Listening Post - Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

 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:

The 1986 Listening Post - Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

#54/1221

February 22 1986

Ozzy Osbourne

The Ultimate Sin 

Genre: Radio Friendly Metal

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Thank God for the Bomb

Shot in the Dark

Why would you put the single at the end of the record? Is it because it kind of doesn’t sound like anything that would appeal to the heavy metal parking lot denizens? 

I like Ozzy’s voice. But, it’s a great metal voice cuz he can actually, you know, sing, but he seems so divorced from the material that the entire thing feels like a Ratt album with Ozzy singing lead. 

Killer of Giants gets a bit majestically epic but it’s supposed to. Like it was convicted in a studio with execs saying, “we gotta appeal to the D&D mullet heads.”

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-ultimate-sin/158711389

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Scream

Ozzy Osbourne - Scream - 2010

This is, I believe, the 63rd review in this series. I've never tried anything like this. I can't believe I got through it. And thanks to everyone who helped (you know who you are).

We traveled the journey of Heavy Metal by way of the primary architects. Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. And we've come to the end.

At the age of 62, Ozzy Osbourne is the latest, perhaps the last, of these titans of thunder rock to release new material. His album from last year is called Scream. Let's listen.

1. Let it Die - Very different from Ozzy. His voice is hyper processed, singing in his low, almost talk-y register, overdubbed with gutteral screams. I like this side of him. Kevin Churko is back as producer and Gus G., a young Greek guitarist takes over for Zakk Wylde. His sound is more muted, more...Avenged Sevenfold? I'm only aware of them through Guitar Hero/Rock Band. Maybe it's Lamb of God (thanks, allmusic!) This song is murderous. I dig it.
2. Let Me Hear You Scream - I like to listen to metal LOUD. I've got my noise canceling headphones on and I got lost in the drone of the opening track. And then this exploded and really woke me the fuck up. Kind of like Andrew W.K. with purpose. If that's even possible. Makes sense to me.....
3. Soul Sucker - The original title for the album. A mediocre, sludge metal placeholder that picks up the pace and goes for the jugular. That's what a lot this reminds me of, like the kids who adored Painkiller decided to make a giant metal album with Ozzy.
4. Life Won't Wait - A mid-tempo acoustic piece married to metal. A kick drum that is begging to be played on an enormous stage, then the song takes left turns on the bridge and stays relatively unexpected. Alternately pretty and aggro. The melody is pretty great, too. Nice.
5. Digging Me Down - Trippy, psychedelic opening with a neat little acoustic filagree. But you know that's not gonna last...and it doesn't. By minute 2 the guitar triplet stroke attack acts like an auger complimenting the one thing that Ozzy has that Dio and Iommi could never get their hands around. Melody. Ozzy just knows what to do with his voice and how to write a song you kind of want to listen to.
6. Crucify - Typical, "irreverent" doom metal. But it doesn't last that long because it's about to crash into:
7. Fearless - This song, with it's driving devil horn, head bang attack could easily have fit in on Blizzard and Gus does his best to impersonate Randy every once in a while with a finger tap flourish, only to dive back into the mosh pit and crush the eardrums. My favorite song so far.
8. Time - Oooh, what's that? Amidst the pulsating bass and the giant drums? Can it be Beach Boys-style backing "oohs"? Yes. Is this a ready made mid-concert flame raiser? Sure. Every Ozzy album's got one. He knows that you gotta sway every once in a while. But, this song just keeps building, the chorus belies the premise. It's not pretty. It's enormous. Calling to mind the '00 Everclear album, Learning How To Smile.
9. I Want More - More cruch. More licks. More chukka chukka. More worms boring into my skull. Works for me.
10. Latimer's Mercy - The album comes full circle as the down tuning, low register, softening keys, swirl together to give a 62 year old man a sense of relevance and urgency.
11. I Love You All - A coda. An ode to Lennon in spirit. A song of gratitude. Nice to know you appreciate your fans, Oz. Well done.

Obviously, Gus G. and new drummer Tommy Clufetos are loaded for bear, they've got a lot to prove and they're up to the task. Brand Ozzy is smart to put their musical future in the hands of these guys. Ozzy sounds like he could tour in the 21st century metal world and not resort to becoming an oldies act. How he's managed this is grist for some book. My money's on Sharon.
I look forward to more from Ozz.

