Black Sabbath

If you ask Sabbath fans about ‘Technical Ecstasy’ you will probably get a wide range of views between “One of their best” through “Good album but flawed”, “Meh” and even “only for completists”.
I would suggest that there are a few tracks that are as good as anything they have done and a couple that find me reaching for the ‘skip’ button on the player.

They were in transition: punk was happening around the world and Sabbath needed to progress from a series of superb albums in a way that retained their core sound but took notice of the changes in the music world – in other words to stay relevant.

Tracks like ‘You Won’t Change Me’ showed what they were capable of with some superb polyphonic keyboards to add to Iommi’s superb guitar riffs and solo. Unfortunately, ‘It’s Alright’ showed the mawkish direction that could have enveloped the band – a sub-Beatles ballad that really doesn’t stand up well.

This celebration package gives you the original album as well as a Steven Wilson remix – an excellent piece of work except that he didn’t remix ‘It’s Alright’ – a series of outtakes and alternative Steven Wilson mixes and a fine CD of performances from the 1976/77 World Tour – Ozzy’s vocals really sharp and on point and Bill Ward’s drums like a hammer blow from the gods.

You also get a hardback scrapbook of reviews, interviews and ‘stuff’, the official programme from the world tour and the poster that came with the original album.

All together a very worthy box set and the Wilson remix is a definite step up on the original.