Hard 20 |
Ozzy Osbourne"Prince Of Darkness" I heard a lot about this box set before it was released and, to be honest with you, I expected a lot better from Ozzy Osbourne. When it comes to a box set, you usually end up paying a high price for a lot of previously released material and, in this case, it's really no different. Disc one is pretty standard stuff and I'm not too fond of the way it flows. The order goes live track, two studio, two live, one studio, live, two studio, live, three studio. We all know that Ozzy's got a wealth of live material floating around out there, "Speak Of The Devil," "Tribute," "Just Say Ozzy" and "Live & Loud" to name a few. So, if you were gonna include live material, it would've been better to include all that on a single disc in my opinion. Plus, the bulk of the live stuff here comes from the "Tribute" album and, if you're a real Ozzy fan, you should already have that release in your collection. "Bark At The Moon," which is live, comes from the B side of the "So Tired" single. I think it's a crime that the live version of "Shot In The Dark" from the "Just Say Ozzy" album isn't included here. Actually, "Shot In The Dark" isn't featured here in any form. That's a shame as it's one of Ozzy's best tunes. About the only special moment here is "Spiders," which isn't all that special when you consider the fact that it was included on the "Bark At The Moon" re-release, where it's listed as "Spiders In The Night." At least Ozzy's signature song is featured and that is, of course, "Crazy Train." Bottom line, disc one wasn't all that exciting and it's kind of a shabby way to present Ozzy's career from "Blizzard Of Ozz" to "Bark At The Moon." Disc two is a little better. The first three tracks, "Ultimate Sin," "Never Know Why" and "Thank God For The Bomb" are from "The Ultimate Ozzy" video and, of course, they're live. They're pretty cool. But, if you have the video, you've heard 'em before. "No Rest For The Wicked" is represented by way of "Crazy Babies" and "Breakin' All The Rules." There's six demos here, "I Don't Want To Change The World," "Mama, I'm Coming Home," "Desire," "Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N.)," "See You On The Other Side" and "Walk On Water." Not a bad selection, could've been better. The live version of "Perry Mason" from the first Ozzfest disc is here, which is cool. I had that album when it came out, didn't keep it because this was the only song I really liked on there. So, it's nice to have it again. "Gets Me Through" is from "Live At Budokan." I have the video, not the album. I assume they're the same. A nice suprise here is "Bang Bang (You're Dead)," which is an early version of "Facing Hell." Disc three is where you start to get your money's worth. This one features a lot of "one off" tunes that Ozzy has done in the past. Soundtracks, stuff like that. Ozzy & Therapy doing "Iron Man," Ozzy & Primus doing "N.I.B." "Purple Haze," from the "Stairway To Heaven/Highway To Hell" release. Ozzy's "duet" with Miss Piggy, "Born To Be Wild." How can you not love that song? Same can be said about Ozzy's version of "Stayin' Alive" with Dweezil Zappa. One of the best tracks on here in my opinion. My personal favorite is Ozzy Osbourne with Was Not Was, "Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed)," which I remember having recorded many, many years ago. Before the box set came out, I was using a file sharing program to track this song down and a lot of people have it mistakenly listed as Ozzy Osbourne with Madonna. For the record, the female voice on there is actually Kim Basinger. I'm sure many people will consider disc four the main reason to pick up this box set. It's a ten song collection of tunes that Ozzy has always loved and these are his versions of those songs. Best of the bunch, in my opinion, are Arthur Brown's "Fire," "All The Young Dudes," "In My Life" and The Rolling Stones classic, "Sympathy For The Devil." Although, to be honest, I thought Ozzy would make that song sound a lot more evil so to speak. It's probably not what people would expect, still a good song though. The final track is "Changes," Ozzy's duet with his daughter, Kelly. You know, I've seen a lot of negative things written about Kelly Osbourne and I don't care what anyone says, Kelly's da' bomb and she rocks. She's got my respect. One song that I feel should have been included here is the tune Ozzy did with Bill Ward called "Bombers Can Open Bombays." It's a great song and, if you haven't heard it, I suggest you seek it out because it's a classic as far as I'm concerned. The package. I thought it could've been a little better. I would have liked to see each CD have it's own booklet with more extensive liner notes. But, the booklet that comes with it is nice, it does have Ozzy's thoughts on each song and a quick forward from the Prince Of Darkness himself. My opinion? Well, like I said, I think this could've been a much better release. But, it's interesting enough to add to the collection, especially for disc 3 and 4. My only hope is that, somewhere down the line, another box set is put together, one that offers a more detailed and complete look at the career of Ozzy Osbourne. Word of advice to those who have the power to make this happen...include a DVD or two in the next one. You take away the visual aspect of Ozzy Osbourne and you take away a large part of what he's all about. You need that element to really honor the man who has given us so much over the years. Ozzy is God. Enough fuckin' said! http://www.ozzy.net |