And with that, the Purple Sabbath journey has come to an end.

Grade: A-
ASide: Let it Die, Let Me Hear You Scream, Fearless
BlindSide: Life Won't Wait, Time

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Heaven and Hell - The Devil You Know

Heaven and Hell - The Devil You Know - 2009

THe opening track, "Atom and Evil" (ugh, are these guys 15?) has the pace of a funeral processional. Almost as if the band is trying to instill depression. It's not fun.
Heaven and Hell are the holy/unholy marriage of Dio and Sabbath. 2 parts Dio (Ronnie and drummer Appice), 2 parts Sab (Iommi, Butler). I'm not sure how this even came to be, but I had to include it, even though it meant I would have to listen to Dio's overblown vocal theatrics and uninspired dungeons and dragons lyrics. I really wish it had opened with the big riffs of "Fear" a much more doomtastic track.
After that, it's one same sounding lurching dark metal track after another.
Dio died before they could record another one. I'm not happy he died. But...
I'm not a fan of H&H.

Grade: C-
ASide:
BlindSide: Fear

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain

Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain - 2007

"I'm not going away!" Ozzy screams amidst the post-metal industrial backing and siren wail of Zakk Wylde's guitar. He's pretty earnest about it. I believe him. After turning himself into a reality tv clown, rocket-fueling his wife's talk show career and turning his kids into mini-tabloid wrecks, Ozzy comes back as though none of that mattered. Like it never happened.
The dude is 60! And his trademark high-whine wail is sort of missing but the unmistakable voice cuts through the industrial metal sound.
Ozzy will not go peacefully into that good night. He's a brand, as I've said before. And that brand is a huge cash cow. Why stop?
There's some good, crunchy 21st century riff-tastic metal ("I Don't Wanna Stop", Ozzy's first number one!, "Trap Door"), some quasi-industrial pop metal ("Black Rain", "Silver"), half-assed, world conscious ballad ("Lay Your World on Me"), heart felt mega ballad ("Here for You") and on and on. It's a calculated record. It's not totally inspired but it's not shallow and callous. I think Ozzy really loves playing this part and, somehow, he manages to not suck and sound relevant. How does he do that????
He's more cynical than usual, take for instance "The Almighty Dollar", its hard to take him seriously knowing just how filthy rich he is. Or maybe he's really extolling the virtue of it and it just SOUNDS cynical.
This is goth/pop metal constructed in a lab by people who, thankfully, love the genre.

Grade: B+
ASide: I Don't Wanna Stop
BlindSide: Black Rain, Silver
DownSide: The Almighty Dollar

Review #434

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep

Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep


"The Wrong Man" rocks. Let me just say that for starters. In this latter day version of Purple, it's a great litle groovetastic rocker. Gillan is in great voice, Airey makes you not miss Lord. At all. Whereas the title track sounds wayyyy too much like "Got To Get You Into My Life" in the verses. The chorus is a dank jam track. In fact, that's what this band is now. A dank jam band.
There's nothing to get too excited about on Rapture. But the band doesn't embarrass themselves in the slightest.
There's still the occasional dip into Zevon land with "Clearly Quite Absurd", where Gillan sounds more like Warren than Warren does.
Other than that, it's standard issue Purple.
And with that, the Deep Purple section of this Listening Post is over.

Grade: B-
ASide: The Wrong Man
BlindSide: Back to Back
DownSide: Before Time Began

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - Bananas

Deep Purple - Bananas - 2003

Bye bye, Jon Lord.
So, Lord leaves, Blackmore is gone, who's left? Ian Gillan (who occasionally sounds like Ian Anderson AND Warren Zevon!), drummer Ian Paice. Not much else.
Ex-Sabbath keyboardist Don Airey is here instead and Steve Morse is on guitars.
You know what? It's great. They sound fantastic. You wouldn't know the difference. Well, they are more of a jam band than a metal band, but I'm at the point now where I think Purple accidentally invented metal. I think they just played what they wanted. Blackmore liked harder stuff and he caused the metallic part of the band. Lord and then Airey fit right in the psychedelic trope. Gillan is just a good vocalist, through and through.
This album isn't as hard as Abandon. It's lighter. Funnier at times. More fun at others. Sometimes it rocks ("House of Pain", "Silver Tongue"), sometimes it's heartbreaking ("Haunted", "Walk On"), or it's playful as on the folky-Simon and Garfunkel-esque, "Never a Word". There isn't a clunker in the bunch, with the high point being the multi-structured, sublimely layered, "I've Got Your Number".
The 1-2 punch toward the end of "Bananas" and "Doing it Tonight", one a pure rocker and the other tinged with Reggae, is the most inspired the band has sounded in a while.
I love Bananas. I'm bananas for Bananas

