Hmmm, not much chatter for The Boss, and I don't want this thread to fall off too early , so we move on...
Ozzy's Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz, is an undeniable classic. It does have a few songs I am not wild about, and songs like "Crazy Train" and "I Don't Know" have both reached that "I don't care if I ever hear them again" status, but they are both still great tunes. I'll never tire of "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and "Mr. Crowley," both of which are on my list of go-to Ozzy solo songs. The guitar playing of Randy Rhoads obviously stands out big time on this classic metal record.
One of the greatest albums ever made BUT I still think the followup is better. This one has a few clunkers like Steal Away (The Night) and No Bone Movies. I also think Crazy Train is one of the weaker songs but I do love the solo section. Every other song is FLAWLESS!!! The lyrics are great (and you can thank Bob Daisley for that.
I also think the rhythm section is the most criminally underrated in history. Daisley has finally been given his due (to an extent, he deserves much more) but Lee Kerslake is still given the shaft. That man is the most solid drummer out there, meaning that he plays only what needs to be played. That isn't to say he doesn't have some killer and complex drum patterns/fills, he's not a Dave Holland that mostly plays the most basic of rhythm, but he isn't going to showboat for no reason. His work on Diary of a Madman still blows me away.
For the record, 50% of Diary of a Madman, including the title track, was written without any input from Ozzy. Kerslake wrote the vocal melodies for that one, lyrics of course by Daisley, most of the riffs by Randy, and composed by the 3 of them.
also for the record, the first two albums were supposed to be known under the moniker Blizzard of Ozz. Technically the two albums were not solo albums. All of the shows they performed were billed as Blizzard of Ozz. The first album comes out and they think, gee, thats great....the name of our band and album title is smaller than the featured performers name which they obviously knew was going to get billing being that he was more famous than the rest of them. Then the second album comes out but Daisley and Kerslake were fired shortly before that so they had no say and didn't even get credited as performers! Randy apparently wanted to quit in response but Daisley convinced him to stay.