Search - Black Sabbath :: Ozzy Osborne Years

Definitely one of the better compilations, albeit "unofficia

Bill M. | MA, USA | 11/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Black Sabbath has had way more than their share of compilations, most of them unknowingly released without any consent from the band. "The Ozzy Years" is one such compilation. Still, if you're looking for a good compilation from what's widely considered their "Golden Years", this is definitely the one to keep in mind.



"The Ozzy Years" contains everything from the first six Black Sabbath albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage), MINUS all the instrumental songs. Actually one additional song is notably missing: "Wicked World". It's a song that showed up only on US versions of their self-titled debut album, whereas "Evil Woman" (which IS included in this set) only showed up on UK printings of the debut. Also, for some reason "Children of the Grave" is mistitled here as "Embryo". That's actually the name of the instrumental acoustic guitar intro to "Children of the Grave". But rest assured, "Children of the Grave" is what you're getting on the CD set here.



This 3-CD set was released in 1991 by Castle Records. I think this was a Japanese-only release. In any case, I remember that we could only get it here in the U.S. "on import". Though the fact that it included the much sought-after "Evil Woman" track made it worth persuing. By the way, Castle was also the company who in the 80s released strange versions of Black Sabbath's back catalog on CD and cassette (they'd usually have a strange track order, absolutely no liner notes, covers printed off-color, etc.), although cheaper than the Warner Brother's printings. Then in 1996 Castle remastered the 1970-1986 catalog.



Note that this compilation does not include EVERY Black Sabbath song with Ozzy at the microphone. He stayed in the band long enough to make two additional albums (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die) before being fired in 1979, reuniting with them in 1985 for Live Aid, 1992 for his "retirement" show, and in 1997 for the "Ozzfest" shows.



If you're looking for all 8 studio albums, track for track, with deluxe packaging and all, go buy the "Black Box" box set. It includes both "Wicked World" and "Evil Woman" too. If you're looking for a little less, there's the remastered 2-CD collection "Symptom of the Universe" and countless single-CD compilations like "We Sold Our Souls for Rock N' Roll". But the time span and average price of a used copy of "The Ozzy Years" makes it hard for the casual fan to pass up.

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