Welcome To AlbumLinerNotes.com
"The #1 Archive of Liner Notes in the World"
Your Subtitle text
Essential Ozzy Osbourne
To download this recording via iTunes, click here: The Essential Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzy Osbourne
To buy this recording from Amazon.com, click here: Essential Ozzy Osbourne
_______________________________________________________________
Ozzy Osbourne
The Essential Ozzy Osbourne
Disc 1
1. Crazy Train
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
2. Mr. Crowley
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
3. I Don’t Know (Live with Randy Rhoads)
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman
Taken from Tribute
4. Suicide Solution
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
5. Goodbye To Romance
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
6. Over The Mountain
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
7. Flying High Again
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
8. Diary Of A Madman
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
9. Paranoid (Live with Randy Rhoads)
Written by A. Tommi, W. Ward, T. Butler, J. Osbourne
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)
Producer: Max Norman
Taken from Tribute
10. Bark At The Moon
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
11. You’re No Different
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
12 Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
13. Crazy Babies
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, B. Daisley
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)/ EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (BMI)
Producers: Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
14. Miracle Man
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, B. Daisley
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. (ASCAP) and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (ASCAP) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. (BMI) and Monowise Ltd (BMI)
Producers: Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
15. Fire In The Sky
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, J. Sinclair, R. Castillo
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
16. Breakin’ All The Rules
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, B. Daisley, J. Sinclair, R. Castillo
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
Disc 2
1. Mama, I’m Coming Home
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
2. Desire
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
3. No More Tears
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, M Inez, J. Purdell
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Purdell Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
4. Time After Time
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
5. Road To Nowhere
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
6. I Don’t Want To Change The World (Live)
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd
Produced by Ozzy Osbourne
Taken from Live and Loud
7. Perry Mason
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, J. Purdell
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd./Purdell Publishing (ASCAP)
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
8. I Just Want You
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Vallance
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)/Testalynne Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
9. Thunder Underground
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Butler, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
10. See You On The Other Side
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Kilmister Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
11. Gets Me Through
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Palmer
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/TP Songs (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
12. Dreamer
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Marti Frederiksen, Mick Jones
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/EMI Blackwood Music Inc. (BMI) obo Itself and Pearl White Music (BMI)/Somerset Songs Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
13. No Easy Way Out
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Palmer
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/TP Songs (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
Compilation Produced by Sharon Osbourne, Michael Guarracino and Bruce Dickinson
Additional Mastering by Vic Anesini at Sony Music Studios
Art Direction and Design: David Coleman
Photography: Cover/Nitin Vadukul
Tray Card/Gene Kirkland
Interior/Greg Maston (1), Jeff Porter (2), Gene Kirkland (3&4), Guzman (5)
_____________________________________________________________________
“If I’d done everything they’d said I’d done I’d be dead by now!” chortles Ozzy Osbourne, reflecting on three decades of mayhem, madness and near-Olympian feats of self-destruction. Ozzy is nothing if not a true original whose reputation more than precedes him. Indeed, like his wild personally, it exceeds him.
Since leading Black Sabbath out of Birmingham, England in the late ‘60s, he’s managed to become the heavy metal archetype, the Madman of Metal, and as the latest feather in his cap, the hysterically dysfunctional dad overseeing The Osbournes. To say the least, Ozzy’s influence is, in early 2003, ubiquitous. His broad swath cuts across nearly every Rock crop that’s come to fruition in his wake: speed metal, grunge, NWOBHM, “nu metal”, you name it. Everyone from Metallica to Nirvana to Marilyn Manson has cited Ozzy’s influence as part of their musical DNA. His fans call him the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” and not without good reason. Though typically modest in his appraisal of the nickname, make no mistake, sans Ozzy the decibel-driven, louder-than-thou music as we now know it would not be.
