Ozzy has not been a well man recently. Given everything he has shared about himself this is no real surprise (his book I am Ozzy is a delight and well worth a read). So he cancels a string of tour dates and then what? Never to be stuck sitting in, Ozzy recorded a new album. 

It has been 10 years since Ozzy dropped any solo material. His last outing Scream was perfectly fine in my opinion, but nothing too memorable. In fact the last album I truly enjoyed from Oz would have been 2001s Down To Earth. So when I first heard about this I was skeptical. Happy though that Ozzy was well enough to still be releasing new tunes.

I loved the initial single, it didn’t hurt having Elton John singing back up and playing piano. The song is a sad ballad with Ozzy nearly begging to be remembered as anything more than Ordinary. It is almost like a Beatles track, this is no surprise given Ozzy is a GIANT Beatles fan. With his current age (71) and health problems, the song really hits home and pulls the listener in. Also having the rhythm section of Chad Smith on drums (of Red Hot Chili Pepper fame), and Duff (legendary bassist and songwriter with Guns N’ Roses) really added to the song. This really whet my appetite for the full album.

From the opening tracks almost angelic intro straight into a powerful riff……Ozzy is BACK. This album had me head banging away like a mad man when I stuck it on first. Exactly what I wanted from the prince of darkness.

The album has been cowritten with Andrew Watt, who also produces it. It seems it all came from Ozzy working with Watt on Post Malones last album (so thank you Posty). The music on the record is brilliant, the guitar tracks and solos are a delight (especially having Slash guest on a few tracks). As mentioned above Chad and Duff as a rhythm section is a seriously solid supergroup. You get the sense that everyone on the album is such a fan of Ozzy that they poured everything into helping create an amazing heavy Ozzy sound.

Tracks like Goodbye, Ordinary Man and All My Life seem to show Ozzy talking about his long life, possible past regrets and how he views his current situation. Lyrics like “No future, no no no future, Replace me, now I’m gone,” on Goodbye seem to be Ozzy staring death in the face and saying he’s ready. Even asking at the end, “Do they serve tea in heaven?”. 

Not all is doom and gloom however with tracks like, Scary Little Green Men and Eat Me. Here we can see Ozzy just having fun, singing about aliens and serving himself up as dinner (it reminded me of Alice Coopers Feed My Frankenstein). The final song is a banger which features Post Malone. Lovely heavy track which I am sure they had serious fun recording. 

Overall I loved this album. I will totally be picking it up on vinyl. It is certainly a return to form for Ozzy. Hopefully he gets well enough to tour again so I can see some of these tunes live. But in the mean time there is talk of another album, I am all in for that. For a man of his age he sounds amazing and seems to be having a great time still making music, long life Ozzy. 

This interview with Chad Smith is worth a look as well. It’s nice to see Chad fanboy over working with an obvious hero of his, and gives some insight into the fun everyone seemed to have making this record. 

–Darryn