First off, I want to state that this is not my review. I will still do one, but I haven't had the time to sit down and write yet. This review is written by "Psycho Man", a user on the forums here. Check out what he had to say about it:
I am slightly disappointed about the bonus tracks. If only I'd know earlier. Other than that I think this is a very strong album.
Not Going Away - opening this album is a great heavy riff. Lyrically it reminds me of Gets Me Through from Ozzy's last album Down To Earth. A real floor stomping track. The solo is nothing too special but I think the song needed it, and I really like the effects after the solo. At first I thought Ozzy was going to attempt to growl like all the nu metal bands out there.
I Don't Wanna Stop - there is something not quite right about the drums in the intro muffled or something. Sounds like the tone Ozzy has on the covers he did. I really like the lyrics though great work on that front. Very Zakk-esque solo a perfect fit. All in all its a pretty good song but I don't think it'll make any of my top lists or personal compilations.
Black Rain - title track alright!!!! I was very excited when I heard the harmonica but as I listen I don't think its Ozzy playing unless he recorded the vocals over it. It'd be impossible for him to do both live. This song has an almost blue grass bass groove in the first few minutes. Again great lyrics and the vocal effect fit well. Very unique and surprising that it works when we get to the bridge and the chanting "Left, left, left right left". No solo but the end sets up for a great place to have either a drum or guitar solo. I really hope they do this live.
Lay Your World On Me - I'm thinking about cutting the first drum easures out of my mp3 file so it just start with the bass. Here is a mello one but following other mello songs of his, a very personal and very relevant in my personal life. A song to lift you lighters (or cell phones nowadays) to. Miss the epic solo from Zakk. There is a point where it sounds as if Zakk is going to do one but it doesn't happen. That the only negative thing I feel about this one.
The Almighty Dollar - From mello to heavy as hell opening riff that tetters off into a bass groove. Socially relevant lyrics but I'm not sure Ozzy is the right person to sing about it. I'm not too into the piano part the lingers for a few moments. And only a tiny solo from Zakk (if you can even call it that.
11 Silver - When I imported my CD this track came up as "Silver" but everywhere else lists the track as "11 Silver". A fast paced song with a great riff by Zakk. Vocal effect are a little over the top. I enjoy the chanting, I can envision them doing this one live with the crowd chanting "Oye, Oye, Oye" along with with. This is a song to listen to the solo a bit short but its pretty fitting. In the end you can hear Ozzy say "Is that the last song" which makes me think the 11 wasn't origionally supposed to be there. Like it was the 11th track recorded and when they were reworking the ordering for the album the 11 was brought in with Silver.
Civilize The Universe - This track struck me when I was reading the tracklisting on the back. Reminisant of I Don't Know but what I really love about this song is Ozzy's melody. Very deep and I just love the lyrics. The bridge doesn't setup for the solo very well and the solo is again short. But there is a nice spot for live bass and drum improvisions. This went immediately into my "Ozzy Osbourne +" playlist.
Here For You - another slow one. Wonderdul orchestral workings. An instant sing-along. Great melody by Ozzy and great lyrics, I just love them. A teaser of an epic solo but again we don't get one \:\( , maybe live.
Countdown's Begun - Great title to begin with. Another one that fits well with Down To Earth. Ozzy revisits a more politcal lyrical content like War Pigs and Killer Of Giants. Another setup for what would have been a great place for a big solo. A pretty good song overall.
Trap Door - great way to end the album. The intro made me think of Magica by Dio . Heavy vocal effect but not over the top. A song that will get your head banging and your fists pounding the air. The ending is a little weird at first but the band pulls it together in the end.
Overall feelings - I think this is a very stong album a great surprise after reading some reviews shiting on it. My only complaints are that I wish I was informed about the bonus track earlier and there are not enough solos. I really hate this idea that once there is a solo on a song it sounds dated. I don't think every song needs a solo but a lot of these songs would be much better with solos/longer solos. Hopefully When it comes to doing these songs live Zakk will get some shredding in.
Saw a story today that the first single from Ozzy's new album (Black Rain) will be on the soundtrack to the newest edition of Madden NFL Football (due in August, Madden 08). I play Madden football, so it's nice to have some music in there that isn't the usual crap they have in there each year.
It's giveaway time again! Today is the US release date for Ozzy Osbourne's new album, "Black Rain". After listening to it a lot over the last week, I am really enjoying it, and hopefully you will too.
Anyway, I'm here to give away some copies of the album as has been my custom on this site for the last few years. I've got four copies of Black Rain here that are being given away. First off, I wanted to thank the folks over at Epic and Sharon's office for sending over the copies to be given away. If you don't win these contests, please go support the label and the band by buying copies. Here are some ordering links:
This time out it will be a simple "email me your name and address" - no trivia contest this time out. I will say this, though, don't flood my mailbox. Duplicates will get automatically deleted, and when I'm picking, I look for them too. Don't waste both of our times by sending in more than one entry. It won't help you.
