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96. ‘Ozzmosis’ - Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
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Ozzy Osbourne's ‘Ozzmosis’ was a triumphant return to form. Following a period of personal struggles and musical experimentation, the legendary Prince of Darkness roared back with ‘Ozzmosis’. This 1995 album showcases a star-studded lineup, including guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, and songwriting contributions from Steve Vai. ‘Ozzmosis’ delivers a powerful blend of classic Ozzy heaviness and introspective songwriting. Featuring iconic tracks like "Perry Mason" and "See You on the Other Side," this album cemented Ozzy's status as a heavy metal icon.
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#OzzyOsbourne #Ozzmosis #HeavyMetal #ZakkWylde #GeezerButler #SteveVai #HardRock #90sMusic #ComebackAlbum #PrinceOfDarkness
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. After a period of personal struggles, Ozzy Osbourne returned with a vengeance. Osmosis featured a powerhouse lineup of rock and metal royalty and was more than just a comeback album, it was a reminder and reaffirmation of Ozzy's status as king of heavy metal. With Zack Wild's searing guitar work, Geezer Butler's thunderous bass and Osbourne's introspective lyrics, Osmosis delivered and executed a potent dose of Ozzy's signature sound, proving that the Prince of Darkness was still a force to be reckoned with and solidifying his iconic status in the heavy metal world.
00:00:38
Speaker
Joining me to discuss this album is my co-host, Mr. Felipe Amarin. How you doing, bro? Doing great, man. How are you? Good. Yeah, not bad. Thank you, not bad. Just for viewers and listeners. We actually met up this weekend, myself and Felipe and our wives, of course. We had a great time when we walked around Richmond. Lovely meal in the pub. Really good to hang out, wasn't it? See each other again. Great, isn't it? Just to see each other in real life. It is. We normally see each other on the screen. It's funny, isn't it? Because we've gone from being best friends on tour, where we see each other, you know, like weeks at a time, then weeks without seeing each other. And we're just so used to seeing each other, giving each other a hug, you know, turning around and seeing you on the drum kit to have just the last year or two just gone to like, just see you every Wednesday on the screen.
00:01:18
Speaker
And it's kind of weird when I saw you. At least we have this. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's kind of weird when I saw you and walked into your house. I was like, he's here. The man, the myth, the legend, Felipe, he's in front of me. Real person. Yeah, exactly. I do exist like, like ah you know, in real world, not only on the screen. Excellent. Well, just a little um little note from us. We are actually we might have caught we might have both um caught something in London because we're both feeling a bit under the weather. um So if our voices sound a bit croaky, that's why. But as usual, we're still going to deliver you an excellent podcast. so But you've got to do something for us. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, please do us a favour and scroll down and review the show because if you give us a good rating, we go up in the charts and more and more people see us. And if you're watching us on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe so you can stay up to date with our content.
00:02:01
Speaker
So Osmosis by Ozzy Osbourne released the year I was born 1995. A few quick album details. So the album was released 24th of October 1995 and recorded between 1994 and 1995 across various studios in Paris, New York, Woodstock. and The genre is heavy metal and it clocks in just under an hour 56 minutes in length released on the epic label and produced by Michael Beinhorn. So This is one of your favorite albums ever, which I found out. Quick little funny thing as well, when we do these, when we do the schedule for our podcast, ah Felipe chooses an album, then I choose an album, then Felipe. And when it when it came to this one, Felipe, well, what happened is Felipe chose Trash by Alice Cooper. And then next up in our schedule was Osmosis. So then I chose it because I chose one from my list and Felipe messaged me yesterday and was like, listen,
00:02:55
Speaker
i chose osmosis because it's my favorite album so i think we should do it like this and i was like hold on i chose osmosis i mean we just found out so we found out that we both chose it um but since felipe told me it's his football one of his favorite albums um on the left Felipe take the lead and sort of take this take us through the structures so Felipe bro kick off man let let's go let's talk about Moses man yeah man I first uh came across this album when a friend of mine uh recommended it to me without actually knowing the album he heard about it so we should buy this one so back in the day before Spotify and YouTube
00:03:31
Speaker
We had to buy CDs, the ancient device called CD. We put on a sound system and it plays. ah So yeah, for for those of you who are younger than us, you're a young glass, you didn't have a CD player. so um Yeah so basically a friend of mine was like we we need to buy some CDs to listen to them the good stuff right that doesn't play on the radio and um well basically we didn't have enough money so we would share this like the CDs basically we if we go together and buy four CDs now you know then they the four of them belong to all of us so to both of us so we can like
00:04:09
Speaker
ah Each week you you keep two of them, whatever, we did that. One of the albums was Osmosis, and it really blew my mind when I listened to it, because I wasn't into heavy rock, I was more into classic rock, like, you know, ah the purple, pink Floyd, queen, Beatles, that kind of stuff. Not like anything that heavy. And Ozzy, I liked him with a black Sabbath, but I wasn't sure if I liked his solo stuff. At the time I've listened to, had listened to the the live album he did just before this one.
