Ozzy Osbourne - Down to Earth Audio CD
A fair review of the Ozzy Osbourne "Down to Earth" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all
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Band: Ozzy Osbourne
Title: Down to Earth
Rating: 
Release Date: 2001-10-16
Media: Audio CD
Tracks: 1: Gets Me Through 2: Facing Hell 3: Dreamer 4: No Easy Way Out 5: That I Never Had 6: You Know...(Part I) 7: Junkie 8: Running Out Of Time 9: Black Illusion 10: alive 11: Can You Hear Them?
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A Few Good Songs Have Landed
This is seems to be a few good songs surrounded by B-Side filler or something, it's just music to me in the background that makes me want to hear something else. Nowadays the only time I hear songs from this one is from the Live at Budokan CD. It rocks okay I guess, but there is about as much feeling to these songs as what's on the radio today. . . maybe that's what this was for, but it really does nothing for me, other than sprinkle in a few more hits.
I usually can find 5 or 6 favs and listenable songs on each Ozzy CD, but this one ranks near Bark At The Moon as one of my least fav CD's by Ozzy. .
Down to Earth is the follow up to Ozzmosis can it top it???
This attempts to top it and it really is an Amazing album. Down to Earth is the follow up to the Smash Hit OZZMOSIS which had 10 solid tracks of pure OZZY. I love the opener "Gets me through" and Track 2 "Facing Hell" is Classic Ozz. "Dreamer" will for sure have u thinking about "Imagine" because it is Ozzy's "Imagine". "No easy way out" and "That I never Had" kick Maximum ass thanks to Ozz's voice and Zakk Wylde's screeching metal guitar licks. "Junkie" is a headbanging classic and the album ends out with some great tracks. "Alive" sounds really cool and dark. As good as Ozzmosis was this one rocks as well.
It's got Ozzy and Zakk, What More Do You Want?
Some will label that a sell-out or "overproduced. This is a very polished album, no doubt. " I just think it is Ozzy and Zakk taking time to perfect these recordings as much as they can. A lot of good songs here, some hard, one or two that are kind of soft. No, Zakk is not Randy, but he is the next best thing that Ozzy has worked with. Solid album!.
Madman's Masterful Metal Melodies Magnified
It's creepy, it's heavy and it re-unites Osbourne with Wylde!
The stand out tracks are definitely "Facing Hell", "Junkie", "Black Illusion", "Can You Hear Them?" and the Beatlesque duo of "Dreamer" and "Running Out of Time". This is a great album, which straddles the line of metal and melody perfectly.
The album is a great listen all the way through with the perfect track listing that never makes the album seem like it has any filler tracks.
If you like any Ozzy album, you'll like this.
Not Very Strong
But aside from that aspect of "Gets Me Through," this track seems to be hinting at something I noticed on the last album. After the overly-soft Ozzmosis, it's a relief to see that Ozzy Osbourne chose to lead this album off with some heavy riffing and a nice guitar solo. Are Ozzy's vocal melodies becoming way too formulaic? Has he lost it? He doesn't sound that way on all tracks, though, as indicated by the shred fest "Facing Hell" and atmospheric ballad "Dreamer. " The riffage returns on "No Easy Way Out" and "That I Never Had," but at this point a lot of these songs are really sounding alike. They're not bad, but there's not a lot of character to them. And there are a couple that just aren't that good ("Junkie" & "Running Out of Time"). This just isn't a strong album.
On another note:
DO NOT BUY THE 2002 OZZY REMASTERS of his first two albums (Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman)! They are NOT the originals, and have been rerecorded by newer members of Ozzy's band, as a way to screw over the old members who are owed $$$ for the work they did. Seek out the 1995 remasters, instead. Reward the musicians who actually made the music!.
You can see a complete list of all Ozzy Osbourne discography, or go back to the Ozzy Osbourne tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.