Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzmosis

A truly impressive, polished studio album

Review Score:

(10/10)
While it doesn't have quite the raw, barely controlled, I'm-liable-to-bite-the-head-off-a-dove-or-bat-any-minute-now energy of Ozzie's early classics, Ozzmosis ranks right up there with the best of Ozzy's albums, in my opinion. A sort of introspective Ozzy shows up at times here, a man looking back at his past while he gazes ahead to the future of himself and his children. The kinder, gentler Ozzie formula doesn't quite work on tracks such as Denial and My Little Man (although I like these two songs better than Mama, I'm Coming Home, a comparable song from No More Tears), but the magic happens on See You on the Other Side and Old L.A. Tonight. The latter really stands apart from the other songs on the album in its style, sound, and mood, ending the album on a true high point. Ghost Behind My Eyes can also be considered in the same category, although it has a little bit more energy and comes across as a much more powerful song.

Of course, the album does feature some heavyweights. Perry Mason is a great booming track featuring an incredible bridge; I'm not entirely sure what the heck Ozzy is really singing about here, but it's a great track. I really love the second track, I Just Want You; the verses feature a sort of monotonous delivery of philOzzophical statements, but it's really a love song of the type only Ozzy can sing; once again, I have to praise the bridge, as this track features one of the most incredible bridges I've ever heard. Thunder Underground is one of the most thumping tracks on the album, and a lot of people really like it; it's probably my least favorite song on the album, though. The winner of "best song title" goes to My Jeckyll Doesn't Hide, and the song lives up to that title pretty well; there's nothing fake about Ozzy, and this song is a sort of restatement of that important fact. My favorite song from this album actually changes fairly often, but right now it is Tomorrow, partly because the old Ozzy comes through most clearly on this one. It's probably the heaviest song on the album, and Ozzy sort of screams some of the lyrics, giving this song a classic Ozzy quality that the other tracks lack.

When this album was released in 1995, Ozzy had already turned a corner in his career. He wasn't as young as he used to be, but No More Tears proved that he was changing with the times and, in many ways, getting better with age, while Live and Loud proved no one put on a better live show (and aren't we all thankful that did not turn out to be the final concert tour, after all). Some singers, as they start to age, change themselves so radically that they alienate some of their fans and almost seem to deny what they used to be. Ozzy is always going to be Ozzy. He can't always be the screaming wild man he used to be, but he will never shortchange himself or his fans, and the sense of reflection that comes through in some of these songs serves to honor rather than betray the classic Ozzy Osbourne so many of us continue to celebrate.

More Reviews: