The first Ozzy Osbourne album that I spent any substantial time getting to know was 1987's Tribute to Randy Rhoads, so even though this live album came out well after the first, Jet Records era of Ozzy's solo career, that is the era that initially defined Ozzy as a solo artist for me. And believe it or not, Sabbath came later.
There's something magical about the Ozzy/Randy albums. I'd offer my suggestion that 1981's Diary of a Madman is a far superior effort than 1980's Blizzard of Ozz, but that's not to put Blizzard down. It's fantastic, and opening track, "I Don't Know," while not really having much to say, is a banger. Cool seeing it performed here, live, even if this 1981 performance on live tv in Rochester, NY is one of the more sedate Ozzy performances I've seen. Hangovers all around would be my guess.
It's Friday, and that means the new edition of Fangoia's weekly newsletter, The Terror Teletype, landed in my inbox while I slept. Reading this brief email packed with genre news and goodies is one of the little events that I look forward to every week. This time, Editor-in-Chief Phil Noble's editorial is a lovely little eulogy for Ozzy.
Also, later in the WTF section, Fango links to a 1988 television commercial featuring Ozzy promoting his then-latest album, No Rest for the Wicked.
WTF indeed. Throughout the first two decades of his solo career, Ozzy always flirted with having one foot in camp, and I think it was a reaction to the televangelist backlash and the general fears conservatives displayed toward his music, Heavy Metal in general, and Horror movies. Bark At the Moon's ridiculous costuming plays a bit differently when you think that maybe the idea was to present a Horror movie aesthetic constructed to make people laugh at the people who decried it as frightening or depraved.
NCBD Addendum:
I haven't had a chance to read it yet, primarily because I'll need to locate the original series and re-read it, but Black Mask's CALEXIT returned this week with the first issue of CALEXIT: The Battle for Universal City. Writer Matteo Pizzolo returns with new artist C. Granda and colorist James Offredi to deliver a gorgeous new chapter:
I'd seen this solicited but almost dismissed it as a hallucination. The original, three-issue series ran back in 2017-2018, and while we covered it on Drinking with Comics, and I know I liked it, I really remember nothing else about it. It will be nice this weekend to sit down, read the old series and jump directly into this new one. Also, really hope Black Mask can make a comeback, so of course I'll support what they do. They had a good couple of years at the end of the last decade, and then kind of disappeared. Would love to see more Black Mask books on the shelf again.
Playlist:
Lady Gaga - Mayhem
Ozzy Osbourne - Shot in the Dark (single)
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man
Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain
Wake the Devil - Angel's Won't Cry (single)
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Pentacles
• Two of Cups
• Ten of Pentacles
A change in balance leads to wealth.
I'm always hesitant to interpret concepts like 'wealth' at face value when dealing with the archetypes utilized in the cards. More likely, this is a nod to an upcoming triumph in undoing the negative inertia that has seized my brain when it comes to writing.
Because I had to pull something off the Live Randy Rhoads Tribute Album. Classic.
I remember the first time I heard this - or one of the first times it made an impression beyond, "oh, Ozzy. Cool" - some friends and I were outside at my neighbor's house. This kid was two years younger, rich AF and a total latchkey whose parents' bought him all kinds of shit to make up for the fact that they were never home. They were the first people I knew who had an inground pool, and this thing was huge, with large gazebos on either side of it and a massive wooden deck that ran all the way around the pool and then snaked around the back of the house. This would have been circa Freshman or early Sophomore year. We were smoking cigarettes and drinking Keystone in those gross-ass tall cans it came in. I was buzzed and sitting in a gazebo, staring at the flames on the tiki torches that were staged around the pool at regular intervals. My Tribute dub was playing from a boom box further down the porch but we had it loud, and I remember thinking that I felt like I was there, at the show.
Good memory.
Watch:
This show is nuts, and I'm happy to see it coming back for a third season.
All things considered, I'd rather David Fincher return to Mindhunter, but we all know that might not happen. In the words of William DeVaughn, be thankful for what you got.
Playlist:
The Mysterines - Reeling
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
Anthrax - Attach of the Killer B's
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
The Jesus Lizard - Goat
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute (Live)
David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Windhand - Eternal Return
Dean Hurley - Analog Resource Vol. 1
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Card:
Lots of feminine energy, which is good. Ruthless determination can be a bad thing; sometimes passion needs to be tempered and Will focused. And sometimes you need to ask for help.