00:04:38
Speaker
had you already been into Black Sabbath before you heard this out? Yes. You knew who Ozzy was. Yeah, funny or not, like most people know Ozzy, or they get to know Ozzy before Sabbath, I would say, because he's such an icon, isn't he? Yeah, famous figure, isn't he? But anyway, so when I first listened to it, I was like, this is way too good to be true. And then I realized, oh, wait a minute, there's half of Black Sabbath in here. That's why.
00:05:07
Speaker
So it is. So in a certain way, this album connects the two distinct um eras of Oz's career. So him as a band member and him as the the leader, because he's doing both in this case, because when basically he didn't have a band, because well he was touring with his band,
00:05:33
Speaker
And then that was supposed to be what there was intended to be his last ever tour. So yeah, during the album, no No More Tears, if I'm not wrong. Yeah, no you're right. So No More Tears came out in 1991. And then after No More Tears released, he announced that he was going to retire from music. There was still the tour to come, I think. And then they released live and loud. But supposedly, so up until 1992, sorry, from 1992 onwards, supposedly, Ozzy was retired.
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, so it was like a short retirement, three years. ah Because well, because he I think I couldn't find more sources about this. or I think he was diagnosed with with something that he thought, you know, would be the end for him or something like that. Yeah, but numerous battles with substance abuse. and He had health health issues as well, you know, the The public didn't know what was going on with him. You know, I think it was very much kept behind closed doors. um And yeah, just ah so a proper comeback, isn't it? Because people didn't even know if you would tour again or if you would ah stay alive for for much longer. I mean, he's still going impressively. But yes, he's one of those. 30 years later, he's still going. I honestly thought he would die before the Queen, but he's still his tour.
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's never going to go. He's never going to go. ah ah i hope he does you know I hope he stays alive forever. I hope he's 250 years old. and and you know and keep doing music. But um yeah, so basically, yeah, that was a proper comeback in a way, if he didn't even know if he would go back on the road. And the tour was called No More Tours, as a reference to No More Tears. And then he went went back on the road, I think during the process of recording this album, I'm not quite sure about it, but it was called ah Retirement Cirque Store. And Really appropriate name. and And then, okay, he was back on the road and he wanted to record. And here is the most interesting story about this album, I believe, because I recently found out he wrote and probably recorded
00:07:38
Speaker
ah about ten songs with Steve Vai on guitar. so Because when he retired, his band went went on tour during their own projects, their solo stuff or bands they joined. So he didn't have a band anymore.
00:07:53
Speaker
ah Of course, being Ozzy Osbourne, you can just ah hire anyone you want or or do partnerships with anyone you want. And he wanted Steve Vibe, so um if any of you guys are not familiar with him, you know, look him up. One of the best musicians of all time, not even guitar player, not only guitar player. ah Played with Frank Zappa, you know, he's got like a solo career that is absolutely mind-blowing in terms of guitar player. Anyway, so Steve Vibe is like,
00:08:22
Speaker
a phenomenal musician joins Aussie and they start writing stuff together. Some people said that the songs never, they were never released because ah Steve Vai had a problem with Aussie and that is apparently not true because I've just listened to a short interview with ah Steve Vai and he was saying that Aussie is like the funniest guy ever and he just keeps telling story after story, makes you laugh all day and he said that environment was great, you know,
00:08:52
Speaker
for him that he was having a great time with Aussie listening to his stories and having fun and writing songs. Well sorry before you kind of go on what was the all what what why was what was the What was the reasoning behind them not getting on? What did they think? What did people say? that's No, that's what I don't know. People said they didn't get on, but that's not true, apparently, because ah there's nothing thing that Ozzy, I think, ever said about Steve Vai, you know, anything negative about him. And Steve Vai was like really happy to do that that project. But Ozzy's got a big team behind him. Are they really concerned about commercial success? Right. So there's the label, there's the management and all the stuff. The wife. Yeah, the wife. The management is the wife. Sharon's been looking after him since since forever and yeah and it's it's it's a solid like business partnership ah regardless of ah being also solid like relationship or all of that.
00:09:49
Speaker
but he they've been, you know, working together for a while. So I imagine Sharon and the record label and everyone got together and said, no, we don't want this. ah Steve Vai said it was way too heavy. Like I said, it was too heavy for the label. They didn't like it. Like heavier than previous Oz's albums and wow heavier than anything he's done as a guitar player with the different tunings on the guitar, everything like really low and and deep.
00:10:16
Speaker
That's really interesting because back in those days, sort you know when you think about No More Tears and Ozzy's solo albums, they kind of came as glam metal was dying out and it was the perfect, in my opinion, it's the perfect. People call it heavy metal and we have different versions. Again, um I won't go too far on this. What is heavy metal as a sub-genre? We know heavy metal is a main genre, but as a sub-genre, what is it?
