Greetings from the suburban wilds and hails to the great workers. It is September already, somehow. Becca and I landed in Burlington in early August for a cousin’s wedding and had a good time walking around. Another cousin just tied the knot yesterday. Things are otherwise quiet and alright. I hope you’ve been well.

I finally got around to building a home for my photography and writing. You can find it here. SUBSTANCE is linked already, other writing will appear as it appears. I am hellbent on running things myself and updates will be continual if glacial.

This month finds us in the mid-section of the Ozzy solo catalog, a period dominated by Zakk Wylde and inclusive of one masterpiece. Let’s get it.

No Rest for the Wicked (Epic/CBS, 1988)

From the ashes of the Jake Lee era would arise another relatively stable lineup to bring Ozzy’s solo career into the 90s. In addition to returning collaborators Randy Castillo and Bob Daisley, No Rest for the Wicked would be the debut of both John Sinclair (Uriah Heep) and Zakk Wylde, the latter throwing his hat into the ring after hearing of the open guitar slot via Howard Stern.

At first blush, Wicked is in the same ripping 80s vein as the two Jake Lee offerings. It's the first of Ozzy's modern sounding records, taking the relative flatness of The Ultimate Sin and blowing it up into three dimensions. And when it rips, it rips: “Devil’s Daughter” is excellent, as is “Bloodbath in Paradise.” “Breakin’ All the Rules” sounds like Jake if he had a much heavier right hand. “Hero” is an anticipation of the material on No More Tears. The drums in particular have a prominent gated reverb like what Judas Priest achieved on Turbo. Both Randy and Bob sound great across the whole record, together creating a platform to showcase the burgeoning talents of Zakk.

Zakk’s influence isn't immediate; it takes until "Crazy Babies" for the bottom-heavy signature of Zakk's riffing to become apparent. The riffs, however, take a distant second place to his leads, which dress up Jake-style shredding with eruptions of pinch harmonics that regularly strain against the boundaries of taste. It is very difficult to listen to the solos on "Devil's Daughter" or "Breakin' All the Rules" or "Tattooed Dancer" and not grin like an idiot. But for all of his talent as a lead guitarist, Zakk's riffs noticeably shy away from the sophistication and melodicism of Jake's work in favor of a chunkier, more pummeling presentation. Not always, as evidenced by "Bloodbath in Paradise" and "Tattooed Dancer," and not necessarily in a bad way, but this is for sure the sound of a new player starting to pull the band in a new direction.

The vocals are where No Rest misses the mark most obviously. Ozzy himself sounds fine, and the strain on his voice from Sin is gone. But the production experiments with unflattering vocal processing ("Miracle Man") and some truly horrendous backing vocals, especially on "Tattooed Dancer" ("dance for me, bitch"). But even ignoring the vocal missteps, the album as a whole feels transitional and sounds like a generic Ozzy record, likely due to Bob’s continuing influence and the fact that the music had yet to be steeped with Zakk’s character. This is not yet the sound of the new band.

Bob was once again let go after the album was completed, replaced by Geezer Butler for the tours. A pair of compilations and a live EP also appeared between No Rest and the next album; the live EP (Just Say Ozzy) has since been deleted from the catalog, allegedly due to Phil Soussan's lawsuit for credit for "Shot in the Dark."

With No Rest for the Wicked, we begin to see the metamorphosis into Ozzy’s 90s form, though with a familiarity courtesy of Bob Daisley. Bob Daisley-Ozzy is the quintessential Ozzy but while a lot of No Rest is enjoyable, it’s not a front-to-back success and overstays its welcome by the end. There are much better Ozzy albums to indulge in but check out “Devil’s Daughter,” “Breakin’ All the Rules,” “Bloodbath in Paradise,” and “Fire in the Sky.”

