| Technical Ecstasy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover design byHipgnosis | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 22 October 1976[1] | |||
| Recorded | June 1976 | |||
| Studio | Criteria (Miami)[2] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:35 | |||
| Label | Vertigo | |||
| Producer | Black Sabbath | |||
| Black Sabbath chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Technical Ecstasy | ||||
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Technical Ecstasy is the seventh studio album by the Englishheavy metal bandBlack Sabbath, produced by guitaristTony Iommi and released in October 1976 byWarner Bros. Records in the United States and Canada andVertigo Records elsewhere. The album received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, peaking at number 13 on theUK Albums Chart[4] and number 51 on the USBillboard200 Album chart,[5] later being certified Gold by theRIAA in 1997.[6]
An attempt by the band to experiment and explore other musical territory,Technical Ecstasy features morevaried and complex songs than earlier records, with prominent keyboard parts and effects. One song, the pop ballad "It's Alright", is sung by drummerBill Ward, becoming the band's first song not sung by frontmanOzzy Osbourne.
After frustrating legal battles that accompanied the recording of 1975'sSabotage, Sabbath chose Miami'sCriteria Studios for the making ofTechnical Ecstasy, which continued the band's separation from the doom and darkness that had been a trademark of their earlier albums. "Some people may have heard the band in 1970", noted Iommi, "and be thinking, 'Oh no, not them again!' But if they heard us now, they probably might like us."[7]
In the July 2001 issue ofGuitar World, Dan Epstein wrote, "The sessions proved extremely relaxing for everyone except Iommi, who was left to oversee the production while the others sunned themselves on the beach." Iommi explained to the same magazine in 1992, "We recorded the album in Miami, and nobody would take responsibility for the production. No one wanted to bring in an outside person for help, and no one wanted the whole band to produce it. So they left it all to me!"
In theliner notes to the band's 1998 live albumReunion, Phil Alexander writes that, while the band struggled to finish the album, "rock had spawned a new set oficonoclasts as theSex Pistols,the Clash andthe Damned… Suddenly Sabbath found themselves both unsure of their musical direction and labeled as has-beens." "It's not like now: If you're a heavy metal band, you put out a heavy metal album", Butler explained toUncut in 2014. "Back then, you had to at least try to be modern and keep up. Punk was massive then and we felt that our time had come and gone."
To make matters worse for the band, managerDon Arden began spending more of his time focusing on another of his acts,Electric Light Orchestra, whose 1975 albumFace The Music was their first to make the US top ten. Iommi's determination to move Sabbath in a new direction was misguided according to some, with Mick Wall noting in the 2013 bookBlack Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe that while futuresoft rock million-sellersHotel California andRumours were just around the corner, "to try and force that sound on Black Sabbath was like trying to put lamb's wool on a suit of armour. It just didn't work, pleasing nobody."
In his autobiographyI Am Ozzy, vocalistOzzy Osbourne admitted he had begun to consider leaving the band during this time: "I'd even had a T-shirt made with 'Blizzard of Ozz' written on the front. Meanwhile, in the studio, Tony (Iommi) was always saying, 'We've gotta sound likeForeigner', or 'We've gotta sound likeQueen.' But I thought it was strange that the bands we'd once influenced were now influencing us." Osbourne also wrote that the cost of recording in Florida "was astronomical" and that he'd "lost the plot with the booze and the drugs" during the recording ofTechnical Ecstasy, eventually checking himself into the Stafford County Asylum on his return to England.
"That was the beginning of the end, that one", bassistGeezer Butler confessed toGuitar World in 2001. "We were managing ourselves because we couldn't trust anybody. Everybody was trying to rip us off, including the lawyers we'd hired to get us out of our legal mess. It was really just getting to us around then, and we didn't know what we were doing. And obviously, the music was suffering; you could just feel the whole thing falling apart."