From Sabbath’s earliest days playing the Midlands circuit in 1969 till that fateful day a decade later when Ozzy was unceremoniously dumped in Los Angeles by his bandmates, Sabbath was simply a group of four talented hoodlums from the back streets of Aston, a downtrodden, bombed-out (from German blitzes during the Second World War) outskirt of Birmingham, who just wanted to make music, travel the world, live the high life, and maybe make some dough in the process. They did it all and more, and thirty years on their inimitable music remains “the blueprint of heavy metal”. It was a great run, those innocent Seventies daze, but by ’79 Ozzy Osbourne barely knew himself: he was at the end of his tether, spent – physically, mentally, and musically, and saddle with a case of the blues. He was just coming-to from a wild, ten year rock ‘n’ roll party and waking up wasn’t pretty. So, coming on 1980, a rudderless Ozzy found himself considering the next move, but he was very insecure and his nasty, acute addictions didn’t allow a clear train of thought. In fact, highest on his list of “what’s next” was, unbelievably, moving back to Birmingham to go on the “dole”, slang for England’s welfare system. But, during Ozzy’s legendary six-month, binge-crazy stay at the Le Parc Hotel in West Hollywood, a star-crossed knock on his door changed everything. It was his manager’s daughter, Sharon Arden, who had dropped in unannounced to collect an unpaid debt owed to her dad. At this point, Ozzy was a first-class mess but deep down his vulnerable, lovable, charming personality remained intact. She was smitten; he was infatuated. It was a quick courtship. That said, he needed a big, swift kick-in-the-arse to get his career back on track. So, under the condition that he would promise to get his act together Sharon agreed to take him on as manager.
In late 1979, during the first and only guitar audition for the first Ozzy band, in walked Randy Rhodes, a tiny, almost androgynous-looking phenom the likes of which only grace the Rock world once or twice a generation. Rhoad’s inimitable melding of hard rock and classical guitar styles instantly rejuventated Ozzy, who had found a kindred musical soul, and the Ozzman rose to the occasion by recording two seminal albums, Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman, in 1980 and ’81, respectively. European and American tours commenced but tragedy struck March 19, 1982: a freak plane accident took the life of the 25-year old gun-slinging guitarist, shattering Ozzy’s delicate handle on his nascent solo career. He pondered hanging it all up, but Sharon realized a complacent and despondent Ozzy would only hasten his own demise. Ozzy Osbourne was not finished.
He continued on with Jake E. Lee as axeman extraordinaire for the next couple of albums, released a live Tribute to Randy Rhodes (culled from the only professionally-recorded shows featuring Ozzy & Randy), and then decided to freshen up his act with a new partner. When Ozzy met 19 year-old Zakk Wylde during a routine guitar audition he knew he’d found his man: tall, blonde, and chock-full of spitfire chops, Zakk was the hard-driving player Ozzy was looking for. The duo teamed up to record Ozzy’s heaviest album to date, 1988’s No Rest For The Wicked, for which a most memorable video was produced – Ozzy donned a mask resembling then-scandalous Jimmy Swaggart, surrounded by a throng of 75 piglets … in a barn! Those crazy Eighties!
At the beginning of the Nineties Ozzy was at a crossroads: he was father to three small children but was still battling demons he’d first met back in the early ‘70s. And, musically he wasn’t being stimulated. Although all of Ozzy Osbourne’s records, including those recorded with Black Sabbath, were at least Platinum-certified in the States (ie, one million sold) it had been nearly a decade since Ozzy had an across-the-board smash album. The beginning of 1991 marked a new decade and it helped usher in some overdue changes to the Ozzman’s infamous lifestyle. Ozzy gave up drink and drugs for good; he undertook a vigorous exercise regimen that left him looking like rock ‘n’ roll’s Charles Atlas; and he used his newfound clarity of mind and energy to foster his creative juices. Ozzy’s earnest efforts to better himself paid off in spades: No More Tears, released in September 1991, would end up being his biggest-selling album to date, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. It remains the only Ozzy album to feature five singles, including the Top Ten hit “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, Ozzy’s road ode to Sharon and the kids. Starting with the “Theatre of Madness” tour in late ’91 and continuing non-stop for 14-months Ozzy touched down on every imaginable part of the globe during his “No More Tours Tour”. The kicker was the finale in Costa Mesa, California when the original Black Sabbath reunited for a four-song encore. The writing was on the wall: it seemed certain that Ozzy was about to take a long break, his first extended vacation from the stresses and rigors of rock ‘n’ roll. Indeed, he took almost all of 1993 and ’94 off to spend with Sharon and young Aimee, Kelly, and Jack on his English farm estate. (Ozzy did manage to win his first Grammy award, though, for Live & Loud’s “I Don’t Want To Change The World”.)