No More Tears (Epic, 1991)

The dawn of the 90s saw the arrival of Ozzy's sixth solo record, one that would sharply break from the work of the 80s and herald a new age for a band now noticeably shot through with the DNA of an emerging guitar heavyweight. The core of Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo, and John Sinclair remained intact from No Rest for the Wicked, along with the return of Bob Daisley. No More Tears would end up being the final Ozzy recording for both Bob and Randy.

The creature has finally broken free from the cocoon of No Rest and become its own being. There's a definite identity musically and sonically, and while it still only flirts with metal it's by far the heaviest album to this point. "Mr. Tinkertrain" and "I Don't Want to Change the World" find the band in full lockstep with the stomping sensibilities of Zakk. "Mama I'm Coming Home" is one of Ozzy’s best ballads and has my favorite guitar solo of all time. "Desire" is in my top five Ozzy tracks, with a main riff that recalls the best of Jake fully integrated with Zakk's heavy-handed palm muting. The title track and "Hellraiser" both have huge choruses and that same stomp to them that's impossible to hate. Zakk’s more tender abilities get a fair shake on “Time After Time,” recalling Randy moreso than Jake. It’s hard to find something to hate; the only obvious misstep on the whole album is the toybox shit at the beginning of "Mr. Tinkertrain."

The production is massive, toppling even Bark at the Moon. Everything sounds huge without coming across as caricature. In a first, the band brought in a number of collaborators to assist with lyric writing including Lemmy Kilmister, and his work ends up on four tracks, most notably "Hellraiser." Mike Inez is credited as a writer for the intro bass riff on the title track, though it’s Bob’s playing on the record.

Bob was once again discharged after recording, replaced by Mike Inez for the tour (who then went on to join Alice in Chains at the tour’s conclusion). Ozzy, meanwhile, had been cleared of both MS and Parkinson’s and, feeling the weight of twenty five years on the road, decided that it was time to be done. The ensuing promotional tour was dubbed “No More Tours” intended as Ozzy’s farewell before retirement, and was capped off with the recording of the live album Live & Loud in June of 1993.

In my pantheon of Ozzy solo recordings, No More Tears takes the number two slot behind The Ultimate Sin. It was the second and final of Ozzy's albums to go quadruple platinum in the US. It is a fantastic modern rock record and comes with my highest recommendation.

Ozzmosis (Epic, 1995)

Removed from the rigors of touring and studio work, Ozzy’s health improved vastly in retirement. He soon found himself restless and questioning the decision to retire at forty six, and soon the seeds for Ozzfest were sown and new songs were coming together with the No More Tears production team and touring lineup. Ultimately this material would be re-cut with producer Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Korn), allegedly at the behest of Epic. Mike Inez and Randy Castillo left the fold, replaced by Geezer Butler and drummer Deen Castronovo (Bad English). Beinhorn provided most of the keyboards for the new material, with a couple of contributions from Rick Wakeman (Yes). There were also a bunch of collaborators, including Lemmy, Steve Vai, and producers Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams) and John Purdell (Dream Theater).

The overall impression of Ozzmosis is of bloat. It has grown on me with successive listens and I’ve mostly come around but, like the 90s Judas Priest debacle Jugulator, it’s hard not to hear Ozzmosis as the sound of a band that has landed in a pool of wet concrete after screaming downhill with no brakes. All of the material exists in the same constrained mid-tempo zone; I’d argue that the plodding tempos are primarily to blame for the music lacking the electricity that made No More Tears or Ultimate Sin crackle out of the speakers. Also missing are Bob Daisley’s more artful developments such that every song feels like it’s merely proceeding by rote, not really going anywhere.

There’s a heavy handedness to the production that flattens everything, with an overemphasis on modulated guitars that sounds desperate instead of mystical. The ultimate effect is of having created a shiny nugget of coal instead of a diamond like No More Tears. Ozzy was particularly vocal about the bad time he had with producer Beinhorn, who ran the singer so hard that Ozzy contemplated foregoing future recordings in favor of regular touring a la Grateful Dead.