While the band were recording the album,the Eagles were recordingHotel California in an adjacent studio atCriteria Studios in Miami. "Before we could start recording we had to scrape all the cocaine out of the mixing board", Geezer divulged toUncut in 2014. "I think they'd left about a pound of cocaine in the board." The Eagles were forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall.[8]
Technical Ecstasy is an attempt by Black Sabbath to mature as a group and explore novel musical directions.[9] Compared to the band's earlier albums, the record's songs are moreeclectic, complex and flowery, with studio effects and synthesisers appearing prominently.[10] As Greg Pato ofAllMusic describes: "The band was getting further and further from their original musical path, as they began experimenting with their trademarksludge-metal sound", citing thefunky "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" and the melodic, Bill Ward-sung "It's Alright" as examples.[11] The latter song – the first time Osbourne did not take lead vocals on a Black Sabbath track – has been compared to the work ofPaul McCartney andBadfinger and its presence is divisive amongst the band’s fanbase.[10] The prominence of guest keyboardistGerald Woodroffe throughout the album was considered a "surprise left turn",[12] though Steven Rosen ofSounds considers his work on the album to be "supplemental in nature", adding that "the new synthesized wheezings are nice and so long as he remains in a back-up role there should be little problem with his being accepted by the Sabbath fans."[13]
Butler has describedTechnical Ecstasy as a response topunk rock. Music journalist Michael Hann disputed this, saying: "Given it was recorded in June 1976, that suggests they were either way ahead of the curve, or that Butler is mistaken."[14] In a 2021 interview, Ward citedTechnical Ecstasy in asserting the band's "punk andprog credentials" while admiringpunk rock because "I came from a violent band as well." He said, "We never made music to fit into anything or to reach a certain audience".[15] With regard to Iommi being the only member determined to work on the album, Peter Watts ofUncut comments thatTechnical Ecstasy is "the sound of Tony Iommi being left to his own devices and getting pulled in several different directions at once", believing that he wished to eschew heavy metal forhard rock, while also "nodding at punk andsoft rock" but still remaining "quintessentially Black Bloody Sabbath", with the resulting record combining aspects from all their earlier albums – including the drive of their earliest work and experimentation ofSabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) – as well as a straightpop song with vocals by Ward.[16]
Technical Ecstasy's lyrics dealt with a variety of topics. Tony Iommi's autobiographyIron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath reveals that "Dirty Women" was about "all these hookers" Butler had seen aroundFlorida. "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" is about "a transvestite who becomes President of the United States", Butler told biographer Mick Wall in 2013, "because America was such amisogynistic society at the time." As with their previous two albums, the band continued experimenting with keyboards and synthesisers onTechnical Ecstasy. The music itself was less dark and more atypical than that of previous albums, especially on the ballads "It's Alright" and "She's Gone".
The ballad "It's Alright" was written and sung by drummerBill Ward. Initially reluctant to sing the song for fear of offending Osbourne, he was encouraged by the band to do it.[8] In his autobiography, Osbourne praises the performance, enthusing, "He's got a great voice, Bill, and I was more than happy for him to do the honours." It was released as a single because, said Iommi, "We want to break out as far as we can… so we've decided to hit the singles market."[7] It has since been covered live byGuns N' Roses, and features on theirLive Era '87–'93 album. It also featured in the 2010 filmIt's Kind of a Funny Story.
Thecover art was designed byHipgnosis. Osbourne once described it as "two robots screwing on an escalator".[17] Hipgnosis'Storm Thorgerson, who had been assisted bygraphic designerGeorge Hardie, discussed the cover withZoom magazine in 1979:[18] "We're very fond of that cover. From the title of the piece,Technical Ecstasy, I thought of something ecstatic rather than something technical, and I immediately thought of ecstasy in sexual terms: some sort of mechanical copulation, which would be tricky to do. I then thought of ecstasy as falling in love, perhaps during a brief encounter on an escalator – and, since it was 'technical', I thought of two robots ... It's really quite simple – he's just done curves for the female and hard, angular, macho lines for the male. It's really quite sexist, actually – stereotyped. Anyway, it's love at first sight, but I felt robots wouldn't do it like humans would do it, so instead they're squirting lubricating fluid at one another." The UK release had a two-sided insert of lyrics and credits.
