Down on the Slab.
This is the section where I discuss what I think is a contentious album that came out in the year and will fall under one of the following highlighted.
1) An album that a large section of musical followers (critics and fans) rate highly and despite not seeing the album as bad, I still don’t really get the attraction. 2) A hugely significant album that was highly commercial but not really good enough for the main list, but still worth a mention. 3) Basically an album that’s a pile of crap and the artist really shouldn’t have released it.
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz 1980 (Jet)
Heavy Metal
A marriage made in purgatory.
Verdict
Year after year I would give certain albums in the Ozzy solo discography a twirl, in the hope that I’d finally agree with all the positive views that his early solo discography actually has (especially his first two with Randy Rhoads) So once again for my 1980 year listings, I gave his debut another serious listen but yet again it was business as usual as the album did nothing for me! Previously I could never quite put my finger on why the album did nothing for me, but this time around it became crystal clear and had been staring me straight in the face for years! Firstly Ozzy Osbourne has always been a very distinctive sounding vocalist and his voice very much an acquired taste. Vocally he was always limited and never had the vocal prowess of artists like Ian Gillan, Dio and Klaus Meine for example or even the sexy allure of a Robert Plant to woo listeners with, but what he did have much like Alice Cooper was a malevolent voice that had the ability to come across as both blatantly evil or very ‘tongue in cheek’ and usually with a dash of twisted humour! Now in Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne was a legend and his voice was the perfect dirige as he followed the guitar riffs of Tony Iommi, and he always did the business in Black Sabbath even when the quality of the band went drastically downhill with albums like
Technical Ecstasy and
Never Say Die. After this of course he got divorced from Black Sabbath and went solo, and soon found a new partner in crime Randy Rhoads (already a guitarist extraordinaire) and he in turn would form a completely different kind of marriage with Ozzy than Tony Iommi had. Randy Rhoads had been in the shockingly bad Quiet Riot (before they got better and became famous a few years later) and he was also an artist that had styled himself on the neo-classical guitar lines laid down by the likes of Ritchie Blackmore and played at an amazing efficiency. Now neo-classical in its purest form was always a grandiose affair that tested the skill, speed and mettle of a guitarist and was played in a serious manner, therefore it certainly deserved a serious sounding vocalist to complement it. Now this is the problem that I have between Ozzy and Randy, as Ozzy wasn’t that serious sounding at all but instead came across as the lecherous husband who didn’t know how to treat his supermodel wife Randy Rhoads! Sure they had a great working relationship right up until Randy’s sad demise, but it’s in the execution of the songs where the problem lies. Ozzy’s lecherous style was always in my mind at complete loggerheads with the playing of Randy Rhoads, as instead of following the guitar of Randy Rhoads as he had done with Tony Iommi, he now sings with more freedom and versatily, but his limited vocal ability has him sounding like a fish out of water on several of the album’s songs! He sounds extremely clichéd and one dimensional on “Suicide Solution” distinctly dull on the album’s genuine ballad “Goodbye to Romance” all wrong on “Revelation (Mother Earth)” and he doesn’t do justice to the potential brilliance laid down by Randy Rhoads on “Crazy Train”. In fact his best performance is on the album’s best track “Mr.Cowley” and he’s not too bad on the party sounding “No Bone Movers” either. I guess another reason why I don’t dig the
Blizzard of Ozz is that I’m not much of a neo-classical man (unless it touches power metal of course) so the glowing acclaim that Randy Rhoads has on the album doesn’t do much for me, despite having some genuine moments of real brilliance! But the overall problem is Ozzy’s attempt to dominate proceedings with a melodic and jovial style approach, to what is sometimes a dark subject matter and this has always left me distinctly disappointed, as Ozzy’s vocals don't go with Randy’s guitar or even vice-versa. But then again most would disagree with this viewpoint, as the
Blizzard of Ozz is considered a genuine cornerstone of 1980s guitar metal and even helped to inspire bands like Europe!