After the long-labored Ozzmosis album was released in 1995 Sharon made an attempt to get Ozzy booked on a popular Stateside festival tour. But, the booking agents literally laughed in her face. Ozzy was “washed-up”, not a part of the “new rock brigade”, they claimed. Foolhardy is the man who crosses the venerable fair maiden Osbourne! Sharon summarily organized an all-hard rock and heavy metal concert package with Ozzy as kingpin, replete with two stages – one exclusively dedicated to nurturing “baby” bands – and a metal-friendly concourse area dubbed “The Village of the Damned”. Born in October 1996, the Ozzfest was an instant success: the two initial trial shows sold-out and fans were abuzz about the newfound “heavy metal summer camp”. (That other festival, well, it piddled-out quietly, the next year.) Since that inaugural Ozzfest virtually every band who had meant something in the loud rock universe in the subsequent years has been featured on one of its bills: Toni, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, Queens of the Stone Age, Pantera, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, the list goes on. Ozzy and Sharon built an empire the fans had come to love and their subjects, the loyal Hessian masses, arrive, without fail, in droves every year. Over the last seven years over 3.5 million fans have attended; no other touring festival comes close to matching that impressive benchmark.
With that kind of legacy and financial success, who’da thunk that Ozzy’s greatest – and certainly most unexpected – success was yet to come? The answer is “no one”! Just as his first studio album in six years, 2001’s Down To Earth, was on the verge of release MTV descended on the Osbournes’ Beverly Hills manse for a two-week stint, taping everything and anything for a planned one-time special on the life inside the Osbourne fishbowl. After the success of Ozzy’s Cribs episode, which were the water-cooler talk of the MTV offices, an executive decision was made to go in a little longer this time, to see what the cameras would capture. Well, the rest is history: the highest-rated basic cable show ever elevated the Madman and his clan to “A list” Hollywood (though hob-nobbing kind) and all of its attendant perks. The zenith was spring 2002, during which a tidal wave of surreality hit the surf: on April 12, 2002 Ozzy received his beloved star on the world-famous Hollywood Walk of Fame; in May, he dined with President Bush in Washington D.C.; and most incredibly, he performed at Queen Elizabeth’s Jubliee the next month alongside his idol Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart, Brian May, and other “Sirs” of the English mantle. Come again, now?!
Ozzy Osbourne, once the bat-biting, backward-masking, brain-frying uber-rock ‘n’ roll rebel, had come full circle. He was now viewed by mainstream America as the cuddly, outrageously funny, father figure of television’s biggest since the tragedy of September 11. Not in a million years would anyone, especially Ozzy, think that a scenario such as that would come to pass. But it has, and Ozzy Osbourne, the Madman, the Prince of Darkness, the Architect of Metal, continues to see himself first as a singer and entertainer – he still rocks your socks off every summer at Ozzfest, in what is now his 33rd years as a professional musician. His music – 70 million records sold worldwide – speaks for itself. He’s earned his revered status, so indulge yourself with this set of Ozzy’s “essential” tunes.
After all, everyone’s got a little bit of Ozzy in ‘em.
Liner notes by Eddie Williamson.
