Sabbath - 13 vs Never Say Die vs Technical Ecstasy

The Great Sabbath Album Debate.......13 v Technical Ecstasy v Never Say Die.......

This is a follow up to one of my recent "What's on the car stereo" ramblings when I said I would see how the new album stands up against the '76 and '78 releases..... 

I undertook a comparison of "13", Technical and Never, listening to each one twice over 3 days worth of car journeys....the big problem is just how long the last 2 have been part of my musical background (over 35 years in fact !!) and all the memories that are associated with them....."13" is sooooo new.......but it is however superb as a stand alone album and I freely admit that it pisses over the majority of Never Say Die with the exception of the title track, Johnny Blade and Juniors Eyes....but, and this is a very big but, I absolutely love those 3 tracks to bits and always will......and Technical (love it all) has the truly awesome Dirty Women.... these were some of the mainstay tracks at various Heavy Metal/Rock discos I used to go to on Friday,Saturday and Sunday nights from '76 onwards.

13 is far far better than anything that was released after '78 bearing the name of Black Sabbath ( without Ozzy of course ) but as to whether it will ever give earlier albums a run for their money....deep down I doubt it.

I have bitter sweet memories about the Never Say Die Tour in '78......As I'd not seen them live, I was elated to see the list of Tour dates including Hammersmith Odeon but then my heart sank....it was right before one of my 'A' Level exams on a subject that was requiring much revision and study. In the words of The Clash...."should I stay (at home and revise up to the last minute) or should I go ?".... I decided to give it a miss and revise...after all I could always see them next time !!......OH fateful words.....there wasn't a next time as  after that tour Ozzy left the band......I did however pass my exam as the very topic I studied on the Sabbath Gig Night came up in the test paper. 

I made do with seeing Blizzard of Oz several times and thoroughly enjoyed all of the gigs enormously....as for Sabbath....I saw them with  Ronnie James Dio (RIP 2010) in '82 but only because Girlschool were supporting. In fairness to Dio he was perfect with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow on their first 3 albums but he was never really a Sabbath vocalist if you understand me............talking of Rainbow...that reminds me of the only time I saw them when they stomped off after about 35 minutes and a near riot ensued....but that's another story.......

Sorry ....I appear to have gone on and on and on.....again !!

Doug E Dogg