00:10:42
Speaker
in my in my opinion and from my research, in the 70s, heavy metal was Black Sabbath. In the 80s, heavy metal was Iron Maiden. In the 90s, where we have all these different sub-genres of heavy metal, I think Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest are examples of heavy metal as a sub-genre. So my point is is that these albums that Ozzy was doing were so significant to to metal because they, as I just said, it was the 90s the 90s version of what we know heavy metal to be. And it came at the end of us, glam metal was dying out. He took the best parts from glam metal, the fast riffs, the really sort of polished production, and he mixed it with what he knew, some dark lyrics, some sort of dissonant chord changes and everything. And that's what we get in No More Tears, Bark of the Moon, Osmosis. It's just brilliant. Yeah, yeah. And the interesting thing is like, for some reason, Bark of the Moon and No More Tears get more
00:11:39
Speaker
attention than Ozzy Moses, I don't know why. I think they were just a bit more, not groundbreaking, I just think they were earlier albums weren't they? And I think you can hear that Ozzy has more energy in those albums, his voice is better. not yeah you know i love this I love the vocals on this album because you can just so clearly hear it's him.
00:11:59
Speaker
um But yeah, I don't know, Randy Rhodes played a part in those albums as well, you know, he was a young up-and-coming guitarist before his tragic death. um No More Tears is Zack Wild already, isn't it? That is, yeah, but Bark of the Moon was Randy Rhodes. It's weird, they do get more attention, don't they? They do get a bit more applauders than this one. Yeah, very rarely people list this album as a as like ah one of his best ones. like I think people just forget to just overlook this. yeah And he actually did really well on the charts. I think it was number four and in America and 22 in the UK. Interesting, like his music was always more appealing for the American audiences. It got to number two in the UK. Number four in the US, s two in the UK and top 10 in Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Japan.
00:12:47
Speaker
Funnily enough, all those countries... I've added another two, I said 22. Funnily enough, all those countries love metal. Canada, Japan, Finland, Sweden. Yeah, but there's a fine line there, isn't there, between metal and kind of the other genres, like glamour or hard rock, and that sort of more pop version of heavy rock. And I think this album is on that line in a way, because maybe that's the reason why some of the classic,
00:13:15
Speaker
um fans or the the old did that the you know the the ah hardcore fans that maybe don't like this album that that much because it's it's not that heavy in terms of production. yeah So there's something about music production that you can make something really really heavy sound polished enough for the radio and I think there's a lot of this in this album in terms of the drum drum and guitar sounds mostly. I think the bass is really loud and deep. I loved i love the bass sound in this whole album. I think they've put the bass in the front for the first time in an Aussie album. Yeah, I think you've got a beautiful marriage but between hard rock and heavy metal because this is what I'm saying. I'm saying that
00:14:00
Speaker
As for what was going on in the time of when this came out, mid-90s, okay, grunge had peaked and was now sort of dying out. um Post-grunge was coming in, Creed, Foo Fighters, those kind of bands, sort of taking grunge to a more poppy side. Glam Metal had just finished, as I said earlier, so you had Ozzy kind of consolidating everything, taking the best parts of Glam Metal, taking the serious depressiveness of grunge and adding Giza Butler and Zach Wild into it. So it does sit on the fence because you listen to these songs. I mean, just to compare something that came out at roughly the same time. I mean, Painkiller by Judas Priest.
00:14:43
Speaker
A quick note for anyone listening, any song we mention and including the full album we have a dedicated playlist in the show notes and the YouTube description so if you go down there and click it then we'll have the every song on the album plus any other songs we mention you click it and you can listen along and when we mention a song you can hear it and see what we're talking about so all of these songs will be in the playlist.
00:15:03
Speaker
If you compare something like Painkiller by Judas Priest, which is just proper, fast, out and out heavy metal to this, you's it's it's chalk and cheese. You'd say Judas Priest, obvious heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne, rock. But because of, ah here's a question for you. Do you think because of who he is,
00:15:23
Speaker
the heavy metal label is attached to it because I'm wondering if a new unknown blues guitarist came out and wrote this album, you'd still go, okay, it's on the heavier side of rock, but it's still rock. When I listen to songs like, Goes Behind My Eyes, See You on the Other Side, My Little Man, they're way more rock than metal. But because it's also- Yeah, in a way there's like too many ballads in the album, right? Yeah, they're all good. How can you be like, how can you consider this a heavy metal album? I'm actually, I think there's a problem with, you know, heavy metal.
00:16:00
Speaker
uh uh you know the the expression to be used to label a lot of stuff that people don't simply don't know what it is okay and i think uh oh it's just if it's heavy it's heavy metal well not how heavy does it have to be like for me clearly arrow maiden pantera are heavy metal like they're they're heavy heavy as fuck uh this album i think because of the ballads like the strong presence of keyboards and piano it's not uh i don't know i think yeah i think aussie i in And to be fair to him, he never ever liked to be considered a heavy metal artist. You always said I do hard rock. What I do is hard rock. I think it's it's in a certain way it's a more comfortable label for him. like um so Because if you have a metal fan, some of the stuff on his arm is going to be too radio friendly for you.
