siLLy puPPy This has always been one of my favorites and a classic any fans of metal music have surely heard and if you have been living on this planet in the last 30 years and have listened to any classic rock station then you have surely heard the overplayed-to-death track “Crazy Train.” This was Ozzy's first solo album but the record company originally wanted the new band to be called “Son Of Sabbath.” Ozzy hated that idea and considered calling the band “Blizzard Of Ozz” but when all was said and done it was decided to simply make it a solo Ozzy album instead.

After Ozzy left Black Sabbath he struggled to find a new direction to follow. With countless recommendations he eventually ended up recruiting Bob Daisley on bass, who would also contribute to the songwriting process, Lee Kerslake on drums and the newest sensation in the musical world Mr. Randy Rhoads on guitar who took Ozzy's sound into a whole new level of musical credibility. This was a unique crossroads in metal. By combining the lyrics and feel of the doom metal from Black Sabbath with the classical guitar inspired metal that started with Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple with the pyrotechnic flair of Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy and Randy Rhoads gave all of metal a facelift of sort ushering in a new era of traditional heavy metal and thus leaving behind his former legacy as lead singer with Sabbath by separating himself from that sound.

This album is simply a brilliant concoction of classically inspired metal that maintains the catchy riffs of Sabbath but with more sophisticated compositions and the pyrotechnic antics making this an exciting, energetic and dynamic metal masterpiece. The lyrics are somewhat philosophical and retrospective of social issues but Ozzy tends to never over-complicate things thus they are amazingly accessible at the same time.

My favorites on this album include “Suicide Solution,” “Mr. Crowley” and the last two songs that run into each other. The incredible mini-suite performance of “Revelation (Mother Earth)” and it's bombastic counterpart “Steal Away (The Night).” Songs like “Mr. Crowley” were also revolutionary in how Randy Rhoads composed his songs. He eschewed the predictability of where to expect guitar solos, bridges etc while maintaining a somewhat familiar song structure at the same time. He was a master of keeping a sensual organic feel while incorporating lightning fast runs that inspired the neoclassical shredders that followed.

I was perplexed as to why this says it is a 1980 release when my copies say 1981. Turns out it wasn't released in the US until 81. Mystery solved. I feel no need to compare this with Black Sabbath 2.0 with Dio. Both Sabbath and Ozzy were doing interesting things at this point which is the exception rather than the rule of classic bands who split up.

As much as I love this album I do have to admit that it's not perfect. As has been stated countless times before, the unanimous opinion of the two weak tracks here are “Goodbye To Romance” and “No Bone Movies.” I am in the same camp that these indeed should have been replaced by other stronger tracks and Ozzy needed to get away from the whole mandatory ballad inclusion game, but I have to also say that these songs have grown on me to the point where although I don't love them, I don't hate them either. Based on the strength of the rest of the album alone this is a 4.5 star one for me.

Warthur Ozzy's first solo album came out the same year as Sabbath's first post-Ozzy album. Sabbath had their secret weapon in the form of Dio himself; Ozzy, for his part, had his own ace up his sleeve in Randy Rhoads, a prodigiously talented guitarist whose shredding is far and away the most appealing aspect of this album.

Let's face it: as compelling as he was in his prime as a frontman, Ozzy's talent for lyrics has always been hit or miss, and that's never truer than on this album, with dubious rhymes infecting most of the songs and some pieces, like the bizarre anti-porn piece No Bone Movies, descending into incoherence. ("Hungry for bodge", Ozzy? Really?) What Ozzy has always needed is a high-quality musical backing to elevate his wails from drunken rambling to thunderous, almost operatic statements. In Sabbath this was provided by Iommi's doomy riffs; here, it's Rhoads who steps up to the plate with technically flashy soloing that pushes songs such as I Don't Know and Crazy Train from goof-off territory into the staples of Ozzy's act they became.

