A long, long time ago, when I wrote my review for Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s 1986 effort The Ultimate Sin<\/i>, I told the story about how that was the first compact disc I ever bought with my own money. But, somewhere along the path after that purchase, something happened: I found myself no longer interested in new releases from the Prince of Darkness himself.<\/p>\n
Oh, it\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t eventually pick up later albums (albeit on cassette mostly \u2013 again, showing my age) or that I stopped listening to Osbourne\u2019s solo material. It was just that, for some reason, I could not bring myself to really get interested in anything else after that disc.<\/p>\n
Which leads me to today\u2019s review \u2013 Osbourne\u2019s 1988 studio follow-up No Rest For The Wicked<\/i>. If The Ultimate Sin<\/i> had its weak moments, this disc is chock full of them\u2026 though there are some outstanding moments on it as well.<\/p>\n
Osbourne\u2019s backing band had undergone changes over the two-year period. Out were guitarist Jake E. Lee and bassist Phil Soussan; in were guitarist Zakk Wylde and \u2013 returning to the fold, albeit briefly \u2013 bassist Bob Daisley. Randy Castillo remained behind the drum kit\u2026 but sometimes, because of his rather basic backbeats, that proves to be a mistake.<\/p>\n
The \u201cSpace Invaders\u201d-like rhythm that Osbourne supposedly disliked about British drummers continues here, especially noted on songs such as \u201cCrazy Babies\u201d. Honestly, I wanted to hear some punch and groove on the skins this time around; instead, we got more of the same \u201cplot-plot-plot\u201d that made up much of The Ultimate Sin<\/i>.<\/p>\n
For his part, Wylde doesn\u2019t really feel like he\u2019s come into his own on this disc. His chops are good, but they don\u2019t necessarily feel like they\u2019re the perfect fit with the kind of music that Osbourne was churning out. Something had to be right in Osbourne\u2019s mind, as Wylde has been with Osbourne the longest of any of his guitarists.<\/p>\n
And then, there\u2019s the music. Osbourne has always seemed to be the kind of person to wear his heart on his sleeve in his lyrics, and No Rest For The Wicked<\/i> is no exception. Quite possibly one of the best songs Osbourne ever recorded, \u201cFire In The Sky\u201d sometimes feels like it is a third-person autobiographical tale of how he ended up the way he was\/is. Admittedly, at six minutes, it wasn\u2019t a radio-friendly track, but imagine what this could have done both for the album and Osbourne\u2019s career had it been released as a single, even if it had been edited for time! Similarly, \u201cBreaking All The Rules\u201d has a bit of a \u201cthis is me\u201d feel to it.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s \u201cDemon Alcohol\u201d\u2026 which, admittedly, Osbourne was still having a major problem with at the time of this album\u2019s recording. It does somewhat capture the trials and tribulations of someone who is addicted to the sauce might face, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily treat the subject with the seriousness that it perhaps needed.<\/p>\n
The problem with No Rest For The Wicked<\/i> overall is a lack of cohesion, both in songwriting and sound. The first half of the album is incredibly weak, especially in the overall mixing; a song like \u201cMiracle Man\u201d might have had a little more effect had it been mixed crisper. Other tracks, such as \u201cDevil\u2019s Daughter\u201d and \u201cCrazy Babies,\u201d are just plain weak efforts overall, most notably in the songwriting.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it\u2019s a hidden track on the initial release of the disc which is the standout track \u2013 namely, \u201cHero\u201d. It easily could have been something that someone said to Osbourne in one of his substance-abusing lows, or it could have been Osbourne talking from the heart about the rigors of life in the music business, but the song is incredibly powerful; substituting one of the weaker tracks with this song would have made the original release so much better. (Most reissues include this now, along with another potentially autobiographical track, \u201cThe Liar\u201d, and a live version of \u201cMiracle Man\u201d which could have easily been left in the vaults.)<\/i><\/p>\n
No Rest For The Wicked<\/i> is an album which potentially was suggesting that even Lucifer\u2019s earthen minstrel was due for a nice vacation, and is a step down from Osbourne\u2019s previous effort. After re-listening to this whole disc, now I know why I kinda fell away from all things Ozzy in the late \u201880s and beyond. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5775],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-45671","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ozzy-osbourne","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}