Customer Reviews

Down to Earth

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

im a sabbath fan. im an ozzy fan. but ozzy just hasnt been the same since..well...he got sober and quit drugs. ever since No more tears, hes had that mainstream sound. also, why the heck was zakk ditched for writing and replaced with this 'joe holmes' character. his riffs...just are mediocre. im the guy that still craves the legendary sound of zakk when they wrote No Rest for the Wicked. now THAT was an ozzy album. still, this album has its bright spots. PS: to the guy that said Mike Bordin was a million times better than randy castillo ever was: WRONG. randy was simply the greatest drummer ozzy ever had in his solo career.

Gets me Through (8/10): i dunno, i feel like ive heard it before. its just so...predictable. i HATE predictablility. still, holmes writes a so-so riff and zakk plays it. the words are a bit uninspired.

Facing Hell (10/10): Yes. the best track on the album peroid. the solo zakk plays is the best ive heard since no more tears, and although the lyrics are all cliche, i still think this should have been a single. or something.

Dreamer (9/10): it loses that 1 point cuz ive heard it so many times. after you hear it 10 billion times, you get tired of it. this coming from the guy that listens to blizzard/diary/bark/ultimate/wicked 24/7. ozz sings of global warming, but the piano bit sounds similar to ozzmosis' Old LA Tonight.

No Easy Way Out (9/10): i like this too. sure, its a bit nu metalish and all cliche lyrics, but it rocks well.

That I never Had (8/10): the echoing ozzy voice is so ANNOYING! but, the solo is simply amazing, as only zakk could play (and holmes could write).

You Know...(5/10): a waste of my time.

Junkie (9/10): this is a great song. ozz sings of his looonngg battle with drugs. good solo/riffs.

Running out of time (9/10): ozzy sings of dying, which i dont want to think about because he is god. actually a decent song, i think its probably better than Dreamer anyway.

Black Illusion (6/10): headache time. stuffed to the brim with horror monsters-eating-me-killing-you-guy type lyrics. the chorus just falls flat.

Alive (7/10): the way it falls in and out of ballad mode and into heavy mode is quite good, but the playback is annoying, forming a so-so song.

Can you Hear Them (6/10): more killing-you-guy lyrics, but the brilliant part is the instrumentals (the constant drum beating, and the dual guitars). unfortuatly, not a great way to end the album.

OVERALL: well, zakk sounds muffled. the whole guitar area is lacking with its cookie-cutter riffs and solos. get zakk back on the writing team. in fact, the whole writing team was pretty inexperienced anyway, and it painfully shows on this album. still, ive loved ozzy since i saw Shot in the Dark on MTV, and i thank ozzy for trying to go back to a heavy sound after the balladfest of ozzmosis. unfortunatly, singers evolve their sound, as has ozzy. the whole music scence really has changed, adn we'll never hear the 80's type of music. still, i love ozzy, and i still listen to this from time to time. ozzy noobs: tryout Blizzard of Ozz, DIary of a Madman or No Rest for the Wicked first. also listen to Master of Reality (black sabbath).

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.

Many other reviewers on this site complain that Ozzy has recorded a piece of garbage, and that it is a sellout. Nothing could be further from the truth. On Ozzy's 8th studio album, he takes the crunching metal rhythms of No Rest For The Wicked with the odd, sweeping landscape of Ozzmosis and gives them a contemporary feel. The album starts off with a bizarre piano piece on Gets Me Through which leads to a Led Zeppelin-esque thunder riff. Facing Hell, the next track is great and so are the rest. Go and buy.

While suspicions were high for Ozzy's 2001 CD, Ozzy once again has proved to everyone that if someday he does go away, it won't be quietly. From the chunky riff of "Gets Me Through" to the amazing guitar solo of "That I Never Had" this CD doesn't let up its intensity for a minute. Its a certain intensity that even makes ballads like "Dreamer" and "Running Out Of Time" have a timeless appeal. Zakk Wylde does the guitar work, and with his name..you know it's nothing less than excellence.

Since his last studio album, 1995's "Ozzmosis", Ozzy has had many other projects (Ozzfest, Reunited Black Sabbath) and it seems the time off has done his music good. Ozzy seems re-energized by his new band. The best songs on this CD are "Gets Me Through", "Facing Hell", "Junkie", "Running Out Of Time", and "That I Never Had". I highly recommend this to any fan of heavy rock.

We are in dire need of artists like Osbourne today. "Down To Earth" proves that a man over 50, with kids, can still rock hard and have something to say. Where is Mr. Osbourne on the radio?? Do we only get to hear old Black Sabbath and "Crazy Train"? As Ozzy shows us here, he has more to offer such as "Get Me Through", "Facing Hell", "Dreamer" and "Junkie". Ozzy needs to put these bland musicmakers like Creed, Nickleback, Staind, Lifehouse and Tool six feet under, R.I.P. One more thing Ozzy has going for him and his music unlike all these new bands--HUMOR! Open up the cd booklet and you can tell he doesn't take himself all that seriously! It's refreshing to have an old friend like Ozzy back again. Now if we could only get him to create more albums more often...

Now, sure, some may argue that No More Tears wasn't the best Ozzy album ever, but I'll go on record as saying Zakk Wylde made that album as hot as it was.

Well, Zakk's back - and so is Ozzy, in a big way. Backed up by Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies) on bass and Mike Bordin (Faith No More) on drums, Ozzy's got an amazingly tight and solid band behind him.

The plain, simple truth is that Zakk is the best metal guitarist on the scene right now. After the two studio albums from his Black Label Society, this is pretty much undeniable. Combined with the distinctive voice of Ozzy, the two of them create a signature sound that is instantly recognizable and very, very welcome amidst the dredge of rap-rock that's on the radio nowadays.

You will not be disappointed by this album.

No, this may not be the greatest Ozzy album, but since when does an Ozzy album need to be his greatest to earn 5 stars? Even if this is the worst Ozzy album, it is still better than 95% of the music released in 2001, and still an album worth listening to.

Summary:
Track 3:No Easy Way Out is decent
Track 1 :Gets Me Through is decent

All the rest in my opinion,is pretty much awful.
His pattern is to put a few good albums and then put out a bad one.

The good news is that usually following a bad one comes an excellent one..I can't wait until that time.
For now I'll stick with his previous stuff.
Here's how I rank this album with some of the others;

1)Diary of A Madman
2)No More Tears
3)Blizzard of Ozz
4)Ozzmosis
5)Bark at the Moon

6)Speak of the Devil
7)Tribute
8)Ultimate Sin
9)Down to Earth
10)No Rest For The Wicked

As you can see,I feel this one nears the bottom of the barrel..
Definitely not Ozzy's best effort.
I believe he needs to stop trying to get that "modern sound" and go back to what he has always done best in the past,which is write rocking songs with excellent hooks and melodies ...
He needs to focus on his core market ;the 28-40 year old group
that grew up listening to him and Sabbath..
That's where the money is...

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...