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Rating:
A succulent, pleasant, airy, and vaguely psychedelic aftertaste is what "Technical Ecstasy" embodies, released in 1976 (one year after “Sabotage”, which I consider the best album by the Sabs before RJD) and unjustly labeled as one of the band’s low points, especially by purists with their noses in the air who stubbornly claim that Black Sabbath died with Sabotage.
Let’s delve into the (re)discovery of this pop-rock gem. "Back Street Kids" opens the album brilliantly: it’s a very carefree and catchy rock tune, with those synthesizers integrating perfectly with Iommi’s guitar. "You Won’t Change Me" is perhaps even better: the doomy intro recalls the early Black Sabbath, then flows into a continuous play of bouncing between guitar and keyboards that gives this song the intensity and power of an anthem. "It’s Alright": and here I can't do anything but bow: sure, it's a bit gaudy, but for someone like me who was (and perhaps still is) crazy about " Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon" and " Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" by Queen, this can only be a masterpiece. 10+ to Bill Ward as a singer of Black Sabbath. "Gypsy", correct me if I'm wrong, has a certain self-ironic value: the eerie and mysterious lyrics recall the early Sabbath, but the rhythm of the song is very cheerful and pleasant. The level remains high with "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" where Butler's bass and Iommi's guitar duet wonderfully in a very catchy and vaguely sarcastic piece, like almost the entire album.
Pseudo-doom intro for "Rock n’ Roll Doctor” (which if I'm not mistaken was the single that launched the album) where the chorus stands out with a time-bomb effect. Cute, but perhaps the most cliché piece of the album. "She’s Gone" is the ballad of the album: it's a healthy middle ground between the ethereal "Solitude" and the extremely gaudy and irritating " Changes". It's a very beautiful and heartfelt song, with an extra touch given by the intertwining of violins and acoustic guitars. The album closes with "Dirty Women" (moral of the story, after being heartbroken over the loss of the love of his life, our songwriter consoles himself by going to prostitutes :-) Jokes aside, "Dirty Women" is a seven-minute song with a compelling rhythm that vaguely recalls " Fairies Wear Boots". Here the synthesizers are minimized and Iommi’s guitar takes center stage, showcasing a long solo.
"Technical Ecstasy" is a bit like the "Virtual XI" of Black Sabbath: a courageous and innovative album that unfortunately wasn’t understood, and to bash it means to have very little musical sensitivity. A major flaw in the album is certainly that hideous cover (oh, yes, even more hideous than those of "Master Of Reality", "Sabotage", and "Born Again") which is supposed to represent two robots having sex but instead looks more like a salt shaker and a knife holder on an escalator.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Back Street Kids (03:49)
I'm just another back street kid
Rock 'n Roll music is the only thing I really dig
Can't stop the music going round inside my head
I'm a rock 'n roll soldier, gonna play it until I'm dead
Nobody I know will ever take my rock n' roll away from me
Sitting in the back seat of a shiny limousine
Living in a taxi can't remember where I've been
Playing my music, sitting in my hotel room
Writing about the stars and thinking about the hand of doom
Nobody I know will ever take my rock n' roll away from me
Living life comes easy if you know which way you're going
Got to see yourself in other's eye's, surprised?
Living like I want to don't come easy, but I'm trying
Sorting out what's true and what are lies, it's wise
Brought up in a back street living with the salt of the land
Seems that now my music's paying off my tax demands
So listen to the music, want to see you get so high
'Cause I'm a back street rocker and I will be till the day I die
Nobody I know will ever take my rock n' roll away from me
03 It's Alright (04:06)
Told you once about your friends and neighbours
They were always seeking but they'll never find it
It's alright, yes it's alright
Where to go and where to see
It's always been this way and it can never be
It's alright, yes it's alright
Give it all and ask no return
And very soon you'll see and you'll begin to learn
That's it's alright, yes it's alright
Don't you know that it's so good for you
You can be making love and see it all go through
But it's alright, yes it's alright
04 Gypsy (05:11)
Watching the universe at the end of another day
Fatalistic ships froma distant shore
In the back of my mind I could see she was standing there
Like the feeling you have
When you've been there before
She was a gypsy woman
She was as cold as the day, yeah
She said I'd got it coming
And then she took me away, yeah
She took me through the shadows of her sunken dream
I thought it's over me, she wasn't all she seemed
She took my hand and then she started to speak
She told me she'd had the call
With eyes of fire that were burning my soul
She looked into her crystal ball
She read my fortune then she read my mind
She didn't like my thoughts at all
She showed me shadows, a spectre of life
My soul just wanted to scream
She stared so deeply into my eyes
That's when I fell into a dream
When I awoke in bed she lay beside me
And she read me with her eyes, she said
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now, now, now
Gypsy woman you're the devil in drag
You are the queen of all hell
You took my body,now you're wasting my soul
You've got me under your spell
And as the sun shines on another day
You're gonna take my mind as well,it's over
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now
So you wanna be a gypsy
05 All Moving Parts (Stand Still) (05:06)
Super animation, turning on a nation
And they're saying all moving parts stand still
Since he was elected, adrenalin injected
Hear him saying all moving parts should kill
Just like the hero he's got them all on the run
Yes he's won, yeah
Since he passed the motion, they're building in the ocean
And he's saying all men should be free
What a combination, peace and radiation
And he's saying free men should fight for me
Just like his momma, he seems to get his pleasure from pain,
And the rain, ain't that strange?
Very strange, yeah
I like choking toys
You've got to see me before you meet the boys
Teacher's burnt the school
He's had enough of sticking to the rules, alright
People stop and see
He's got to be more decadent than me
Just to pass the time
He gets his kicks from licking off the wine
Pretty silly ladies, all Cynthia's and Sadie's
Call him and he takes their numbers down
Says he is a woman, should have seen it coming
And she says she's married to a clown
Just like a lady she'll keep you guessing through the night
Not tonight, well I might Oh alright, yeah
08 Dirty Women (07:08)
The neon lights are shining on me again
I walk the lonely streets in search of a friend
I need a lady to help me to get through the night, through the night
If I could find one then everything would be alright
The sleepy city is dreaming the night time away
Out on the street I watch tomorrow becoming today
I see a man, he's got take away women for sale, yes for sale
Guess that's the answer, 'cause take away women don't fail
Oh dirty women, they don't mess around
Oh dirty women, they don't mess around
You've got me coming, You've got me going around
Oh dirty women, they don't mess around
Walking the streets I wonder will it ever happen
Gotta be good 'cause then everything will be OK
If I could score tonight then I will end up happy
A woman for sale is gonna help me save my day...
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Other reviews
By CycoCiccio
"Technical Ecstasy, except that it sounds like something already heard."
"Sometimes melodic, sometimes charged, always on the verge of exploding, they run out of the fuse before making the bang."
By Rainbow Rising
"Technical Ecstasy seems to lack a clear direction, often appearing disorienting and all over the place."
"All things considered, Technical Ecstasy is still a pleasant album to listen to, with several peaks and some stylistic missteps."