However, in any review carried out today, the album needs to hold its own not only against Heaven and Hell - which I would argue is a more consistent album, having no song as out of place or limp as the utterly needless ballad Goodbye to Romance that blots the running order here - but also faces stiff competition from Tribute, the double live album documenting the 1981 tour which was released in honour of Randy. Said album includes all the songs from here, plus a wealth of classical guitar material from Randy culled from the recording of the brief interlude Dee on Blizzard, without the sleek studio production job that renders some songs (such as Suicide Solution) rather lifeless on this disc. On balance, Blizzard of Ozz was a listenable and entertaining product that proved that Ozzy could be a viable commercial force without Sabbath, but it's not stood the test of time nearly as well as Heaven and Hell, or Ozzy and Rhoads' own Tribute.

Kingcrimsonprog Ozzy Osbourne released his debut solo album in 1980 and it has since went on to become an all-time classic album in the eyes of many. It contains a lot of great material and grows on you with each listen.

The album is one of only two studio albums with the late Randy Rhodes on board as the guitarist. Randy’s guitar playing is the stuff of legends as I’m sure you’ve already heard if you like this kind of music.

Blizzard Of Ozz features the classic tracks ‘Crazy Train,’ ‘Suicide Solution,’ and ‘Mr Crowley,’ all of which are essential listening for any Ozzy fan. The album is also strong as a whole, with great rocking tracks like ‘I Don’t Know,’ and ‘No Bone Movies,’ keeping the album’s energy up alongside a few softer moments for variety.

The album is strong in terms of songwriting, a masterpiece guitar-wise and Ozzy’s excellent vocals have rarely sounded better. Overall, Blizzard Of Ozz is definitely a must have album for Ozzy fans.

This 2011 expanded edition of the album does not come with linear notes or a DVD, but thankfully does feature the original performance by the original musicians remastered to the highest quality. This is not the version where Mike Bordin and Rob Trujillo were made to overdub the original rhythm section out of the mix. Furthermore, there is the bonus tracks ‘RR,’ and ‘You Looking At Me, Looking At You,’ in addition to an alternative version of the ballad ‘Goodbye To Romance,’

If you want to listen to Blizzard Of Ozz, this is a great way to do it.

UMUR "Blizzard of Ozz" is the debut full-length studio album by UK heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne. The album was released in September 1980 by Jet Records. Not being content to rest on his laurals, Ozzy Osbourne soon decided to start a solo career after he left/ was kicked out of Black Sabbath. He brought in a couple of experienced gentlemen in Bob Daisley on bass, Lee Kerslake on drums and Don Airey on keyboards but maybe his greatest find was the young and talented guitarist Randy Rhoads who along with Bob Daisley and Ozzy Osbourne co-wrote all the music on the album.

The music on the album is traditional heavy metal. Most tracks on the album are pretty straight forward rockers/ metal tracks but actually out of 9 tracks you´ll find two ballad type tracks ( "Goodbye to Romance" ( note how Beatles influenced those melody lines are) and "Revelation (Mother Earth)") and a short acoustic guitar instrumental ( "Dee"). Highligts here for me are "Crazy Train", "Suicide Solution", "I Don't Know" and the dark "Mr. Crowley". The rest is standard to good but seldom reaches excellence. As a whole the album comes off a bit inconsistent and unfocused.

With such experienced musicians on board the musicianship on the album is of course impeccable but it´s the "new" man Randy Rhoads that steals the show with his inventive playing and neo-classical ideas. The songs are always in focus here though, so don´t expect a guitar hero album.

"Blizzard of Ozz" is actually not as good as I remembered it to be ( it´s been years since my last listen) but it´s still a good album by Ozzy Osbourne deserving a 3 - 3.5 star rating.

Negoba Absolute Classic Shows Its Age

When Ozzy emerged from his break with Black Sabbath, he had struck an unbelievably lucky from his drug induced haze when he accepted young guitar genius Randy Rhoads for his band. Rhoads had been the leader of Van Halen's local rival Quiet Riot, which had never quite broke at that point. Rhoads' classically influenced heavy metal was essentially unheard before, though Ritchie Blackmore and Eddie certainly had set the stage in their own arenas. Where Eddie dazzled through crazy raw talent, Randy had achieved his amazing abilities through dedication and force of will. Though he wasn't a complete rookie on Diary of a Madman, he was still a bit raw. (Ozzy of course being cooked.)