It’s not a total failure. “Perry Mason” is enjoyable enough. “See You on the Other Side” is a great modern ballad that is aided by the dripping guitars but, like the rest of the album, ultimately suffers from an overstayed welcome. Past that, everything gets real samey real fast. The sitar effect on “My Little Man” made me laugh out loud. People really seem to love this album but I just don’t see it.

Ozzmosis was supported through 1996 with the Retirement Sucks! tour, with Joe Holmes (Lizzy Borden, David Lee Roth) in place of Zakk. Ultimate Guitar points to an interview between Zakk and Billy Corgan, where Zakk explains that he had been approached by Guns N’ Roses to replace Gilby Clarke when Ozzy inquired about the touring for Ozzmosis. Zakk hesitated and Ozzy went with Joe, who would remain through subsequent tours and into the writing of the next album. Joe’s playing can be heard on the lesser version of a great song, which we’ll get to imminently.

I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this one, y’all, though it does work decently well as background music while you work on something else. “See You on the Other Side” is great but there are much more enjoyable Zakk-era offerings.

Down to Earth (Epic, 2001)

The period after Ozzmosis saw Ozzy wholly focused on touring, primarily via the wildly successful Ozzfest. At some point the scars from the Ozzmosis sessions faded and he was talked into the studio again, resulting in Down to Earth: the first recorded outing for Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin, and the return of Zakk (who re-joined between the writing and recording).

For a collection of songs that Zakk didn’t write, they sound remarkably like they jumped out of his fingers: that same base of simple, palm-muted riffs destined for the local biker bar. The complex chords and long note-y runs of the 80s are long gone, and with them pretty much all of the magic. It’s almost like they amalgamized every early 00s radio rock band and stuck Ozzy over it. I’m inclined to believe that this was the point, based on Ozzy’s experience of Ozzmosis: after being disillusioned with studio work such that it was avoided for years, why not just phone it in to make the record company happy?

The riffs don’t all suck. The intro riff of “No Easy Way Out” is plenty heavy, as is “Gets Me Through.” “Junkie” almost sounds like the riff from “Fazer.” “Black Illusion” has a decent solo that recalls Randy. “Running Out of Time” is an alright ballad. But aside from maybe “Dreamer,” none of Down to Earth sounds like it’s trying to impress anybody anymore. Production-wise it jumps out of the speakers at you more aggressively than Ozzmosis and has more memorable riffs without all of the cheesy effects but, again, the magic is gone. The lineup has always been in a state of flux but at this point in the catalog it feels like music by committee, which, again, see the last paragraph.

According to NME, Ozzy reached out to Rivers Cuomo for material whilst looking for collaborators and Rivers offered ‘Hash Pipe.’ Obviously it was not picked up but I doubt it would’ve saved Down to Earth. Check it out if you’re a Gen X burnout but otherwise there are way better Ozzy albums with which to spend your time.

Prince of Darkness (Epic, 2005, 4xCD)

A number of compilations materialized over the first twenty five years of Ozzy’s solo career, mostly live and early material and typically confined to a single disc. Released in 2005, Prince of Darkness is a rich treasure trove for the Ozzy completist, offering alternate versions of music from the first several albums, as well as three discs’ worth of rare recordings, collaborations, and covers. This was an admittedly indulgent purchase considering that I only bought it for one track buried on disc two, but it was very fun to spend a few hours digging through everything else.

Disc One

Disc One contains live or re-recorded material from the first three albums. The live tracks pulled from Blizzard and Diary date from 1981 and are some of the only documents of the Randy/Rudy/Tommy lineup (there is also video of a Rochester NY local news performance by this lineup from 4/28/81, which is highly recommended). Again, it’s tragic that we did not get an album’s worth of material from this lineup because they are tight and powerful.

