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[REVIEW] God Bless Ozzy Osbourne

God Bless Ozzy OsbourneYou may recall that a couple of months back I commented on a documentary I’d just seen called God Bless Ozzy Osbourne. In that entry, which could probably double as a mini-review, I expressed my misgivings about Ozzy in the wake of watching it, and I must reveal now that my feelings have not changed much in the interim. I was very much bothered by God Bless Ozzy Osbourne and will attempt over the next few hundred words to explain exactly why.

I must say at the outset that God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is not a bad documentary at all. In fact, it’s about as good of a documentary about the life and career of Ozzy Osbourne as you are ever likely to get. Delving into all corners of his life, it tells the tale from beginning to now with thoughtfulness and care. It should receive full credit for doing this, especially since it’s because of this thorough approach to the subject matter that leads one to the almost inescapable conclusion that, whatever else Ozzy Osbourne might be, he is not a particularly good person.

The film begins with Ozzy as a child, talking about his family and his hardworking parents, especially his father. Ozzy’s relationship with his father was contentious, largely because Ozzy was such an inveterate ne’er-do-well. When the police came for a teenaged Ozzy in connection with a robbery he’d pulled off with some friends, his father told the cops to take his son away and put him in prison. They did.

You can’t really blame Ozzy’s father for feeling the way he did. Ozzy seemed destined to be an eternal screw-up, a drain on society. For a man dedicated to his career and family, Ozzy must have seemed like some kind of alien being. Certainly he did not share any of his father’s upstanding traits.

It was only when Ozzy fell into music that things began to change for him. He got into the band that would eventually become Black Sabbath on the strength of having his own amp. That he had a unique singing voice didn’t hurt, and the band proceeded to develop a signature sound that would later catapult them to mega-stardom. As of this writing Black Sabbath has sold over 100 million records. Yes, you read that number right.

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God bless Ozzy Osbourne?

Ozzy OsbourneI will do a full review of God Bless Ozzy Osbourne at some point, as it’s gone at the bottom of my review backlog along with my most recent views, but I have a few thoughts to share ahead of time that I believe are worth discussion. Hopefully you’ll agree.

Before I say anything else, let me reiterate for those who have not been reading this blog for very long that I am a huge Ozzy fan. I saw Ozzy for the first time in concert two years ago last month, and I expect that my fandom had a big impact on how much I enjoyed the show. Ozzy is well past his prime musically, and his vocal performance was fairly middling, but I found I didn’t care too, too much for the simple fact that there I was, watching Ozzy, in fulfillment of a dream I’d had for thirty years. My biggest wish coming away from that night was that I had seen him earlier: 1) because he would have been able to handle the singing duties more effectively, and 2) because my hearing would have been more resilient. We are both older gentlemen now.

Anyway, we were talking about God Bless Ozzy Osbourne. The documentary came out in 2010 on the fortieth anniversary of Black Sabbath’s first album and it reached all the way back to his childhood to tell the story of this guy’s unlikely rise to fame.

I knew most of this story already. Ozzy was from an extremely poor, working-class family in Birmingham and he was a screw-up almost from the very beginning. He served time in prison. He couldn’t hold down a job. He seemed destined to live on the dole for his whole life, contributing nothing to society, until he finally died and saved anyone further trouble. I think he would have been the first one to tell you that he did not expect the way his life turned out.

On the one hand, this is a very inspiring tale, so I didn’t mind hearing it again. It was the stuff I hadn’t paid much mind to that bothered me.

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Black Sabbath!

Black SabbathIt’s National Metal Day and so I ought to spend at least a little time talking about metal, then, shouldn’t I? It’s a subject I’ve touched upon in the past, and if you’ve read those old posts you know that metal awakens in me conflicted feelings. I like metal, but I tend to prefer metal from a specific period of history, one that’s receding in the rear-view mirror at speed.

Almost exactly a year ago I went to see Ozzy Osbourne in concert and my experience was bittersweet. On the one hand, I got to see a performer I’d waited decades to enjoy in person, while on the other hand I was witness to a metal star whose best days are behind him. Ozzy put on a great show and I felt my money was well-spent, but it’s pretty clear that Ozzy doesn’t have the vocal strength that he used to, and hearing him struggle through some of his songs made me feel kind of… old.