Almost every song on this album is classic, amazing heavy metal, and most of the riffs were already old friends for Randy long before Ozzy came calling. "Suicide Solution"'s riff actually already appeared on a Quiet Riot song, and the riffs for "Crazy Train" had been used for teaching purposes back when Randy was giving lessons. But the combination of those riffs with Ozzy's vocals and dark lyrics was a perfect match. Every song on this album is great with the exception of "No Bone Movies," and perhaps "Goodbye to Romance," even before you start to consider the guitar solos.

So many guitarists have deconstructed every guitar solo on this album, including this author. Even "Romance" has a great simple lead that is just perfect for the song. "Crazy Train" and "I Don't Know" are guitar classics, but it is "Mr. Crowley" that is just an amazing piece of metal music. The solos on this one are probably Randy's best, and there are plenty of them.

So why not a perfect score? The production, simply. It's BAD. The rhythm section is not very good. And the entire album is included on Tribute with those problems more than fixed. Randy's playing is much more fluid and relaxed, but if anything faster and explosive. The tone is better, the rhythms more propulsive.

Bottom Line: Absolute Classic of Metal - but the live version is even better.

SouthSideoftheSky All aboard!

Blizzard Of Ozz was Ozzy Osbourne’s first solo album and it is a classic of the genre. Ozzy was kicked out of Black Sabbath after the Never Say Die album in 1978 and he started recording this album in 1979. The band that he gathered around him was an all star cast consisting of Bob Daisley (ex-Rainbow) on bass, Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep) on drums, Don Airey (who played on the Never Say Die album among many others) on keyboards and Randy Rhoads (ex-Quiet Riot) on guitars. The latter is an amazing player who it often cited (together with Yngwie Malmsteen) as the originator of Neo-Classical Metal and his solos on this album are fantastic. He even gets to play a lovely short acoustic instrumental number called Dee (which continues the tradition of Ozzy’s former band where Tony Iommi often played acoustic instrumentals on the albums).

Songs like Mr. Crowley (about Alistair Crowley), Crazy Train and I Don’t Know became instant classics and were played live by Ozzy for the rest of his long career. Goodbye To Romance is a ballad that together with Dee brings an appealing diversity to the album. Revelation (Mother Earth) is more of a progressive song of the kind that Ozzy would often do on subsequent albums, most notably the excellent title track on the Diary Of A Madman album. The only songs I don’t like very much here are No Bone Movies and Steel Away The Night. These rather straightforward songs keeps this album from getting an even higher rating from me.

Highly recommended addition to any Metal collection

dees_74 This is one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. Simply put it is an absolute masterpiece. This was Ozzy's first album with Guitar God Randy Rhodes, and it is simply jaw dropping! The opener, I don't know sets the stage for a musical tour deforce. Crazy Train, probably Ozzy's best known song is that for good reason. The guitar work that Rhoads offers is phenomenal. The sweet ballad Goodbye to Romance is one of Ozzy's best, and the guitar solo drips with emotion. Suicide Solution returns to the metal and is a heavy riff fest about the dangers of alcohol abuse. This track was used in a court case saying it had subliminal messages telling people to 'get the gun' and 'shoot'. All rubbish, but a good track anyway. Side 2 begins with Mr. Crowley, One of the BEST on this album. The outro solo alone is worth buying the album for. No Bones Movies is a sleazy jaunt dealing with the joys of pornography. Probably the weakest track on the album. Next is the Epic Revelation Mother Earth. This neo-classical masterpiece is highlighted by a piano interlude before the bombastic climax. The album closes with Steal Away the Night. A somewhat poppy and catch tune with another set of blistering guitar jems courtesy of Randy Rhoads. If you haven't yet purchased this album, try and find an original, the latest have re-recorded bass and drum tracks.