Album Review: Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz (1980)

Ozzy Osbourne has courted a lot of controversy throughout his career, most notably for his public shenanigans, which range from biting the head of a dove at CBS headquarters, pissing on the Alamo, and of course, biting the head off a bat.  However, he also attracted attention for all the wrong reasons when a teenager shot himself dead after listening to the song, "Suicide Solution", a song which is featured on the album I'm reviewing here, Blizzard of Ozz.  Like Judas Priest, Ozzy copped a negative reputation among the parents of teenagers over their misinterpretation of song lyrics and coincidental events surrounding the song's broadcast and public sale.  However, given moral panic's proclivity for hyperbole, emotionalism and reactionary behavior, time and time again we see such events as being what they really are - rooted in fearmongering and ignorance.  "Suicide Solution" is not only a great song, if anybody knew anything about understanding song lyrics they would know that it has absolutely nothing to do with encouraging suicide in any way, shape or form.  It is about the perils of excessive alcohol consumption.  In any case, the album endured needless controversy, and I'm glad that it is still here today for fans to enjoy.  Blizzard of Ozz, Ozzy Osbourne's debut album after leaving Black Sabbath, is a pearler of an album, with the late, great Randy Rhoads providing some of the most famous axe riffs in the heavy metal business.  There's not a bad song on this album - "Revelation (Mother Earth)" is perhaps a bit too long, being over six minutes in length, but otherwise there are no real fillers to speak of here. Plenty of Ozzy fan favorites here though - "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley" and "Goodbye to Romance" should all be familiar to most metalheads, and perhaps even for those whose interest in heavy metal is at best fleeting.  A legendary album from a legendary singer.  A-

Album Review: Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)

The last Eric Clapton album I did a review for was Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos, and boy was it an impressive album.  Indeed, it is considered by most critics to be Clapton's magnum opus.  However, there was more to Eric Clapton outside of his group work - generally speaking, he is thought of first and foremost as a solo artist, even if his best material was with bands such as Cream and the aforementioned Derek and the Dominos.  I'd been wanting to write a review for a solo Clapton album for a while, and I decided to go with Slowhand, as it contains three songs that I'm particularly fond of, and a fourth one that I just heard for the first time and thought was pretty damn good.  So here goes.  The best songs are on the first half of the album - "Cocaine", "Wonderful Tonight", Lay Down Sally" and "Next Time You See Her."  The first three you'll most likely recognize either from the radio or from Clapton's best of and greatest hits compilations.  The middle of the album gets a bit tepid, including a lengthy 8 minutes or so track called "The Core."  However, the album soon redeems itself and finishes on a pleasant note with the instrumental "Peaches and Diesel."  Rated as one of Clapton's best offerings, this album offers plenty for the discerning 70s rock lover, and of course, those who are just getting into the depths of Clapton's music.  "Next Time You See Her" will be my go-to Clapton song for a while, methinks.  That aside, there's plenty of great stuff on this album.  Check it out.  A-

Album Review: Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage, Acts I, II & III (1979)

I've always been intrigued by Frank Zappa, despite not having listened to his music that much. I saw his album artwork in the media, read up about him in the press, and I always thought that I should get around to checking out his music at some stage.  Well, a couple of years ago, I stumbled across a few of his songs - "Willie The Pimp", "Joe's Garage" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay."  I thought they were all great songs. Well, I finally got around to check out Joe's Garage, Acts I, II & III, the album on which that the latter two can be found.  And it's not a bad album, although I do think I came across the best tracks with "Joe's Garage" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay."  Strange, eccentric, hilarious at times and with some great guitar solos to boot, I can appreciate the fanfare surrounding Zappa's unique way of making music.  Even among his more eccentric moments (of which, of course, there are many) there are the more mainstream sounding numbers like "Joe's Garage."  And "Watermelon in Easter Hay" must surely be one of the greatest guitar solos I have ever heard.  The CD version is comprised of two discs, with much of the guitar solo-heavy stuff on disc number two.  "A Little Green Rosetta",  "Catholic Girls", "Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt" and "Outside Now" are a few more selections for you to check out.  My verdict, different, but not bad, either.  B+ 

