Technical Ecstasy

In my original reviews, I totally wrote off this album, having only heard it once and remembering it as being really darn lousy. Truth is - it's not bad at all. It's definitely the least inspiring of any album sporting the name "Black Sabbath" that was released before Orwell's 1984 found Mr. Iommi surrounding himself with scabs and using the name anyway, but there's honestly not a bad song on it. No great ones, either, unfortunately, although the dark keyboard tune "You Won't Change Me" comes close. Basically, there's no clearcut problem with the record as a whole; it's just that the individual songs aren't as well written as they were on the previous six records.
Say! Let's go track by track for no good reason at all - "Back Street Kids" has some kickbutt music, but the lyrics are even stupider than usual, and Ozzy's treated vocals are way too loud in the mix. "It's Alright" is a decent Beatles ripoff, but it's just that - a Beatles ripoff. "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" has a hip bouncy disco part but the rest of the song is boring. "Dirty Women" starts off with a topnotch riff, but ends up with the band playing "25 Or 6 To 4" for three and a half minutes. "Rock 'N' Roll Doctor" is a dumb little blues-rock thing; not terrible, but not very necessary either. "She's Gone" is interesting in that it's a slow ballad, but that's the only way in which it's interesting. And "Gypsy" - well, it's okay. Rock on! Don't write this off entirely; if you're a fan, you'll find a lot to enjoy here. They've got lots of different synths and things going on, but the mix is still guitar-heavy, which is nice. It's just, like I said, not as good as the others.