What albums did you listen to today?

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Tom, I remember you gave my your old vinyl of `Technical Ecstasy' as well many year back! Did you ever pick it up again and decide to give it another chance?

Indeed !!
It's not bad at all.
And yep, Bill sings Swinging The Chain. And that odd instrumental, Breakout, with the horns !! Very diverse album from Sabbs. And I think Ozzy sang his best on that album.

Sagichim wrote: I agree with you Michael about those Dio albums, both are surprisingly very very good, especially Heaven & Hell, Iommi's on fire on that one.  About Born Again I actually like that one also, although Gillan doesn't fit the band at all still the album is not that bad infact there are a few really good tracks on it. I haven't heard all of the rest just a few here and there but nothing never grabbed me. 13 is a nice album.

I've honestly only listened to `Born Again' (and `Seventh Star') once or twice, so I really need to dig them out and give them proper spins, definitely not enough times to really form much of an opinion on. They sounded like reliable heavy metal albums, just not too memorable.

I just noticed that there's special `deluxe version' CD reissues of both of those that might be interesting, quite inexpensive too. I have two ordinary standard CD versions that don't really scream at me to play them!

Tom, I remember you gave my your old vinyl of `Technical Ecstasy' as well many year back! Did you ever pick it up again and decide to give it another chance?

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: AEProgman wrote: Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Sagichim wrote: Don't get me started man, I always thought of this album as just another great Sabbath album, it's here that I discovered it's not so popular. as a whole of course there are others I like more but I don't expect the band to deliver one masterpiece after the other, so this is just a natural continuation of their career, same goes for Technical Ecstasy. And aside from that this album contains some of their best material, Air Dance is one of their best songs ever imo. Spot on, Sagi, on my sixth listen now and I'm more certain than ever that it's very worthwhile. I also always considered `Technical Ecstasy' to be a very decent Seventies rock album, if not a classic `Black Sabbath' album as such. Still plenty of inspiration and ideas throughout that one.   Love Technical Ecstasy, first time I heard it I was instantly drawn to "You Won't Change Me", played that track over and over and over....   I always thought the last 3 of the 70s albums don't get the love they deserve.  In my book I would put Sabotage up there with any of the 70s work, even though their earlier stuff are classics!  Yep, I honestly don't think they put out a bad album for quite a while, Jim. `Sabotage', `T.E' and `Never Say Die' are all very good (if just not quite up to the standard of those first few), and to be honest I think the first two with Ronnie James Dio - `Heaven and Hell' and `Mob Rules' - are both strong as well for what they are. I think it's with `Born Again' and `Seventh Star' that things get....well, not bad as such, but probably more forgettable and a bit anonymous?

I love Never Say Die, period !! It has Johnny Blade, Junior's Eyes, and Air Dance. Enough to warrant a 4 star album for me

AEProgman wrote: Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Sagichim wrote: Don't get me started man, I always thought of this album as just another great Sabbath album, it's here that I discovered it's not so popular. as a whole of course there are others I like more but I don't expect the band to deliver one masterpiece after the other, so this is just a natural continuation of their career, same goes for Technical Ecstasy. And aside from that this album contains some of their best material, Air Dance is one of their best songs ever imo. Spot on, Sagi, on my sixth listen now and I'm more certain than ever that it's very worthwhile. I also always considered `Technical Ecstasy' to be a very decent Seventies rock album, if not a classic `Black Sabbath' album as such. Still plenty of inspiration and ideas throughout that one.   Love Technical Ecstasy, first time I heard it I was instantly drawn to "You Won't Change Me", played that track over and over and over....   I always thought the last 3 of the 70s albums don't get the love they deserve.  In my book I would put Sabotage up there with any of the 70s work, even though their earlier stuff are classics!

Yep, I honestly don't think they put out a bad album for quite a while, Jim. `Sabotage', `T.E' and `Never Say Die' are all very good (if just not quite up to the standard of those first few), and to be honest I think the first two with Ronnie James Dio - `Heaven and Hell' and `Mob Rules' - are both strong as well for what they are. I think it's with `Born Again' and `Seventh Star' that things get....well, not bad as such, but probably more forgettable and a bit anonymous?

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Sagichim wrote: Don't get me started man, I always thought of this album as just another great Sabbath album, it's here that I discovered it's not so popular. as a whole of course there are others I like more but I don't expect the band to deliver one masterpiece after the other, so this is just a natural continuation of their career, same goes for Technical Ecstasy. And aside from that this album contains some of their best material, Air Dance is one of their best songs ever imo. Spot on, Sagi, on my sixth listen now and I'm more certain than ever that it's very worthwhile. I also always considered `Technical Ecstasy' to be a very decent Seventies rock album, if not a classic `Black Sabbath' album as such. Still plenty of inspiration and ideas throughout that one.

^  Yeah, it was good to hear it today since it's been a few months since I last played it.

Sagichim wrote: Don't get me started man, I always thought of this album as just another great Sabbath album, it's here that I discovered it's not so popular. as a whole of course there are others I like more but I don't expect the band to deliver one masterpiece after the other, so this is just a natural continuation of their career, same goes for Technical Ecstasy. And aside from that this album contains some of their best material, Air Dance is one of their best songs ever imo.

Spot on, Sagi, on my sixth listen now and I'm more certain than ever that it's very worthwhile. I also always considered `Technical Ecstasy' to be a very decent Seventies rock album, if not a classic `Black Sabbath' album as such. Still plenty of inspiration and ideas throughout that one.

Saturday...

If you dig more hard rocking and edgy bands from the old school RPI scene (Il Balletto di Bronzo, Metamorfosi etc) you will most likely come across something to your liking. They even nailed the production side of things, which imo is essential to making these types of retro albums work.

In the Future used to be my fave Black Mountain release, but it has got some serious competition with IV! One thing that has improved immensely is the chops. The guitar solos alone make this new album so much more interesting to me, and that's not just because I crave solos because I really don't, but some music, like Black Mountain's for instance, literally scream for them....and when they're delivered in the way they are on IV...well then I'm sold.
Also love the post punk vibe there is to some of the songs - reminds me of NEU's shorter tunes off the 75 album.