It’s with this in mind that I greet the news of Black Sabbath’s reunification with mixed emotions. The original lineup will be back together as of 2012, will put out a new album for the first time in 33 years and then follow it all up with a world tour. Basically everything a Sabbath fan like myself could possibly want has been promised, so why do I feel so blah?

I will say this: I don’t doubt that the album is going to be terrific. The guys in Black Sabbath didn’t become metal legends by being bad at their jobs, so we’re going to get something truly special. Also, thanks to the magic of studio recording, Ozzy’s sometimes lackluster vocals will be evened out. Compare the way Ozzy sounds on Scream with his live performance and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Ozzy hasn’t devolved into a studio-only performer, but he’s clearly helped out by that environment.

It’s a bit easier for Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, as it’s possible to be a virtuoso guitar player well into one’s dotage. Vocalists show their age a lot earlier and faster than do guitarists. It’s just one of those unfair things about music and bands in general. I worry a little bit about Bill Ward as he, like all the rest, is getting up there and drumming can be a demanding task, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

What does this all mean for me? Well, for one thing it means I have at least one album purchase scheduled for 2012. I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to hear new music by the original Sabbath greats, just like I’ll keep buying Ozzy’s solo albums so long as he keeps putting them out. The big question is whether I’ll pay to see them live. Tickets are likely to be expensive, assuming Sabbath even comes to my area, and my pockets are not that deep. I want to go, as this will be the last time to see these guys all together on stage. I’m just not sure the opportunity will arise and, even if it does, if I’ll be able to afford it.

So that’s the big National Metal Day news. Sabbath is back! Even if nothing else comes of the day, that’s enough.

Observin’ Ozzy

Ozzy OsbourneI think my hearing has recovered.

Last night I marked off another bucket-list item: seeing Ozzy Osbourne in concert. It was a good two and a half hours of heavy metal, kicked off by Rob Halford’s band, Halford. I had pretty decent seats, on the floor about twenty-four rows back. Close enough to see the performers clearly, at least. They were better seats than what I got for the Willie Nelson show.

While I had a good time, I think my age has affected my ability to enjoy a metal show. For one thing, I’m just not in the condition to stand for three hours in one place. My feet and legs were killing me by the end of the show, and I’ll admit that at the end of the second encore I was kind of hoping there wouldn’t be a third so I wouldn’t have to stand anymore. As it was, I had to leave my seating area and walk around a little bit during “Fire in the Sky” because I needed a break.

I also don’t think I have the ears for these shows anymore. I noticed this problem at the Willie Nelson show in July: I just don’t understand what the performers are saying when they banter into the microphone. I mean, I can hear them talking, but I can’t decipher the words. This was true when Rob Halford did his short set ahead of Ozzy and it was largely true when Ozzy talked to the audience. Sometimes the only word I could pick out was “fuck.”

Anyway, Halford played a lot of music I didn’t recognize, since I’m not that familiar with the band’s output. The only song he did that I know was “Jawbreaker,” a Judas Priest song. As it happens, I like “Jawbreaker,” so it was nice to hear in concert.

Ozzy performed with a lot of pyrotechnics, a foam cannon that he hosed down the first few rows with (a good thing I wasn’t up there) and a loud, loud setup. My ears were stunned for a couple of hours after the show and I’m sure I’ve suffered some degree of permanent hearing loss, but that’s to be expected from a show like this one.

Ozzy did almost entirely songs that I knew, with just one cut off his latest album. I’m sorry to report that Ozzy’s voice was not great. It broke two or three times in the first song alone and cracked here and there throughout the show. From time to time he’d shift to a lower register just to plow through some of the harder sections of the songs, which is something I would do if I were forced to perform the set. Disappointing, but perhaps inevitable given Ozzy’s age (he’s 61).

It’s been said that a good revival act can make you feel young, while a bad one can make you feel the exact opposite. I’m of two minds on that after last night’s show. I don’t exactly feel old, but while listening to Ozzy perform I wished that I’d had the opportunity to see him when we were both younger and better able to do our respective thing. It’s clear that Rob Halford hasn’t lost a step (he’s 59), but Ozzy never had that great of a voice to begin with and it hasn’t improved with age.

All faults aside, I shouted and sang along until I was hoarse and came away feeling like I got my $100 worth, so I suppose that’s one for the win column.