Grade: A
ASide: House of Pain, Haunted, I've Got Your Number, Bananas, Doing it Tonight
BlindSide: Silver Tongue, Walk On

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Down to Earth

Ozzy Osbourne - Down to Earth - 2001

I'm going to be extraordinarily kind to Oz right about now. At this point he's the only one standing from the original metal bands.
Sabbath is over.
Dio is a cartoon version of what he THINKS metal is turning into.
Deep Purple is a funk/prog jam band.
By 2001 Metal had given over to a new breed. The days of hippy psych metal gave way to glam which became hair metal and was wiped away by Tool, Korn and math rock.
But Ozzy had one thing the other bands did NOT have: Sharon.
Ozzy comes across as barely functional. But the daughter of his manager who became his manager sure learned a lot at the feet of her father. And thing one was never think you are better or lesser than your audience. Be the band they want you to be.
So, he became the Prince of Fucking Darkness.
He hired great players and good songwriters and excellent producers and made records.
Ozzy's sound hasn't changed much since the last record and he knows where his bread is buttered. One of my favorite tracks in the entire catalog is the opener for this one. "Gets Me Through" is the one where he acknowledges his past, his roots and his gratitude for his fans.
The ballad, "Running Out Of Time" has just enough weirdo Floydian production mixed through a taffy machine of metal and Queen that it becomes a great centerpiece. The other ballad, "Dreamer" shoots a little to hard for the Aerosmith money.
I like Down to Earth. As much as the last one. Maybe even a little more.

Grade: A
ASide: Gets Me Through
BlindSide: Running Out of Time
DownSide: Black Illusion

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - Abandon

Deep Purple - Abandon - 1998

Abandon finds our heroes settling in to their roles as niche filling, core fans satisfying, able codgers. In 1998 did you even know that Deep Purple was still playing, let alone were releasing new music?
Me neither. But I thought they stopped playing in the early 70s.

Abandon rocks a LOT harder than Purpendicular. There's still the occasional prog-rock flourishes, of course, now sounding like a a cross between Rainbow and Jethro Tull, of all things. Well, not on the entire thing, but it's there on "Fingers to the Bone". These guys can play.
Case in point the hard edged, rifftastic, "Seventh Heaven"
Abandon is actually the best the band has put out in a while. You don't need it. No one does. But, if you find yourself itching for some Jon Lord or some...whatever it is Purple is classified as now, you won't be disappointed.

Grade: B
ASIde: Any Fule Know That, '69, Bludsucker
BlindSide: Seventh Heaven, What's Her Name
DownSide:

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Dio - Angry Machines

Dio - Angry Machines - 1996

Dio left Warner Brothers. Or he was dropped. I don't know. I don't really care.

This album seems to double down on the core. These aren't songs, per se, as much as they are exercises in dark, metallic, apocalyptic constructs.
Ho hum. Been here, heard it. ("Sometimes I think I need NEW PARTS FOR MY BRAIN!!!!" - Dio lyric from Institutional Man)
All over this record, Dio seems to have instructed his band to listen to modern metal of the era, perhaps Korn, and try their best to copy it. This results in big, bass heavy almost math metal of "Hunter of the Heart" and the dyslexic backbeats of "Black" and the obnoxious "Stay Out of My Mind", a "song" that, quite literally, sounds like everybody involved was working on something else.
Like Whitesnake, I don't think I need to hear any more of Ronnie James Dio. I get it.

I've listened so you don't have to.

