Ozzy Osbourne – Let It Die

Ozzy OsbourneOzzy Osbourne – ‘Let It Die’ 2011 single

Jet Records in 1980 released ‘Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard Of Ozz‘; the single ‘Crazy Train‘ backed with ‘You Looking At Me Looking At You‘, catalog # JET 197.

A year later, in 1981, with CBS onboard ‘Steal Away (The Night)‘ became the B-side to the ‘Crazy Train‘ single; cat # ZS6 02079 Jet/CBS.

You Looking At Me Looking At You‘ didn’t make it to ‘Blizzard Of Ozz‘, the first Ozzy Osbourne solo record which debuted in 1980. ‘

Crazy Train‘, the song, became track 2 of 9 songs on offer. ‘Steal Away (The Night)‘ became track 9 of 9.

30 years later and with 11 studio albums under Ozzy’s belt came the new studio LP, ‘Scream‘.

Long gone is the Blizzard Of Ozz monicker. Ozzy flies solo. He has also been quite prolific in the last decade, namely 2001-2010, releasing a total of 4 studio albums.

Scream‘ turned out to be the logical progression to these three albums: 2005’s ‘Under Cover‘ LP, 2007’s ‘Black Rain‘ LP, and  the aforementioned 2010 ‘Scream‘ LP.

Let Me Hear You Scream‘ is the second track off of the ‘Scream‘ LP and in the video for this cut, the Ozz is depicted in great animation style as a black widow spider. The video is a classy work of art.

Let It Die‘, which is ‘Scream‘s opening number has become a 2011 single for Ozzy. This is all the more poignant and solitary and is drawing extra attention due to the death of who will be forever known as the second Black Sabbath singer; I speak of Ronnie James Dio who ascended to heaven because God needed singing lessons!

The cover of ‘Let It Die‘, the 2011 single, shows 3 photos of the schizo Ozzy’s face. Ozz is replete, front and center, in vampyric guise donning fangs, heavy pale make-up and whited out eyes to boot.

The meat of this new single consists of a 4 minute-something version of ‘Let It Die‘ that serves as a radio edit, and the 6 minute and 5 seconds album version of ‘Let It Die‘.

Let It Die‘ is Ozzy’s seeming take on John Lennon. Your mind may reel, as my mind did, alluding to the ex-Beatle singing: ‘I am the eggman – I am the walrus coo-coo cah-choo’

Let It Die‘ is not only Ozzy’s best song since his Blizzard Of Ozz spotlight days of the early 1980s; it is also stunningly heavy. The great lead guitar solo in this song has a brass, killer quality.

Ozzy is not tongue in cheek on ‘Let It Die‘ like he is, for instance, on ‘Scream”s ‘Let Me Hear You Scream‘.

Let It Die‘ works really well by being shortened. It burst forth and then is gone and it is able to hold the attention of the ADD-ADHD metal populace of today.

Why don’t you chant along to Ozzy’s beautiful drone. Here is some random lines from ‘Let It Die‘:

‘I’m a rock star
I’m a saviour
I’m a sinner
I’m a killer
I’m a soldier’

Hey.

You may also be reminded of Alice Cooper during this timeless rock star’s classic song, ‘Desperado‘.

OK?

And maybe 2011 will bring Ozzy together to work with the men of Black Sabbath.

The last time Ozzy did any originals with Mr. Tony Iommi was on the ‘Iommi‘ LP from the year 2000.

My favorite Ozzy line, ever: ‘Nobody I know will ever take my rock n roll away from me‘.

Amen.

– Rich Castle

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