favorite "classic era" Ozzy Osbourne solo album?

This poll doesn't contain all of his solo albums, it stops pre-2000.

Tell us why you dig that particular album if possible.

Diary, even though Randy said it was rushed the overdubs he did were perfect and not cut and paste. His quitar work was not quite as flashy as on the debut but it was more intricate and meaty. The lyrical content was darker and more my style. Diary boasts some of the best rhythn guitar work ever, hands down.

Diary is great, SATO is my favorite Randy performance...and that was just the scratch "guide solo", pretty amazing.

I voted for "Bark At The Moon". That vote only applies to the original LP mix of that album (or the European CD release).

Jake E. Lee is still my favorite "80's guitarist", something about his rhythmic style and attack has always blew me away. If you listen to the riffs on "Now You See It, Now You Don't" and "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" you'll see what I mean. Ballsy as HELL.

I love Randy, though I prefer the live recordings than his studio work.

My eldest bro says the same thing about Jake E. Lee when we "argue" Randy vs Jake, he even references those same two songs especially the latter.

Lee was the ideal 80s guitarist though, better than the rest as far as his style goes.

Diary Of A Madman

Just love every song, the vibe, the tones, everything...fantastic album. Blizzard is a close second, then Bark & Sin...

Shawn D. wrote:

Diary is great, SATO is my favorite Randy performance...and that was just the scratch "guide solo", pretty amazing.

I voted for "Bark At The Moon". That vote only applies to the original LP mix of that album (or the European CD release).

Jake E. Lee is still my favorite "80's guitarist", something about his rhythmic style and attack has always blew me away. If you listen to the riffs on "Now You See It, Now You Don't" and "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" you'll see what I mean. Ballsy as HELL.

I love Randy, though I prefer the live recordings than his studio work.

How does that sound? Bark is prob my fav Ozzy album

theJOKERiv wrote:

How does that sound? Bark is prob my fav Ozzy album

It sounds like it should. All the US CD releases has tweaks done to them and none of them sound like the LP I remember from my youth. They even went through and completely changed the intro to "Centre Of Eternity", I was appalled so I searched out this version.

Had to go with Bark at the Moon, got a lot of sentimental reasons, it's the first solo Ozzy I bought as a kid and was all my own, and I played it to death. Diary of a Madman is also an all time fave of mine. It's interesting that everyone is split half and half on these two albums.

Almost went with Blizzard because that was one of the first albums I bought in the new "cd" format, but instead voted for No More Tears.

I bought it as a new release, on cassette, and played the ever-loving shit out of it on my Sony Walkman riding the subway to and from college. It was also a timing thing. It was an album of "my generation", not the stuff older peers were listening to, if that makes sense.

I also think that was an end of an era for Ozzy. No album since then has lived up to expectations or received as much airplay as that album for me.

I can understand that reaction to No More Tears, though to me it was near the end of the "metal era" for me. I was quickly becoming bored with the genre and had started searching for other types of music to listen to.

A good album, but I considered "Bark At The Moon" era to belong to "my generation". Which is funny considering we're the same age.

Unfortunatley, I didn't have the benefit of older siblings to turn me onto music. My dad's record collection stopped being cool around 1970. After marriage, it was all Carpenters, ABBA and Barry Manilow.

It wasn't until I hit high school in '85 that I started learning about all things hard rock and heavy metal. And even then, it wasn't until 1987's Appetite for Destruction that things really clicked for me.

No More Tears was the first Ozzy album that I bought new, so for me, it was like "This album is for me, not that older stuff that has been out for years". I was playing catch-up with so many older albums of the classics, not just Ozzy, but this one was one I got "new", so it's always gonna have a special place in my music history.

That makes complete sense. I didn't have "any" siblings, but I did have friends with older siblings.

The Number Of The Beast was the album I purchased new that really "floored me" and sent me searching out all things metallic. Then that continued in 1983 with purchases of Shout At The Devil, Another Perfect Day, Live Evil, Born Again, etc.

So I just started earlier.

None of my siblings were into Metal, Jazz, Reggae,etc so I discovered a lot of music on my own as well.

I heve never gotten into No More Tears, aside from "Mama", I can't think of a song I like on that album.

Road To Nowhere is a good song man, I always used to like that, felt I could relate to those lyrics. But No More Tears has some other great jams too, I Don't Wanna Change the World, A.V.H. , Hellraiser, all good tracks, I wouldn't say it's Ozzy at his best but is is pretty damn good.

Akeldama wrote:

None of my siblings were into Metal, Jazz, Reggae,etc so I discovered a lot of music on my own as well.

I am the firstborn, so I had to do the same.

chewie wrote:

Akeldama wrote:

None of my siblings were into Metal, Jazz, Reggae,etc so I discovered a lot of music on my own as well.

I am the firstborn, so I had to do the same.

All my bros turned me on to TONS of music but most of it was middle of the road popular stuff.

Hmm, it took me awhile to answer this because to be honest, I'm so fucking sick of Ozzy's solo career I really wasn't in the mood to listen to any of it to decide. In the end, Diary Of A Madman is probably still my favorite. Over The Mountain, Flying High Again, S.A.T.O....oh hell, I like every song on the record.

Bark At The Moon would be my second choice, closely followed by Blizzard. I also really liked Speak Of The Devil when I first got into Ozzy, but once I heard the original Sabbath tracks, haven't listened to that record since. Good choice on No More Tears MG. I dug that one a good bit when it first made it's way into my stereo.

The Ultimate Sin isn't that bad either, only the over-slick production (and a couple stupid tracks) dragging it down a few notches.

S.D. wrote:

The Ultimate Sin isn't that bad either, only the over-slick production (and a couple stupid tracks) dragging it down a few notches.

I pretty much like all the records up to Ozzmosis. Oversaturation just keeps me from spinning most of this material. Oddly enough, the only album that didn't do a whole lot for me when I first heard it was No Rest For The Wicked, even with the slick production, I much prefer The Ultimate Sin and Bark, Jake's just a better player to my ears.

No Rest For The Wicked dated almost immediately, it just sounds very "forced".

No More Tears had the last few remaining memorable Ozzy songs on it...and most of those were written by Lemmy.

Yeah! Zakk Wylde and his squeal only go so far...........

Especially, since John Sykes(he's the first to come to mind) was doing it before him. Just not in......

every.....

single......

song......

S.D. wrote:

No Rest For The Wicked dated almost immediately, it just sounds very "forced".

No More Tears had the last few remaining memorable Ozzy songs on it...and most of those were written by Lemmy.

That's funny, 3 out of the 5 tracks I really like from that record are the ones Lemmy co-wrote. Never knew that before, outside of Mama I'm Coming Home. The songs I like from No Rest (aside from Crazy Babies), are actually played better on that live EP Just Say Ozzy (Geezer playing bass helps quite a bit too), so I've never actually bought it.

Diary of a Madman, love every song and Rhoads was incredible!

I find it interesting that not a single vote has been placed for Blizzard Of Ozz.

S.D. wrote:

I find it interesting that not a single vote has been placed for Blizzard Of Ozz.

I thought the same thing. However, as good as the Blizzard is, Diary is just a better album. It took me awhile to decide between the two.