00:16:52
Speaker
And that's not what heavy metal fans are looking for. that's true and And that's not what they should be looking for. right So um if you put this album like side by side with Maiden and and Pantera, as I said, or Judas Priest, well, it's not half as heavy as those guys, in my opinion.
00:17:09
Speaker
so I think my yes and I also think my my assertion was correct that maybe because it's Ozzy Osbourne who fronted the first band to create heavy metal maybe that adds another do you know I mean it comes with a little asterisk okay so Ozzy Osbourne It's hard rock, but because it's azzie it's heavy metal. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think you know what? is There's the whole imagery, like ah everything that people associate with him as well. So you've got to think of him like, you know, unfortunately, he's always going to be ah the guy who ate the the bat's head, yeah and you know, and and the drug abuse and all that stuff. When you consider those elements, what you think is this is heavy and in many ways, like
00:17:55
Speaker
everything that comes with the image of Ozzy Osbourne makes you think of. It's heavy metal, yeah, you're right. suck around So yeah so um yeah, but anyway, so he had, um going back to to Steve Vai, so those songs God, I really wish I could listen to that because I imagine how interesting that must be. ah But anyway, those songs were not that one of them made it to the album, My Little Man, which is a song he did for his son, apparently. Oh, I believe it is. Sounds like it. And, um and that score, I think there's Steve Vai playing the sitar.
00:18:34
Speaker
because i think yeah he recorded it and and he made it to the album and it's a beautiful song probably they picked the only one that wasn't that heavy and put it and put in in the album so it seems like at least one of those songs uh made it to the final cut uh it's an it's a nice song outside of it you know it's like it's a well-written song really really yes and the sitar just brings a a completely different vibe for this kind of this kind of music again you don't have sitar in heavy metal do you know it's not it's not that kind of ah instrument for the for that kind of music uh yeah so i mean the um so the guys he had with him so you gotta consider like Giza Butler on Black Sabbath is is a different Giza Butler than the one i hear in this album but because i think uh
00:19:23
Speaker
You have that. when he was playing with Black Sabbath he he would just go nuts and play a different bass line on every bar and it's just beautiful and just works and I think with his album he managed to stick to the groove a little bit more, repeat the riffs. So you have two generations of of rock musicians there with Giza and Zach Wild. Zach has like modern guitar sounds and like really fast playing and other stuff and I find incredible that Giza managed to follow his riffs and just play that thing like
00:19:55
Speaker
on and groove with him in such ah an amazing way. yeah and And shout out to Dean Castronova, the drummer, always a virtuoso drummer and great singer as well. really yeah Yeah, he's a really good singer.
00:20:10
Speaker
and and he's he played with or still playing with Journey, I never know if they're still on the road or not anyway, he is a phenomenal phenomenal musician as well and his drumming on the album is spot on, it's just what is needed for the song, again you have those who can play everything but you need to kind of give them some restrictions isn't it? Yeah, and you've got that with sort of, even even ah for Giza Butler's, for the role he plays, in which you said he he does really well of just sort of sticking with the groove, following the riff, not overplaying, not the ever overplayed, but just what you said, you know, Sabbath, sometimes he'd go off and do his own thing. There are a few bass breaks in a couple of the songs, isn't there? You know, Thunder Underground, you've got the little bass break towards the end and in the bridge of My Jekyll Doesn't Hide.
00:20:55
Speaker
um but ah Geezer is still Geezer-ing. It still sounds like him, although it's not his full bass personality on show, it still sounds like him. And then you've got Zach Wild, who honestly, man, the guitar playing on this album is phenomenal. And I'm talking riffs, techniques, sound effects, solos, ah but but but because of that,
00:21:22
Speaker
He is the at the forefront of the album with Aussie. So as you said, Dean Castronovo has to sit back and play. And I think he's got a really hard job because again, where is the line between metal drumming and rock drumming? And I think he's got an easier job on the ballads, on Ghost Behind My Eyes, My Little Man, you know, those songs.
00:21:40
Speaker
But some of the heavier songs, you know, things like, I don't know, Denial, My Jekyll Doesn't Hide, Tomorrow, you have to tow the line between not going too heavy, keeping it accessible, finding that line between rock and metal, but also not stepping on the toes of Zach Wild and Giza Butler. Yeah, exactly. I mean, those guys, when they work in the studio, they normally really good at being told what to do. So I think the producer did a phenomenal job for his name. I'm terrible with his name. Michael, Michael Beinhorn.
00:22:08
Speaker
okay cool yeah he played he played the keyboards now there's another keyboard player oh yes two songs that's rick wakeman um so rick wakeman just another keyboard player he his partnership with ozzy started when he was still playing with yes and i think was it uh black saber's volume four i think that's the album he played first and i think so yeah i believe it is ah Basically he was recording with, with Yes and Ozzy and Sabbath were recording in the studio, maybe next door to it or across the road or something. And he would, so he invited Rick Wakeman to go and play some stuff. And he said he got there, they were like all completely smashed. And just the whole band had collapsed at some point and everyone was unconscious. And Rick Wakeman did his thing and Ozzy listened to it and said, oh, that's great. And then went back to sleep.
