Purchased this year at the Toronto Musical Collectibles Record & CD Sale.
OZZY OSBOURNE – Under Cover (2005 Japanese CD/DVD set)
I want to know who thought this album was a good idea to release. Sure, we know Ozzy will do pretty much anything. He even appeared on a tribute album to Black Sabbath (Nativity In Black Vol. 2). So why not have Ozzy cover a bunch of songs that, by and large, the world didn’t need him to cover?
“SHARON!”
I’ve never thought much of this album, and I think you can gather why on the first track “Rocky Mountain Way” (Joe Walsh). Why did this song need to be redone, metalized, and howled upon by Ozzy Osbourne? It’s awful. The female backing vocals are totally out of place, the changes made to song are unnecessary, and the vocal is stale. The only positive thing I will say is that Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) plays on Under Cover, and he’s the only thing redeeming it. His slide and talk box solos on “Rocky Mountain Way” are swampy and great.
Whether Ozzy covers the Beatles (a pukey echo-drenched “In My Life) or Cream (“Sunshine of Your Love”) or the Stones (“Sympathy for the Devil”), nothing of value is added to the song. It’s assembly line rock. There are no innovations or interesting slants. “Sunshine of Your Love” is altered to resemble Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” which doesn’t help matters at all. Ozzy even does two solo John Lennon songs (“Woman” and “Working Class Hero”). I get that Ozzy has a connection to the lyrics to “Working Class Hero” and is a huge fan of Lennon. That doesn’t mean he should try doing his own version. Most songs don’t benefit from being metalized. I’ve even heard a good metalized cover of “21st Century Schizoid Man” better than Ozzy’s.
Best tune (only good tune): “Fire” originally by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Special guests: Leslie West plays some smokin’ axe on the cover of his own “Mississippi Queen”. Ian Hunter joins Ozzy on “All the Young Dudes” but doesn’t do much other than shout along. Others such as Gregg Bissonnette (David Lee Roth) and Joe Bonamassa are credited on the album, with no indication of what they did on which tracks. Maybe Bissonnette was hired solely to play cowbell. Who knows?
The final rip off to fans is that almost all of Under Cover was previously released on Ozzy’s Prince of Darkness box set earlier that year! Many Ozzy fans such as myself picked that one up for its numerous long-sought rarities. When Under Cover was released as its own album, four new recordings were added to make you buy it again: “Rocky Mountain Way”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, “Woman”, and “Go Now”. If you have Prince of Darkness, then you already own over 75% of Under Cover.
The Japanese bonus track was daughter Kelly Osbourne’s cover of Black Sabbath’s ballad “Changes”, with dear old dad singing with her, and lyrics adapted to suit. If you were one of those (I hope not) who bought Kelly’s 2002 album Shut Up, then you already have this. But like most Ozzy fans, I already have this song on the Prince of Darkness set. This version also comes with a bonus region 2 DVD: the music video for “In My Life” (whoop-de-do) and a long (about 45 minutes I think) feature called “Dinner with Ozzy and Friends”. You might recognize a couple of these friends. Road stories are shared, the funniest ones involving Ozzy being mistaken for Meat Loaf, and Lemmy for Willie Nelson. And there’s the infamous story of Zakk Wylde and a cork. Finally, the two sided DVD also has the entire album in “enhanced stereo”.
1/5 stars
This sounds like the least essential rock release, ever.
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How dare you.
;)
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I just wish he’d leave the Beatles alone and go pick on someone else instead.
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I haven’t reviewed it but Ozzy also did a one-off cover of John Lennon’s “How”, making it 3 Lennon solo covers total.
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Lennon had his faults, but he never deserved that.
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No, he didn’t. But I’m the sucker who paid $1.69 on iTunes for the damn thing.
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I lied, I did review “How”.
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I think Mr 1537 probably speaks for us all here.
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As usual!
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Wow. This actually exists … wow.
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It does and I own it. I have no excuse.
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Sounds like a pass to me……..thanks Mikey!
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It is most definitely a pass Dekester.
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I got the Prince Of Darkness box set for $15 last year, one of those Amazon timed, almost-Christmas sales. So apparently I’ve heard most of this already. But the rest of your review tells me why none of it has stayed in my head…
Since I’m never gonna watch it, what’s the story with Wylde and the cork? Or, um, do I really not want to know?
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It happened at a fancy restaurant in Japan…it involved a bottle of wine that he wanted to return and a way to make that happen.
I read this story many many years ago in an old RIP Magazine, so it was cool to hear it in more detail on the DVD.
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This album has really gotten the old chainsaw from just about everywhere. I downloaded it mostly out of curiosity, but I honestly didn’t find it as bad as everyone else did. Maybe it’s me, then. I wouldn’t call this a good album and I sure wouldn’t spend any cash on it, but I guess it’s decent at least.
On the other hand, cover albums are mostly really crappy. I can only think of two bands with good cover albums and that is Stryper and Tesla.
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Agreed on Stryper and Tesla! GREAT cover records, I have reviewed the Stryper.
One of the worst cover records I own was Yngwie’s. Just awful.
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Have you? Me too. I’m gonna look up yours now.
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