Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest For The Wicked

Listening and celebrating the heavier Ozzy solo album, originally released on September 28th of 1988. Let's remember...

by Andreas Andreou

After two great albums with Jake E. Lee on guitars, that were both of them more commercially successful (at that time, not now) than Ozzy's first two albums with Randy Rhoads, Ozzy parted ways with Lee by mid-1987. After being fired from Ozzy, Lee formed Badlands with singer Ray Gillen, but after that, he didn't do much and will mainly remembered as "one of Ozzy's great guitarists". But unquestionably, he was the perfect guitarist for Ozzy during mid-80s and a significant part of Ozzy's success.

Zakk Wylde (21 years old at that time) was Ozzy's new guitarist, and until today, his longest solo band member. According to Ozzy, Wylde is a great character, he works easily with him and he can play almost everything. After a while, Ronnie James Dio also got a young guitarist (Rowan Robertson, 17 at that time) and released the album Lock Up The Wolves (1990) but that was a much inferior album than No Rest For The Wicked and another small victory to the supposed old conflict between Ozzy and Dio, and even if Robertson wrote a big part of the album along with Dio, he was forgotten. On the other hand, and after many albums with Black Label Society and other solo works, nowadays, Zakk Wylde is considered a very successful guitarist.

With a recording line up including also Bob Daisley (bass), Randy Castillo (drums) and John Sinclair (keyboards), the band entered studio with producer Roy Thomas Baker but Ozzy was not satisfied because Baker coudn't understand his ideas and both parties continuing to disagree. After a while, Keith Olsen was brought in to continue and complete the album, but even after that, there is still something "strange" with the total result, especially the drum sound. However, this is the sound we learned and loved on this album. 

More powerful (not better) than The Ultimate Sin, No Rest For The Wicked is a goldmine of riffs and the most riff-driven solo album Ozzy ever recorded. Actually, this is the closest album to the Black Sabbath legacy and the heavy riffing has lot to do with this; just check songs like "Bloodbath In Paradise" and "Breaking All The Rules". Some different highlights include the epic "Fire In The Sky" with its great arrangment, and "Hero", a semi bonus track. Speaking of bonus tracks, there is also another song from these sessions, "The Liar"; a song that could fit in Savatage's Gutter Ballet, recorded before Gutter Ballet. All the demons of Ozzy's mind are present here and on the "Demon Alcohol" Ozzy speaks for his addiction bringing echoes of the past singing "Don't speak of suicide solutions, you took my hand, I'm here to stay".

However, these demons dominated Ozzy those years.  As usual, Daisley was gone / let gone after the recordings (just to return and leave again for one last time later) and Geezer Butler entered the band for the tour. The tour was successful and a mini live EP followed (Just Say Ozzy) along with a dark period for Ozzy. In August 1989, Ozzy returned home drunk after performing (ironically) at the peace festival in Moscow and announced to his wife and manager, Sharon, "I’ve decided you have to go" before trying to strangle her. Sharon didn't press charges and after that, Ozzy spends three months in rehab. Two years later, he returns sober with his most commercially successful album at that time, introducing him to a new generation of fans.

Tracklist: 1. Miracle Man, 2. Devil's Daughter (Holy War), 3. Crazy Babies, 4. Breaking All The Rules, 5. Bloodbath In Paradise, 6. Fire In The Sky, 7. Tattooed Dancer, 8. Demon Alcohol, 9. Hero