To buy this recording from Amazon.com, click here: Essential Ozzy Osbourne
_______________________________________________________________
Ozzy Osbourne
The Essential Ozzy Osbourne
Disc 1
1. Crazy Train
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
2. Mr. Crowley
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
3. I Don’t Know (Live with Randy Rhoads)
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman
Taken from Tribute
4. Suicide Solution
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
5. Goodbye To Romance
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Blizzard Of Ozz
6. Over The Mountain
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
7. Flying High Again
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
8. Diary Of A Madman
Written by O. Osbourne, B. Daisley, R. Rhoads, L. Kerslake
Blizzard Music, Ltd (ASCAP)/Kord Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Producers: Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes
Taken from Diary Of A Madman
9. Paranoid (Live with Randy Rhoads)
Written by A. Tommi, W. Ward, T. Butler, J. Osbourne
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc. (ASCAP)
Producer: Max Norman
Taken from Tribute
10. Bark At The Moon
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
11. You’re No Different
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
12 Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel
Written by O. Osbourne
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)
Producers: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Max Norman
Taken from Bark At The Moon
13. Crazy Babies
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, B. Daisley
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)/ EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd (BMI)
Producers: Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
14. Miracle Man
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, B. Daisley
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. (ASCAP) and Monowise Ltd (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (ASCAP) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. (BMI) and Monowise Ltd (BMI)
Producers: Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
15. Fire In The Sky
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, J. Sinclair, R. Castillo
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
16. Breakin’ All The Rules
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, B. Daisley, J. Sinclair, R. Castillo
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Keith Olsen
Taken from No Rest For The Wicked
Disc 2
1. Mama, I’m Coming Home
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
2. Desire
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
3. No More Tears
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, M Inez, J. Purdell
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Purdell Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
4. Time After Time
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
5. Road To Nowhere
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Duane Barron, John Purdell
Taken from No More Tears
6. I Don’t Want To Change The World (Live)
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, R. Castillo, L. Kilmister
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd
Produced by Ozzy Osbourne
Taken from Live and Loud
7. Perry Mason
Written by O. Osbourne, Z. Wylde, J. Purdell
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd./Purdell Publishing (ASCAP)
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
8. I Just Want You
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Vallance
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)/Testalynne Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
9. Thunder Underground
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Butler, Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd. and Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
10. See You On The Other Side
Written by O. Osbourne, J. Kilmister Z. Wylde
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP)/EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. (BMI) obo EMI Virgin Music Ltd./Monowise Ltd.
Produced by Michael Beinhorn
Taken from Ozzmosis
11. Gets Me Through
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Palmer
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/TP Songs (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
12. Dreamer
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Marti Frederiksen, Mick Jones
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/EMI Blackwood Music Inc. (BMI) obo Itself and Pearl White Music (BMI)/Somerset Songs Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
13. No Easy Way Out
Written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Palmer
EMI Virgin Music, Inc. (ASCAP) obo Itself and Monowise Ltd. (ASCAP)/TP Songs (ASCAP)
Produced by Tim Palmer
Taken from Down To Earth
Compilation Produced by Sharon Osbourne, Michael Guarracino and Bruce Dickinson
Additional Mastering by Vic Anesini at Sony Music Studios
Art Direction and Design: David Coleman
Photography: Cover/Nitin Vadukul
Tray Card/Gene Kirkland
Interior/Greg Maston (1), Jeff Porter (2), Gene Kirkland (3&4), Guzman (5)
_____________________________________________________________________
“If I’d done everything they’d said I’d done I’d be dead by now!” chortles Ozzy Osbourne, reflecting on three decades of mayhem, madness and near-Olympian feats of self-destruction. Ozzy is nothing if not a true original whose reputation more than precedes him. Indeed, like his wild personally, it exceeds him.
Since leading Black Sabbath out of Birmingham, England in the late ‘60s, he’s managed to become the heavy metal archetype, the Madman of Metal, and as the latest feather in his cap, the hysterically dysfunctional dad overseeing The Osbournes. To say the least, Ozzy’s influence is, in early 2003, ubiquitous. His broad swath cuts across nearly every Rock crop that’s come to fruition in his wake: speed metal, grunge, NWOBHM, “nu metal”, you name it. Everyone from Metallica to Nirvana to Marilyn Manson has cited Ozzy’s influence as part of their musical DNA. His fans call him the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” and not without good reason. Though typically modest in his appraisal of the nickname, make no mistake, sans Ozzy the decibel-driven, louder-than-thou music as we now know it would not be.