00:23:02
Speaker
And that was it. So that's how they started the partnership and and it went on over the years in different albums and different stuff. And so they got together for this album. I think it's just like some keyboard interest for Perry Mason and I Just Want You, ah who happened to be the two best songs in the album in a certain way.
00:23:22
Speaker
right at the beginning of the album. And I think, yeah, ah so that's the other thing. So you think about a dream team in in rock music. So you've got Rick Wakeman, Ozzy and Geezer kind of representing the 70s. Crazy. And you've got Dean Castronovo and Zach Wild representing what is the late 80s, 90s like heavy rock. So it's two generations of great musicians. And I think uh apart from the drumming because we're talking about these sort of uh what you can't do in an album like this everyone had that moment to shine in the album and um and it's like yeah it's amazing to have all those guys together i think that's that's what convinced me to to to buy the cd at the time my friend was like you've got to get this one and i was like i don't know man we shouldn't have put our money to this i don't know i don't know that much about us as solo careers but geezer is in it
00:24:17
Speaker
wake comes in i'll say wait a minute and that soul of you know i'm so yeah yeah ah Yeah, it's great. I mean, I think it he made all the difference like with the keyboards and those songs. um So talk about those songs, the songs. Let's do it, man. Yeah, it's talk about the songs. I mean, we can talk ah I just want to tell you what I liked. um Ghost Behind My Eyes, what a song I thought as far as sort of, and again, that I don't want to sort of, I feel like I always go too historical, but the fact that we came from the 80s where it was power ballad after cheesy power ballad after cheesy power ballad, it got a bit, we got a bit bored of it. You know, we did Trash last week for Alice Cooper and he did a really good one. Only My Heart Talking, I think it's called.
00:25:02
Speaker
And certain bands had good ones, but then when the same bands, every album, you know, the track five would be the power ballad and it just go a bit, a bit too much. But Ozzy's done something here. It's like he's overproduced them and he's rocked them up a bit. Ghost Behind My Eyes for me is the perfect example of it. That's Solo by Zach Wild is stunning. um The other song, do you know what? Do you know a consistent thing I found behind it?
00:25:27
Speaker
that I found really interesting. Do you remember last week when I was saying, we were talking about trash. I said, every chorus is anthemic, memorable and catchy. What I'm going to say about osmosis, the weird thing is that almost every verse is catchy and memorable. I think, yeah, let me just try the verse of denial. Someone told me that they think that Ozzy's melodies are a little bit like nursery rhymes.
00:25:56
Speaker
yeah well maybe not me but they're bluesy because they're conversational there's a repetition of the line exactly and that yeah that's a great point it becomes like a nursery rhyme and my example for this is denial it is not the the melody i think my sing i ra you say that bad yeah so simple yeah so simple and there was a few others i mean uh my jackal doesn't hide my little man um see you on the other side those verses And that's what that's what shocked me is that i when I come away list from this album, apart from Ghost Behind My Eyes, where the chorus is epic and anthemic, I was singing the verses of the songs, not the choruses, which is fun. I just found it really funny. um But yeah, I mean, but it's very effective because you so you grab people's attention before the chorus comes in. Yeah, there you go. It's really cool. I wanted to point out some of the funny rhythms as well. So I'll see you on the other side.
00:26:51
Speaker
Isn't that odd? Like it's a bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. If I'm doing that noise to anyone listening, you think it might be funky. Yeah, that reminds me of Broken Wing ah by Mr. Mr. That would be in the playlist. yeah um But yeah, just just isn't that odd? It's one of the lead singles from this supposed heavy metal album. And the intro is like, bum, bum, bum.
00:27:16
Speaker
um but it's so always five key like you want dance that Yeah, I think that song has got some sort of pop vibes. and know The other one is so well that's ah sea on the side is is actually the most pop in the album in in a way.
00:27:30
Speaker
ah And I really loved Old L.A. Tonight, which is like ah the last one, if you're not listening to the extended version, is the last song on the album, totally based on the piano more than anything else. And it's it's a cool way of ending an album, a heavy album with the piano ballads.
00:27:47
Speaker
ah Yeah, really clever. In my notes, I've got, is this changes part two? Yeah, kind of. Yeah, it is. Maybe a little less emotional than changes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like he's reflecting. It feels like he's reflecting on Los Angeles, not his relationship with his family or whatever. Exactly. um Yeah. But yeah, and I tell you what, so going back to Zach Wild, something like the riffs in this song, ah the solo, of the solo in ah Ghost Behind My Eyes, I already said that's stunning.