You're welcome

Grade: D-
ASide:
BlindSide:
DownSide:

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - Purpendicular

Deep Purple - Purpendicular - 1996

I like "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic". It's a groovy, slippery trip-blues jam. For some reason it reminds me of Steely Dan at their most energized.
Jon Lord's understated piano playing on "Loosen My Strings" are a welcome surprise, followed by the horrendous over playing of "Soon Forgotten", which this song soon will be. Ugh, imagine Deep Purple imitating Sparks circa 1975.
Purpendicular bears no relation to any previous Deep Purple album. Gillan doesn't sound like Gillan you know, Lord is toned down, Blackmore is gone and ex-Kansas guitarist Steve Morse has taken over. It's a pleasant enough record but when put side by side with the other pillars of metal, this band might as well be Chicago by now.
Musically, there's some fantastic moments, like "Cascades: I'm Not Your Lover" and the strange Irish/California hybrid rock of "The Aviator". But, if you walked in to a record store and the last thing you knew of Deep Purple was Machine Head or "Smoke on the Water", this would leave you scratching your head.

Grade: B
ASide: Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic
BlindSide: Cascades: I'm not your Lover, The Aviator
DownSide: Soon Forgotten

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzmosis

Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzmosis - 1995

It's been a few years since No More Tears but that hasn't changed Ozzy's 90s era attack.
Loud. Big guitars. Heavy production. Ozzfest would start the next year, so I guess this is the album that kicked that off.
But, where Tears was a seemingly joyous celebration of ear blasting pop metal, Ozzmosis heads in the other direction. Over processed vocals, meanderingly gothic songwriting, there are times when Ozzy seems to be fighting just to be heard. He should look at the cover of the record and note the name of the band. There are a ton of co-writers on this disc. Lemmy's back on "See You on the Other Side" and Mark Hudson of the Hudson Brothers (and Kate's uncle) helps Ozzy get back in touch with his inner Beatles on "Ghost Behind My Eyes" but even the production and starpower songwriting can't really save this record.
Because of the gloss and Ozzy's resilience, I find myself rooting for the record to succeed but the makers are so steeped in the darkness that overshadowed all metal in the 90s that it's impossible to do so. Look, Ozzy, you are not Tool. Stop trying to be. On "Thunder Underground" he and his cronies take everything that makes Tool great and misses the mark completely. Trading in style for sheer loudness is not making music. It's making ears hurt. I like it when my ears hurt. From good music. Like "See You On The Other Side", Lemmy's contribution, a mid-tempo arena rocker that almost fails due to excess but pulls itself back from the edge to be, well, the best thing on the record.
Ozzmosis just drones on and on and just when you think it's never going to stop being indulgently uninteresting...along comes a song co-written by Steve Vai to show you, you were right. It's never going to stop.
Then, wayyyyy at the end, the very last song, after the interminably long and headache inducing "My Jeckyll Doesn't Hyde" (Ugh, what a title) comes a lovely little piano driven piece called "Old L.A. Tonight". Of course it gets gigantic, it has to, Ozzy's all about excess, but there's good ol' Rick Wakeman on keys to keep it all high minded.
But, there's no way a little piano flourishes can save this piece of dog crap.

Grade: D
ASide:
BlindSide: See You On the Other Side
DownSide: Thunder Underground

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Rainbow - Stranger in Us All

Rainbow - Stranger in Us All - 1995

From the very first track, "Wolf to the Moon", it's obvious that Blackmore has been itching to rock. Judging from the terrible, wretched pap that he was forced to get behind with Deep Purple I don't blame him. There's a certain southern twang to Stranger that seems like the normal next step for aging rockers. "Stand and Fight" could be a Foghat song.
I haven't really enjoyed a Rainbow album since Down To Earth and that was nowhere near as good as the band's singular best, Rising. On this swan song (Blackmore would retreat to a new project, Blackmore's Night, which I have no intention of ever hearing) he's loaded for bear. He's rocking out. If it's the last time he's going to, then by god, he's gonna show the world what he can do.
He's got a new lead singer, Doogie White, and while he isn't best, he serves the tracks well.
The music is better than anything Blackmore's offered in decades. The playing is stellar. There's no more pandering to radio. Or searching for an audience to validate him over Jon Lord.
Like a song like "Ariel". A lovely elegy with a hint of mid-east overtones, so the experimentation is still there but it's not about that. it's about serving the muse.I even enjoy the rock version of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Cuz, Blackmore seems to love it.
Like I said, serving the muse. And the album does just that. Blackmore saved his best rock album for last.

