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Re: Ozzy Osbourne Discussion
Axlin08 wrote:I still wonder what new Guns would've sounded like had Zakk made the cut.
Insert pinch harmonics into Better. There's your answer.
Now I know you BETTER! "ranwahwahranwahwah"
I know alot of Zakk fans are on here, and when he first hit the scene with No Rest For The Wicked & No More Tears, it was like "wow, this dude is great". But the same old same old started to kind of tire with his sound. He still kinda recycles it to this day.
Re: Ozzy Osbourne Discussion
Albums
Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
Personal Rank: #5
--- Very good debut, but not perfect. Album kinda dips after Mr. Crowley. Part of me feels Ozzy should have held over his best tracks and debuted with Diary of a Madman. The best of each combined would’ve been a rock-metal masterpiece, no doubt.
Rating: 4/5 – Very Good
Favorite Songs: I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, Goodbye To Romance, Dee, Suicide Solution and Mr. Crowley / top-favorite (Goodbye To Romance)
Diary of a Madman (1981)
Personal Rank: #4
--- Continues to get better with Diary. Although Blizzard & Diary are neck-and-neck for me, I think I prefer Diary just a bit more. Another very good album, but still not perfect. The album has no dip point, just some filler sprinkled in here and there it seems. Like I said with Blizzard, had Ozzy held over his best tracks from Blizzard & Diary and combined them into one work, it would’ve been an all-time album. Not that both are not already classics.
Rating: 4.5/5 – Extremely Good
Favorite Songs: Over The Mountain, Flying High Again, Tonight, and Diary of a Madman / top-favorite (Tonight) – words cannot describe how much a love the hell out of this tune 
Bark At The Moon (1983)
Personal Rank: #1
--- My favorite Ozzy album. An absolute masterpiece, love it from start-to-finish. Ozzy continues to get a bit more ‘pop-rock’ here, but by God he’s the best at all. Not an unlikeable track, I even like the re-issue bonus track – “Spiders In The Night”.
Rating: 5/5 – Excellent
Favorite Songs: the whole album / top-favorite – Waiting For Darkness (epic tune, one of my favorite Ozzy tracks ever)
The Ultimate Sin (1986)
Personal Rank: #2
--- Ozzy’s solo prime in my opinion. Another masterpiece album as far as I’m concerned. Probably Ozzy at his most ‘pop’. Most songs are radio-ready, but they are all very very good. The album is a bit weird to digest knowing that behind the scenes Ozzy was at his absolute worst in substance abuse. It was such a shame to see this album stricken from the catalog later on, because the Jake E. Lee-era was his strongest imo.
Rating: 5/5 – Excellent
Favorite Songs: the whole album / top-favorite – really hard to choose, The Ultimate Sin,
Never Know Why, Never, Fool Like You and Shot In The Dark are all equal, personal faves.
No Rest For The Wicked (1988)
Personal Rank: #6
--- Ozzy’s return from the abyss left a bit to be desired for me after the previous two great albums. Zakk is a great addition, but the songs can be hit and miss. The album for me is on-par with both Blizzard & Diary, with a little less of a ‘classic’ nature. Still a strong effort, just not perfect.
Rating: 4/5 – Very Good
Favorite Songs: Miracle Man, Crazy Babies, Breakin’ All The Rules, Bloodbath In Paradise, Fire In The Sky, and Hero / top-favorite – definitely Fire In The Sky (not a second thought even, fantastic tune)
No More Tears (1991)
Personal Rank: #3
--- A last return form from his mid-80’s efforts, another classic effort that earns the right to be placed in ‘masterpiece’ territory because it’s a highly enjoyable album from start-to-finish – you never get bored. Zakk seems to come into his own here. Sadly it seems, as of today, to be Ozzy last gasp of a great album. His catalog seems to go downhill from here. No More Tears is his last “must hear” album.
Rating: 5/5 – Excellent
Favorite Songs: the whole album / top-favorite – No More Tears (did you really think it’d be anything else? Ozzy’s best song ever recorded – his “Estranged”)
Ozzmosis (1995)
Personal Rank: #7
--- The decline. I don’t really know what Ozzy was starting to try and do here. Some songs come across as cross between Black Sabbath-influence with a modern sound (as of ’95), while others seem to follow his traditional formula from previous solo efforts. Songs seem to have too slow of a pace, obviously going for a ‘heavier’ sound. Still a good effort, but it’s here that I start to check out a bit.
Rating: 3/5 – Good
Favorite Songs: Perry Mason, I Just Want You, Ghost Behind My Eyes, See You On The Other Side, and Old L.A. Tonight / top-favorite(s) – probably a tie between See You On The Other Side and Old L.A. Tonight, as to not slight the other listed faves, these two songs seem to be the only two that really get that ‘classic Ozzy’ label.
Down To Earth (2001)
Personal Rank: #8
--- Really continues downward for me. At this point I think Ozzy starts becoming a ‘singles-only’ type of artist. Not to say that there is not a conscious effort to make a good album, but it becomes very obvious which tracks have tons of extra work put into them, versus those that seem to just be thrown on there. The radio-ready stuff, at least for me, seems to be the only highlights.
Rating: 2/5 – Fair
Favorite Songs: Gets Me Through, Dreamer, No Easy Way Out, and Running Out of Time / top-favorite(s) – an even tie between Gets Me Through and No Easy Way Out, both are really epic songs and very heavy, and frankly the only real highlights of the album
Black Rain (2007)
Personal Rank: #9
--- At this point it was firm that Ozzy was making singles, because the non-radio stuff is virtually unlistenable for me. It’s enjoyable to hear Ozzy, but the other stuff seems damn boring. The recommendation starts to become realized that Ozzy might want to take a break, cull his best stuff together and only do an album once a decade. Quality over quantity.
Rating: 1.5/5 – Poor
Favorite Songs: Not Going Away, I Don’t Wanna Stop and Here For You (top-favorite)
Scream (2010)
Personal Rank: #10
--- A gross disappointment. With the addition of a new guitarist, Gus G, it seemed more thought was going to possibly be put into this album and possible future albums. Unfortunately the whole album seems terribly forced. Many tracks are trying WAY too hard to be past-Ozzy tracks and seemingly fail on just about every level. It seems that Ozzy isn’t even coming up with inspired songs anymore, and just recycled tried and true stuff, sadly from himself. You know it’s bad when you start ripping yourself off. Other than a couple tracks, his most forgettable album yet. I really wished I could say, “better luck next time”, but with a continued decline in the quality of his musical output since Ozzmosis, four albums later, I highly doubt his fifth will be much better. Ozzy says he’s gonna do two more albums and retire, hopefully he’ll wait a while to do that, put together the best of the best, and release a double-album for his retirement that’s a return to form for his swan song. A fan can only hope.
Rating: 1/5 – Poor
Favorite (or the ‘not bad’) Songs: Let Me Hear You Scream, Life Won’t Wait, Diggin’ Me Down and Time (the best on the album imo)
