Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
I saw all Ozzy-Black Sabbath + his own studio albums from Blizzard of Ozz through No More Tears were reviewed except for Bark at the Moon (and the Ultimate Sin), so I decided to put myself up with this task.
Some facts about me first:
-I'm fourteen years old so I missed the release and stuff.
-This my first review.
-I"m from Holland so my English isn"t close to perfect.
Here are some facts about the album (copied from www.black-sabbath.com):
Writing Credits
All songs co-written by Ozzy, Lee & Daisley.
Other Credits
Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
Bob Daisley - Bass
Jake E. Lee - Guitar
Tommy Aldridge - Drums
Don Airey - Keyboards
Catalogue Numbers
CBS/Sony - ZK 38987 CD (US)
Epic - CDEPC 32870 CD (UK)
CBS/Sony - 67238 CD (1995)
Epic/Sony - EK 85429 CD (2002)
Now let"s start the review:
As we all know Ozzy"s former guitarist Randy Rhoads died in a tragic plane crash. Ozzy got into this strange emotional insanity, I"m not familiar with, I could be wrong because I wasn't even born at the time, but by just looking at the albums cover, you get to see pictures that weren"t shown on Ozzy covers before: the extreme werewolf, the chicken on stage, Ozzy doesn"t look very healthy to. Still, with a new guitarist he managed to create this album just one year after (masterpiece?) Diary of a Madman. The new guitarist was Jake E. Lee, a talented , young man , who had not been in any famous bands yet. Ozzy is known now for his nose for talent. Bob Daisley played the bass and Tommy Aldridge, who can be found in a lot of top 30 (or more) rock drummers, the drums. I"m now going to describe each song:
Keep in mind that I own the remastered 1995 version of this album. It does not contain One up the "B" Side! I also heard stories about this remaster not being a succes, one example: the keyboard volume on You"re now different. But I only own 1 version, so I"m not able to compare the different versions of Bark at the Moon.
1. Bark at the Moon (4:18): Like all solo albums released so far, the album starts of with a great rocker. This one surely fits in that way! It"s about a werewolf that has come back to life to seek revenge on those who did him wrong. The opening riff, it's great and powerful! After the first couplet there is a break, and at exactly the right moment the riff + "bark at the moon" kicks in, it makes you headbanging. The song contains two solos which are a good intro to Jake his playing: fast and emotional. Conclusion: Very good metal. This went as a single and there"s a videoclip of it. Best stuff of the album. (5/5).
2. You"re No Different (5.02): This one is a ballad, I suppose, it"s very soft for Ozzy standards. First time I heard the album, I noticed this was a good song and got a bit scared... the idea that Ozzy would put all the good songs on the start of the album like he did on Diary of a Madman came to my mind, but he didn"t, although Diary of a Madman is the better one of the two. As you read, the song is good and the solo even better. The keyboard makes it sound very 80"s. Many people will definitly like this son. Bad thing is that there are some high notes that Ozzy"s just can"t get to. The song was written because Ozzy found himself blamed for nasty things like teenage suicide deaths and stuff. Ozzy later planned to made a t-shirt with the text (something like): If your day"s totally screwed up, blame Ozzy Osbourne. I still see it as a good plan, very funny! As the title sais, you"re no different to him! (4.5/5)
3. Now You See it (Now You Don"t) (5.05): Like Crazy Babies on No Rest for the Wicked, I see this one as the funny song on the album. It"s about sex. But I warn, don"t listen the song to often, you"ll get psycho! It"s repetitive. When the song reaches the solo, it"s getting sensitive and it fits well. I think if the band were trying to make this a hit, they would have produced it better and forced Ozzy to sing just a little bit better. (3/5)
4. Rock "n" Roll Rebel (5.29): I do not exactly know how to think of this song. The riffs are nice, and the chorus is very catchy: I"m just a Rock "n" Rebell"" . Like all songs so far, great solo. The difference is, there are now more solos! Just like in Black Sabath"s Turn up the Night, each couplet has it"s own solo. Unfortunatly, in the couplets Ozzy sounds a bit stressed and squaeking. Didn"t Bruce Dickinson cover this one? (3.5/5
5. Centre of Enternity (5.24): A choir starts the song and later an organ takes over. It all sounds very like being in a church. The intro is over... guitar, metal! It"s very headbanging, but a while later you discover that the riff actually sucks a bit! Ozzy"s singing isn"t very good on this one too. Hard to love this song! After the kind of average solo the main riff is played again but now with some funny Lee fills. The song is skipable. (2.5/5)
6. So Tired (3.59): I was really shocked when I heard this song first time, I mean how can the Prince of Darkness write something so beautiful. The band used a whole orchestra for this song. The music is great, Ozzy sings good, and the fills of the orchestra and the solo are great. When you hear ballads produced by a metalband, you"re often able to hear that the song is from a metalband. Well, not with this one! It"s really beautiful and soft, it was even a single. No negative things about this one, I suppose, your mother will love it! O, there is one thing, Priestmetal reminded me to the fact Ozzy has better ballads, I totally agree and that's why I give it no (5/5) There could be a chance, people who want just heavy Ozzy music won"t love it. Fortunatly, there are no further ballads on this album because then it whould be to much of the good. (4.5/5)
7. Slow Down (4:18): I think this is the weakest track of the album. The first 25 seconds, nothing bad happens, just some one-tone bashing and a nice riff kicks in. But then... Ozzy starts singing, I like his voice, but I just couldn"t stand him at this one. 'Never heard him singing so bad on a studio record. The chorus is very stupid and the couplet is just very annoying. The solo part with riffs are nice, so they prevented this song from getting 1 out of 5. (2/5)
8. Waiting for Darkness (5:15): A better one! After some simple bass notes a guitar riff comes in which sounds very great! Everyone should have heard it. When Ozzy joins the sound, the song makes a more dramatically turn. I will not say Ozzy sings bad here, but I"m sure he can do better. The chorus is catchy again, but nice. At 2:40 a darker riffs starts which takes us to... well what is it? Some riffing with strange sounds, but it sounds good! Although it isn"t the top, it"s one of the better songs. (4/5)
9. Spiders in the Dark (4:22): It"s a bonus track. Wow, very scary intro! The bass playes a one tone riff, but it"s still creepy. There are some creepy fills after every bar, you"ll notice that it"s the first times just Jake going with his pick over the strings. Good guitar riff joins the bass and a little while later Ozzy starts singing. Nice way to end an album. Nice solo to. I probably keep using the same thing, but it"s Ozzy"s voice again. It"s also a song that, well, after it, you just don"t get the impulse to press the repeat button. Kind of repetitive and a little boring I suppose. (3.5/5)
Good: -Contains some really good songs!
- Good guitar, drum and bass work
Bad: -Ozzy sings weak, strangely enough only on some songs.
- Slow down, Centre of Eternity (Now you see it, Spiders) seem like filler too me
Average: The production
Note: There is more hearable keyboard on this album, I think it's a plus fact
Should I buy this album?: If you like Ozzy his music, you probably will be pleased with it, unfortunatly, it won"t go much further than that. It's no strange sympton because Ozzy released 6 (he was on 8) masterpieces with Black Sabbath and probably two (now of the three) in his solo career. Acting this way causes high standards! No wonder that a release like this isn't an excellent performance.
The End
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It's my duty to give you this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWAohdmCl4o&search=jake%20lee
Check youtube.com for more