00:28:15
Speaker
um Denial, that solo as well was fantastic. Denial almost had like a psychedelic element to it. And it got it kind of this it just got me thinking a little bit. I was listening to it and I was like, there's a little bit of psychedelia here. And then I went back and thought, that's almost what, well, that is kind of what Sabbath did. yeah They introduced little elements of psychedelia. And so my thoughts just went on and on. And I wrote down my thoughts and I said,
00:28:43
Speaker
if you if you You might not agree, okay, but if you think about it and you strip it back and you strip away the production, this seems to me to be an accessible, overproduced Black Sabbath album. Whereas if you listen to things like Blizzard of Oz, Bark at the Moon, to me, they are glam metal. Maybe glam metal with more heavy metal influences, not so cheesy, not so spandex, whatever, not so choruses about your high school teacher, but but this one,
00:29:15
Speaker
seemed to me to have the roots in Sabbath's kind of lyrics for sure, the dark introspective lyrics, but songs like Denial, songs like Perry Mason, songs like, what was the other one? Tomorrow.
00:29:33
Speaker
Thunder Underground. I don't know. Maybe no one agrees with me. I'll tell you why Thunder Underground is is a great one, because that's a band effort that was written with Zach and Yeezer. So that's like the three of them writing the songs together. So it's more like a band, isn't it? When you have your bassist and the guitar player co-writing the song and considering that the bassist is Black Sabbath bassist. So basically it's your old bandmate and your new bandmate.
00:30:01
Speaker
And it's because what makes the album as special is the fact that they're working as a band, not as like a solo artist. yeah And i think I think that's great. And there's a difference between specifically this song Thunder Underground and the rest of it. This one sounds to me a lot like Sabbath, like a lot.
00:30:21
Speaker
ah The difference would be, if it had to be ward on drums, it would swing like in a different way, it would be more jazzy. And again, we're talking about the drumming, the album has to be kind of radio friendly, has to be more steady, ah you know, less in improvisation and yeah and and less flashy stuff. crazy So that's why, that's why be ward wouldn't fit in this sort of concept. um So, ah but yeah, but it's apart from from the drummies,
00:30:48
Speaker
very much like a Black Sabbath song, it's really dark and really slow. Yeah. Because that's the thing, like Sabbath, the songs are they have a slow pace, they don't they don't rush. And yeah, I think Zach exudes, Randy Rhodes was 100% a glam metal guitarist. And you look at people, he influenced like Dimebag Darrell from Pantera. And it was about speed and shredding. Whereas I feel like Tony Iommi was about the riffs.
00:31:17
Speaker
And I feel that Zach Wilde, he encompasses the best of both. He he has the speed and the shredding and the technique of Randy Rhodes. But I think ultimately at his core, he loves Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi, which is why songs like Thunder Underground work.
00:31:32
Speaker
And we know he loves Tony Iommi because we went and saw his tribute band to Black Sabbath, which is called Zach Sabbath. Do you remember that day? We went to see them on the day that was the anniversary of Black Sabbath's first album, I guess. And it was in Birmingham, we saw them. So a big, big day. Just a quick story talking about Birmingham. This picture behind me is Ozzy visiting his former school.
00:31:57
Speaker
in Birmingham. So he went there to see his old school and no one recognized him, the kids, not the kids. And then the people who were working there, oh much older, they all knew who he was. I was saying, I was just thinking, whilst we were talking about something a while ago, I was thinking, look at how different our photos are. My one is like epitomizes his music.
00:32:17
Speaker
heavy metal. Some guys are going up to heaven, blood around the screen. like the ah I think you can see the eyes on the eyes and the teeth on his body. And then the other one is just Aussie and Birmingham. Just probably like, ah we traced the school again Sharon. I don't know where I'm bloody at. What a guy, honestly man. Definitely the premiere character of Heavy Metal. What a matter man. i think I think music wouldn't be the same with without Ozzy. I don't want to imagine a world without Black Sabbath, you know let alone him as well.
00:32:50
Speaker
But yeah, um be any I mean, any particular aspects of the songs you wanted to talk about? Well, I sort of, ah I want to talk about that the the choices they made for singles is See You On The Other Side, Perry Mays, and I Just Want You. I Just Want You and Perry Mays are right at the beginning of the album. And I think maybe that was a really clever choice to put something that is like more interesting commercially right at the beginning.
00:33:15
Speaker
On the other hand, ah Perry Mason is so heavy. Maybe it's the best ah arrangement in the album, even if you find another song in the album that's more well written as a song, as a melody or lyrics or whatever. Perry Mason has just got that riff. Zach Weil would have said that they were jamming to that riff and that's how he came about. Then the lyrics came after.
00:33:39
Speaker
So again, it's a band effort. Maybe that's why it sounds good. Because a lot of the stuff in the album was written by pop songwriters. ah Let me see, I've got some of the names here. Oh, well, you had another rock icon collaborating, which is Lemmy from Mottohead. Yes, that was on track five. See you on the other side.
