Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man - 2020
I missed a ton of records in this series. And that's because, well, we all moved on from blogging, no? Aren't we all in our niches on Facebook? I know I am. And I've built a larger swath of readers there. With guest reviewers and everything!
But this record came up in my Apple Music feed and, since I decided to listen to it, I thought it best to put some thoughts here.
This is the first album since Scream and Ozzy is about 130 now and how hard can he rock, really?
Oh, he can, apparently.
That opening riff is big and beefy and Ozzy wants to "make you scream, make you defecate" and, tbh, I had this playing so loud that I started to believe that he could make me shit my pants.
Duff McKagan is the bassist on 90% of this, contributing, as all the musicians, as a writer on his songs. And Tom Morello, who blisteringly showed up on the new Struts album, shows up for a couple tracks. As does Post Malone. And Slash! SLASH!!!
It's a cornucopia of BIG stadium metal that calls to mind...Audioslave.
After that scathing opener it really feels like by-the-numbers metal that's keeping time until we get to the BIG SINGLE! which is a duet with...checks notes...yes, one Elton John.
Wait. What?
Yes, the title track is a mid-tempo ballad that doesn't just work as an Ozzy single, it also works as an Elton one. In fact, I'd like to hear him do his own version of it. And Slash's solo is so Slash-y, you know? It's freaking SLASH!
I was surprised that "Under the Graveyard" was the lead single but it sort of kicks. That could be the production, though, which is crisp and stellar.
He's pretty paranoid, still. "Scary Little Green Men" live in his head and he's worried that they might...eat him? Is this 1957? But even the middling tracks, like "Holy for Tonight" make we want to see what they could be like in concert.
The LP ends with the blistering Post Malone team up, "It's a Raid"and it's quite the knock out ending. The bonus track is a Post Malone song featuring Ozzy and Travis Scott and it might be the best song on the record, that isn't on the record. I didn't know how much I needed the Rap-Metal team up of Post, Travis and Ozzy, but I'm here for it.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/ordinary-man/1493922560
Grade B+
A Side: Straight to Hell, Ordinary Man, It's a Raid
Blind Side: Under the Graveyard, Eat Me
Down Side:
No comments:
Post a Comment