Down to Earth

Ozzy Osbourne

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 16, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 16, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005QG9G
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,041 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
For the first five minutes of Down to Earth, one feels like cracking open the champagne to celebrate a triumphant return. To a deliciously dirty blues riff that sounds like Led Zeppelin getting hot and sweaty with prime Black Sabbath, "Gets Me Through" finds Ozzy deconstructing his showbiz persona in a Robbie Williams-turns-rock-god style: "I'm not the kind of person you think I am . . . I try to entertain you the best I can." It's a brilliant track that's at least partially a parody, yet it rocks like a bastard. The rest of the album, however, isn't quite up to the opener's high standards. "Facing Hell," while a fine foot-stomper, is stuffed with horror clichés. The same goes for "Black Illusion" and "Can You Hear Them." The album really goes off the rails, though, with "Dreamer" where Ozzy weeps about global warming and "You Know," in which our hero apologizes to his kids. But even at its worst Down to Earth displays enough eccentricity to keep one entertained and brimming with respect. --Ian Watson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just forget Ozzmosis ever happened., October 20, 2001

By	Lincoln 6 Echo "Power Metal Head" (Harrisburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Ozzy's new "Down to Earth" album is a triumphant return to the Ozzy of old. It has a sound somewhere in between "No More Tears" and "No Rest for the Wicked". Great guitar riffs and rhythums. Decent guitar solos. Ozzy must have learned something from all of the Ozzy Fests. But can we blame him for trying to make a mainstream album back in '95 when the music industry had turned to bands like David Matthews and the like? Well maybe not, but he has finally gone back to his ripping melodies and classic Ozzy vocals.

Most of the songs are good unlike what Amazon had to say. Actually I found that the "Gets Me Through" single isn't as good as the rest of the album. The second song, "Facing Hell" is good. It contains a good guitar rhythum. "Dreamer" is a ballad of sorts like "Momma I'm Coming Home" was. "No Easy Way Out" totally rocks with a cool guitar riff going on. In fact that song was a seller in itself to a friend of mine. "That I Never Had" is pretty good. Decent guitar rhythums. "You Know...(Part 1) is a short light song of what about I don't know. Confused on that one.

"Junkie" is pretty good as well. "Running Out of Time" starts out kinda like an acoustical ballad, but then electrifies later on in the song and is actually quite interesting. The last three songs, "Black Illusion", "Alive", and "Can You Hear Them?" all are excellent rockers. Great guitar rhythums and solos.

The only thing I found strange was that the "clean" distinguishable bass sound is not at all prevalent in this album as I believe the bass is used quite a lot in a rhythum guitar mode.

The band members are Ozzy on lead vocals of course, Zakk Wylde on Guitar, Robert Trujillo on Bass, and former drummer from "Faith No More"--Mike Bordin on Drums. I think Mike Bordin is somewhat responsible for the change in sound on this album. Although I could be wrong.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ozzy Really Brought "Down to Earth" with this Subpar Outing, August 17, 2005

By	Christopher C. Rydo (Rancho Cucamonga, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know the rest of the die-hard Ozzy fanatics will likely chastise me for giving this album only two stars, but let's face facts. "Down to Earth" is easily Ozzy's worst album EVER. Compared with his previous efforts, it's very uninspired and unoriginal, the only saving grace being the always excellent musicianship of his backing band.

Now, I'm one of the biggest Ozzy fans I know. I see him in concert every time he comes around Southern California, I have all of his albums, bootlegs, etc... Maybe that's why I hold him to such a high standard. From another artist, this album may have pulled three stars or better. But from Ozzy? Come on... First of all, when the only standout track on your album is a carbon copy clone of John Lennon's "Imagine", you know you've got issues. All of the metal tracks sound the same! There is not one memorable guitar riff on this whole album. Think back to Ozzy's previous efforts. With the exception of maybe a few songs on "Ozzmosis", every track on every album had its own identity and a very distinct guitar riff, whether it be "Crazy Train", "Fire in the Sky", or even "AVH", for Christ's sake! Everything on this CD sounds like generic sludge metal; the stuff you'd hear on "alternative modern rock radio" any given time of day. Come on Ozzy, you once said that part of the reason Black Sabbath failed in the end is because they started sounding too much like bands they themselves had influenced. You're sounding too much like bad Soundgarden...or God forbid, Nickelback!

The lead-off track, "Gets me Through", is a relatively boring sludge-rocker, with no real punch. With it's diminished piano intro, it sounds like a mundane version of Ozzmosis's "Perry Mason"; a far superior opening track. Then we get to "Facing Hell", probably the best rocker on the album(although the alternate version on "Prince of Darkness" is WAY better). And then there's "Dreamer", that John Lennon song I was talking about. It's actually pretty good, and like I said before, Ozzy's ballads usually steal the show, but I just wish his Lennonesque influence wasn't so obvious. I mean, he pretty much steals "Imagine" line for line... (ex:"Your higher power may be God or Jesus Christ/It doesn't really matter much to me/With out each other's help there is no hope for us"...etc.)And the rest of the stuff blends together for the most part. "You Know, pt.1", is pretty interesting(from what I've heard, it's an ode to his daughter from his first marriage), but it's too short. Where's "pt.2"?

In all fairness to Ozzy, it is hard for any artist to stay dynamic and awe-inspiringly original after so many years. But it's a guarantee that the next time Ozzy does a solo tour, he'll be using his good-ole tried and true set list, the one that dips heavily into "Blizzard of Ozz" and "No More Tears"; and he'll leave all of this stuff behind. And if he does make another album, don't enlist the likes of Dave Grohl to help you write it! You've got Zakk Wylde...use him! Or Jerry Cantrell, or Mike Inez, and most of all, Ozzy himself! Leave the crap to Nickelback and the White Stripes...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for the next Ozzy/Sabbath album? This could be it!, October 28, 2001

By	"blozor" (Jacksonville, AR United States) - See all my reviews

I started this album thinking it was going to be another No More Tears or Ozzmosis, and I was disappointed upon the first listen. I wasn't expecting to get out if it on the first listen what I actually did get out of it on the second listen. This album sounds almost nothing like anything else in Ozzy's solo career. There's no fast, glam metal guitar, there's not as many screeching, catchy Randy Rhoads or Zakk Wylde guitar riffs. What makes this album special is the fact that it sounds more like a vintage Black Sabbath album than it does an Ozzy Osbourne solo album. It comes complete with all of the tuned-down, heavy guitar riffs and crunches that sound a little too suspiciously like something Tony Iommi would dream up. The lyrics on the strongest songs, "Can You Hear Them?" "No Easy Way Out" and "Alive" are also more mature and twinged with creepier, gothic imagery.

I think some of this has to do with the fact that almost none of it was written with the help of Zakk Wylde. Instead, it was almost completely written with guitarist Joe Holmes, so it doesn't have a lot of Zakk's style.

My only complaint is that this album has too many acoustic ballads. "Dreamer" sounds too much like Lennon's "Imagine," and compared to songs like "Road To Nowhere" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home," the ballads on this album just fall completely flat. Still, when this album picks it up and kicks out the metal, it rocks. "Can You Hear Them?" I think is the strongest track on the album, kicking in with a strong beat and the type of smart, doomy lyrics that the Disturbed and Godsmack listeners of today would really enjoy. As do some of the other stronger songs, such as "No Easy Way Out," "Alive" and "Junkie," (a Rollins-esque song about his almost 30-year battle with drugs).

If you don't go into this album expecting to hear "No More Tears" or "Perry Mason," and instead "Iron Man" or "NIB," then you should like it.