You need to send your name and address to blackrain@black-sabbath.com. There's a few important things here. First the email must go to this address. Second, you MUST include your name and address. If you don't do these things, your submission won't be considered. These are simple requests - I'm quite frankly stunned at the number of people who ignore these requests and send anyway. If you ignore this, your submission goes in the bin. The contest will run through Friday morning the 25th at 10AM (my time, which is the Central Time Zone in the US). You don't have to be in the US to be eligible to win.
Tomorrow marks the release of the first new studio album of material from Ozzy Osbourne in almost six years. The new album is called "Black Rain", and will be released worldwide tomorrow. I've had a promo copy for a little while now, and I have to say I've very much enjoyed the disc. I'm not ready to write a full review, but the release of a complete new studio album is something worth taking time to talk about.
I've seen the single take some hits online, particularly over on Eddie Trunk's XM radio show - I listened to that a bit last week, and in it, he (and several callers) were saying that they didn't like it, saying things like "it doesn't do anything for them", but I don't know if I agree with that. While "..don't wanna stop" might not rank up there with the all time greatest of his solo tracks, the track makes me want to stomp my feet, and I enjoy it, so that's ultimately what matters to me. The single does sound a lot more commercial than the rest of the album does. Back in the 80's Ozzy gave an interview which I've talked about before. In it, he says "The only thing that should matter with a song is if it makes you want to get up and stomp your feet", and I think that a lot when I'm listening. I enjoy it, want to bang my head and all that, so yeah. It's good. The rest of the album has a heavier feel than his last album (which I really enjoyed when most people did not). Outside of the single, my favorite tracks right now are "Civilize the Universe", and "Trap Door", which is probably my favorite on the album. There's a slow ballady song which kind of reminds me of "So Tired" from 1983 in that it's got a strong piano feel to it. There's some good riffs, and I have to say it's a "good" album. Although my gut feeling tells me it might get slagged off the same way that Down to Earth did. We shall see.
Speaking of keyboards, I was told that Zakk Wylde plays all the keyboards on the album, but Adam Wakeman is handling keyboards for Ozzy's live shows.
Anyway, as is the custom these days, there's a bunch of extra tracks, and something that will probably irritate a lot of fans, the concept of "exclusive" bonus tracks has reared it's head again. The basic album contains 10 songs. Those 10 are:
Not Going Away
I Don't Wanna Stop
Black Rain
Lay Your World on Me
The Almighty Dollar
11 Silver
Civilize the Universe
Here For You
Countdown's Begun
Trap Door
The first of the bonus tracks is Nightmare, which will be on the Japanese CD, and will also be a bonus track if you buy the album through the iTunes music store.
The second is called I Can't Save You, which will also be on the Japanese CD, and will be a digital exclusive to MSN music in Europe.
The final one is one called Love to Hate, and is an iTunes exclusive, but is ONLY available as a pre-order. Which means that after tonight when the album becomes a "released" album, you won't be able to get that - it's iTunes pre-order only. So if you want Love to Hate, you will need to order Black Rain through iTunes immediately (as in Monday night the 21st of May).
I know how Internet reactions work. Usually in comments sections of music news sites whose posters are notorious for knee-jerk no thought reactions. "What? Three bonus tracks, two of which I'm unlikely to ever be able to get? - THIS ALBUM SUCKS". I hope people don't get into that. It's Irritating, yes - but the album is good. The exclusive track issue shouldn't be something that people use as an attack against the album, because it's an enjoyable album for sure.
One other thing is about the cover art. I've gotten a few emails asking what the deal with the "grey" image is. The image shown above (with Ozzy on it) is apparently only for the European market. The "grey image" (shown below) is what the actual cover art is for the US release only. Why? What's with that extremely boring cover art? That doesn't make much sense to me. The European art is well.. It's art. The grey cover looks like something I could put together, and I can't draw worth a darn. That's a bit disappointing.
Still, the album behind it is pretty strong, so check it out. Here's a few ordering links should you want to order it.
There is a "limited edition" version of Black Rain that comes with a "ticket code" which will allow you a "first chance" at tickets for this summer's Ozzfest. How limited this version is I don't know, but if you're interested in that, I have an ordering link for that version, too.
What absolute chaos when babies are murdered by bullets that just went astray When they fall down, I feel sad.
Update May 2007: I originally posted this story in June of 2006, and today Bill had me release the music video for this (finally), so I'm adding the video to this story.
The above are some of the lyrics from the song "Children Killing Children" off of Bill Ward's 1997 solo album "When the Bough Breaks". This song has always been a good one, and has been rather overlooked. My wife and I have always loved this song, and told Bill that on the phone some years ago. As I see world (and home) events happen that involve children my mind is always drawn to this song, and the message it conveys. It's a powerful one, and unfortunately, today the message really screamed loudly to me.
