In the early ’80s, Ozzy Osbourne had the unenviable task of
\nproving that there was life beyond Black Sabbath. Many had already
\nwritten Osbourne off, and did not take any solo attempt he would
\nmake seriously. If you’ve watched VH-1’s “Behind The Music” special
\non Osbourne, you already know the circumstances that led to his
\nfinally declaring a solo career.<\/p>\n
That first move out of the gates, 1981’s
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i>, introduced many to the guitar talents of
\none Randy Rhoads, and it spawned songs that would become
\ncornerstones for Osbourne’s post-Sabbath career. But in retrospect,
\nthis album didn’t have the power or sound that Osbourne needed to
\nreally give the scene a kick in the ass.<\/p>\n
The overall sound on
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i> is a bit strange; if it’s at all possible,
\nit seems like the mix needed more treble
\nand<\/i> more bass. There just isn’t a crispness that I
\npersonally like to hear – and what Osbourne would achieve on later
\nalbums.<\/p>\n
First, the highlights. There is no denying that “Crazy Train” is
\none of Osbourne’s best songs ever. The frantic guitar work by
\nRhoads (combined with some of the most familiar guitar licks in
\nheavy metal) sets the tone for this track, and secures Rhoads a
\nplace in history as a guitar legend. Yes, I love this song.<\/p>\n
A few others on
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i> are enjoyable, but they don’t nearly reach
\nthe same level of excellence as “Crazy Train” did. The opening
\ntrack, “I Don’t Know,” is a nice way to announce the return of
\nOsbourne, and bassist Bob Daisley has some tasty four-string work
\non this one. “Suicide Solution” has been targeted by more groups
\nthan I care to count, but one thing remains clear: this song is
\n
\nnot<\/i>
\n<\/b> – let me repeat that,
\n
\nIS NOT<\/i>
\n<\/b> – advocating suicide in any manner. If anything, this song is
\nabout the dangers of alcohol, something Osbourne knew all too
\nwell.<\/p>\n
The remainder of
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i> teeters between half-baked metal and syrupy
\nballads. (I almost said that Black Sabbath would never have done
\nballads, but then I remembered the song “Changes”.) Tracks like “No
\nBone Movies” and “Steal Away (The Night)” hardly rank as classics,
\nthough they’re at least listenable. “Goodbye To Romance” is a
\nsurprising fork in the road for Osbourne, and not one of my
\nfavorite moments in his career. Same goes with “Revelation (Mother
\nEarth)”, which tries to show it has some balls a third of the way
\nthrough. (To Osbourne’s credit, he’d get the ballad idea down pat
\nsoon enough.)<\/p>\n
I realize that uttering any potential negative about
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i> is cause for flame mail, public ridicule,
\nand even tar & feathering. But 18 years after this came out,
\nOsbourne has proved that this album was merely a stepping stone
\ntowards his eventual superstardom. And while it had a few of the
\nbricks needed to build that foundation, this record as a whole was
\nhardly the whole foundation.<\/p>\n
We’d get to know Osbourne and Rhoads better on the follow-up
\ndisc
\nDiary Of A Madman<\/i> (and would sadly bid goodbye to Rhoads
\nafter a tragic plane accident), and Osbourne would continue to
\nimprove his songwriting and sound, even as he continued to battle
\nhis own personal demons. But
\nBlizzard Of Ozz<\/i>, while an okay start, hardly symbolized the
\ntrue return to glory of Osbourne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5775],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39322","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ozzy-osbourne","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39322"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39322"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}