Artist: Ozz
LP: No Prisoners
Song: "Checkin' It Out (Baby Don't You Cry)"
Here's an interesting musical artifact from 1980 that I picked up in the dollar bins a few years ago. It isn't just the men of Ozz's captivating rock 'n roll facial expressions that drew me to this record...
...but also their fabulous, colorful style. Guitarist Gregg Parker simultaneously channels Jimi Hendrix and Lionel Richie, with a hint of Evelyn Champagne King, whereas vocalist Alexis T. Angel draws inspiration from Joan Jett and Axl Rose, with just a touch of the windswept radiance of Cheryl Ladd. There's a "No Prisoners" album review on the Glory Daze Music website here, some more Ozz info on Mountain of Power here, and album notes and lyrics are included below. Best of all is Alexis T. Angel's remarkable music video for "Diamonds," included below. Summary: A handsome (naked) musician dozes off in bed while trying to write a song about diamonds. Slipping into a deep sleep, his mind fills with glitz, glamor, razzle-dazzle, jewelry, and limousines. This causes him to have an intense wet dream. When he awakens, he's magically wearing an expensive bejeweled choker. He then makes a phone call. The end.
...but also their fabulous, colorful style. Guitarist Gregg Parker simultaneously channels Jimi Hendrix and Lionel Richie, with a hint of Evelyn Champagne King, whereas vocalist Alexis T. Angel draws inspiration from Joan Jett and Axl Rose, with just a touch of the windswept radiance of Cheryl Ladd. There's a "No Prisoners" album review on the Glory Daze Music website here, some more Ozz info on Mountain of Power here, and album notes and lyrics are included below. Best of all is Alexis T. Angel's remarkable music video for "Diamonds," included below. Summary: A handsome (naked) musician dozes off in bed while trying to write a song about diamonds. Slipping into a deep sleep, his mind fills with glitz, glamor, razzle-dazzle, jewelry, and limousines. This causes him to have an intense wet dream. When he awakens, he's magically wearing an expensive bejeweled choker. He then makes a phone call. The end.
Alexis T. Angel of Ozz on YouTube:
Alexis is not having a wet dream. That is just stupid. He is simply strutting to the music that he is hearing in his sleep. He doesn't do "wet dreams" on video! He's moving to the music that's in his dream. He's not a pornstar. He's a writer as well as a performer.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right! I have witnessed him doing many things on stage but a "wet dream" wasn't one of them.His mouth at one point in the dream is moving to the lead solo.HE WAKES UP WITH A REMNANT FROM THE DREAM....
ReplyDeleteYeah. the wet stuff remains with the dream. It's tough to retain an ocean in your bed! They didn't have the budget for that. (;
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me like the phone call is what woke him from the dream in that Diamonds video. I heard that he lives under a bridge near the coast but apparently he owns the bridge.
ReplyDeleteYou say that Alexis was influenced by Axl Rose and Joan Jett etc., but Rose was born in 1962 and some of the Ozz LP was recorded in 1978 ( Sail On and Checkin' it Out ) and the rest was done before Xmas of1979. Joan Jett was being directed by Kim Fowley with tha Runaways around that time and Axl Rose would have been about sixteen and seventeen years old around that time and eighteen by the time of the Ozz 'No Prisoners' LP release. What band was Axl in at that time and what state was he living in? California? It's doubtful that Alexis T Angel would have been aware of Axl back then in view of the fact that Axl Rose hadn't been invented yet. William Bailey was Axl's name then wash't it?
ReplyDeleteQuite correct.
DeleteI was present when this was recorded and I knew Alexis (real name Billy Grammar) very well.
He knew nothing of Axl and as for Jett, I never him discuss her as an influence but it is possible.
Alexis was a fairly insular guy and drew his influences from the rock greats of that time.
Robert Plant, Steven Tyler and a couple others were definite influences.
Andy Johns, who I was living with and apprenticing with in engineering and production at that time, was a huge part of the way the record ultimately came out, as was so for everything he ever worked on.
For instance, when you listen to the drum track on any Andy Johns production and there is no mistaking the sound.
Andy had a few special tricks for mic placement and the use of echo chambers for achieving that unique, one in a million drum sound.
Alexis and Greg, both very talented artists, still deferred to Andy's immense amount of experience in terms of production and engineering methods which is why this and all records done by Andy were as excellent and memorable as it is.
