Black Sabbath – Never Say Die(1978)

Biography
Black Sabbath were an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968, by guitarist and main songwriter Tony Iommi, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler, singer Ozzy Osbourne, and drummer Bill Ward. Black Sabbath are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history. Formed in 1968 as the Polka Tulk Blues Band, a blues rock band, the group went through line up changes, renamed themselves as Earth, broke up and reformed. By 1969, they had named themselves Black Sabbath after the film Black Sabbath starring Boris Karloff, and began incorporating occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics and tuned-down guitars. The band’s first show as Black Sabbath took place on 30 August 1969, in Workington. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath

Album & Cover
Never Say Die! is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in September 1978. It was the last studio album with the band’s original lineup and also the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne until 2013’s 13. It was certified Gold in the U.S on 7 November 1997  and as of November 2011 sold 133,000 copies in the United States since the SoundScan era. Critics called it unbalanced, scattering its energy in too many directions.

The idea for the cover comes from the title “Never Say Die!” and the Japanese Kamikaze pilots from WW11. This gave rise to the fetish-like uniforms and masks and the vintage de Havilland Chipmunk training aeroplane with USAF markings was photographed at Biggin airfield in Southern England. The suits and helmets and pilots were photographed in the Hipgnosis studio and the background was then collaged together with the sky stripped in which had ghostly images like the satellite dish and fly boys, etc.

Location: Hipgnosis Studio with photographs from Biggin airfield.
Who Did What: Photography: A. Powell
Label: Warner Bros. BSK 3186(US), Vertigo 9102 751(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Arranged By [Brass] – Will Malone
Crew – Graham Wright, Les Martin, Roy Lemon
Engineer – Dave Harris
Engineer [Special Assistance] – Spock Wall
Harmonica – Jon Elstar
Keyboards – Don Airey
Performer – Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi
Producer – Black Sabbath
Written-By [All Titles By], Songwriter – Black Sabbath