During the subsequent 1977 European tour in support ofTechnical Ecstasy, the band was supported byAC/DC.[8] The relationship between bassistGeezer Butler andAC/DC rhythm guitaristMalcolm Young was quite tense.[8] GuitaristTony Iommi recalls the atmosphere between the two being "heavy" and that the pair did not get along at all.[8] Ward's drum tech Graham Wright and Osbourne's personal assistant David Tangye stated in their 2004 bookHow Black Was Our Sabbath that the problems between the two originated after a show the two bands performed earlier inSwitzerland.[19] An altercation occurred in an hotel bar in which Butler removed a switch-blade comb from his pocket and opened it. Young thought it was aswitchblade knife and believed Butler was pointing it at him.[19] In theBon Scott biographyHighway To Hell: The Life and Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott,Clinton Walker writes of the tour: "Sabbath, by 1976, were well past their prime, and AC/DC were all but blowing them right off the stage. Substance abuse in the band was rampant." Graham and Tangye also disclose that during the tour drummer Ward had begun driving from gig to gig in a rentedWinnebago due to a fear of flying.
Osbourne briefly left following theTechnical Ecstasy Tour. Although he would eventually return for the follow-upNever Say Die!, the band temporarily replaced him with formerSavoy Brown vocalistDave Walker. The band wrote a handful of songs with Walker, and performed an early version of what would become "Junior's Eyes" on theBBC programmeLook Hear with him.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [20] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [21] |
| The Great Rock Discography | 5/10[22] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [23] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 2/10[24] |
The album received mixed reviews, with Phil Alexander writing in 1998: "While today hardcore Sabs fans defend some of the bold steps taken onTechnical Ecstasy, it was a confused offering which still hit Number 13 in the UK but limped into the US charts at 52." In 2001,Guitar World was less kind, calling it perhaps the "least-loved effort of the original lineup" with the band "trying to stretch its sound in several different directions, none of them exceptionally successful". It deemed "Rock 'N' Roll Doctor" "a badKiss imitation", while eschewing "It's Alright" as "a sub-parPaul McCartney-style pop ballad". In 2013,Mojo magazine opined: "Technical Ecstasy is the sound of Sabbath trying to make a grown-up, radio-friendly rock record and, in some parts, it works ... Mostly, however, it doesn't with tracks like 'Back Street Kids', 'Rock 'N' Roll Doctor' and 'Dirty Women' resorting to clichéd and ill-fitting rock moves." Greg Prato ofAllMusic agrees: "it was not on par with Sabbath's exceptional first five releases", but praises "Dirty Women", the "funky" "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" and the "raging opener" "Back Street Kids".[11]
InThe Great Rock Discography (2006),Martin C. Strong bemoaned the album's "ill-advised experimentation" and believed it marked "the beginning of the end".[22] InThe Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004),Technical Ecstasy is described as "the Seventies-era Sabbath album least likely to be found in a hard-rock fan's collection. It's not horrible, but you wonder if anyone in the band remembers making it. Is it an ill-fated attempt to snag some of theboogie-rock money thatTed Nugent was rolling around in? Or had they just run out of steam? Tony Iommi's guitar is the only thing left alive."[23] In hisUncut piece, Watts wrote: "Punk is on the horizon and Sabbath try reinvention, with mixed results."[16] Writing in theSpin Alternative Record Guide (1995), Rob Michaels deemedTechnical Ecstasy far inferior to the surrounding Sabbath records, adding: "While the album's aimless synthesized wankery is arguably technical, ecstasy comes only to those who consign its cover to permanent dope de-seeding detail."[24]
In 1992, Iommi admitted toGuitar World: "Black Sabbath fans generally don't like much ofTechnical Ecstasy. It was really a no-win situation for us. If we had stayed the same, people would have said we were still doing the same old stuff. So we tried to get a little more technical, and it just didn't work out very well."
