Review Summary: Ozzy Osbourne is back with a solo career after his vocal breakdown in the last few years of Black Sabbath. He would join forces with the legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads.
After Ozzy Osbourne was kicked out of
Black Sabbath in 1979, he was out looking for people to audition for him. One of those people, perhaps one of the greatest guitarists to ever come out and make metal history inspiring countless players to play guitar was Randy Rhoads, from the local band in Los Angeles,
Quiet Riot which they had two albums released only in Japan. Ozzy joined forces with Randy,
Rainbow bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley, and finally
Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, who would be known as
The Blizzard of Ozz. These guys had a chemistry that no one would ever forget.
Randy gives a lot of classical influences throughout the album including solos and fills like
Mr. Crowley, beautiful ballad
Goodbye to Romance,
Dee, and
Revelation (Mother Earth) and has catchy riffs and hooks off the album like
I Don't Know,
Crazy Train,
Suicide Solution, and Van Halen inspired party rock song with nice vocal harmonies between Ozzy and Bob Daisley,
Steal Away (The Night).
Throughout the album, there are present themes off the album like
I Don't Know, being about Ozzy's depression after being fired from Sabbath,
Crazy Train actually being about the Cold War with these lyrics for proof:
Quote:
Heirs of a Cold War
That's what we've become
Inheriting troubles
I'm mentally numb
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Suicide Solution about drinking yourself to death where Ozzy was sued because a depressed young lad killed himself after hearing the bridge where there was voices like subliminal messages like "do it", "get the gun" "shoot shoot shoot shoot", but the trial was unsuccessful and the song was still allowed to be played live.
Then the highlight of the album,
Mr. Crowley retells the story of the famous devil worshipper, Aleister Crowley and using a drug opium, with the reference: "Won't you ride my white horse?" It has a haunting organ intro which perfectly fits the theme of the song and with two blistering guitar solos which prove to be one of the greatest solos ever constructed.
Unfortunately, this is not a flawless album, it has a very strange song entitled
No Bones Movies, which is about porn and masturbation. Sometimes the drums and guitar are boring to listen to and the outro gets annoying because it only says "no bone movies" over and over again. This was only on the album so Lee Kerslake can get a writing credit on the album.
You Looking at Me, Looking at You was originally supposed to be on the original album but put on the expanded edition of the album as which should've been on the album all along because of the catchiness and hooks to it like
Crazy Train, and the guitar piece,
Dee could be more epic if it had included Randy's lost solo that was also put on the expanded edition of the album
RR going into
Suicide Solution.
This was a blistering start and cornerstone of 80s heavy metal. It contains some of the most Ozzy classics and Randy's playing. I'm going to stick with a 4.5 because of minor flaws.
Blizzard of Ozz Classics:
Mr. Crowley
Crazy Train
Revelation (Mother Earth)
I Don't Know
Goodbye to Romance
Steal Away (The Night)
