How many people expected Ozzy to start releasing albums again at this point? It almost seemed like he was done after his previous album Scream (2010). The worst part of it? His last few albums were of such a quality that only the hardened faithful pined for another Ozzy record. Black Rain (2007) in particular represented the nadir of his recorded output with reviews branding it “highly skippable” and “quite embarrassing.” Nicer reviews still noted that nothing on the album qualified as an Osbourne classic.
All of that changes with the release of Ordinary Man (stylised as ØRD†NARY MAN). It is his twelfth studio album, and while it represents the largest gap between two Ozzy albums to date that break seems to have done a world of good. In the interim he rejoined Black Sabbath for their final studio album (2013’s 13) and farewell tour. He toured a lot solo as well, but crucially worked through several health setbacks, including being diagnosed with Parkin syndrome (a rare genetic condition that presents very similarly to Parkinson’s disease). We can be happy for many reasons that he has emerged on the other side – one of which is that he brought with him his best album in ages.
The biggest change? The album’s straightforward flair. Where the last few albums had the feel of being piecemeal productions, this is an organic “in and out”-album akin to his early solo days. Things were being kept spontaneous and direct with a live approach, and they sound it. Ozzy worked with Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) in writing and shaping material along with guitar-playing producer Andrew Watt. When they started recording, several guests came in to play on different songs as needed, including Slash, Tom Morello, Post Malone – and Elton John.
The core of the project would remain Watt, Smith, and McKagan – a band of musicians known for being able to tear it up quickly while retaining an element of skill in their playing.
Ozzy’s singing is really the star of the show. His voice is in great shape, sounding more or less like it always has. This isn’t something we can fairly expect from anyone at age 71. Not just that, but the energy Ozzy brings to the record is seriously impressive. If you ever liked his voice, you will love it here. He is on point and delivers great performances throughout.
The first single was Under the Graveyard, released on 8 November 2019. The track is solid with a very interesting progression, starting with a semi-acoustic and lyrically introspective verse and bridge. The chorus bring the electric guitars. Interestingly the verses are infinitely more interesting and musically rewarding than the choruses in my ears, but the track works well. The arrangement is somewhat genre-hopping, and it was hard to see what direction the song signalled for the coming album, but it seemed to be having one foot in the past and one in the present. That isn’t a bad mix.
The song is one of several autobiographical ones on the album. On Under the Graveyard, he is admitting past mistakes while exposing vulnerability and inner conflict (No high could save me from the depths of hell / I’ll drown my mind until I’m someone else). The music video underlines the autobiographical aspects, to the point where it takes the form of a mini movie with actors depicting key scenes from Osbourne’s younger life with the song as the soundtrack. He’s not drawing up a sunshine story here, but it is a story that has a significantly happier ending than it could have had.
Things got a little clearer with the release of the second single (and subsequent album opener) Straight To Hell, released on 22 November 2019. As we were finding out, the album features several throwbacks to previous works, as this song makes blatantly clear. It opens with the heavenly sounds of a choir before Ozzy delivers his classic “All right now” and “Come on now” vocal catchphrases during the opening riffs, bringing our thoughts all the way back to Black Sabbath’s 1971 song Sweet Leaf. The first actual lyric of the song? “You’re flying high again,” which references a song title on Diary of a Madman (1981). You get the picture. Ozzy is moving forward by consciously looking backwards on these new songs, which is an extremely fan-pleasing approach for any artist of Ozzy’s pedigree to take. The track is a fast and moody slab of Ozzy-style metal with short acoustic bridges and stabs of choir effects giving it a suitable ambience. It features Slash on guitar, and he brings an insistent, dark delivery to the proceedings, as well as a ripping solo.
The opening track having given the album a firm direction, it continues with the melodically pleasing All My Life. Here Ozzy takes a harsh look at how he hasn’t always been honest to himself.
The soul searching seems to continue on Goodbye, where he is facing up to mortality. Some of it is chilling (Sitting here in purgatory / Not afraid to burn in hell / All my friends are waiting for me / I can hear them crying out for help), whereas some are a lot lighter and even humorous (Is it tea time yet? / Do they sell tea in Heaven?). The song has an interesting interchange between slow and brooding sections and faster rockers, which fit well with what he is touching on lyrically. Ultimately, songs like these underline that there is a very personal and reflective theme to a lot of the songs on Ordinary Man.
The most obvious example of this is the album’s title track, released as the third single on 10 January 2020. Ordinary Man is nothing less than an autobiographical song where he sums up his life up to this point. The song takes the form of a melodic rock ballad (with another lovely guitar solo by Slash) and is definitely given a nostalgic and emotional whist. The music video depicts Osbourne sitting in a movie theatre, watching glimpses from his life on a movie screen. It is downright touching to see, and the combination of video and song is a powerful one.
