siLLy puPPy The year 1982 was a terrible one to say the least with OZZY OSBOURNE losing one of the most gifted guitarists in the nascent years of heavy metal music in the form of Randy Rhoads who met an untimely passing in an airplane crash early in that year. After two hugely successful albums that launched OZZY’s solo career into the same league of his former band Black Sabbath, it seemed that it was all about to come crashing down. Forced to fulfill the impossible task of finding a guitarist to take the place of the unreachable heights of Randy Rhoads, OZZY finally settled on the young guitarist Jake E. Lee who had paid his dues in the bands Micky Ratt (who would later become the successful glam metal band Ratt) and Rough Cutt. After a short tour with Brad Gillis of Night Ranger as the guitarist performing Black Sabbath songs to fulfill his recording contract with Jet Records, OZZY wasted no time grieving over his huge loss and unleashed his third studio album BARK AT THE MOON as the year 1983 came to an end which found his debut on the Epic branch of the CBS label.

The death of Randy Rhoads also signaled the end of the first lineup of the OZZ’s early years. As well as Jake E. Lee jumping on board, Tommy Aldridge took over the drumming duties formerly occupied by Lee Kerslake and Don Airey (of Rainbow, Colosseum and Michael Schenker fame) joined as the first official keyboardist. The only member to cross the new frontier into the next chapter of OZZ was Bob Daisley on bass. It’s hard to fathom just how popular OZZY was during the early 80s and the fans responded with resounding enthusiasm supporting their favorite madman by adding yet another platinum album to his resume as it hit number 19 on the Billboard charts. Your experience of BARK AT THE MOON will depend on which side of the Atlantic you reside since there are two versions of the album with mostly the same tracks but different track orders. The US version contains the tracks “Slow Down” and “Centre Of Eternity” which arent’ on the UK version and likewise the “Spiders” and “Forever” tracks are only on the UK version. Remastered versions contain all the tracks but the US track order has become the standard. BTW, “Forever” and “Centre Of Eternity” are actually the same track with different titles.

Stylistically OZZY had hit upon a new sound with Rhoads joining his ranks and it sounds like all efforts were to replicate that successful formula at all costs on BARK AT THE MOON. While the neoclassical compositional constructs are apparent complete with the boogie rock flavored metal riffing as heard on the albums “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Diary Of A Madman,” it is clear that Jake E. Lee didn’t quite have the technical prowess of Rhoads, therefore his own idiosyncratic style of playing is the first thing that is noticeable on BARK AT THE MOON. Whereas Rhoads was a master of neoclassical constructs and tremolo picking, Lee on the other hand utilizes a more unique style of riff shuffling with more bluesy solos that utilize the art of guitar slides. While not as developed as Rhoads, Lee actually handles his guitar duties quite tastefully in the thankless job of filling the shoes of the one history’s greats. It was later revealed that Lee had a huge part in writing the album although he was pressured to give up such claims by Sharon Osbourne to sell out those rights so that OZZY could claim full songwriting credit. This was a major point of dissatisfaction of course which led Lee to hang around for only one more album.

Lyrically OZZY continues his shenanigans of lunatic in chief with errant juvenile rebellion in full form as heard on tracks like “Rock ’n’ Roll Rebel,” madman imagery as heard on the title track and the attempt to once again try to pull off a lame ballad in the form of “So Tired,” one that would signify a major downward trend in OZZY’s popularity as this sort of track has always been a thorn in his side. Add to the controversy was the fact that a Canadian man murdered a woman and her kids after listening to this album and claimed that the album made him do it. All of this hit at the same time that similar charges were coming to roost regarding his song “Suicide Solution.” It’s hard to understand how these things panned out in the 80s when in the 21st century it all seems so tame in comparison to modern day standards, but the religious right in the US were on a major witchhunt with artists like OZZY OSBOURNE the poster child as public enemy #1.