Grade: A
ASide: Wolf to the Moon, Ariel, Black Masquerade
BlindSide: Cold Hearted Woman, Hunting Humans

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Black Sabbath - Forbidden

Black Sabbath - Forbidden - 1995

I worked with Ice T once. I was a guest on his show "Players". We had a nice chat. Seems like a nice guy.

And he's featured on the bridge of easily the most annoying Sabbath song ever, "The Illusion of Power". Uninspired. Insipid. Bored.
But, why is he on here? Rappers on Metal albums? Man, the 90s sucked.
Song after song this record is filled with 1000 megawatt suckage. "Shaking Off the Chains" doesn't even sound like a Sabbath song. Hell, it sounds like some 4th rate metal band you'd hear on Rotten Records in the 90s. Poorly mixed, poorly mastered, poorly written, just unlistenable tripe. In fact, that's an insult to Acid Bath and D.R.I. This is much much worse.
The worst thing on this record isn't the band or the music, although that's pretty awful. No. it's Tony Martin's insipid lyrics and his below par warbling. he ruins an already terrible record.
And then, just when you've gotten used to just how bad this monstrosity is, the band tries to go radio friendly, soaring solos with "Sick and Tired" which not only sucks, but describes how I feel by the time it shows up.
Iommi gave it up after this. Sabbath was done. And, truly, none too soon.

Grade: D-
ASide:
BlindSide:
DownSide: The Illusion of Power, Get a Grip, Shaking off the Chains, Rusty Angels

Review Number 424

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Dio - Strange Highways

Dio - Strange Highways - 1995

Metallica really invigorated the medium, didn't they? All that 80s pop-metal posturing has been tossed out the window in the 90s as bands like Sabbath, Ozzy and Dio go for a harder and harder sound.

Strange Highways opens, as so many Dio records do, with the barn burner "Jesus, Mary and the Holy Ghost". It's less a song than it is a laceration, an open wound bleeding with contempt for that who inflicted the wound in the first place. It's followed by some of the most aggressive and ugly music the genre can muster. "Firehead" is not only hard to listen to, it's difficult to follow. It's as though Dio has decided in the war of Metallica vs Megadeth, he will follow the latter. Only to turn back to his Iron Maiden stylings with the epically sludgy title track.
I think I just don't like Dio. There's so little to hold on to. it's like every album is another take on the same themes and style. Which is to say, it all sounds like Ripper Owens era Priest to me now. Well, maybe not Demolition. But it's just as ugly on the inside.

Grade: C-
ASide: Jesus Mary and the Holy Ghost
BlindSide: Give her the Gun
DownSide: Evilution

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes

Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes - 1994

So, Sabbath decides to open for Ozzy, who is now an international bat biting superstar. Dio thinks this is beneath the band and he up and quits.
What does Iommi do? He brings back his co-hort in the band's best recent material, Tony Martin.
The result?
Another dark metal entry to the band's catalog. It's very riff heavy and I get the feeling that Iommi just sits in a room spitting out licks but the well is running dry....

Cross Purposes is no great shakes. If you want that go to Eternal Idol or Headless Cross. But, if you want amore of that that isn't as good but isn't awful, this'll do fine.

Grade: C+
ASide: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
BlindSide: Cross of Thorns, Cardinal Sin
DownSide: Dying for Love

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - The Battle Rages On

Deep Purple - The Battle Rages On - 1992

Oh, just look at the album cover. If there was ever anything that screamed "Sell out!" it's that. One thing I've learned from this series that the roots of Heavy Metal are deep not in the blues, but in psychedelia. Go back and listen to those early DP and BS records and you'll know what I'm talking about.
So, it's distressing to see the architects of Heavy Metal consign themselves to the easiest of the genre's tropes: Medieval mythology.
And the music is following suit. This is, I believe, a good thing for the most part. Gillan sounds less like the Gillan we've come to love and more like...Brian Johnson and Joe Perry. Allmusic said it best when it compared them to Def Leppard. Hey, at least they've shrugged off the Foreigner obsession.
This is a Blackmore-centric record, which harkens back to a harder sound ala Machine Head. The songs aren't nearly as interesting, however. And there's even one called, gasp, "Lick it Up". It's not as bad as the title, but holy hell, guys.
Late in the album on "Solitaire" the band finds their proggy-trippy roots and manage to sound, well, like they wanna play with Rush, but at least its not Foreigner, right?
The playing is fine. The album is almost completely unengaging.