Elton John adds piano and some vocals to the song, which to be honest made me highly suspicious of what the song would sound like. I am happy to say that my fears were wrong. This song is nothing less than a great piece of work, and in spite of initial doubts it has become my favourite track on the album. For someone who has followed Ozzy for the past 40 years or so it is impossible not to be touched by the sincerity of his reflections in this song.
Yes, I’ve been a bad guy
Been higher than the blue sky
And the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man
I’ve made momma cry
Don’t know why I’m still alive
Yes, the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man
Ozzy played harmonica on the early Sabbath track The Wizard, and on Eat Me he picks it up again for the song intro. The bass and guitar riff that kicks off the song is so dark and heavy it could have been plucked from a classic Sabbath album. The verses and choruses have a bit more tempo, while it dips back into the dark slowness for the bridge sections.
The gothic flair is shared with Today Is the End, which features semi-acoustic and downright dark ambient sections with build a suitable creepy atmosphere while retaining a melodic flair, not too unlike how our Swedish friends in Ghost approach their songs.
Scary Little Green Men is more of a mid-tempo melodic hard rocker, with an insistent performance with a lot of layers. Tom Morello contributes guitar to some of those, while Ozzy shares firm warnings about the little green men. This discourse on alien life came from Ozzy watching a historical TV show about extra terrestrials and starting to play around with words and melodies. Lyrically it sticks out a bit on an album which otherwise is so personal, but it really only feels right that Ozzy should try to be a little bit creepy on a song again.
They want us, they need us
They might just try to eat us
They’ll greet us, deceive us
Say, “Take us to your leader”
Everybody wants them
Until we meet them
Everybody wants them
It’s the end
The song’s music video features Jason Momoa, best known for playing Drogo in Games of Thrones, Aquaman, and Conan the Barbarian. He is a huge Ozzy fan and was pretty stoked to be asked to perform in the video.
In contrast, Holy For Tonight is another ballad about a man who is facing his final night and getting ready to say his goodbyes before departing in the morning. It is a powerful song with strong melodic themes, singing ladies backing Ozzy, choirs and orchestrations… this is a huge-sounding musical number.
From a musical perspective, Holy For Tonight is without question the song that should have closed out the album. The song is huge, sounds like the epic production that it is, and provides an huge and emotional punchline to the album. It is also the natural lyrical end to everything that has come before it. By the same token, though: it would simply be a little too much to leave the audience on the dramatic notion of a very final goodbye. This may well be why two very different songs (or one, depending on whether you count the bonus track or not) close out the album instead of this one. That may make the end of the album less heartbreaking, but also definitely weaker.
The album’s final ordinary track was released as the fourth and final single on 20 February 2020, meaning that all of the album’s singles were released before the arrival of the album – although in this case, only by a day.
It’s A Raid is Ozzy’s second collaboration with the rapper Post Malone, having recorded vocals for the song Take What You Want for Malone’s third album in September 2019. That track has been added as a bonus track to several editions of Ordinary Man, which means that most copies of the album now ends with two Post Malone collaborations.
It’s A Raid was likely recorded around the same time as Take What You Want. It is definitely the most Ozzy-sounding of the two collaborations, with a high tempo, a frantic riff (the bass pounding as if Lemmy played it, which is a plus), and sounding like the wild and crazy song that it is. There are a lot of screams and people adding voices to it, first as if they are partying and having fun, later as if they are fleeing in a panic from the raid that the song is about. The end is hilarious, with Ozzy screaming “fuck you all!” to the feds that are arresting him.
The final song Take What You Want does not feel like an Ozzy song. Post Malone sings a lot of it, and whenever Ozzy sings, they have put autotune on his vocal. The rhythm patters and programmed. There is a bit of guitar on it and it definitely could have been worse, but it sticks out like a sore thumb on this disc. The completist in me is happy to have the track there, but the part of me who just wants to listen to the disc is not very happy. It really is not a good end to an album , but fortunately it will be remembered for all the good tracks on here rather than how it ends. I just pretend that this song isn’t part of the album and skip it (or even the last two).
And that’s Ordinary Man. After a 10 year break we can safely call this a comeback album. Not just because he pushed out a disc, but because of the quality of nearly all the material. This is definitely my favourite album since 1995’s Ozzmosis, or maybe even No More Tears (1991), depending on how strict we are going to be about the last two tracks.
But never mind those – this is still a great album, and one that is very suited to our Ozzy as he is today, in his 70s. Bless him. May he keep going for a while yet, in spite of the overt overtones of bowing out on some songs. There is every reason to be optimistic, as Ozzy has already announced that he has started working on a follow-up album with Andrew Watt returning as producer. If he sticks to the formula, that will be well worth waiting for.
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