Monday
Apr262010
'Let Me Hear You Scream'
Monday, April 26, 2010 at 12:01AM
What do we think of Ozzy Osbourne's new song "Let Me Hear You Scream?" The song is from the forthcoming album Scream, due June 15th.
I think the song is decent and very commercial. I've had a round-robin email conversation with friends about the track and a few of them mention the absence of Zakk Wylde. It's true, he's missing here but the guitars - courtesy of Gus G. - on "Let Me Hear You Scream" are more than proficient. If you haven't yet checked out the track, you can listen below.
Reader Comments (17)
Honestly the more i think about I keep relating Gus to Jake E Lee. Not so much playing style wise but more along the lines of trying to follow upp a big name guitar player. Obviously the situation is different now(Zakk is still alive) but i hope that Gus-Gus does try and add his own unique touch to the old songs. Jake performed Crazy train live a completely different way then Randy did and it was awesome. Zakk however did a really pinch harmonic happy version Randy's riffs and it just didn't sound right. Hopefully we get another awesome album come june 15th.
It really could use much bigger HRL's (hooks, riffs and licks), IMHO...
Still, I agree with Shadow (of course, "OTSK"! Or would that be, "OSK" - Good name for a band, eh, Shadow?, even if I am OD'ing on initials in this comments entry) -- what a relief to have no more pinch harmonics!
Do you think Ozzy just got sick of hearing them or do you think Sharon advised Ozzy to ditch Zakk cuz he wanted more money?
Or maybe it was cuz Wylde wanted to add more pinch harmonics per song and charge extra for each one!
Seriously, that guy took a signature element of Rhode's sound that both Rhodes and Lee used sparingly and has just beaten it to death.
Ozzy said in a Rolling Stone article last year that he felt his material was starting to sound too much like Zakk Wylde's band, "Black Label Society".
Huh-uh-lo-oh!!! PH!
Seriously, I really think it boils down to what Shadow (OTSK!) has flagged here... Something Randy Rhodes kinda made his own -- the pinch harmonic thing -- Wylde commandeered and subsequently fried, literally beating the technique to death. And at Ozzy's expense, really, more or less with the net effect of pigeonholing Osbourne's sound, let alone Wylde's.
That said, Wylde is a helluva guitarist... Have you ever seen that impromptu video of Wylde covering ZZ Top's "Tush" in what looks to be the parking lot of a strip mall? Simply stunning! Go to YouTube and check it out! Mindblowing!
Look, I wish the guy well -- His blood clots were a real scare -- and he's an incredible talent, no doubt. Check "Tush" and you'll see what I mean, if you haven't already. But maybe he needs to go for something different, too.
And I even mean BLS (why stop initializing everything now). He should really either go for a departure in sound or just do something new.
Maybe he could take Tommy Thayer's place in Kiss!
p.s. Believe it or not, though it's obviously a joke, it would help the guy round out his sound and maybe even cure him of "pinch harmonicitis", even if it meant almost killing him, having to don the Spaceman get-up. Both he and Ozzy need a double shot of GLAM, if you ask me.
That being said I've honestly been wanting a new Ozz-geetar man for a while. Although, I really did like Back Rain, I think this was the best move to be made.
Now as for Glaming it up, Another reason i hope Gus-Gus is the next Jake E Lee is simply this reason. Ozz was more hair metal then. I LOVE the Rhoads stuff and that to me is the best ozz there is, but Jake e lee was no push over either. The Ultiamte Sin is in my top 10 favorite album and can listen to it all the way through. Now i doubt image wise Ozzy will go that way, but maybe the sound can reflect more of that era. I mean if Ozz is trying to be more commericla than that would be the material to go off of.
Not to mention that when this new tour hits maybe they can play a newer tougher verison of some of those songs. Lightning Strikes and Secret Losr come to mind. Heres hoping!
OTSK! You are wise beyond your years, kid!
You are correct on all fronts, in my view.
That early Ozzy solo stuff (and solos galore there were, provided by all three of these great guitarists) was absolutely killicious!
I was just thinkin' about how we wouldn't need to see Ozzy in his "Crazy Train" video get-up and hairdo, that's for sure.
But you are right, dude. The sound is what should be more Glam. You know he's a total Beatles freak (serious collector of Beatles vinyl and memorabilia, too!) and you can actually here it in a lot of his stuff, just as you can hear it, or at least the concept of the Power Pop catchiness of it, in 99.999% of all Glam Metal.
Even his hardest stuff still has some kind of "commercial" appeal -- just cuz it's catchy or listenable makes it "commercial"? I'm not sure about this whole premise, kidz...
