Customer Reviews

Bat Head Soup: Tribute to Ozzy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Never was a fan of TRIBUTES. But BAT HEAD SOUP is a definite collectors item. It is packed with the best top notch guitarists, Malmsteen, Kotzen, Lynch, Gillis, Zappa ,Beach and more. What makes this a great buy is if you like guitarists, they are all here. Great vocalists, percussion; and production was done with great care to preserve OZZY's song integrity. So you get a lot of classics, but updated to the year 2000. All remain true to the original but each group of artists adds their flavour. Hot tracks: MR.CROWLEY,I DON'T KNOW, PARANOID, SHOT IN THE DARK. And LISA LEOB's 'GOODBYE TO ROMANCE' is great. SHREDDERS and FANS will love it. Shows that a lot of work was done, congrats to Kulick, Bouillet on production. GRAB IT.....

You often find tributes disappointing. Why ? Because you want them to sound like the originals. That's not the aim ! If you're an Ozzy purist, you shouldn't get this. If you're more open-minded, or if you know and like at least some of the artists present on this tribute, this may interest you.

The choice of the songs is pretty well done, since it includes the best songs of Ozzy's solo albums :
- Mr Crowley, Crazy Train, Goodbye to Romance, I don't know, Suicide Solution (1980 - Blizzard of Ozz)
- Over the mountain (1981 - Diary of a Madman)
- Shot in the dark (1986 - The ultimate sin)
- Hellraiser, Desire (1991 - No more tears)
and two Black-Sabbath songs :
- Paranoid (1970 - Paranoid)
- Children of the grave (1971 - Master of Reality)

I know most of the artists appearing on this tribute, that's why I was interested. Steve Lukather (Toto's guitarist), one of my favorites, plays guitar on 'Hellraiser', but Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple's Slave&Masters) does the entire singing. I still don't understand why Yngwie Malmsteen, guitarist on 'Mr Crowley' is so much blamed, he's not bad. He teams with Tim 'Ripper' Owens (new Judas Priest), who sings allright. Vince Neil (Motley Crue) is more credible on 'Paranoid' than on most of the group's song.

I find the best covers are 'Shot in the dark', which pop-sound didn't fit Ozzy's sound, 'Hellraiser' for its breathing sound like in the original, and 'Goodbye to Romance', featuring female vocals (Lisa Loeb).

Sure, there are some cons. ONE track is especially butchered : 'Desire', but how was it possible to come even close to the mind-blowing version of Ozzy ? But since I found the rest of the album is simply amazing, this doesn't even count in my review, and for me this tribute album deserves 5 stars.

If you're not conviced this is a great tribute, you must be an Ozzy purist who has the whole Ozzy collection and believes that what isn't Ozzy is bad. You also believe that Ozzy is a great man but I'll tell you he isn't quite : In 2002, He has re-recorded 'Blizzard of Ozz' and 'Diary of Madman' with his new bassist and drummer, butchering the originals. If you're hesitating between this tribute and one of these 'new' versions, don't hesitate anymore !

Great tribute album, lots of talented people on this album playing tribute to ozzy. My favorite is Lemmy singing Desire... A must have for any rock fan

This is a really fun and interesting cd. Owens and Malmsteens Mr. Crowley just blows you away!! Lisa Loeb and Dweezil Zappa do a great Goodbye to Romance. Dee Snyder on Crazy Train is another highlight. I've seen a lot of tributes to Ozzy but this is the best one yet.

Never was a fan of TRIBUTES. But BAT HEAD SOUP is a definite collectors item. It is packed with the best top notch guitarists, Malmsteen, Kotzen, Lynch, Gillis, Zappa ,Beach and more. What makes this a great buy is if you like guitarists, they are all here. Great vocalists, percussion; and production was done with great care to preserve OZZY's song integrity. So you get a lot of classics, but updated to the year 2000. All remain true to the original but each group of artists adds their flavour. Hot tracks: MR.CROWLEY,I DON'T KNOW, PARANOID, SHOT IN THE DARK. And LISA LEOB's 'GOODBYE TO ROMANCE' is great. SHREDDERS and FANS will love it. Shows that a lot of work was done, congrats to Kulick, Bouillet on production. GRAB IT.....

I like the deversity of muscians and singers the mix of some click and then some are a strange sound but grow on you after a listen or two! My favorite track is Dweezil and Liza Loeb doing Goodbye to romance! A beautiful song that Ozzy should have never sang! But Randy's guitar just like Dweezil's is so good you don't even need a singer to enjoy this song! Desire and hellraiser if you ask me are the only down points of the album! Maybe Bark at the moon or a lesser known Sabbath song like into the void or faries wear boots, could of been great closers for the album! Where ron burgahny and I disagree is with some of the vocals and Yngwie! I think Mr. Crowley was absolutely great Ripper puta a little creepieness into the song ala The ripper by Priest and Yngwie not only does Randy justice but puts a little of his chops in as well! So take a listen and make your own mind up! If you like any Ozzy Sabbath or solo check this out and here what these great musicians give to some of the great writings of Ozzy Osbourne! Paranoid is a Ozzy song! I think he not only sang it in Sabbath but help write it to!

The themes and feelings of these songs are lost unfortunately. The lineup isn't bad but they fall short. Surprisingly, the best solo is from Dweezil Zappa on Goodbye to Romance: he captures Randy's solo and adds some taste to it. Mr. Crowley is a disappointment: Y. Malmsteen totally ignores the feel of the song and decides to shred instead, what a shame. Suicide Solution is a dance remix which confuses the hell out of me. In addition, the solos are recorded poorly: they are not put out front and are difficult to discern.

"Crazy Train" and "Children of the Grave" are the two songs worth any respect on this CD. Either the guitarists covering the tunes overdo it to death, and eventually destroy what made the originals what they are, or (and) they improvise some of the lamest solos ever. Listen to Ritchie Kotzen butcher "Desire" and you'll get the point. Brad Gillis did the same when he played with Ozzy after Randy passed away and now misses his chance to redeem himself... I won't even talk about the others (Zappa plays "Goodbye to Romance" flawlessly though, but that Lisa sounds like she just woke up). The bottom point is, you only have 24 hours in a day, don't waste your time listening to these ... covers, put on the original. "I don't know", indeed...

You think for an Ozzy tribute they would know not to use a bunch of flasetto vocalists. I mean come on! Tim "Ripper" Owens for Mr. Crowley? Dee Snider in Crazy Train? Vince Neil in Paranoid (which isnt even Ozzy in the first place, and even if it was: WTF!)?! Suicide Solution: a F#$%ING dance remix?! How about three virtuoso guitarists (Eddie the Great, Steve Vai, and mayhap Joe Satriani) TRY to match the speed and power of Rhoads in the live setting? That would have been friggn awesome!! But besides the vocal issues the rest of this album is great. In my opinion the standouts on this album are Mark Slaughters vocals in Over the Mountain and also Brad's improvised solo there too. Desire with Lemmy from MOtorhead was great too (hey, didn't he help write that? interesting, now we can hear the voice behind the idea.)

Iwas a little disappointed with Yngwie's work in Mr. Crowley. Instead of using the same riff material that he has used for almost the past decade he could've instead used Rhoad's original guitar tablature, I mean it is even neoclassic and is way faster than what Yngwie attempted.