Anybody here like 'Technical Ecstasy'?

"The Writ" was about Patrick Meehan; who they fired as their manager after determining that he had been ripping them off blind. It's nothing to do with being pressured to write "pop hits."

I've speculated before that after canning Meehan I suspect they felt tremendous pressure and with the changing musical climate they arrived at the album that was Technical Ecstasy. They were even managing themselves for a while in 1975 (almost unheard of at their level) because they were ticked off. Then Don Arden took over.

As far as I know, label relations with Warner remained strong throughout this period. They never really left Vertigo as Phonogram had still been handling distribution for them in the UK and Europe through the Meehan (WWA/Nems) period anyway, so they simply reverted to them as their label in the UK. Again, solid relations. Sabbath were Vertigo's main meal ticket and Warner had been printing their albums like hotcakes for years by this stage, so I doubt they were given much musical "advice" from either label.

 

Thanks. I appreciate the correction.

 

Agree. It's Allright is beautiful and She's Gone is a work of genius. Also one of the most popular Ozzy/Sabbath songs here.

 

My least favorite classic Black Sabbath album by a wide margin. I love "You Won't Change Me", though.

 

LOVE IT
Technical Ecstasy was the album I listened to the most when I was a little, either that or Paranoid Or We Sold Our Soul.
Songs like You Won't Change Me
It's Alright
Rock n Roll Doctor
All Moving Parts (Stand Still)
And The Epic UBER Fat Riffage OF Dirty Women!
Simply Put An Underrated Gem. I think why a lot of people don't like this album is because of Sabotage, Because Sabotage Was Such a Masterpiece That when they weren't as heavy, People Didn't Get used To it. But Thats just My Theory.

 

I just got the original palm tree TECHNICAL ECSTASY and it has the same horrible vocals as the re-issue I had! (I thought the original would be better) -- YOU CAN BARELY HEAR THE GUY!!

Dunno if ill keep it..... Cant believe they made such a crappy album!! -- I guess my favourite Black Sabbbath album still is THIER FIRST!!!! (No other as good)

THE MUSIC IS EXCELLENT .. A little warmer on the palm tree label one but the vocals are almost not there!!

A good album but produced crappy and its sad........

 

Ok

 

All Moving Parts (Stand Still) great tune best on the album IMO
Not my favorite but does get the occasional spin so yes I like it

 

I like it. It’s underrated for sure.

 

Foreigner's debut album appeared a year later (1977).

 

I think it has aged really well, like a fine wine etc.
It's a nice mature rock album.

 

I have a soft spot for Technical Ecstasy - Sabbath on that tour was my first concert ever.

 

Sure, I like it.
But I never really connected with it until I got those Pearce remasters a year or two ago.

The versions I had prior to that (Black Box and Sanctuary IIRC) really sounded shrill and essentially unpleasant to me. So I was always "eh" about TE. And, to a less extent, Never Say Die.

But, to my ears, the Pearce remasters are notable warmer and/or not as sharp sounding - so I enjoy them both quite a bit more now.

 

Personally, I love all of the first ten Sabbath albums.

 

You counting Sold our Souls and Live at Last?

 

Awesome.

 

If I don't lump it together with the earlier albums, and therefore inevitably compare it to those, I love it; especially when taken on its own, within the context of 1976.

 

Zb

 

There's some good songs like Dirty Women, All Moving Parts and Back Street Kids, but it's never been an odd favorite. Iommi does some mighty soloing on You Won't Change Me, despite its dullness as a song overall, and It's Alright is different for Bill Ward's vocal, but it's just an awkward number to hear from them. I like Never Say Die a little better than Tech Ex, but both albums are definitely not Sabbath's finer moments.

 

I like it. My least favorite of the '70s stuff, which is saying a lot cuz there's some great stuff on it.

 

No, referring to the first ten studio albums. Sold Our Souls is a comp is it not? I guess I have never given Live at Last much of a listen. Perhaps I should change that. I do love those first ten studio albums up through Mob Rules.

 

Really? I’ve never had an issue with the vocals on copies I’ve heard. They are heard pretty clearly.

 

I’m going to get crap for this, but I’m listening to the black box version of TE now and sure it’s loud, but it’s not a bad listen. Loads of detail, but perhaps at the expense of the dynamics.

Now I need to check out the Pearce remasters for this title. Which year did he do that album?

 

I think it was 2016 - there are a couple rounds of Pearce remasters (IIRC the first round had some issues in the sense that it was not his work)

I know the Black Box gets a lot of stick here - my take is that it gets so much flak because there are so many other better versions out there more than it is so atrocious sounding - I have many, many, many CDs that sound a lot worse than the Black Box Sabbath.

But, imo, Black Box TE sounded particularly not good - I think it's because it's a bit more of a harsh sounding album so it really, imo, doesn't need a treble boost or whatever.

 

I prefer the second four Ozzy-era albums to the first four. So yeah, I like Technical Ecstasy. At that, I don't know if I'd rate Technical Ecstasy above anything other than the debut, which is my least favorite of the Ozzy-era albums, but I like 'em all, really.