00:33:58
Speaker
Yeah and you have ah Gene Valens who who wrote songs in partnership with Brian Adams so pop like he wrote I think he wrote summer of 69 in heaven like those pop ballads and but yeah but maybe he was there to help with the ballads I assume and yeah and Mark Hudson who worked with Aerosmith so but isn't it funny sorry go yeah i was just gonna say isn't it funny how you can hear the reflective thing of each one you know jim valance um who worked with brian adams and i just want you although it's kind of um it doesn't sound like brian adams it has a it's over produced ai to do brian adams singing i just want you know yeah but he but it has it has that kind of
00:34:46
Speaker
Oh, I don't have to describe it. It has that modern rock kind of sound. I just want you. It's heavy on the keyboards. Look at who contributed to Perry Mason, John Purdell, who worked on a Awake by Dream Theater. So that explains that. And then you say Mark Hudson on Ghost Behind My Eyes, who worked with Aerosmith.
00:35:03
Speaker
Those Pi Mice is a fantastic power ballad. It's like, you know, you can see how each of these songwriters has just given a little bit to the song yeah to shape the personality of the individual songs. Exactly. I think that brings a balance to what the band wanted to do. Otherwise, the whole album would be a bit like Perry Mason and Thunder Underground. That's not what he was intended to be, I would say.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. yeah yeah Do you have a favourite song? It goes behind my eyes always, but in terms of this new list, as in when I first listened to this years ago, that was the one that always stuck with me. Perry Mason's Brilliant, Thunder on the Ground, Proper Sabbathy, See You on the Other Side, I Can See Why It's a Hit Completely, Denial, probably my second favourite, I love the verse.
00:35:47
Speaker
um and the riffs in my jackal doesn't hide is brilliant and old la tonight is is a lovely emotive song so yeah ghost by my is my favorite but they all play a part you know i don't feel like there's a filler track on there to be honest no you think yeah no i think um my my favorites are thunder on the ground and and i just want you i think i just want you it takes first place i really love the song the lyrics the way it's it's arranged and the tension until the the the chorus comes up. um Yeah, beautiful album. And Perry Mason, I mean, they couldn't have found the better ones just to open the album. I think the bass kind of taking the lead, you know, the bass riff is like Giza Butler's back, right? There you go. So it's like, oh, you got that like, um
00:36:34
Speaker
I don't know it's not it's it's it's like a node school basis playing in a slightly more modern way and the riff is just perfect. And of course you go Rick Wakeman so you know doesn't get any better than that does it. Yeah. prop yeah um I mean, do you have anything else to say? No, man, I think I've said everything I've planned to say. Nice. I'll just check my notes. But no, I mean, lyrics, we didn't talk about that. I mean, we've kind of alluded. I know you like lyrics. I think, yeah, I do. I do. I find sometimes with Ozzy kind of not that easy to decipher what he wants to say. I've looked into some of the themes and, you know, talks about addiction, you know, reflecting on his past experiences, his honesty. I actually thought...
00:37:18
Speaker
mortality and reflection and sort of relationships and personal connections, I sort of found with the main themes of the album. But he's not easy to read, is he? It's not like no no and like I just want to I just want to choose an interesting one because it's like there's a love song, but he's basically talking about everything else but love. He's talking about everything he sees in the world and then but I don't want any of that.
00:37:38
Speaker
I forgot, I wrote a lyric down, not my favourite lyric, but and a lyric I found interesting from I Just Want You. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I just thought that's so not songwriter-y, is it? r Rhyming sick and tired. It's a bit silly, isn't it? But you works it works for him. and you cant bit But it's it's the idea of just focusing on that line.
00:37:59
Speaker
He's sick and tired of being sick and tired because he's always sick and tired of being sick and tired because he's sick. And and it works because when you think about it, it's just like it's this ending, site never ending cycle of him being sick and tired. And I heard it. I thought, well, why would you repeat that lyric twice? And I think there's some stuff in those lyrics that I should have married Lennon's daughter. I don't know why he said that in the lyric. I don't know what that means.
00:38:21
Speaker
yeah Anyway, there's some stuff that I just don't know, always just there to rhyme. But again, in this song, I have a feeling he's talking about all the things that maybe maybe don't make too much sense in the world and like and and how he doesn't doesn't believe in anything, doesn't like anything and doesn't care about it.
00:38:41
Speaker
and all that noise around him and then he just wants the person he loves that's that's yeah an interesting way of building a love song instead of just doing the cheesy yeah you know there's no I love you in the song you know it's not it's not that you know the um the solo one I just want to use brilliant as well because it kind of showcases straight away Zach Wild and his use of effects he's got this sort of flange wah wah sound on his guitar that I think really hits home But man, everything he's done, I mean, he's got a pinch harmonics throughout the album. what What song is it? There's one way, they're really obvious. My Jekyll Doesn't Hide. The riff is just that full of harmonics. um i just I'm just super impressed with Zach Wilde and his performance on this. um
00:39:22
Speaker
and not even just his performance but his contribution to the to the writing of the album to the writing of the riffs and all that stuff he's a he's a truly great guitarist i've never really given him enough credit because when i when i was getting into heavy metal black label society were not the first band i like i can't really say i love them or even like them now so there's there's some stuff they they've done i think it's great and i respect them completely but they just don't really tick boxes for me So when I was growing up learning about heavy metal guitarists, Zack Wild and Dimebag were best friends. And Dimebag obviously is is passed away or was killed.