In 2005 my wife and I had our first child, and this is the first time I had listened to this song since then. No particular reason, but more bands, more albums, more songs, the ones from the past tend to get pushed towards the back. This morning, I was working on an update for the Bill Ward site with some info Bill and his managers have sent over to me to get online for a merchandise sale he's about to have. Anyway, in doing that, I decided to stick on When the Bough Breaks as something to listen to. Figure I should give some of Bill's music a listen when I was working on his site. Then track two came on, "Children Killing Children". And as listened to the lyrics, I imagined the absolute grief that I would feel if something like that happened to my daughter, and I became rather sad and depressed in a way I never had done before listening to this song. Then I got angry as I could not do a damn thing about the violence depicted in the song against children. I cried.
Been awhile since I've done that listening to a song. Now I know some metalheads who will read this story on some metal news sites will read my words and call me a pussy or some other such name because I had an emotional reaction to a song like that, but you know what? It's you who are the pussy for not realizing the depth and emotion behind this song, and what I'm saying. This is a message and a song that people should be listening to and conveying. Violence is costing us our children, and this kind of thing should be stopped. This is not the usual "message" that gets out there in a Black Sabbath related song, but it should be one that's believed by all.
Children Killing Children is a powerful song, and it should NOT be forgotten. If you have Bough Breaks, go get it out and give it a listen. The album's been out of print for awhile now, but Bill is selling it direct on his own website, so if you don't have it, go there and buy a copy. Heck, even if you do have it, go there and buy another copy and give one to a friend. It's a great album, and the message behind Children Killing Children should be heard.
To finish this up I'll include the complete lyrics from the song and a couple of screen captures for the unreleased music video for the song, too.
A light in the eyes, and
A smile on the face, Oh
The innocence blows one away
God bless all the laughter
The children's dear laughter
It's something so special, so gay
When they fall down
I feel sad
They're falling down
Real, real bad
Children killing children
What's this all about
Children killing children
What's this all about
I almost denied it
The fact that they're dying
And seeking approval each day
What absolute chaos
When babies are murdered
By bullets that just went astray
When they fall down
I feel sad
They're falling down
Real, real bad
Children killing children
What's this all about
Children killing children
What's this all about
When they fall down
I feel sad
They're falling down
Real, real bad
Well, to nobody's surprise, "Live at Hammersmith" sold out. It actually sold out on day of release, but it appears that everyone who pre-ordered would be getting their copy, since some made it to actual day of release (May 1).
I've gotten a lot of questions about the limited quantities via email, and I inquired, and was told there will be no reprint, or second issue or anything like that, this was a "5,000 and THAT IS IT" deal. So if you didn't get one, your only recourse might be Ebay, where I've seen copies going for over $100 (which is insane).
Anyway, for those who do have copies, I'm keeping track of who has what copy. If you check out my "Live at Hammersmith" page, you'll see a list towards the bottom of the numbers people have. The copies are individually numbered, so if you have one, I want to know about it!
First, check the page, and see if you're on there. If you are not on the list, please email me your name, and where you live, as I'm trying to keep track of where the copies are going. I'd also like to get a picture of your serial number if possible (especially if you have a really cool number).
If you are on the list, please check your information. I pulled a lot of names from the forums where people did not use their names or locations - and some folks who emailed me didn't give me all that either. I would really like to flesh it out with real names. Thanks.
I'm making some headway with the huge backlog of email I have - and ran across this. It's a fan made music video for the Black Sabbath song "Too Late" from Dehumanizer. Was done by a fan named Adam Kube. Here's what Adam has to say about it:
Just wanted to say I think your site is qicked I visit it all the time. I saw Heaven and Hell in Vancouver and they were fuckin awesome. Anyways the real reason I'm emailing you. I am currently going to school for Television production and I have just finished a music video. Being a huge sabbath fan I chose to do a sabbath video, without rambling any furthur I chose Too Late from dehumanizer and thought it might be cool if you threw it up on your site so other sab fans can see it.
Just wanted to drop folks a line. I got the word the other day that I have a family member that was given about a week to live, so if that happens, I might drop off the face of the earth for a bit. I will come back, so PLEASE do not stop sending in pictures and reviews. I will take and use (and credit) anything you send, so please continue to send in things. Thanks.
Update: My stepfather died last night after a bout with several illnesses that I won't get into here. This will probably keep me offline through the weekend. Thanks for the notes of condolence I've gotten so far.
Update 2: I'm back home finally from the funeral service. A big thanks to all who sent me condolence emails (there were a lot). Tonight is the Dallas show, I'll be leaving to go attend that shortly. I will probably get back in the swing of things over the weekend or early next week. Hang in there. Thanks again for visiting.
Tomorrow marks the release of the first new studio album of material from Ozzy Osbourne in almost six years. The new album is called "Black Rain", and will be released worldwide tomorrow. I've had a promo copy for a little while now, and I have to say I've very much enjoyed the disc. I'm not ready to write a full review, but the release of a complete new studio album is something worth taking time to talk about.
