As crappy as it must have been to be a group attempting to negotiate original music during the early years of the seventies without the support of a major label, it has to be as frustrating for those folks to watch the continual dusting off of old records. Each album touted as the lost link from glam to punk or hard rock to sludge might not really have anything to do with those genres in a conservative sense of the word. But at the time, crossing over into whatever sound was then in a songwriter’s head and moving back towards more distinctive stock was the point. It didn’t frequently result in stardom. But there’s more than a handful of bands being dug up that appreciated prog as much as Zeppelin.

Sacramento, while not known for its music scene – Ganglians are pretty cool though – has seen a level jump in profile as of late, in part due to SS Records. The imprint, in addition to releasing newer, skewed rock and punk related efforts, has been seeking out older, Sacto (or East Bay) based groups to spread around to a new generation. No one can dispute Monoshock’s greatness. And while was more than a decade between that band’s inception and Ozzie performing at local venues, there’s a stony cloud of pot smoke being emitted from each.

Ozzie, though, isn’t a single dude. It’s a group of players with wildly diverse interests – who do in fact, kinda look like Tin Huey. Beyond just looking a bit like that Akron/Kent act, Ozzie includes some of the same weirdo Zappa influence into its songs. There’s nothing as wantonly bizarre as "The Revelations of Dr. Modesto" on Ozzie’s Parabolic Rock, a compilation rounding up the band’s lone single as well a number of unreleased tracks.

It’d be hard to peg Ozzie as a proto-punk group. Or a glam band. Instead, taking in Bowie and enough radio rock, the ensemble just comes off as a weirdo hard rock group – one a bit too far out there for the radio to have been impressed. That doesn’t mean all involved lacked chops – the drum break on “Faunamania” is arena rock approved.

The band’s ‘hit’ and the first track here, “Android Love,” should be better than it is based solely on its title. Almost getting into punk/new wave territory isn’t good enough. It’s a decent track, but doesn’t necessarily warrant fawning over. For home-town fans only.