From Sabbath’s earliest days playing the Midlands circuit in 1969 till that fateful day a decade later when Ozzy was unceremoniously dumped in Los Angeles by his bandmates, Sabbath was simply a group of four talented hoodlums from the back streets of Aston, a downtrodden, bombed-out (from German blitzes during the Second World War) outskirt of Birmingham, who just wanted to make music, travel the world, live the high life, and maybe make some dough in the process. They did it all and more, and thirty years on their inimitable music remains “the blueprint of heavy metal”. It was a great run, those innocent Seventies daze, but by ’79 Ozzy Osbourne barely knew himself: he was at the end of his tether, spent – physically, mentally, and musically, and saddle with a case of the blues. He was just coming-to from a wild, ten year rock ‘n’ roll party and waking up wasn’t pretty. So, coming on 1980, a rudderless Ozzy found himself considering the next move, but he was very insecure and his nasty, acute addictions didn’t allow a clear train of thought. In fact, highest on his list of “what’s next” was, unbelievably, moving back to Birmingham to go on the “dole”, slang for England’s welfare system. But, during Ozzy’s legendary six-month, binge-crazy stay at the Le Parc Hotel in West Hollywood, a star-crossed knock on his door changed everything. It was his manager’s daughter, Sharon Arden, who had dropped in unannounced to collect an unpaid debt owed to her dad. At this point, Ozzy was a first-class mess but deep down his vulnerable, lovable, charming personality remained intact. She was smitten; he was infatuated. It was a quick courtship. That said, he needed a big, swift kick-in-the-arse to get his career back on track. So, under the condition that he would promise to get his act together Sharon agreed to take him on as manager.
In late 1979, during the first and only guitar audition for the first Ozzy band, in walked Randy Rhodes, a tiny, almost androgynous-looking phenom the likes of which only grace the Rock world once or twice a generation. Rhoad’s inimitable melding of hard rock and classical guitar styles instantly rejuventated Ozzy, who had found a kindred musical soul, and the Ozzman rose to the occasion by recording two seminal albums, Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman, in 1980 and ’81, respectively. European and American tours commenced but tragedy struck March 19, 1982: a freak plane accident took the life of the 25-year old gun-slinging guitarist, shattering Ozzy’s delicate handle on his nascent solo career. He pondered hanging it all up, but Sharon realized a complacent and despondent Ozzy would only hasten his own demise. Ozzy Osbourne was not finished.
He continued on with Jake E. Lee as axeman extraordinaire for the next couple of albums, released a live Tribute to Randy Rhodes (culled from the only professionally-recorded shows featuring Ozzy & Randy), and then decided to freshen up his act with a new partner. When Ozzy met 19 year-old Zakk Wylde during a routine guitar audition he knew he’d found his man: tall, blonde, and chock-full of spitfire chops, Zakk was the hard-driving player Ozzy was looking for. The duo teamed up to record Ozzy’s heaviest album to date, 1988’s No Rest For The Wicked, for which a most memorable video was produced – Ozzy donned a mask resembling then-scandalous Jimmy Swaggart, surrounded by a throng of 75 piglets … in a barn! Those crazy Eighties!