00:39:55
Speaker
um And his legacy is that of being one of the greatest ever heavy metal guitarists, along with Randy Rhoades, you know, along with Tony Iommi, those that that ilk of guitarists. And so I think maybe for me, Zach Wilde kind of went under the radar a bit, but having seen him live, having seen what he's done with Ozzy, and actually after this, I went and listened to the Live and Loud album. He's of he a phenomenal guitarist, he really is.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, he is. Although his solos are amazing, I love him because of the riffs. so creative with That's what I was saying earlier about how he really does embody that Tony Iommi riff factor. The riff comes first. As good as the solos are, I don't feel like there's a song where I'm like, well, that solo was brilliant, but the riff wasn't very good. Everything matches. Yeah, everything's amazing. There's an album worth listening to a couple of times. We didn't talk really about production. I don't think there's much to say. It's quite produced, isn't it? It's polished in many ways. And I think it's lots of sound effects.
00:41:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think the presence of piano and keyboards and the um the echo on the drums and all and all that kind of stuff, ah not only the arrangements, i think as I said, you the restrictions on how you can drum in an album like that, and the bass lines being more um arranged than improvised, which is not or Giza Butler would normally do. So that's the musical side of the production I would say. And yeah, the sounds are compressed enough to be acceptable by radio stations or rock radio stations. So I imagine that they did the previous idea with Steve Vai was far from what this album has become. Can you imagine if they release it after 50 years?
00:41:53
Speaker
Well, I hope they do at some point, even just one song. I just want to hear another song. But yeah, I think the production, what I would say is this, like they they clearly wanted it to be a commercial success. So the sounds are designed to be if not radio friendly, like not too aggressive despite the heavy riffs. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Do you want to finish yourself with your monologue?
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah, man. So here we go. very afraid have a monolode Although was your episode, wasn't it? They just say, yeah. ah But yeah, I love this. When I said to Vlipe, I was like, listen, why don't you do the monologue if you love the album? And i I thought I was being lovely and saying, you know what, best friend, you can have it, mate. If you love this album this much, you have it. I got one. no be You're not being a slacker. I got one word reply. Slacker.
00:42:41
Speaker
yeah that was that was yeah well yes I love it so much bro, you can have this monologue. Slacker.
00:42:53
Speaker
ah Yeah, go for it man. Right, here we go. In 1995 Ozzy Osbourne was coming out of a brief retirement to produce a masterpiece of Heavy Rock. Osmosis was a result of partnerships, the first of them with virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai. Unfortunately, we never had a chance to listen to what they have created together, apart from one tune that made to the final cut of the album.
00:43:19
Speaker
with his bandmates on on the road with their own projects, Ozzy decided to team up with his old bandmate Giza Butler on bass, and Zach Woud was back on guitar. Dean Castronovo joined them on drums to complete a dream lineup for Hard Rock.
00:43:36
Speaker
A mix of collaborations with renowned songwriters and the members of his band was Ozzy's way to come up with 10 songs that turned to be some of his finest material. Osmosis is a well-balanced combination of ballads and heavy riffs, hard rock and pop, love and anger. It's Ozzy at his best. Turn the volume to 11 and enjoy this classic from The Prince of Darkness.
00:44:01
Speaker
Brilliant, man. yeah the the The last part you said about how it's well balanced in all those aspects is it's true, 100%. Yeah, and I think that's what it is, that did did the love and anger and all that stuff, because yeah he's got although he's sink this writing ballads and occasionally trying not to be so heavy,
00:44:20
Speaker
uh there is anger in the lyrics you know there's darkness somehow everywhere so some people say it's an exaggeration to call him the prince of darkness i do think because i see aussie as this this fella on the picture here uh like just a cool fella from bergen a nice guy to brookpro i would love to have a pint with him one day i don't think he drinks anymore but uh wouldn't i wouldn't mind having a pint of non-alcoholic guineas with you but ah that's I don't see him as the Prince of Darkness, but there is a lot of darkness in the album that balances out the ah sort of pop side of it. Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. If you're listening to us on Apple, Spotify or Amazon, do us a favor and find out where you review your episodes. Go and give us a rating, give us five stars, write a nice little sentence about us. What that's going to do is going to shoot us up a chance that we'd be seen by more people
00:45:16
Speaker
And if you're watching us on YouTube, like and subscribe to stay up to date with more content. Thank you very much and we'll see you soon. Thanks for being with us one more time. You guys are great. yeah Keep on working everyone and don't do anything else you can do. As usual, take care and long live rock and roll.