Technical Ecstasy
| Technical Ecstasy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Black Sabbath | ||||
| Released | 25 September 1976 | |||
| Recorded | June 1976, Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida, US | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 40:35 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Black Sabbath | |||
| Black Sabbath chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
Technical Ecstasy is the seventh studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in September 1976.
Album information
Technical Ecstasy continued the band's separation from its signature doom and darkness that had been such a trademark of the band's early career. While the album's lyrics dealt with topics such as drug dealers, prostitution, and transvestites, the music itself was seldom dark, and tracks like "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" and "It's Alright" (the latter sung by drummer Bill Ward—a decision supported by Ozzy Osbourne), were very different from Black Sabbath's earlier recordings. Also, the band continued experimenting with keyboards and synthesizers more so than previous albums. The track "She's Gone" features orchestrations.
Osbourne left the band briefly following the release of the album. He would eventually rejoin for the follow-up album, Never Say Die!.
"Gypsy", "Dirty Women", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" and (briefly) "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" were played live on the supporting tour.
"It's Alright" was often covered live by Guns N' Roses, and included in their Live Era: '87–'93 album. The song was also featured in the 2010 film It's Kind of a Funny Story.
The album was certified Gold on 19 June 1997[3] and peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Pop Album chart.[4]
Cover art
The cover art was designed by Hipgnosis. It depicts two robots having sex. Osbourne once described it as "two robots screwing on an escalator."[5]
Hipgnosis' Storm Thorgerson, who had been assisted by graphic designer George Hardie, discussed the cover with Zoom magazine in 1979:[full citation needed]
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.
They don't look very robotic in the usual comic-book sense.
No, they don't, but they're just what George came up with. 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. Now, to get that photographically didn't seem necessary, and I decide with George we'd do it as a mixture. So the escalator and background are photographic, while the robots are designed by George but drawn by a photo-retoucher.
If that's a photo, that's a very odd escalator!
Yes, it was somewhere like Harrods. I think it was actually glass-sided, but we painted it opaque yellow – on the photograph!
The UK release had a two-sided lyric/credit-insert.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne.
| Side one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||||||
| Side two | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" | 5:07 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" | 3:30 | ||||||||
| 3. | "She's Gone" | 4:58 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Dirty Women" | 7:13 | ||||||||
- The cassette version reverses the two sides
Personnel
- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
- Tony Iommi – guitar
- Geezer Butler – bass guitar
- Bill Ward – drums, lead vocals on "It's Alright"
- Gerald Woodruffe – keyboards
Release history
| Region | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 25 September 1976 | Warner Bros. Records |
| United Kingdom | 8 October 1976 | Vertigo Records |
| Canada | 25 September 1976 | Warner Bros. Records |
| United Kingdom | 1996 | Castle Communications |
| United Kingdom | 2004 | Sanctuary Records |
References
- ^ Prato, Greg. "Black Sabbath: Technical Ecstasy" at Allmusic. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Black Sabbath: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- ^ "American album certifications – Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
- ^ "Technical Ecstasy: Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at Allmusic. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
- ^ "The Artwork". Black Sabbath FAQ. black-sabbath.com. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
External links
- What the hell happened to Technical Ecstasy?, an article about the album by music journalist Dan Marsicano
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