Blizzard of Oz [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Ozzy Osbourne

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1980
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002B7M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,839 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Don't Know

2. Crazy Train

3. Goodbye to Romance

4. Dee [Instrumental]

5. Suicide Solution

6. Mr. Crowley

7. No Bone Movies

8. Revelation (Mother Earth)

9. Steal Away (The Night)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

The first solo effort by the former lead singer of Black Sabbath, Blizzard of Ozz became a classic, due in large part to Osbourne's partnership with the late Randy Rhoads. The most immediately recognizable song is "Crazy Train," whose distinctive riff has made it a staple of rock radio even today. "Mr. Crowley" and "Suicide Solution" generated considerable controversy, which is equivalent to good press when it comes to heavy metal. Other strong tracks include "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and the opening song, "I Don't Know." While Osbourne hasn't always been taken seriously, even by heavy metal listeners, his influence on the genre has been considerable. Blizzard of Ozz is an excellent example as to why. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DOUBLE CHECK if you're buying on the "New and Used" option., March 21, 2006

By	Juan Carlos De La Cruz (CARACAS, DF Venezuela) - See all my reviews

This is a MASTERPIECE. A Classic featuring the best playing of the time. Rhoads at his best, a ripe Ozzy and a nice Keerslake/Daisley rhythm section.
Unfortunately... it was RE-RECORDED lately and re-issued with Mike Bordin and Robert Trujillo taking places over the original bass and drums tracks. The result being horrible, not because of bad playing, but of a very poor production work, ends up being unnacurate, poor sounding, and not tight at all.

Being a musician myself, and understainding Ozzy's position regarding lawsuits, I must admit this is a step towards non-beligerant options regarding the issue of the two first Ozzy-as-solo-artist records. However, even tho I respect a lot Bordin's and Trujillo's work (they are both fine musicians), I find the end result on this reissue simply disgusting. And not being Bordin and Trujillo's fault precisely. There is a SEVERE lack of precision in the production work, being that there are less-than-discreet differences on sound, on TIMING and what was originally played. It is harder to copy or re-create a work done twenty-something years ago on a note-by-note basis, but what else do fans expect? I mean, nobody ever imagined (or wished) a classic album should be re-done on this fashion, but if you EVER had the original recording, and have a little bit of attention paid to the work here, you will find lots of flaws and missing things, or a loose rhythm section "following" the pre-recorded guitar work, instead of it being the basement for the rest of the music (as it should be...).

Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell this reissue from the original one if you're trying to buy it "new and used" over a website. I got the reissued re-recording instead of the 1995 edition (with the small artwork over a big blue background) since the seller seem not to notice the difference between them, and am severely dissapointed. A clever example of what should never be done to a classic...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get The BLUE one!!!!, April 14, 2002

By	Matthew Jordan "devilmanozzy" (Saint Joseph, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

About the only thing bad about this version of the album, is the cover. This Album was what started the whole Ozzy solo thing, after being kicked out of Black Sabbath. He went thru his ups and downs before gettng to the point of making music again. Thanks to the talents of Randy, Bob and Lee (If you disagree with Bob and Lee's usefullness, go buy the newly recorded remaster which will make you sick!) and Ozzy, We get this great album. By the way, doves taste good with contracts! lol. Onto my review of the songs:1. I Don't Know - Ozzy tells us that he doesn't really know the answers. It's a middle pace song with a good beat. . .90%2. Crazy Train - The biggest song of all. This Sad song later became a symbal of Randys Rhoads as a passing Star. RIP. . .100%3. Goodbye To Romance - Such a soft song. A goodbye to Black Sabbath is what Ozzy said he wrote the song about. . . .90% 4. Dee (Guitar instrumental)- Randy performs this great, and to this day is a trademark of Randy and many young guitar players start out play this guitar Instrumenal. . .85% 5. Suicide Solution - All about drinking. The song is condemning drinking. Of coarse someone missunderstood the music. But thats a story best left to the history of Ozzy. . . .90%6. Mr. Crowley - Well this song was written to Crowley. Cool trippy song in a way. I also enjoy Randys guitar in this one alot. . .95% 7. No Bone Movies - This Song is a mid paced song that is about being a porn additic. A fun song really tho. . . 85%8. Revelation (Mother Earth) - About the end of the world. Somewhat sad, and doomy! I enjoy the piano /guitar bridge. Randy Rules! . . .100% 9. Steal Away (The Night) - A Quick Runaway Love song. So it's a tad odd for ozzy t do it. So what?! It's cool. . .90%If you Like this album check out: Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman (Green Border), Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon (Grey Border), Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears (Brown Border), Black Sabbath - Paranoid (remaster).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Ozzy...His First Solo Album!!, July 5, 2004