Album Review: Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)

I loved Hysteria by Def Leppard.  Absolutely loved it.  An album full of A grade singles, a few more great numbers and not a filler in sight. I own a copy on CD, and it's the precious.  A few years back, the original album was pulled from Spotify and was subsequently replaced with re-recordings, which were admittedly "OK", but I was insistent on the original.  Now that the original is back up, I have since updated the review with the Spotify player link embedded into it (just for your information).  Anyway, onto the album I'm reviewing right now, which is Pyromania, their previous effort, and not too bad an effort I must say, although I still consider it to be notably inferior to Hysteria.  My favorite on the album, "Photograph" could easily be mistaken for a song from Hysteria. It's a great song, the greatest on the album. Pyromania struggles to hold my attention the way Hysteria does, although that certainly doesn't mean that it's a bad album. Quite the contrary, it is very good indeed.  "Stagefright", "Die Hard the Hunter" and "Comin' Under Fire" are the other tracks to look out for if you're asking for any recommendations from yours truly.  Otherwise, it's certainly worth picking up if you're just getting into Def Leppard. A nice album, and a definite pickup for hard rock collectors.  B+

Album Review: Dire Straits - Love Over Gold (1982)

I always loved the song "Industrial Disease" by Dire Straits - borderline cheesy, with a melodic sound that sounded almost like a hybrid cross between the Traveling Wilburys and Racey. Simple, no frills pop rock, it was.  And for many years, it was my only exposure to the album that I am reviewing here, Love Over Gold.  The funny thing is, it is in fact the Achilles heel of the entire record.  I really should have listened to this album decades ago, when I was first getting into Dire Straits.  Hiding under a rock is one of the worse things you can do - ignorance isn't bliss, and this album is bloody brilliant.  It's bedtime as I write this, but bugger it, staying up was well worth it.  There are only a handful of songs on the album - five, in fact, but this is simply due to the length of the songs.  "Telegraph Road" is over fourteen minutes of brilliance long, and "It Never Rains" is bang on eight. "Industrial Disease" is the shortest at a more attention-span friendly 5:48.  I'm absolutely loving "Private Investigations" and "Love Over Gold" as well. In wrapping up this shortish review, let me just say that I for one am so glad I decided to give this a listen when I did.  And now it's your turn. Give it a whirl, I hope you won't be disappointed.  Because I sure as hell wasn't.  A

Album Review: Lady Gaga - Born This Way (2011)

Yes, I'm writing a review for a contemporary album from a contemporary artist.  And a very favorable one at that.  Many of you who have read my reviews will probably be looking out the window expecting to see the odd airborne pig or two.  And that would be understandable - I'm not a huge fan of contemporary music - for the most part, it's been shit since at least 1998.  There have been some exemptions to this - The Darkness, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand and Gnarls Barkley, to name a few artists who emerged since then and whom I thought were just the bee's knees.  I must say though, I am especially fond of Lady Gaga's output - in an era of music that seemingly caters primarily to tone deaf teenagers, Lady Gaga comes across as an artist who puts everything into her work and in the process has actually made what in the traditional sense could be called 'music.'  Her beginnings weren't rooted in made-for-TV pop idol auditions - that rubbish is only good for watching big-headed tryhards make fools of themselves on national television - Gaga feels like an actual artist.  Right now, I'm reviewing Born This Way, which was released in 2011, and damn, is it a good album.  It really is a quality record - not overdone, not pretentious, not stuffed with fillers - all negative attributes that even my beloved eighties selections could not be completely absolved of.  I love the synth work on this album - and I love my synthesizers - again, being an eighties kid, my ears could start bleeding with the likes of Van Halen's "I'll Wait", but they feel so tempered and so much more appropriate here. And the singles here - all good, and if you add "Heavy Metal Lover", "Electric Chapel", and "Government Hooker", you really can't go wrong.  This is an excellent album by any standard.  You absolutely must listen to it, even if you're a stickler for the classics, like me.  A

