2017 - September 5 - Bark At The Moon

I have to admit that my fondness for today's song might have something to do with Sky Channel and their Monsters Of Rock program, playing either 30 minutes or an hour of hard rock and early metal videos. I think Mick Wall, one of the preeminent writers in the Kerrang! magazine and now noted for his vast knowledge of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and just about everything hard rock and heavy metal coming in its wake (and author of Diary Of A Madman, an unauthorized biography about Ozzy Osbourne), was one of the hosts - and a girl named Amanda Redington, I believe. However, I was geeky enough that I was more excited about seeing Mick Wall than the blonde cohost (I had to do some digging to find her name as well). It was the only place for hard rock and heavy metal videos in Norway in the 80s, and my good friend Arve's dad had cable tv and access to the show, so I would regularly tape it on VHS and then watch it at home.

And so it was that I saw the Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde inspired video to Bark At The Moon for the first time. Back then I thought it was awesome - now I recognize it for the campy kitsch it really was. But the song is great. Well... Maybe not great - but it is special to me, as it was the first Ozzy Osbourne solo song I think I heard. I had heard the album Speak Of The Devil, but that was just a stop gap live album with nothing but old Black Sabbath songs following the death of Randy Rhoads while he was figuring out what to do next. In 1983, he had bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Tommy Aldridge, keyboardist Don Airey and new guitarist Jake E. Lee, and the resulting album was Bark At The Moon. It is a nostalgic album for me, because I do believe it was the first solo album I heard, as I believe Jon Inge had the tape. Even though both Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman are better albums, there are some strong tracks on this one as well - and I do consider the title track one of them, with Jake E Lee really showing his chops. And... Tonight we have a full moon here, so you never know what will happen...

2017 - August 30 - Mr. Crowley

Sometimes the good old days really were that good. Yngwie Malmsteen has often been seen as the man who brought the neoclassical guitar to the forefront, although fans of Ritchie Blackmore will probably argue that he has elements of it as well (although that might have been more courtesy of Jon Lord - but that's another discussion). In picking today's song, I found a bridge between the two in Randy Rhoads. He was the extremely gifted guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne following his ouster from Black Sabbath. Their output together is pretty small - only two studio albums and one live album - but it is powerful. Their collaboration started in 1980, but was cut short in an accident with a small airplane after Rhoads was a passenger during several passes over the tour bus where a wing got clipped on the roof of the bus and the plane careened into a tree in 1982, 35 years ago. This sent Ozzy into a massive downward spiral again (remember, they kicked him out of Black Sabbath), and he is marked by this death to this day.

One of my absolute favorite Ozzy Osbourne solo tracks is from his debut album as a solo artist, Blizzard of Ozz. It is about old British occultist Aleister Crowley, and while there are lots of references to Satan in the lyrics, it is not a satanic song. I sense a loneliness in the song more than anything else. I found a live tv clip from 1981, and by then the band was Tommy Aldridge on drums, Rudy Sarzo (best known from Quiet Riot) on bass, journeyman Don Airey (who know plays in Deep Purple, filling Jon Lord's seat), and Randy Rhoads on guitar (he also got his start in Quiet Riot like Rudy Sarzo). Watching Ozzy perform this piece is about as lonely and tragic as the figure Aleister Crowley - but Randy Rhoads is on fire. And - what I always expected to be tapping in the guitarsolo is actually picked. It is amazing. Please enjoy Mr. Crowley. I wonder what could have been if Randy Rhoads had lived longer.