The re-recordings are taken from the slate of back catalog remasters that were done circa 2002 for the 20th anniversary re-releases, when the rhythm tracks for the Blizzard and Diary entries were infamously re-recorded by then-rhythm section Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference on ‘I Don’t Know’ but the re-recorded version of ‘Crazy Train’ sounds like hot dogshit.

Disc Two

Disc Two kicks off with live recordings from The Ultimate Sin tour before ripping into a collection of demos from the No More Tears/Ozzmosis era and a couple of live takes from beyond. The demo for “Mama I’m Coming Home” is especially good, and might even be preferable to the recorded version for the acoustic guitars and general sparseness. There’s also a version of “See You on the Other Side” recorded with Michael Wagener, the producer from No More Tears and the original producer on Ozzmosis. It’s got a ripping saxophone and is vastly preferable to the album, and I really wish Ozzy hadn’t been pressured to change producers.

We also have the only appearance of my personal favorite Ozzy solo track, the reason I splurged for this set in the first place: the demo version of “Walk on Water.” “Walk on Water” is a one-off with producer Jim Vallance and plays into the eerieness of Ozzy’s voice more than any other track in the catalog. If you check out nothing else from this whole piece on my recommendation, please give this one a shot. It is very good. It’s been in my life for thirty years and it still sounds as cool as it did back then. The only other appearance of this version of this track is in the film Beavis and Butthead Do America, during the scene where Muddy finds the duo dehydrated in the desert. Curiously, the version on the official movie soundtrack is not the version in the film, and has a much fuller production (courtesy of Moby) that destroys the haunting minimalism of the demo. The version here is preferred by Ozzy and myself.

Disc Three

This disc is all Ozzy collaborations and is hella fun. Ever wondered what it’d sound like if Ozzy fronted Type O Negative or Wu Tang Clan? It’s all here. The Type O track is a cover of “Pictures of Matchstick Men;” per Ozzy’s notes in the booklet: “I don’t know any of Type O’s songs, but I know they have this tall fucker singing for them.” His version of “Born to be Wild” opposite Miss Piggy is included, as well as his take on ‘Stayin Alive’ with Dweezil Zappa and the full theme for Dog The Bounty Hunter.

Disc Four

Finally, the only truly new material in the set: a collection of covers recorded with Mike Bordin, Jerry Cantrell, and Chris Wyse, released on its own later that year as Under Cover. Quality ranges from inessential to bad. “Working Class Hero” is fine. “Sympathy for the Devil” sounds like Alice in Chains with a head injury. You can safely skip everything here.

I have an awful feeling that I’ve only got bad Ozzy material ahead of me. Next month we’ll bring this to its thrilling conclusion, after which we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The accessions pile has grown by an irresponsible degree:

Currently Reading:

Atlas Shrugged - I decided I needed to know directly and am paying for it. It’s a slog. Ayn Rand delivers a cool sentence every page or two. Most of the time she’s telling you how you’re supposed to feel about everyone and everything going on. The descriptions of the protagonists moving heaven and earth to realize their visions do a good job of hyping me the fuck up, but I doubt I’ll be a believer in Objectivism by the time I’m done. Something like 700 pages to go. You can skip this.

Snow - Orhan Pamuk. I read an essay collection of his years ago and enjoyed it enough to give some of his fiction a try. The writing style is a bit much but unfortunately I now need to know how it ends. A Turkish expat poet and journalist returns to Turkey and journeys to the city of Kars to report on both an upcoming election and a spate of suicides amongst the city’s more religious minded young women.

Several weeks ago I was up in Vermont for a cousin’s wedding and finally convinced myself to grab the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book. A kid I met on the Camino recommended it. It’s very fast-paced and much lighter than my usual fare. I thought I was going to hate it and ended up having a great time. I think I ripped through the first book in three days. Similar sort of experience to Ready Player One, but far superior IMHO. I am excited to get into the remaining eight books.

Peace and love. Talk to you soon,

Joey