Customer Reviews

Ozzy Osborne Years

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Black Sabbath has had way more than their share of compilations, most of them unknowingly released without any consent from the band. "The Ozzy Years" is one such compilation. Still, if you're looking for a good compilation from what's widely considered their "Golden Years", this is definitely the one to keep in mind.

"The Ozzy Years" contains everything from the first six Black Sabbath albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage), MINUS all the instrumental songs. Actually one additional song is notably missing: "Wicked World". It's a song that showed up only on US versions of their self-titled debut album, whereas "Evil Woman" (which IS included in this set) only showed up on UK printings of the debut. Also, for some reason "Children of the Grave" is mistitled here as "Embryo". That's actually the name of the instrumental acoustic guitar intro to "Children of the Grave". But rest assured, "Children of the Grave" is what you're getting on the CD set here.

This 3-CD set was released in 1991 by Castle Records. I think this was a Japanese-only release. In any case, I remember that we could only get it here in the U.S. "on import". Though the fact that it included the much sought-after "Evil Woman" track made it worth persuing. By the way, Castle was also the company who in the 80s released strange versions of Black Sabbath's back catalog on CD and cassette (they'd usually have a strange track order, absolutely no liner notes, covers printed off-color, etc.), although cheaper than the Warner Brother's printings. Then in 1996 Castle remastered the 1970-1986 catalog.

Note that this compilation does not include EVERY Black Sabbath song with Ozzy at the microphone. He stayed in the band long enough to make two additional albums (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die) before being fired in 1979, reuniting with them in 1985 for Live Aid, 1992 for his "retirement" show, and in 1997 for the "Ozzfest" shows.

If you're looking for all 8 studio albums, track for track, with deluxe packaging and all, go buy the "Black Box" box set. It includes both "Wicked World" and "Evil Woman" too. If you're looking for a little less, there's the remastered 2-CD collection "Symptom of the Universe" and countless single-CD compilations like "We Sold Our Souls for Rock N' Roll". But the time span and average price of a used copy of "The Ozzy Years" makes it hard for the casual fan to pass up.

I bought this set, not knowing what to think, because it suspiciously looked like a bootleg. Bootleg or not, it is great. Has all the ozzy years of bs and they sound wonderful. Makes you realize that the rock and roll hall of fame has its head up somewhere for not including these folks in thier doors. All the songs are great, and BS is the beatles to metal.

Forget "We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'N Roll." You can't fit the best of Ozzy-era Black Sabbath onto one CD.

Grab this one instead. It's nicely priced for an import and worth every penny. This 3 CD collection is amazing!

Having the first six Sabbath albums on three CDs is brilliant! To feel the mood of the original albums this is the only way to go. You gotta hear the transition from Behind the Wall of Sleep to N.I.B. through Luke's Wall. The only Sabbath CD I owned before this was We Sold Our Souls... which culls music from these albums and scatters them around. After buying this on a friend's recommendation I gained a deeper level of respect for this band. Too many people thrash to Iron Man or Paranoid without exploring the other great cuts in the catalog. They're all here.

If you're going for the complete CD collection ala MOJO, this is a definite cornerstone of the rock building. Go For It!

Somebody needs to package the first 6 Van Halen albums like this.

It dosent have the 'Technical Ecstacy' or 'Never say die' albums, but most hard core Black Sabbath fans (Like me) will tell you those two where not up to the first six albums standards anyways. (in other words - they were the bands first two bomb albums) This thing is a great have for all Black Sabbath fans & an MUST for Black Sabbath virgins!

I have never written a review since I've been a member,but needed to for those who may be thinking of getting some quality Black Sabbath music.This 3 cd set is a great quality and selection of music.Very well remastered,and captures the best
years of one of the best groups ever to rock.Although,for those
diehard fans,it's not a complete set and you will have to purchase some extra music,but still a great collection by any
standard.You can't go wrong with this set,you won't be sorry!!!

There is only one word to describe this CD set...AWESOME. This takes the first 6 albums of Sabbath and gets the best cuts from them. If you're a diehard fan or new to them this is the one to start off with. It's the ultimate sabbath set other than the Black Box (2004). My favorite cuts are Megolamania, Behind the Wall of Sleep, N.I.B, and Ironman. The inclusion of The Writ, Spiral Architect, and A National Acrobat are awsome too. Bottomline, buy this.

These discs have AN IDEAL succession of tracks mirroring their original track line up on the individual records. You will listen to this box and play again and play again. While many have considered this box a "best of", there is another box called "Under the Wheels of Confusion"(also an IMPORT)that utilizes the years without Ozzy. I lost this box while moving between houses and I have missed it ever since, Independant & Corporate record houses can't order this box(I've tried); if you collect archives then this is something special simply for the aestetic value.

I bought mine in Okinawa, Japan and I loved it from the day I bought it. I HIGHLY and STRONGLY reccommend it for any Ozzy or Black Sabbath fan

This is the quintessetial collection of classic Sabbath - Put these disks in and hit random shuffle - you can't get a bad track - Mandatory Mechandise for any true Ozzy fan