Customer Reviews

Tribute

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's pretty hard to describe this album. If you loved Randy Rhoads' work on the studio albums, prepare to be even more blown away then you already were. He adds so much little stuff live, it sounds absolutely fantastic. His solo in the middle of "Suicide Solution" is one of the best I've ever heard.

When you think about how young he was, and how talented he was, and how succesful he was going to be, you will get sad. At least I did. In 2 years, he influenced so many guitar players to come, it's incredible. Even in relatively simple songs, such as "Paranoid", he manages to add an unbelievable solo that you never would have expected. Every song from "Blizzard" is on here, and in my opinion, they all sound better. "Beleiver" and "Flying High Again" also sound great. This album doesn't have all the unnecessary bad language that Live & Loud has, and is a better album anyway (although Live & Loud is pretty good). Randy's guitar work is just amazing, that's all I can say, you really have to hear it for yourself. R.I.P. Randy, we love you.

I originally bought this CD more than a decade ago. If you could somehow "add up" the musical talent of all the artists on the dozens of CDs I've bought since then, it might--just might--come close to the talent you'll hear on this one.

There have been, and always will be, many guitarists who possess the same level of technical ability that Randy Rhoads did. A few have probably even surpassed him in that area. But being a great musician isn't so easy as developing mere technical ability. Instead, it demands a raw, innate creativity that makes the listener ask, "how did he ever come up with that?"

We've all heard Ozzy songs, if only on the radio. If you like them at all, you will love "Tribute." Why? Well, I always despised the horribly over-produced, over-polished sound on Ozzy's releases from the 80s (i.e. "Blizzard Of Oz," etc.). The music just sounds "canned," for lack of a better word. You won't find any of that here. Instead, Randy's incredible talent shines through. I don't think there has ever been a better guitarist.

In discussions of music, it is often suggested that a particular artist either lacks or has "feeling." If you never fully understood what that meant (and who could blame you?), listen to this CD carefully and all will come clear.

I am usually not one for live CDs. I think they tend to just be limited performances that usually suffer from poor production. It is the other way around with this CD. I find that Ozzy Osbourne really outdoes himself as does his guitarist Randy Rhodes. Together their songs are packed with such energy and force that this CD just cannot be missed. There is not a bad note on the entire disc. The best moments on this Cd are "Suicide Solution" which features a guitar solo from Rhodes that just left me in shock. It was metal guitar that could not be topped. As for the rest of the album it is just as good. Most of Osbourne's hits are heard and they are performed very well. Some even sound better on this album then their original studio recordings. Definately pick up this Cd, because it goes beyond excellence. This was Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhodes in their prime and it cannot be missed.

Ozzy Osbourne's tribute to the late Randy Rhoads is an excellant showcase of his talents with the electric guitar. I personally recomend the CD for anyone who wants to experiance the genius Randy displayed with his few short years with The Blizzard of Ozz. It was a real tragedy when Randy died and I am particularly saddened that no one can know how great Randy could have been. If you are looking for a straight Ozzy live album, skip Tribute right now for Live and Loud and come back to Tribute later. The live versions of such hits as Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley, and Flying High Again are magnificent, and the solo in the middle of Suicide Solution will amaze you. An excellant album, a real treasure of a fallen guitar hero.

Tribute... Live... these are albums commonly associated withsomething only hardcore fans of a particular artist or act would buy.This 16-track powerhouse, containing the entire Blizzard of Ozz album, a few tracks from Diary of a Madman, and 3 classic Sabbath songs, plus studio outtakes of 'Dee', quickly erases that connotation, rather, making this live/tribute album an essential buy for not only Ozzy / Randy Rhoads fans, but for any guitar freak or lover of rock. Rhoads is given free room to roam live. No studio constraints means that he plays these songs his way. His exhuberance and talent not only bring out the best in each song when performed live, without studio enhancement (the only enhancement is slight post-production on the mix) but obviously has an effect on Osbourne, who is obviously having the time of his life during this concert. (Unlike most 'cut and paste' live albums, this was recorded during one single concert, giving it a remarkable sense of continuity) Throughout the album, the entire band is given their chance to demonstrate that they were Ozzy's best backing band, but Rhoads is obviously the star, especially during a few select guitar solos (Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley) and his own showcase during Suicide Solution, which is as close of a guitar summit as Eddie Van Halen's 'Eruption'. Rhoads was that good. The only difference is the amount of time he had to demonstrate it. One cannot help but compare Rhoads to Eddie Van Halen, because at the time of these recordings, they were far and away the two greatest guitar players out there, possibly, ever. Their styles are similar, and it's almost impossible to say one's better than the other, especially since Rhoads, thanks to his short life, wasn't given a fair chance to challenge the master. This album remains a perfect tribute to him, his talents, and Ozzy Osbourne's greatest era, (Mr. Osbourne proves to be a softy, constantly chanting 'We love you all' throughout the album). It's quite possibly the best live album ever recorded.