In rankings of the band's albums,Technical Ecstasy was listed 10th by Eduardo Rivadavia ofUltimate Classic Rock,[9] 11th by Paul Elliott ofClassic Rock,[12] and 13th by John Hadusek ofConsequence of Sound,[10] Nick Ruskell ofKerrang!,[25] and Michael Hann ofThe Guardian.[14] Hadusek believedTechnical Ecstasy marked "where Black Sabbath changed, and not for the better", adding: "On one hand, the songs had become more complex, flowery, and aurally varied — nothing wrong there. But it’s awkwardly executed by Iommi, who produced the album. Instead of coming off asprogressive, these experiments reek of a band losing touch with the traits that made them great. The studio effects and synthesizers often overtake the bass and guitar."[10] Ruskell believes the album is "actually pretty good", despite its reputation as the first Black Sabbath album to reveal "cracks", but still believed it lacked the "hungry, stoned-outblues" of the band's first three albums, or the "coke-guzzling creativity" of the next three.[25] Rivaavia called it a "bold but ill-fated attempt to mature and explore novel musical directions", believing it could have been comparable toSabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) if not for "the largely unimpressive songs to carry those innovations to fruition"[9] Elliott believes that it was the first album on which the band "faltered", believing some songs, such as "Back Street Kids", to be "hokey", but adding that there are several great songs, including "Dirty Women" and the ballad "It's Alright".[12] Hann wrote that while "Back Street Kids" may back Butler's claim that the album was a response to punk, "most of the rest ofTechnical Ecstasy was a mess."[14]
All tracks are written byTony Iommi,Geezer Butler,Bill Ward andOzzy Osbourne.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Back Street Kids" | 3:47 |
| 2. | "You Won't Change Me" | 6:42 |
| 3. | "It's Alright" | 4:04 |
| 4. | "Gypsy" | 5:14 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 5. | "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" | 5:07 |
| 6. | "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" | 3:30 |
| 7. | "She's Gone" | 4:58 |
| 8. | "Dirty Women" | 7:13 |
| Total length: | 40:35 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Back Street Kids" | 3:49 |
| 2. | "You Won't Change Me" | 6:33 |
| 3. | "It's Alright (Mono Single)" | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Gypsy" | 5:10 |
| 5. | "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" | 4:58 |
| 6. | "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" | 3:26 |
| 7. | "She's Gone" | 4:55 |
| 8. | "Dirty Women" | 7:42 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Back Street Kids" | 3:58 |
| 2. | "You Won't Change Me" | 6:46 |
| 3. | "Gypsy" | 5:16 |
| 4. | "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" | 5:32 |
| 5. | "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" | 3:34 |
| 6. | "She's Gone (Outtake Version)" | 5:52 |
| 7. | "Dirty Women" | 7:27 |
| 8. | "She's Gone (Instrumental Mix)" | 4:05 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Symptom of the Universe" | 4:49 |
| 2. | "War Pigs" | 7:25 |
| 3. | "Gypsy" | 5:13 |
| 4. | "Black Sabbath" | 7:33 |
| 5. | "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" | 6:13 |
| 6. | "Dirty Women" | 7:16 |
| 7. | "Drum Solo / Guitar Solo" | 3:57 |
| 8. | "Electric Funeral" | 3:27 |
| 9. | "Snowblind" | 6:15 |
| 10. | "Children of the Grave" | 4:46 |
Personnel taken fromTechnical Ecstasy liner notes.[26]
Black Sabbath
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[27] | 38 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)ERROR in "Sweden": Missing parameters: album.[28] | 33 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[29] | 13 |
| USBillboard 200[30] | 51 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] | 123 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] | 27 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[33] | 46 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[34] | 81 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[35] | 14 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[36] | 9 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[37] | Silver | 60,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[6] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1976 | Warner Bros. Records |
| United Kingdom | October 1976[38] | Vertigo Records |
| Canada | 1976 | Warner Bros. Records |
| United Kingdom | 1996 | Castle Communications |
| United Kingdom | 2004 | Sanctuary Records |
Those precursors of science-fiction teen-oriented hard rock produced themselves at Miami's Criteria Studios...
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