Grade: C-
ASide: The Battle Rages On
BlindSide: A Twist in the Tale
DownSide:

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer

Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer - 1992

Dammit. Dio.

You know, if right after Mob Rules Sabbath had put out another album with the same lineup I would probably have been excited.
That was before I had to slog through 38 solo albums by the metalelf.
So, now we're back to that lineup. And coming off the heels of two great records and one interesting quasi-concept one, what do we get?
Well, it's 1992, so it's time for someone to complain about computers, right? "Computer God", check. And there's social consciousness as well. On TV Crimes the band takes out televangelists. There's something odd to me about that. After all these guys were like a cultish religion unto themselves. They started off trafficking in miring themselves in pagan
ideology and iconography. And know they are condemning it. It feels...wrong.
Dio doesn't sing about D&D imagery but what he's choosing, the above concepts and such shitty lyrics like the ones on "Letters From Earth" make me so angry. This was a band that, for 2.5 albums were really on the cutting edge. They deserved their resurgence. They deserved their mantle of Godfathers of Metal.
Then Dio comes in and shits all over everything. A great riff like "Master of Insanity"'s is marred by not only Dio's self-indulgence but also his crappo lyrics and complete dearth of melody. On the other hand, "Time Machine" is a catchy metal number, and "After All (The Dead)" is an ear splitting treat. But, beyond that, this one just screams for a band to put away their toys and hang it up.

Grade: D
ASide:
BlindSide: After All (The Dead)
DownSide: TV Crimes, Master of Insanity, Buried Alive

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears - 1991

Xylophones and toys are scary. Let's face it. Ever since Poltergeist we've known that. That's how No More Tears starts out. The hyper-demonic "Mr. Tinkertrain" sets the table with a song from the perspective of a child abuser and the album never relents from there.
This is Ozzy's comeback. He's finally over Randy Rhodes's death and he's reinventing himself as the heir apparent to all things metal.
He succeeds spectacularly.
No More Tears is a big record. It requires that you play it loud.
Not only is Zakk Wylde a major contributor to the songwriting but his playing is inspired. And Ozzy's no dummy. He's brought in Lemmy Kilmeister as a lyricist on a bunch of tracks.
And it all works. The massive soundtrack to MTV montage lifestyle amid images of returning soldiers from the first Iraq war, "Mama I'm Coming Home" just plain wins. There's more radio friendly metal-ness on the title track and S.I.N. but I think my favorite track is the cheeky, percussive "Zombie Stomp". Sure, it's dumb, but they know it's dumb and there's a weird Michael Jackson quality to it.
I know. Go figure.
Ozzy's comeback is great. A worthy addition to any metal collection.

Grade: A
ASide: Mr. Tinkertrain, Mama I'm Coming Home
BlindSide: I Don't Want to Change the World, Zombie Stomp, A.V.H., Road to Nowhere

Listening Post: Purple Sabbath - Deep Purple - Slaves and Masters

Deep Purple - Slaves and Masters - 1990

I'm so tired. It's not because of a new baby or life or work. It's because of the chore I have set out for myself. When it can be quickly become invigorated by, say, the resurgence to greatness by Black Sabbath on The Eternal Idol or Headless Cross, my disposition can just as quickly turn to despondence by listening (or forcing myself to listen to) whatever Deep Purple has turned themselves into.
Basically, they are Foreigner. Without the hooks.
From the very beginning they just sound out of date. 10 years out of date. And I don't know why. I mean, I know why. It's because they sound like a Foreigner influenced band 10 years after Foreigner mattered. What I don't know is why they turned away from their teeth, the razor sounds of Ritchie Blackmore vs Jon Lord and turned themselves into this. Except that I always felt like Purple was above the fray. Like they believed themselves to be "important" musicians. Akin to Genesis, pre-Collins.
No matter. If you like watered down prog-rock or were wishing for another Foreigner record, this is for you.
If not, skip it.

ASide: Fire in the Basement
BlindSide: Wicked Ways
DownSide: Love Conquers All (Holy Treacly Hell)