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Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz review



Reviewer:
9.0

828 users:
8.7
Band: Ozzy Osbourne
Album: Blizzard Of Ozz
Release date: April 1980


01. I Don't Know
02. Crazy Train
03. Goodbye To Romance
04. Dee
05. Suicide Solution
06. Mr. Crowley
07. No Bone Movies
08. Revelation (Mother Earth)
09. Steal Away (The Night)
10. You Lookin' At Me Lookin' At You [2002 remaster bonus]
11. Goodbye To Romance [2010 remix] [2011 reissue bonus]
12. RR

Blizzard Of Ozz is a significant album in the history of heavy metal. Released in 1980, this was the first solo album for Ozzy Osbourne, who had previously been the lead singer of Black Sabbath, the band often credited with creating the distinctive sound of heavy metal music in the early 1970s. The high regard for this album is obvious by its rating on this site - at the time of writing this review it ranks as #147 on the Top 200 albums of all time and #4 on the Top 20 albums of 1980 - surprising then that this is the first review for this landmark release.

Whilst this is an Ozzy Osbourne album, in many respects it is about the young lead guitarist Randy Rhoads as much as it is about Ozzy Osbourne. His incredible guitar playing on this album influenced a future generation of metal guitarists. His influence can even be seen today, an example being Phil Demmel of Machine Head sporting a polka-dot design guitar as a tribute - and even a drummer playing a Rhoads tribute kit - that being Brann Dailor of Mastodon. You will often hear metal guitarists speak of the influence Randy Rhoads had on their playing, even today. Sadly, Rhoads only lived to play on one more Ozzy album before his untimely death in a plane accident.

The most famous songs from the album are the two singles, "Crazy Train" ("ALL ABOARD, HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!") and "Mr. Crowley" (spooky organ intro and brilliant guitar solo), although the song "Suicide Solution" gained notoriety thanks to a lawsuit by the family of a young man who committed suicide (which, thankfully, was dismissed). Other tracks of note are the opening number "I Don't Know" and "No Bone Movies", a hilarious song about addiction to watching pornographic films. The song "Dee" is a short guitar instrumental that showcases the classical influences on Rhoads' playing and is probably out of place here. Ozzy's crazy, nasally-sounding voice is distinctive throughout and bass guitar and drums are handled well by Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake respectively. But Randy Rhoads is certainly the shining light here. If you haven't heard his guitar playing then make sure you right that wrong and listen to Blizzard Of Ozz in the near future. This album is a worthy addition to any metal album collection.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Ace Frawley | 13.06.2012




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 4   Visited by: 84 users
13.06.2012 - 15:25
Rating: 10
nicaZe
Savatage
Blizzard Of Ozz has many good songs, but still not my favorite. I prefer Diary Of A Madman and Bark At The Moon. You talked a lot about Randy's guitar playing on this album, but my opinion is that he made a better guitar work on Diary Of A Madman. Of course that is what I think, everybody has their own opinion.

As for Ozzy, everything he recorded to No More Tears is very good. Everything after thet I think it's a bit boring.
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13.06.2012 - 22:31
Rating: 9
Metalex

This one with diary of a madman =BEAST!
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17.06.2012 - 01:37
Rating: 9
Ace Frawley
The Spaceman
I prefer Diary of a Madman as well.
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The sun shines over The Fool...
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22.07.2015 - 19:46
Rating: 7
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Addition to porno, -- seems Ron Jeremy is some kind a rock fan as well
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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