VARIOUS ARTISTS - "BAT HEAD SOUP - A TRIBUTE TO OZZY" (TRIAGE RECORDS)

 

Hail, hail, Triage records! Slam together a couple of dozen ace musicians with the musical legacy of, say, Ozzy Osbourne, and what you get is a fine tribute album.

What I mean to say is, the music is good, there is not a single bad musician on the album, this is the way tribute albums always ought to be. Dwell Records, pay attention please!

Anti-Dwell Records rant
Dwell have released a load of tribute albums around this date, including some to my favourite bands such as Death and King Diamond. I shudder to think what atrocities they have committed to CD, incapably recorded by 'cult underground artists' such as Awesomely Sniggering German, Obnoxiously Diluted Effluvium and Gorely Rottified Vermin. They ought to have a law against this tripe.
Anti-Dwell Records rant end

Did I mention that there is not a single bad artist on this tribute album? OK, perhaps I was being a bit too enhusiastic. "Goodbye to Romance" was never my favourite Ozzy song to begin with, but the version sung by Lisa Loeb (how come I know that name?) should make it necessary to attach a "diabetics beware!" label to the album. "Suicide Solution" (by The Flys, I think) isn't exactly a climax, either. But other than that it's all there. A can of guitar demi-gods has been yanked open, spilling forth great streams of neoclassical purity and bliss committed by the likes of Richie Kotzen, Brad Gillis, Red Beach, Dweezil Zappa, Paul Gilbert, George Lynch and Steve Lukather. Even god himself (yes, Yngwie Malmsteen, for it is He that I mean) plays a mean couple of solos on "Mr. Crowley"! Singers? A can of those was voraciously pulled open as well, with performances by Ripper Owens, Lemmy (yeah!), Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Scott Soto, Vince Neil and Jack Blades (Jack who?). Need I mention the can of drummers (Aldridge, Singer, Colaiuta, Torpey, Travis, Bissonette)? And the can of bassists (Franklin, Levin, Alderete, Hamm, Pilson)? It's truly awesome what we get here, and the choice of songs is good too. "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley", "Desire" (originally co-written by Lemmy, now sung by him), "Hellraiser" and "I Don't Know", as well as some Black Sabbath stuff in the form of "Children of the Grave" (from the Racer X album "Technical Difficulties") and the inevitable "Paranoid".

It is well-produced, it sounds good, the musicians are ace, the original tracks are excellent. You really need to get this.

Click here to check out or buy this CD

RK

 

Written July 2000

 

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