Album Review: Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)

It's high time I did a GNR album review.  And here it is, going back to the very beginning, and with what is considered by most people to be their best album ever - Appetite for Destruction.  As I write this, it has been a while since I've listened to GNR, and it's about damn time I started listening to them again.  It's funny, I was completely indifferent to Guns N' Roses music as a kid, but then again, I was indifferent to all forms of hard rock and heavy metal at that time.  But like most heavy metal and hard rock music, things have changed drastically.  Heavy metal is the best thing to happen to music as far as I'm concerned, and Guns N' Roses easily has one of the best vocalists in the music business in Axl Rose.  When I was first getting into GNR I stuck to the Greatest Hits album - all their best work is on there, obviously - but then I went out and bought Use Your Illusion I.  Having enjoyed the album a lot, I then decided to invest in their lauded debut record, Appetite for Destruction. Not as good as what I was expecting, particularly from what is regarded as being one of the best records ever made, but it certainly wasn't shite, either.  Nonetheless, the songwriting is solid, Axl's voice is as brilliant as it will ever be and there's plenty of choice cuts to indulge yourself with.  "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City" "Nightrain", "Sweet Child O' Mine" - the singles you all know and love, are all ace, and you can't go wrong with "Mr. Brownstone", "It's So Easy" and "My Michelle", either.  My verdict - a very good album, and one you should own if you are nuts for GNR.  A-

Album Review: Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith (1984)

Judas Priest feel like an underappreciated band at times, and yet their presence and influence is well known.  The mainstream media never paid a huge amount of attention to the band - perhaps even less than most other metal bands - but their status as a staple of the heavy metal genre is nonetheless solid. The most publicity they received at the height of their career was perhaps their most unfortunate, as they, along with numerous other bands and artists, were caught up in the PMRC investigation of the mid-eighties, with one of the songs on the album being reviewed here,"Eat Me Alive" from Defenders of the Faith, being accused of supposedly promoting oral sex.  Of course, the band survived the scrutiny and if anything probably gained free promotion from it.  And despite the moral panic, the band are doing fine, and so are their fans. "Eat Me Alive" is a great song, no matter what Tipper Gore thinks of it, and so is "Rock Hard Ride Free", "Jawbreaker" and "Freewheel Burning."  If I were you, I'd probably get ready to have your finger (or mouse pointer) on the skip forward button for the likes of "Love Bites", "Heavy Duty" and "Defenders of the Faith." Not the album's finest moments, but hey, no album is perfect, right?  All up, a very respectable album.  Every budding Judas Priest fanatic should definitely own this album.  Everyone else?  Check it out at your own leisure.  B+

Album Review: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Who Loves You (1975)

Think of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and people will tell you that he's the bloke who sang "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)."  And they're right.  Along with his band The Four Seasons, of course.  There is also "Who Loves You" and the lesser known "Silver Star" that all together make up the trio of seventies hits that catapulted the band into superstardom.  Of course, there were the hits before these three - "Walk Like a Man", "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" might sound familiar to many people, but they didn't leave their mark on the music world in quite the same way "December, 1963" did.  Nightclubs and radio stations to this day still crank it up on a fairly regular basis. That, and the less impressive, if not sacrilegious remix.   Incidentally, the three big seventies hits I mentioned earlier all come from the same album, Who Loves You, which of course shares its name with their second biggest hit. So, what do I think of the album?  Surprisingly, not bad.  Not bad, at all.  "Silver Star" was something I didn't expect to hear from the band, with the emphatic use of the acoustic guitar, and "Emily's (Salle De Dance)" was a refreshing way to end the album as well.  "Slip Away" was a bit on the boring side, to be quite honest - tedious, drawn out and liable to leave you inattentive, which was in stark contrast to the rest of the record, which is actually not bad at all.  I was admittedly expecting more numbers like "Slip Away", but all up the album proved to be surprisingly good.  B+