Despite the tragic loss of Randy Rhoads, OZZY pulled out a fairly decent album and while not up to par with the ridiculously brilliant first two albums, isn’t as bad as many make it out to be. The compositions are the same catchy melodic traditional heavy metal that was going strong in the 80s by this point and the addition of the keyboards adds another element of melodic counterpoint. Jake E. Lee, while not quite up to god status, pulled off a rather heroic duty of not only anonymously contributing to the majority of the songwriting on the album but played beautifully delivered heavy riffing with his own unique guitar soloing that had those satisfying squeals. While tracks like “Slow Down” and “Waiting For Darkness” definitely have more of a pop rock feel than metal, the title track, “Rock ’n’ Roll Rebel” and “Centre Of Eternity” aka “Forever” are all some of OZZY’s best tracks. Even the ballads aren’t as bad as many make them out to be. No, BARK AT THE MOON will never usurp the throne as the OZZ-man’s greatest moment but considering the dark chapter of his history that it emerged out of, i think it turned out fairly decent. And yeah, that “Spiders” track is just weird!

Warthur Bark At the Moon performed well enough commercially to put Ozzy's solo career back on stable ground after the death of Randy Rhoads threatened to derail it. However, whilst Jake E. Lee is a perfectly competent guitarist, he seems more prone to playing it safe than Randy was and doesn't bring any comparably exciting riffs and solos to the table - and come to think of it, the album as a whole is rather Ozzy-by-numbers.

There's the typical sappy ballad (So Tired, in this case), because for some reason Osbourne keeps thinking he can pull off that sort of material, there's at least one song with an irritatingly repetitive chorus (Now You See It Now You Don't), there's dull baiting of evangelists (You're No Different) and playing up of the Ozzy legend (Rock and Roll Rebel) because Ozzy had hit that tedious point in an artist's career in which the artist will delude themselves into thinking singing about their own image is useful and innovative, and so on.

On the whole, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about the album except for two tracks - Spiders, a synthesiser-heavy experiment which is one of the goofiest tracks Ozzy has ever sung, and the title track, which is genuinely good fun if you're into pop-metal. At this point in time, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman had set a pattern for what was expected from an Ozzy album, and Bark At the Moon doesn't deviate from that in any significant respect.

Kingcrimsonprog Ozzy Osbourne’s third studio album Bark At The Moon was released in 1983 and was the first Ozzy album to feature Jake E Lee on guitar, after the death of original guitarist Randy Rhodes.

Jake E Lee’s has a very different guitar style to either Randy or Zack, which gives his two album’s with the band a unique flavor. The album is still full of dramatic guitar solos and big riffs and should keep guitar fans very happy.

Bark At The Moon contained some hard and heavy numbers but also saw a move in a slightly more commercial direction than the first two albums and as such hasn’t dated just as well as they have. Some songs seen a tad overproduced and some feature synth sounds very much of their time.

The album has some utterly standout music however, such as ‘Bark At The Moon,’ and ‘Rock N Roll Rebel,’ both of which are two of the best songs ever released under the Ozzy Osbourne name. If the whole album was as good as those two songs it would be an unquestionable five star effort. To be absolutely fair, the good to filler ratio isn’t as high as it could be however, and some listeners may find it a little hit and miss.

Legal difficulties between Ozzy and ex-members have spoiled the band’s legacy for a whole generation, making some albums hard to get a hold of, impossible to hear live or reissued with heavy edits and overdubs.

If you plan on buying Bark At The Moon you’ll have a choice between the original, the 1995 cd version with the tiny cover art in a dark purple frame or the 2002 version where the music has been altered and guitar parts are missing but containing the excellent bonus track ‘One Up The B Side.’

Overall, Bark At The Moon isn’t the hands down greatest Ozzy album, but it is still fairly essential for fans, and definitely worth checking out for the two aforementioned tracks.

