Second of an Ozzy double shot! For the other review, Randy Rhoads Tribute, click here.
OZZY OSBOURNE – Best of Ozz (1989 CBS Japan exclusive)
Japanese releases are such interesting things. Sometimes they are chock full of bonus tracks and additional goodies, and sometimes they are not. This CD is one that is not.
Even though this album came out after No Rest for the Wicked (1988), this Best Of Ozz includes no songs from that album or with guitarist Zakk Wylde. The songs are drawn from the first four Ozzy studio albums only, and the CD contains only 10 tracks. You have to shrug your shoulders at some of the song selections. “Secret Loser” and “Centre of Eternity” are on this, but not “Suicide Solution” or “I Don’t Know”.
Those two aside, however, this ain’t a bad but brief run through the land of Ozz. “Crazy Train”: check. “Bark at the Moon”: check. “Mr. Crowley”: check. “Shot in the Dark”: check. They get some bonus points for deeper cuts such as “Diary of a Madman”, “Over the Mountain” and “Goodbye to Romance”. I’m also glad “The Ulimate Sin” was included, as that song has sort of been erased from Ozzy’s canon since then, in a manner of speaking. He doesn’t like reissuing any songs from that album.
Interestingly, each track alternates guitar players: Randy, Jake, Randy, Jake, through the whole 
album. The result is an uneven listen. I don’t know why they did that.
The tracks are most likely the original CD masters. There are no liner notes indicating they had been remastered and I think it would be highly unlikely. Since there is nothing exclusive to be had on Best of Ozz, and since it is limited to just 10 tracks and lacks Zakk Wylde, this CD is nothing more than a collectible to me. I don’t remember what I paid for it, but I bought it from T-Rev’s store. I probably paid about $16.99 or so. The CD itself is scratched a little bit, but not bad enough to skip or play defectively. Most appealing to me, the original obi strip was intact, and there’s a lyric sheet with Japanese writing and amusing sketches. Bizarrely, some of these sketches are of Zakk Wylde, even though he’s not on the album.
I’ve listened to Best of Ozz exactly twice: when I purchased it, and when I reviewed it.
2/5 stars
The writing and sketches are from Japanese fan letters.
LikeLike
Really? Well that’s interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linguistically useful too, should you ever find yourself in Japan you’d be able to communicate through the medium of Ozzy song titles.
LikeLike
Yeah, why learn Japanese when you can learn Ozzyese.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Bar Exam: Let’s snort the whole bar!
LikeLike
By the way, I hate how WP changed the way I access my comments now. Stupid notifications changed.
LikeLike
SHARONRBGFULSVGHLWQAGFH!
LikeLike
I communicate that way normally anyway.
Jen – “How did your day go, sweetie?”
Potential answers – Crazy Train, Over the Mountain, So Tired, Paranoid, Flying High Again, One up the B-side…etc. etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is it too obvious to say ‘Mama I’m Comin’ Home?’
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently not because I didn’t think of it! LOL
LikeLike
This is a cool curio. Nice one!
LikeLike
Cool Curio — sounds like a potential series…
LikeLike
I keep this up I’ll be naming all the stuff on your site! Hahahaaaaa
LikeLike
Never heard or seen this! Totally interesting the track listing looks like the songs I would have put on a Maxwell 60 minuter circa 1987….cool review though……
LikeLike
Perfect fit for a 60 minute car tape plus a bonus track or two on either side. This was just one of those must-haves because it crossed my path in the store. I had a general policy which was to buy virtually anything Japanese that came in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The only thing I can think of when I see the tracklist is how much Ron “Tone deaf” Nevison fucked up The Ultimate Sin. The album has so many awesome songs but the sound is flat and thin – because that’s the way Nevison’s production sound. He should have kept Max Norman, that guy really gave Ozzy’s albums prior to that a timeless sound.
I can also think about that the woman in the Shot In The Dark video had a nice butt… :-D
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jon, tell us how you REALLY feel about Ron Nevison! LOL
Yeah I really liked the girls in the Shot in the Dark video. I was always wondering why they were hanging out with a short haired douchebag who looked like he should be at a Smiths concert.
LikeLike
I’d say the best Japan only release was a VHS (entitled Speak of the Devil) of Ozzys 1982 performance at Irving Meadows.
LikeLiked by 1 person