Never Say Die! by Black Sabbath (CD, Feb-1988, Warner Bros. Records Record Label)

Black Sabbath has belted out some awesome albums over the years, including ones without lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, but the ones they're most known for are the ones with Ozzy on the mic. For better or worse, though, they split ways after Never Say Die. I'd have to say probably for the worse, but you never know. Sabbath did some real cool albums without Ozzy, most notably Heaven and Hell with Ronnie James Dio singing. And thank you Ozzy for letting us hear the very memorable guitar playing of Randy Rhodes, although we lost him way too soon.

This final album with Ozzy is not one of their more popular ones (I had never heard of it until recently, same with Technical Ecstasy), but it sure has some cool riffs. It starts off with the title song Never Say Die, which sounds a lot like Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town. It's kind of an ironic title considering it is their last album, but nonetheless it's a great song. Even though I never heard of this album before, I heard of this song because it's also on Speak Of The Devil, Ozzy's live album released after the death of Randy. Johnny Blade is a pretty cool song with a few tempo changes and great drumming from Bill Ward. Junior's Eyes is a song that seems a little ahead of its time, although there couldn't be any more perfect time since it's Ozzy's last album. It's got a cool progression that you don't hear too often from 70's music except maybe from a band like Led Zeppelin. A Hard Road is probably one of my least favorites on this album. Even though the music is pretty solid, they decided to harmonize with Ozzy's voice and it sounds kind of cheesy. Maybe it's just me, but I like Ozzy singing by himself much better. For Ozzy anyway, they should save the harmonizing for his ballads (or maybe the rest of the band just doesn't pull off harmonies all that well, I don't know). Shock Wave is a pretty straight ahead heavy song with some acoustic guitar in the background that kind of takes away from the heaviness of the song, but that's alright, it's still pretty cool. Air Dance is kind of a strange song, for Sabbath anyway. They play higher notes than what you're used to hearing from them (you'll understand by listening to the opening riff), and they add in a bunch of piano runs. It's just different is all, it's like adding piano runs to Alice In Chains or something. Over To You is a song that reminds me more of Ozzy's solo career than Sabbath, it's more like something you'd hear on Diary of a Madman. Cool but different. Breakout is a short instrumental that's just a little breakaway from the rest of the album. Swinging The Chains finishes off Never Say Die with Bill Ward singing lead vocals (I don't know if that was an experiment or if Ozzy had already quit). He actually sounds kind of like Zakk Wylde.

Never Say Die is a must have for Sabbath and Ozzy die hards, but I think even casual Sabbath fans will enjoy listening to this. It has a lot of killer riffs to it, and the songs are very well written. I don't know why this wasn't very popular, but I think it's a great album. It sounds a lot like Ozzy's solo albums, so maybe it was just ahead of its time. Or maybe Sabbath fans didn't like the piano and horn playing that Sabbath had on this album (not quite what you expect when you buy a Sabbath album). Too bad. I wish I could've heard it sooner, but since I hadn't heard of it, how could I?

This is the last studio album Black Sabbath recorded with Ozzy Osborne. While it has some of the old Black Sabbath sound, they were drifting further from their original dark, almost gothic roots. Many of the songs attempt to blend their signature foreboding and dark style with more contemporary subject matter, with mixed results. As heavy metal goes this is an outstanding product, but it will leave die-hard Sabbath fans wishing Iomi and Geezer had let Ozzy keep his hands on the creative reigns.

This is the very last cd that Ozzy did with the band, and it has some pretty interesting music on it. The title track is the best one on the cd though. Another track "Johnny Blade", dedicated to Ozzy's dad, stands out as really cool, and very interesting. By this time, Sabbath had lost their dark and scary sound like they had on "Iron Man", "Sweet Leaf", "Paranoid", and"Symptom Of The Universe". Even though the dark sound was not there, they still sounded pretty good, but it is not the Sabbath sound that I am used to as much. The cd though, has some tracks on it, with a certian sound that I have never heard on any of their other cds that they have released. So this makes it unique for that very reason, and sets it apart from the other ones that they have released.

I have been looking for this Album in a CD for years. I bought it when it came out in the late '70s as an 8- Track, then later a cassette. It was not a popular album but it has always been one of my favorite Sabbath albums. I got it in great shape in just a few days and have been listening to it ever since.
Thanks,
Dan Blankenship

I LOVE THIS CD. IT ROCKS THEY DONT MAKE MUSIC LIKE THIS ANYMORE. OZZYS RULES BLACK SABBATH KICKS ASS>>>>>>>;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>;>>