Ozzy Osbourne

Blizzard of Ozz

Blizzard of Sabbath...

Review Score:

(10/10)
After being forsaken by Black Sabbath in 1979, John "Ozzy" Osbourne took to a drugs rampage fuelled incessantly by copious amounts of alcohol or anything else he had to hand to empty down his gullet. Enter Sharon Arden, daughter of Music Architect Don Arden, and after a blue dispute that would taint both of their lives for years to come, Sharon acquired Ozzy's contract and set him on the road to recovery. Recruiting Classical Guitarist Randy Rhoads, for many the Only Ozzy Osbourne Guitarist, and in March 1980 sat down to record what would be his debut solo album. In September 1980, `Blizzard of Ozz' was released, reaching No. 7 in the UK charts, and a year later in the USA.

Opening up with `I Don't Know', Rhoads's mind-blowing picking was instantaneously apparent, spitting out riffs left, right and centre. Ozzy's vocals had returned, Sabbath's front man had done it once more and as with the Track 2 `Crazy Train' Ozzy's vocals and musical aid Ozzy had made an album that would live on eternally. `Ozzy's serenade `Goodbye to Romance' was a Ballad worthy of Singer's voice. Track 4 `Dee' is an instrumental highlighting Rhoads's Classical background. Track 5 `Suicide Solution', which would later bring a lawsuit against Osbourne claiming that his song, encouraged a young boy to take his own life. Another ballad that illustrates Ozzy's countless mediums. Track 6 `Mr. Crowley' based on the Dark Magician Alistair Crowley has one of the supreme opening chords to ever grace an Ozzy album. Tracks 7 & 8 `No Bone Movies' and `Revelation (Mother Earth)' are both fine Ozzy tracks, but quite frankly the low point of the album. However by Track 9 `Steal Away (The Night)' ends the album how it begun, with sharp chord shapes and squealing strings, this is the precise way to end a seamless debut album.

Aged just 23 years old, the pint-sized Rhoads's was Ozzy's wake-up infusion that he so desperately needed which sadly, in Sabbath, Iommi denied him. Praised so warmly that two-thirds of the tracks still appear in his current concerts and Crazy Train which was first re-released after the tragic death of Rhoads two years later after a biplane he was a passenger in hurtled into a nearby cottage, killing him instantaneously; and later as the theme tune for the hot MTV show `The Osbourne's'. A stand-alone album with all the hallmarks of becoming a prodigy album.

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