bloodymadness's Full Review: Blizzard of Ozz [Bonus Track] [Remaster] by Ozzy O...
Ozzy Osbourne's 1980 solo debut album Blizzard of Ozz is a classic album by heavy metal standards. It's some how stayed relevant over the past 27 years and has been cited as an influential album by metal guitarists the world over. Hell in 2002, Blizzard was the first album to be inducted into Guitar World's Hall of Classic Albums. But despite these accolades, is Blizzard of Ozz really that great, or does it's repuation eclipse the music itself?
BRIEF HISTORY
Blizzard of Ozz was Ozzy's last attempt at success. After being booted from Sabbath in 1979, the former lead singer found himself immersed in the tragic realm of depression and drug addiction. All seemed lost for the Ozz until Sharon Arden came to his aid. An up and coming business woman, Sharon saw potential in Ozzy and encouraged him to go solo. All he needed was a band, and he found it in bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Lee Kerslake, and 23 year old guitarist Randy Rhoads. After a few successful gigs, the band recorded their debut album Blizzard of Ozz and released it in 1980.
NOT THAT INNOVATIVE
Blizzard of Ozz is not a ground breaking album. It's a good album but it's no classic if one compares it to Ozzy's material with Black Sabbath. I mean you have to consider that Black Sabbath was the first heavy metal band making, Ozzy the first heavy metal singer (he is not THE godfather, but he is A godfather). When you look at the history of Sabbath and the fact that they created an entire genre of music almost single handedly, Ozzy's solo stuff seems kind of vague. The Blizzard album itself, could almost be lumped in with every other pop-metal album that came out in the 80s. What stops it from being just another metal album is due to three things:
1. Randy Rhoads- who I will discuss later in this review.
2. Somewhat meaningful lyrics- Songs about alcohol addiction, peace, and saving the environment are pretty good for an 80s metal album ,especially considering that most of the pop metal bands of the time only sang about partying sex and doing drugs.
3. The time it was released- Metal in 1980 was going through tough times and this record along with Judas Priest's British Steel, Motorhead's Ace of Spades and Iron Maiden's self titled debut record really kick started the heavy metal boom.
RANDY RHOADS
Randy Rhoads is a good guitar player, but he is no where near as good as the classical players that came after him. Sure, he brought a neo-classical edge to metal guitar playing but when you compare his playing to John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen or newer guys like Alex Laiho they play circles around him. His shredding seems so simple compared to now and good majority of his riffs are OK at best. His best riff will always be Crazy Train. Tony Iommi had him when it came to both riffs and musical innovation. Still Randy gave Ozzy a much needed kick in the right direction.
TRACKS Good/Bad
The album is divided into filler and classic tracks.
"Crazy Train" is of course the essential track on the record. The riff and the solo are in every guitar beginner's book and the song has been a staple on rock radio for god knows how long.
"Mr. Crowley" is perhaps the second best known song on the album. This track got Ozzy into trouble as the uninformed thought it was a tribute to famed satanist Aleister Crowley, when it fact is a song that questions him and what he was about. The eerie key board intro has a cheese factor to it and really adds to the melodramatics of the song.
"Suicide Solution" is not about suicide. It's a warning against alcohol abuse. Judging from the borderline alcoholics I see in my college dormatory I think that this track should be mandatory listening on all college campuses but that's another story. Anyways, the song is a pretty simple straight forward song both lyrically and musically. there is no lead and the song kinda of drags at a slow pace like a drunk lingering through an alley.
"Goodbye to Romance" is one of the most heartfelt songs in metal as Ozzy says goodbye to his old mates in Sabbath and faces the future. The song never dives into schmaltz and the solo is quite good.
The bad songs on here are "I Don't Know","No Bone Movies", "Revelation" and "Steal Away the Night". Steal Away signals the bad hair metal that followed in its wake, Revelation is just too over the top for its own good and "No Bone Movies" is just extremely mundane and album opener "I Don't Know" is not a strong album opener.
IN THE END
Blizzard of Ozz is a dated 80s album that is no where near influential as Ozzy's stuff with Black Sabbath. Yeah Randy Rhoads is on this album, but very rarely does he make his presence felt except on a few tracks. This album is certainly a must have for fans of 80s pop metal but will do little to appease fans who take their metal a little to seriously. Even the album cover is cheesy.
7/10. Would be a 6.5 but I'm round up because I like Ozzy's Sabbath catalog.
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