By	Robert J. Schneider (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Blizzard of Ozz (Audio CD)

When I first heard about Ozzy Osbourne when I was 13 years old back in 1980, I was told by a sort-of friend who hated him so vociferously that to me at the time, Ozzy sounded like a real no-talent slimeball. I knew nothing of Ozzy's seminal influence as the original lead singer of Black Sabbath; in fact, I didn't even *know* Black Sabbath for anything other than their demonic-sounding name! I wasn't even into heavy Metal at all back then. I certainly knew nothing of Ozzy's talent or influence on heavy rock. Then, later that year, I first heard "Crazy Train" and I was stunned: *This* was the same guy who likes to pee on things, inlcuding the Alamo, and bites the heads off birds??

Of course, I became fascinated with Ozzy in part because of his contradictory aspects. I fell in love with "Crazy Train" and as soon as I first heard "I Don't Know" a couple of years later, I had to FINALLY go out & get the album. I purchased BLIZZARD OF OZZ (1980) on vinyl---of course---in 1983. I purchased the 1995 remaster on CD just a couple of years ago. As influential an album as this was back then, we really take for granted the fact that, when Ozzy assembled himself on lead vocals, Randy Rhoads on lead guitar, Don Airey on keyboards, Bob Daisley on bass guitar and Lee Kerslake on drums, Ozzy was operating heavily on a wing and a prayer---and on heavily controlled substances. His attempt at a comeback after being dismissed from Black Sabbath for good after their so-so NEVER SAY DIE! (1978) album was almost not to be.

As I and many others have learned in the past few years, thanks to Ozzy's candor on VH1, Ozzy was down & out in 1978 when he met Sharon Arden, the daughter of a record company exec who had given up on Ozzy as a drugged-out has-been. Sharon saw something special in him. Soon, they became romantically involved, then married. She tried to shop BLIZZARD OF OZZ around to everybody, and was soundly rejected over & over again---until a growing division of Columbia, Jet Records, decided to give him a shot. (Of course, it was at the release party for the record that Ozzy got drunk and bit the head off a dove that had been released as a sign of goodwill!) Ozzy waded through his newfound infamy while many people---like me---became awed by his music.

After all, what's not to love about his music? On Black Sabbath's NEVER SAY DIE, Ozzy and his soon-to-be-former bandmates sounded rather disjointed & tired. Just as Sabbath became re-energized by the arrival of Ronnie James Dio (culiminating in their own great 1980 album HEAVEN AND HELL), Ozzy became re-energized as well. Working with great British Metal veterans Daisley & Kerslake, and especially with young up-and-coming Californian guitar virtuoso, Randy Rhoads, Ozzy finally re-found his musical inspiration. Ozzy's sound was now very modern and very American. Even with his penchant for drugs and drink, his high tenor voice was in great form. The great, fast-riffing, heart-pumping opening song "I Don't Know" became an anthem for disaffected youth, and the equally-driving "Crazy Train" became the most popular Heavy Metal song of 1980, directly causing a huge resurgence in the popularity of heavy Metal, which in the wake of Disco in the late '70's had been dismissed as "dead music." Talk about rebirth!!

Thanks to this rebirth, I became a huge fan of the music that ended up informing my high school years. I appreciated the melody that went along with the heaviness of the music. All of Ozzy's songs on this album are melodic, and not all of them are heavy. Witness "Goodbye To Romance," a non-heavy, acoustic ballad that shows Ozzy did have a heart, after all! Randy Rhoads' light, acoustic instrumental "Dee" also shows that metallers are not just about "noise." Then, we have the song which actually took four years to become controversial, the unfairly-maligned "Suicide Solution." Let me tell you something about my experience listening to this song: No, I didn't take drugs, I didn't drink, I didn't worhip Satan and this song certainly didn't make me want to kill myself. Enough said. :)

"Mr. Crowley" has a great keyboard intro courtesy of Don Airey, again showing that guitar isn't the *only* instrument used in Heavy Metal. The last three songs never really made much of an impression on me, but that's probably because I played the other songs hundreds of times each! Maybe one of these days, I will revisit "No Bone Movies," "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and "Steal Away (The Night)." Even just on the basis of the first five classic 80's tunes alone, Ozzy Osbourne fully deserved his comeback all the way, and BLIZZARD OF OZZ became his first of many multi-Platinum albums which all shared incredibly smooth production values, great blazing guitar riffs and melodic singing by Ozzy, who never gave himself enough credit for his unique voice. This is still one of the all-time greatest rock albums of the 1980's.

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