UMUR "Bark at the Moon" is the 3rd full-length studio album by UK heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne. The album was released in May 1983 by Epic/ CBS. The album exists in several versions with different tracklists. My version is the UK version with the Ozzy Osbourne logo on the front cover in blue & yellow. This version includes the track "Spiders" but excludes the track "Slow Down", which is a track that is included on the US and the Japanese version of the original album.

Since the release of "Diary of a Madman (1981)" there have been a couple of significant lineup changes. Drummer Lee Kerslake has been replaced by Tommy Aldridge and the tragic death of guitarist Randy Rhoads in March 1982 meant that Ozzy had to bring in a new guitarist to fill out his shoes. Ozzy brought in Jake "E" Lee as the replacement for Randy Rhoads. Allthough all songwriting on the album is credited to Ozzy, it´s believed that both bassist Bob Daisley and Jake "E" Lee contributed to the songwriting.

The music on the album continues the heavy metal style of the two previous albums. The songs are pretty much vers/ chorus based and a bit more formulaic than the slightly more adventurous "Diary of a Madman". As on the preceeding albums there are both hard rocking heavy metal tracks and power ballads on the album. The latter style is represented by the tracks "You're No Different" and "So Tired". The former is allright but the latter is rather bland. I really don´t like that song. The use of strings is not very tasteful and doesn´t exactly make things better. Thankfully some of the harder rocking tracks like "Bark at the Moon", "Now You See It, Now You Don't" and especially the heavy metal anthem "Rock & Roll Rebel" really work well. I also quite the enjoy "Waiting For Darkness".

While the synths aren´t dominant all the time "Bark at the Moon" has a distinctly more synth laden sound than the two predecessors and the use of the synth is generally not as tasteful as it was on the predecessors either. it´s of course an aquired taste, but personally I´m not too fond of the AOR elements that have begun to sneak into Ozzy´s sound on this album.

The production is also weaker than the production on especially "Diary of a Madman" and that´s a bit of a disappointment too, as I´m sure Ozzy had both more time and more money behind him when he recorded "Bark at the Moon".

So at the end of the day I´m a bit biased about "Bark at the Moon". There are some really great material here but there are also some tracks that I don´t appreciate much. But hell! It´s hard to argue with 3 million copies sold in the US alone now isn´t it? There are obviously a lot of people who enjoy this album more than I do. A 3.5 star rating is deserved despite some of the flaws mentioned above.

Stephen The death of Ozzy's goldenboy, Randy Rhoads, forced him to held another audition and this time, Ozzy found another skillful axeman, Jake E. Lee, under the recommendation of the future bassist of Slaughter, Dana Strum, whom had recommended Rhoads earlier. "Bark At The Moon" also marked his third solo album with the prominent session drummer, Tommy Aldridge, whom later famous with his works at Whitesnake. The album sold well in the States and to date, "Bark At The Moon" had nailed triple platinum, trailing behind his sensational debut, "Blizzard of Ozz".

Let's start with some of big numbers of the album, check out how Lee unleashed a rapid riffings to the uptempo opener, "Bark At The Moon" or the loud-and-furious, "Centre of Eternity", or "Slow Down", which has a trace of commercial drip that's sweetened by the sound of keyboard but still compounded with raging riffs. "Rock N' Roll Rebel" is a good midtempo song and "So Tired" harvested a lot of controversies for being such a sappy poppish ballad, but I kinda like it though. Some low points here are "Now You See It" and "Waiting For Darkness" which I found a bit flat and boring.

I've never been a big fan of Ozzy's vocal, but I can't deny the fact that this album belongs to the list of influential heavy metal albums of all time. Jake E. Lee's provided a superb guitarworks but I think he evolved greatly in Badlands later on. With a numerous strong tracks and couple of decent tracks and fillers, "Bark At The Moon" stands out as one of Ozzy's great records and worth to buy since you can easily find it relatively cheap.