Some of the most brilliant people of the 20th century are not Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, or others. They have been people like Randy Rhoads who never had to say a word, but wrote volumes. It is unfortunate that more have not experienced his music, but I feel special to have been touched by his light. It is hard to imagine that five albums can change your life so much, but any Randy fan will agree it is true. You have not really lived until you have "flown high" with RR.

ok, first off, this album is amazing, and i highly recommend it. Now to clear up a few things about it. This album was not simply a moneymaking scheme of Ozzy's. At first he didn't want to release it because he felt it would be taken as such, but after talking to randy's wife, and in response to the plethora of fan letters, he decided to release it. Second, this album is dedicated to randy rhoads (obviously) and so only contains material with randy playing. Unfortunately, this collection is the entirety of live perfomances of randy's recorded with ozzy (legally), and that's why the tracklist is what it is. SO NO MORE COMPLAINING!

I've just purchased my second copy of this CD, the first being permanently borrowed by a former friend 9 years ago or so. The album however is just as I remember it. It opens with the La Fortuna chorus from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana", a rock gesture that is effective if somewhat cliche'd. Of course there is no shortage of contrived rock gestures here - Osbourne works the crowd with the requisiste "We love you all"s and bellows of "Rock'n'roll", but somehow it's not difficult to suspend jaded disbelief and be sucked into the atmosphere of what is a truly phenomenal series of live performances.

And now to Randy Rhoads, the undisputed star of this show. His playing is incredibly fast, flawlessly executed, often searingly beautiful, and EXCITING. Randy totally attacks each of the songs, effortlessly filling the role of what would ordinarily be two guitarists. Each track is laden with galloping fills and frantic runs, squeals and slides, and some of his solos are heart-stopping. The best tracks for me are "I don't know", "Crazy Train", "Mr Crowley" and "Suicide Solution". This last is perhaps the ultimate highlight - Randy is all over the song, embellishing what is in truth a rather neanderthal riff with a frenzy of electrifying licks. Towards the end Osbourne halts the song and introduces his "new guitarist" who after a masterful crescendo of feedback launches into what is the most astonishing guitar solo I think I have ever heard. Randy unleashes his guitar with a series of awesome solo sections. His style is to construct jagged edifices of sound and fury, then to dissolve these impatiently with pick glissando before creating something even more awesome. The last section especially is a rapid figure that Randy attacks with unparalled ferocity and plays impossibly faster and faster before heralding the song's refrain.

This album is a testament to what was truly a tragic loss for guitar and for music. Randy's playing sounds a bit out of place on some of the numbers (particularly the old Sabbath classics "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" - Randy's virtuosity simply overflows the dimensions of these Tony Iommi songs) but all in all if you're a fan of guitar then this album is highly recommended. Awesome!

You have to appeciate Randy's work. he was one of the best. i cry when i hear Goodbye To Romance on this. It sounds like its about Randy. God, i miss him. Anyways before the tears well up, i just wanted to say, you must have this album, its so good, that when you hear the guitar solo, you will fall down. And Randy Rhoads Dee Studio Outtakes is amazing, just think he written that for his Mother, and he was making it perfect. He will be truly missed. pick this one up and look at some Pictures of Randy online. - 12 year old music fan, Mean Street, Love Ya Randy, Forever...

In the words of Wolf Marshall "[Randy Rhoads] left behind a few precious gems of guitar wizardry."

If he hadn't died in a tragic plane crash in 1982, he would've undoubtedly gone on to become the greatest guitar player on Earth. His musical genius combined with his reputed good nature, made for one extraordinary human being.

I believe brevity will do the trick here:

Randy Rhoads was an innovative guitar maestro. This is the only album that does his memory justice by displaying his skill in a live setting. Buy it for the guitar mastery, buy it because it's a collection of Ozzy's best songs, buy it because this is an elegy to an era of great guitarists and to a great guitarist.