Seriously, when I got sidetracked in the 90's by Alternative and Grunge, I heard some pretty damn "commercial" sounding stuff that was supposedly "Indy" (Don't worry, I didn't get sidetracked completely! I saw Ozzy and Zakk in all their pinch harmonic glory in '92, point blank, 4th row, at the Paramount Theater, Madison Square Garden with Prong opening -- my chick's brother was in that band, hahaha!!!).
The only thing that wasn't commercial about a lot of the alternative music back then was mainly the lack of distribution and a promotional budget from the independent record companies putting out the stuff...
A lot of the stuff was POP as hell, plain and simple.
Anyway, I'm a bit sidetracked here...
Lemme get back on the "Crazy Train"!
Yow!
So, yeah, Ozzy needs to Glam it up, sound-wise.
You mentioned Jake. Wish he could get him but he seems kinda retired. Too bad Vinnie Vincent seems to have vanished. Or how about Vito Bratta? I know, I'm livin' in the past.
Double G sounds like he's Ozzy's homey now...
But come on boys! Glam it up! It would be so much more hip than the current sound you're shooting for, which is kinda generic Sabbath meets whatever au curant Metal band du jour sounds like, which I'm really not interested in, so I ain't gonna cite any examples right now.
To be perfectly honest, and as I'm sure you can tell, I barely follow the current Metal Scene, simply because I think it's a bunch of dog barking Dawtry sound-a-likes backed by unrock lead guitarists who's biggest talent is knowing which knobs control the volume. The exception being the New Glam Metal scene, which I'm so all about, bigtime!
Seriously, it's all so boring, even this latest cut from Ozzy, which I think Bob and Tommy are hinting at. Where's the swagger? Where's the pizazz? I'm not talking about stage outfits, I'm talkin' 'bout sheer rockin' out is all. Yeah, okay, Ozzy ain't no spring chicken and he's shufflin' around. That doesn't mean his music has to.
Get with it, Ozzy!
Well, at the very least, it appears as though his latest stuff will be more PH balanced (pinch harmonic balanced, yuk yuk), if not his hair.
p.s. One thing I'll say in Ozzy's defense. He still has one of the best and most distinctive voices in Rock and Roll. Sorry to hear he sounds shot live, but it can't be as shot as Whitney Houston's, judging from the latest news cycle. Sorry to bring that up. Argh! At least they can "punch it in" in post. Chris, I really think Ozzy sounds okay here. It's the tune that's lacking, as you have also alluded to.
p.s.s.t. And Gary, you make legit points. Wylde did write some great songs and is a helluva guitarist. Have you boys seen that Wylde on that YouTube "Tush" clip I mentioned? Sshhmohkin! Do we have a Council for the Cauldron brewing, boyz? JT? NirV? Good to see you boyz back on the boards.
The song does seem to be a bit undramatic at points particulary in the back up voice that has no movement at all outside of the monotone "let me hear you.."
I can say this though, it is way better than a lot of the new metal coming out. If it isn't Disturbed (whom i think are very good) or any other more conventional sounding bands the rest of metal today seems to be nothing more than screamed vocals to annoying repetitive guitars going up and down what seems to be the same scales over and over again, all the while to a drum machine thumping away just to over power everything. Who knows? maybe we may get a ntoher "over the mountain"on this record in some shape or form. We can only wait.
Unless I spell it out for you kidz, Shadow may be the only one that knows what that means!
"OTSK" is my abbreviation for "Only The Shadow Knows", because this kid is on -- usually dead on -- with virtually all of his comments.
It really would be great to get a Council for the Cauldron going on this as NirV, Glamrocker Arch, Sweet Lou, Kenny O, Gary, Christopher, Christian (where are ya, bro?), JT, Bobby, Tommy and some of the other characters usually have something cool to say.
While, Shadow and I are out gathering the shards of Charvelle and Jackson guitars for kindling to stick under there to get it heated up, maybe you boyz can come out of the Metal trees and join us here...
If you boys wanna start stickin' some Nickelback fans in the Cauldron, we can git 'er fired up. Just need to pick up a few Pinch Harmonics layin' around on the ground from the last person we chucked in there, a one Mr. Zakk Wylde, har har... (still, as I make fun, do check out his live cover of ZZ Top's "Tush" at the strip mall on YouTube, if you haven't yet. Best thing I've ever seen him do live and that includes shreddin' up for Ozzy in '92).
Non-Glam Metal today generally sucks. Like I said previously, I'm not gonna start name-checking these bands, because, as Shadow has so deftly pointed out, they are generic.
If you really want to bother with learning more about the sorry state of Non-Glam Metal, just go on blabbermouth.ocm, but I strongly advise just ditchin' the whole thing and stickin' here. This is where the real fun is.
Or check out some of Al's friend's sites listed to your right. And heavyharmonies.com (I think that's what it's called) to find out about virtually every Glam/Hair/AOR band that ever existed. Yikes, you will see what a huge juggernaut it truly is, if you do this, Glammsterz.
