10 Hard Rock Live Albums You Need To Hear
6. Tribute - Ozzy Osbourne
The heavy metal world is a very different place ever since the lost of Randy Rhoads. When he first came on the scene in Ozzy Osbourne's solo band, he rewrote the rules for what was expected out of metal guitarists, with classical runs and the speed of a freight train. We may have lost him back in the early 80's, but Tribute certainly does justice to the man's work.
Rather than just throw together a collection of demos, Tribute is a well-crafted piece of Rhoads' live work that almost serves like a mini time capsule for guitarists. As he makes his way through songs like "Crazy Train" and "I Don't Know," you can tell that this was a musician still at the top of his game with the entire metal world at his feet.
Even when the band pulls out Black Sabbath material like on "Children of the Grave," Rhoads is one of the few guitarists that might have the ability to overshadow the great Tony Iommi.
It may have Ozzy's name on the album sleeve, but this almost feels like a Randy Rhoads album that just happens to feature Ozzy on vocals. Given the amount of kickass solos on here, Tribute lives up to its title by showing the metal world's eternal guitar genius.