Ozzy Osbourne (Blizzard Of Ozz) 1980 

Blizzard Of Ozz is the debut album of
Ozzy Osbourne fresh off from his stint with
Black Sabbath. It's also the debut of Guitar God
Randy Rhoads who left then, little known
Quiet Riot to join up with
Ozzy and company. Rounding out the album is
Bob Daisley on Bass and on Drums is
Lee Kerslake. For the tour,
Rudy Sarzo (Quite Riot) would take over on Bass and
Tommy Aldridge on Drums.
Blizzard is loaded with instant classics from top to bottom from
I Don't Know to
Crazy Train to
Goodbye To Romance to
Mr. Crowley to
Revelation (Mother Earth). And
Randy gets to shine on the acoustic gem
Dee, which is a tribute to his Mother
Delores. Also on
Blizzard is the very controversial
Suicide Solution, which has been blamed for the suicide of a 14 year kid who shot himself after listening to
Ozzy records.
It's strange, but I wasn't so much a fan of
Ozzy, as I was of
Randy. I worshiped him when
Blizzard and
Diary Of A Madman came out. I think I worshiped
Randy more than I did
Eddie Van Halen at the time. There are so many great riffs on this record courtesy of
Randy. This is one of the earliest albums that I literally tore apart learning as much as I could on the guitar. I have to point out that now days, I prefer the live version of
Crazy Train found on the
Tribute album. One listen to that and you will hear why
Randy was such a great performer live and that it just makes the studio version pale in comparison.
I absolutely recommend this to anyone that has never picked it up. But be wary,
Ozzy and
Sharon Osbourne pulled a fast one on unsuspecting fans for the
2002 reissue wherein they replaced the Bass and Drum parts with then bandmates
Robert Trujillo (Metallica) and
Mike Bordin (Faith No More). Did they really think that fans wouldn't object to this? Not cool at all.
Ozzy has said that he had nothing to do with removing the parts. I tend to believe him because
Sharon is the puppet master and most likely the one lay all the blame on.
Fave Songs: All of 'em. Co-MVP goes to...
Crazy Train and
Mr. Crowley. Album cover is classic. Somebody actually put some thought into the making of this one. I can't say the same for his next 2 album covers though.
Final note: It's mind boggling that this album is not on
Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Not only does it belong on the list, I personally have it in the Top 20 of all time. This is just further proof that
Rolling Stone is clueless about all things music.