To really get an idea of how great Power Metal, Speed Metal and Thrash Metal once were get two compilations from '86/'87, The Best of Metal Blade, Volumes 1 & 2. That's the sh*t. Totally excellent and totally killarious! This is where I found Lizzy Borden, the inspirator for my "Council of The Cauldron" I always try and call up on here and people rarely show up for, tho it has happened on occasion, which is really wild, when you think of the randomness of the internet and all.
I do think some of the "Stoner" Metal out there, which pays huge hommage to 70's Black Sabbath, is pretty good, particularly Wolfmother. The Mars Volta, Mastadon and Queens of the Stone Age are okay and there are a handful of others around that I'm just not bothering to remember.
I just can't really get into it these days. And like I said, why bother, when there's so much more fun going on over here on this side of the coin...
Au Curant Glam Metal bands like Vains of Jenna, Crash Diet, Reckless Love, Crazy Lixx, Dirty Penny, Miss Crazy and The Last Vegas, among others, are really creating a resurgence to Bring Back Glam (The Last Vegas are gettin' major play for some reason -- wish it would spread to some attention for some of these other bands mentioned).
Besides, the Glam Metal Chicks are way cooler, tho the way I've been such an exclusionary chauvinist talking about the Cauldron, I'm liable to get thrown in by these very chicks I'm praising... Oh, well, story of my life.
Anyway, these chicks can cook up a pretty good Metal Stew of their own, believe me -- try survivin' one of Al's chatrooms! (Just kiddin'! Just kiddin'! You know I love the chatrooms, Al.)
Granted, this latest crop of Glam Metal has a lot more akin to "Crazy Train" era Ozzy than Black Sabbath, tho it's a lot more Glam than "Crazy Train", for sure. Still, most of it has some killer leads, as this is really pretty much what this whole comments thing on Ozzy has really been about.
That and pinched nerves over pinch harmonics, hahaha!!!
But I'll be the first one on the "Crazy Train" every time!
In fact, it's probably lookin' like I'm on there right now!
Rock on, Ozzy!
Just checked out said clip of a quite young Zakk ripping up ZZ Top's Tush in front of what looks like a Jersey Strip Mall.(Only 3 "pinchers" in Zakk's opening before the song kicks in!! Lol) You are correct my friend, he definitely smokes the song.Like we agreed on, the guy is an incredible guitarist/song writer. You need to read Ozzy's biography I Am Ozzy,where he says about Zakk right after he enlists Wylde into the Osbourne circus "the new guitarist is absolutely incredible when it comes to song ideas".Just read it for the guaranteed piss your pants laughs that are sprinkled liberally throughout Ozzy's bio, trust me!!!
Yeah, that clip of Wylde is wild, for sure.
As I mentioned previously, I saw him with Ozzy in '92 and was blown away by him.
Gotta say, the whole pinched harmonics thing...
I'm talkin' from the point of view of a lousy singer...
I wish I could play a pinched harmonic...
I'd like to see Wylde do something different and I wouldn't even mind him keepin' the high quotient of pinched harmonics...
Never really dug the Black Label Society thing too much to be honest...
He just oughta go the solo route and really show everybody...
I'm talkin' goin' totally Glam style to match his bullseye guitar... by that I mean musically, not image-wise, though I gotta say when I saw 'em at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden, he hadn't gone all extreme with the "Mountain Man" route yet... just killer leads... maybe a hired-gun singer, maybe a hyena like Michael Matijevic (hahaha!!!).
Or maybe he should go Slash-mode with a different singer on every song... Hey, maybe take it a step further and turn the tables on Ozzy and use undiscovered or relatively unknown singers in a "duet" approach...
Sumthin!
Anyway, I forget who said it but Ozzy's vocals are kinda rough edged here. While racking my brain as too why they would take this route i was listening to condition critical by Quiet Riot, and then it hit me! KEVIN DUBROW!!
Ozzy sounds kinda like kevin in this songs and some of Black Rain. Personally this could be neat approach (covers of QR? doubt it but it would be cool!)
Y'all think Tush is good by Wylde look up his cover of Purple Haze form a few years back, Pinch harmonics yes, but it actually kinda fits. The BLS stuff is hit or miss with though i like stillborn,fire it up, and doomsday jesus.
Other thoughts?.............
My 2 favorites from BLS would probably be Drunk And Stoned and Genocide Junkies.
Metalboy,
You won't be sorry if ya pick up Ozz's bio. I'm telling you, the guy could have been a stand up comedian.The paragraph's about the time he 1st witnessed Tommy Lee's "mammoth blessing" backstage amongst groupies is worth the price of admission alone....LOL