No Prisoners remains a relevant work and it is an unfortunate twist of fate that it never achieved the status among rock albums that it deserved.
If Andy were still alive, he would tell you the same thing.
I lost contact with Alexis many years ago and I do not know if he is still alive or not.
His vocal work will go on in classic rock archives as long as there are still those among us that appreciate the genre and authentic talent that does not rely on Pro Tools and other trickery.
L.D.
Yes it wash't! also known as yes it was..... (;
ReplyDeleteBorn William Bruce Rose Jr. and Raised William Bruce Bailey.....also known as Axl Rose...
ReplyDeleteOr W. Axl Rose.....
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is that in the Diamonds video Alexis is not "making a phone call". He is ANSWERING the phone first thing in the morning. You don't see him dialing that red rotary telephone in his sleep do you? It probably was Joan Jett on the other line! Looking for Axl.....
ReplyDeleteHow the hell do you know that Alexis was naked? Maybe you wish he was.....
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're probably right. I wished that.
ReplyDeleteIn case you haven't figured it out...the person above in ALL those comments IS Alexis. Aka: Billy Gramer. Lives in MN, jobless, with nothing better to do than troll sites in the middle of the night.
DeleteBilly. Stop antagonizing the poor man. If he wants to think of you as naked, having a wet dream....let him. If he saw what you look like now, he'd probably cry.
ReplyDeleteOh. Good to know. Hi, Billy!
ReplyDeleteWell I've seen him on Facebook and he looks fine. Looks like you might be one of them jealous motherf**kers that is trolling him!
ReplyDeleteMr. Grammer pass away at eighty nine somewhere in southern U.S.. Old time country legend who made own guitarz and wrote many song. Know fax before U ax Mr. Funny Boyz.......RIP.....
ReplyDeleteNot the same guy Nit Wit!
ReplyDeleteYou folks are way off the mark. Alexis T Angel is a real estate tycoon in Tennessee who left Ozz because he got bored with the L.A. merry go 'round! Ozz was an experiment to him where he did his thing and peeled on out o' there. Look it up uninformed bitches!!! Dude wears a f**kin' cowboy hat.
ReplyDeleteHe is absolutely NOT any kind of tycoon and lives in No Where, MN doing nothing. Nothing at all. I know all too well.
ReplyDeleterandom question - is there a connection to this band and the same Alexis T Angel that did the Clown "I'm A Gun" 7"? if so please get it touch
ReplyDeleteYeah I guess he just sits by the window, gazing..... can't tell if he can hear, see, or speak.....doing absolutely nothing..... Been that way for years they say. Hardly even blinks...... telepathic with birds or so the story goes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, "bird whisperer". That's what I heard as well. Communicates with the birds and puts the dialog in his songs. Songs that only he can hear. By the way, I looked up 'No Where' and it's not on the map. They say he wrote a song called 'Some Where' but I couldn't find that on the map either. I mean 'No Where' has got to be 'Some Where' right?
ReplyDeleteYeah whatever! I suppose the next thing you'll want us to believe is that he just whistles the lyrics over his guitar work. Furthermore he must be loaded. I've seen part of his guitar collection on FB and you don't compile a collection like that by gazing out some damn window ! It's not the only instrument he plays either. Seen photo's of the guy on drums, piano, synth, harmonica, jews harp, bass, mandolin, violin, auto harp and I could go on and on and on and on. A mind like that doesn't play by the same rules as some of his detractors on this thread are stuck with obviously.
ReplyDeleteThey say he's a dead eye with a rifle who could take the dandruff of your head
ReplyDeleteThey say he's a dead eye with a rifle who could take the dandruff off your head and you wouldn't even notice.
ReplyDeleteSome say he's become a hermit and his voice can be heard in the deep woods singing "Henry the Eighth I Am" over and over again but I know better. He's out there making plans.
ReplyDeleteBIG Plans,,,,,,,,,
ReplyDeleteRe the video -- his style was also influenced, I would think, by Mick Jagger circa 1969, who wore a similar hat on the "Gimme Shelter" tour and moved his hips like that. BTW I had the honor of writing a profile of Alexis T. Angel (Billy J. Gramer) in December, 1979, for his hometown newspaper in northwestern Minnesota. He was in his 20s. I recall his energy and enthusiasm very well. Headline: "So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?" Hello, Billy, across the years!
ReplyDelete