An album I didn't like on release, but that has grown on me through the years and today doesn't seem bad at all. It got tons of negative hype back then - critics dissed it, band members were far from satisfied and it didn't sell as much as their previous - and I went along with all that. Bought the album, gave it a couple of spins and put it away. Listening now and concentrating soley on songwriting and performance it's totally ok Sabbath - kind of melodic and very raw with top guitars, strurdy backing and Ozzie in really good nick. Sadly most of it killed by bad mixing, production and audio. Not pointing fingers here, but imagine the songs with same separation and transparency as on "Sabotage" - letting it all out with full power - and you have an almost as good album. For exemple "You Wont Change Me" could have been an epic, if not so compressed it sounds like recorded under water with a drowning Ozzie hardly audible at parts. But that's the way it is and there are fine moments here even for the old Sabbath fan. My favorites - "Back Street Kids" and "Gypsy", both classic heavy riff rockers with some of the old feeling. Premiere US on Warner Bros. (BS 2969). First UK had label as shown here and thin matt cover with picture/lyric insert. (WLÖ*) (BLÄC*)
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