|
|
""Blizzard Of Ozz" is nothing less than an indispensable album for any self-respecting Heavy and Hard-Rock discotheque."
|
4/5
|
|
|
|
It was bound to happen... Ozzy was eventually fired from Black Sabbath by Tommy Iommi, his alcohol and drug addiction problems didn't help the case. But fortunately, while he was sinking for good, locked up at home, two encounters brought him back to life. The first was that of Sharon Arden (his future wife), daughter of the president of Warner, the black sabbath label. She came to claim payment of his debts and took pity on him, dragging him outside to look for a record label. While he is in the Sony boss's office, Ozzy, still under the influence of alcohol, releases two doves that Sharon had offered him. One of them stays on his lap, he catches the poor animal and bites his head off! This episode, which launches the legend of the Prince of Darkness, also marks the management of Sony who realizes that there is a particular character on which the label will be able to invest. The second encounter is that of Randy Rhoads, a young guitarist from a then unknown combo called Quiet Riot, who, beyond his instrumental genius, will prove to be the musician Ozzy was waiting for to unleash his creative inspiration.
Supported by a rhythmic pair of armed concrete composed of Bob Daisley (Rainbow) on bass and Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep) on drums, the two-headed hydra strikes hard from the start and imposes the return of the madman through the front door for what will be a must-have album of the genre. If Ozzy's nasal and unhealthy voice is recognizable among all, only one track reminds us of the singer's Sabbathian past, an epic "Revelation (Mother Earth)" crossing successively dark, melancholic and aggressive ambiences. For the rest, Ozzy Osbourne and his band, reinforced by Don Airey (Black Sabbath, Gary Moore, Rainbow) on keyboards, give us a dark and dynamic Heavy Metal, carried by all the ambiguity of its leader. While he offers us a nice ballad with "Goodbye To Romance", he's then able to throw us a sharp "Suicide Solution", with a glaucous break and sulphurous lyrics that will make him worth some trouble with the American puritanical associations.
It's difficult to dwell on each track, even if they almost all deserve it, from "I Don't Know" on which Randy Rhoads' talent explodes, to the biting "Steal Away (The Night)", through the unstoppable and irresistible "Crazy Train" or the dark and gloomy "Mr. Crowley". Only the short instrumental "Dee" written by Randy for his mother, and the nevertheless effective "No Bone Movies" can sound more ordinary. Although still as tortured as ever, Ozzy appears resurrected while Randy Rhoads imposes himself as a guitar-hero and a composer, capable of technical feats while transmitting a palpable emotion to each of his interventions.
"Blizzard Of Ozz" is nothing less than an indispensable album for any self-respecting Heavy and Hard-Rock discotheque. A true return from beyond the grave of its master of ceremonies, it reveals an artist freed from the chains of a band and asserts his identity and his talent, that a sulfurous life and repeated antics raise to the rank of legend. And that's how, in a single master stroke, an album, a singer and a guitarist have become true myths! - Official website
|
|
|
|
|
TRACK LISTING:
01. I Don't Know - 5:16
02. Crazy Train - 4:58
03. Goodbye To Romance - 5:36
04. Dee [instrumental] - 0:50
05. Suicide Solution - 4:21
06. Mr. Crowley - 4:57
07. No Bone Movies - 3:58
08. Revelation (Mother Earth) - 6:09
09. Steal Away (The Night) - 3:28
LINEUP:
Bob Daisley: Basse
Don Airey: Claviers
Lee Kerslake: Batterie
Ozzy Osbourne: Chant
Randy Rhoads: Guitares
|
|
| |
|
(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top of the page
|
| |
|
|
(0) COMMENT(S)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
READERS
3.8/5 (4 view(s))
|
STAFF:
4.1/5 (9 view(s))
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
IN RELATION WITH OZZY OSBOURNE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
OTHER REVIEWS
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT OZZY OSBOURNE
|
|