The Godfather of Heavy Metal, the Ozzman, “The Prince of f&!%ing Darkness” – whatever persona Ozzy Osbourne portrays, the fact is he is a legend of heavy metal, and of wider music generally. Whilst he is most likely to be remembered by the current generation for the Osbournes reality TV show, he did make some great music for a long time, both with Black Sabbath, where he was responsible with the rest of the band for, arguably, discovering heavy metal, and his solo work as well. It is from that body of solo work that these two digitally remastered releases come.
Of course, not only were these two albums Ozzy’s first solo records, but they were also the only two Ozzy records to feature the legendary Randy Rhoads on guitar, and highlight the true talent that was lost following his death in 1982. As digitally remastered re-releases, a couple of questions arise. Does the remastering make any difference to your listening pleasure, and do the albums still hold up in the current music market, 30 years after they were first released.
The remastering on Blizzard of Ozz appears to have given a crisper sound to the whole recording, but as an entire package it seems a little bit pointless. I’m not saying it doesn’t sound fantastic, because it does. However, being lucky enough to have a copy of the original cd release, and hearing them one after the other, it is hard to see what extra is gained. Apart from the extra tracks of course. Often, adding extra recordings on to an original make the work seem somewhat disjointed, like the original release with some bits tacked on. Fortunately, whilst they are not ideal, the album was fantastically thought out when released, they do stretch the album a little longer than perhaps it needs to be.
Diary of a Madman is mastered in a rather bizarre way on this new release. The focal point is definitely Ozzy’s voice – a tool that some people absolutely love and others find very whiny. However, being pushed so far to the front of the mix mean that the band and the great music that they produced is lost somewhat. That is a real shame, but there are some great moments where Randy Rhoads cracks out a solo in a way that only he could.
Now, do these recordings stand up today? In a very simple answer, yes. Blizzard of Ozz is jammed full of classic songs, not just heavy metal songs but just great songs. Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley, the highly controversial Suicide Solution – all of these stand up amongst the very best of releases today. Diary of a Madman is also fantastic – Over The Mountain is a great way to kick off an album, and the quality, whilst not as good as its predecessor, is still an essential listen for hard rock, heavy metal and music fans generally today.
Are these re-releases essential purchases? No. The additional tracks are good, but add nothing to the original recordings. However, as classic albums, these are an absolute must. They show that Ozzy, as intoxicated as he was, could still produce fantastic music after being kicked out Black Sabbath, and showed for a short while the fantastic talent that was Randy Rhoads.
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