At the beginning of the Nineties Ozzy was at a crossroads: he was father to three small children but was still battling demons he’d first met back in the early ‘70s. And, musically he wasn’t being stimulated. Although all of Ozzy Osbourne’s records, including those recorded with Black Sabbath, were at least Platinum-certified in the States (ie, one million sold) it had been nearly a decade since Ozzy had an across-the-board smash album. The beginning of 1991 marked a new decade and it helped usher in some overdue changes to the Ozzman’s infamous lifestyle. Ozzy gave up drink and drugs for good; he undertook a vigorous exercise regimen that left him looking like rock ‘n’ roll’s Charles Atlas; and he used his newfound clarity of mind and energy to foster his creative juices. Ozzy’s earnest efforts to better himself paid off in spades: No More Tears, released in September 1991, would end up being his biggest-selling album to date, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. It remains the only Ozzy album to feature five singles, including the Top Ten hit “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, Ozzy’s road ode to Sharon and the kids. Starting with the “Theatre of Madness” tour in late ’91 and continuing non-stop for 14-months Ozzy touched down on every imaginable part of the globe during his “No More Tours Tour”. The kicker was the finale in Costa Mesa, California when the original Black Sabbath reunited for a four-song encore. The writing was on the wall: it seemed certain that Ozzy was about to take a long break, his first extended vacation from the stresses and rigors of rock ‘n’ roll. Indeed, he took almost all of 1993 and ’94 off to spend with Sharon and young Aimee, Kelly, and Jack on his English farm estate. (Ozzy did manage to win his first Grammy award, though, for Live & Loud’s “I Don’t Want To Change The World”.)
After the long-labored Ozzmosis album was released in 1995 Sharon made an attempt to get Ozzy booked on a popular Stateside festival tour. But, the booking agents literally laughed in her face. Ozzy was “washed-up”, not a part of the “new rock brigade”, they claimed. Foolhardy is the man who crosses the venerable fair maiden Osbourne! Sharon summarily organized an all-hard rock and heavy metal concert package with Ozzy as kingpin, replete with two stages – one exclusively dedicated to nurturing “baby” bands – and a metal-friendly concourse area dubbed “The Village of the Damned”. Born in October 1996, the Ozzfest was an instant success: the two initial trial shows sold-out and fans were abuzz about the newfound “heavy metal summer camp”. (That other festival, well, it piddled-out quietly, the next year.) Since that inaugural Ozzfest virtually every band who had meant something in the loud rock universe in the subsequent years has been featured on one of its bills: Toni, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, Queens of the Stone Age, Pantera, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, the list goes on. Ozzy and Sharon built an empire the fans had come to love and their subjects, the loyal Hessian masses, arrive, without fail, in droves every year. Over the last seven years over 3.5 million fans have attended; no other touring festival comes close to matching that impressive benchmark.
With that kind of legacy and financial success, who’da thunk that Ozzy’s greatest – and certainly most unexpected – success was yet to come? The answer is “no one”! Just as his first studio album in six years, 2001’s Down To Earth, was on the verge of release MTV descended on the Osbournes’ Beverly Hills manse for a two-week stint, taping everything and anything for a planned one-time special on the life inside the Osbourne fishbowl. After the success of Ozzy’s Cribs episode, which were the water-cooler talk of the MTV offices, an executive decision was made to go in a little longer this time, to see what the cameras would capture. Well, the rest is history: the highest-rated basic cable show ever elevated the Madman and his clan to “A list” Hollywood (though hob-nobbing kind) and all of its attendant perks. The zenith was spring 2002, during which a tidal wave of surreality hit the surf: on April 12, 2002 Ozzy received his beloved star on the world-famous Hollywood Walk of Fame; in May, he dined with President Bush in Washington D.C.; and most incredibly, he performed at Queen Elizabeth’s Jubliee the next month alongside his idol Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart, Brian May, and other “Sirs” of the English mantle. Come again, now?!
Ozzy Osbourne, once the bat-biting, backward-masking, brain-frying uber-rock ‘n’ roll rebel, had come full circle. He was now viewed by mainstream America as the cuddly, outrageously funny, father figure of television’s biggest since the tragedy of September 11. Not in a million years would anyone, especially Ozzy, think that a scenario such as that would come to pass. But it has, and Ozzy Osbourne, the Madman, the Prince of Darkness, the Architect of Metal, continues to see himself first as a singer and entertainer – he still rocks your socks off every summer at Ozzfest, in what is now his 33rd years as a professional musician. His music – 70 million records sold worldwide – speaks for itself. He’s earned his revered status, so indulge yourself with this set of Ozzy’s “essential” tunes.
After all, everyone’s got a little bit of Ozzy in ‘em.
Liner notes by Eddie Williamson.
