osbourne.
"At that time, Ozzy had come to an end. We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like 'Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow.' It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out."
~ Tony Iommi
As such, a problem-ridden band broke down, and no one knew what the future could possible hold…
Tracklist for Never Say Die!:
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. Breakout
9. Swinging the Chain