Negoba Vintage Ozzy

After the death of Randy Rhoads, Ozzy had some tough shoes to fill. Luckily, he went back to Dana Strum who again brought in L.A.'s hottest gunslingers. First George Lynch was offered but after that fell through, Jake E. Lee was given the role. While no one could ever replace Randy, Jake came in and was able to put his own mark on Ozzy's music with a new guitar sound and a great set of chops.

Jake's trademark song is "Bark the Moon," one of Ozzy's all time best rockers. A great riff, Jake's double picking, two great solos, it's simply a classic. The disc also contains "Rock n' Roll Rebel" and "Journey to the Center of Eternity," two good rockers though not quite as strong as "Bark." There are also some fair ballads and a bit of filler.

While Jake's skills held up, though didn't quite match, Randy's, his flamboyant stage presence was a bit of a change from Randy's relatively unassuming personality. This shows through on the recordings, and gives the Jake albums their own sound. I happen to dislike his tone in general, though it's very effected on this album and less of an annoyance. His playing is pure metal pleasure, though, and this album is classic just because of the title song.

Windhawk Ozzy Osbourne is a household name for everyone interested in music, and for everyone that has had a slight interest in entertainment news in the last decade. "Bark at the Moon" was his third solo album after being fired from "Black Sabbath", and his first studio release after the death of friend and band member Randy Rhoads, a young talented guitar player that died in a bizarre accident in the early 80's.

Musically Osbourne takes the first steps towards commercial success with this album. Although the music is still heavy metal; with a mix of fast riffing and drawn out chords creating the central soundscapes; subtle effects were used to make this record accessible to people outside the relatively small heavy metal fan base. The guitars are put back a bit in the mix, making them less dominant in the soundscapes. The guitar sound comes across as rather slick, without many raw edges. In addition, the synth is used to some extent in most tracks, creating a slightly softer overall sound. But the main reason for the slight commercial success of "Bark at the Moon" were the inclusion of two ballads; where one of them (So Tired) started climbing the charts in Europe. A very melodic piece with extensive use of synths and what sounds like orchestra instruments gave the song an originality that was noticeable at the time it was released.

Special mention has to be given to the slight confusion as to just what songs that makes up this album. The album was originally released with 8 songs; but with a slight difference in what songs that were on the release depending on continent and country. And the track listing was different from edition to edition; and added to that some of the songs had different names on different releases as well. On the various releases of this album 10 different songs are used, and 12 different song titles.

The version that forms the basis for this release is the 8 song release with "Rock and Roll Rebel" as the starting track, "Forever" as track 5 (named "Centre of Eternity" on some versions), and "Spiders" as the last track (known as "Spiders in the Night" on some releases, and in other releases replaced with the track "Slow Down").

The only slightly weak track on this release is opening track "Rock and Roll Rebel"; a nice rocker but somewhat anonymous and bland. The rest of the tracks here are all good, with the highlight for me being "Now You See It (Now You Don't)", a good metal tune where the synths are used effectively to create and enhance the mood and atmosphere of the song.

SouthSideoftheSky “There’s no present, there’s no future, I don’t even know about the past. It’s all timeless and never ending, to take it in it’s all too vast”

After the tragic death of guitarist extraordinaire Randy Rhoads, Ozzy brought in Jake E. Lee as his replacement and produced his best and most consistent album. The rest of the band consists again of Bob Daisley on bass, Don Airey on keyboards and Tommy Aldridge on drums. This line-up of the band proves once again that Ozzy was either extremely lucky or had a very good judgement or both. While the first two albums were both great, they were also slightly uneven. Bark At The Moon, on the other hand, is consistently great and it flows very well from beginning till end. This album feels like a unified whole where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The title track is an instant classic and one of Ozzy’s most famous songs. This song even became a hit single in the UK. The guitar solos on this song (as on the whole album) are amazing! Several tracks takes on a slight progressive edge and keyboards are omnipresent. The album alternates between slower and faster tempos and between different moods, but mostly a rather dark mood like of the Diary Of A Madman album. So Tired is a symphonic ballad with strings and piano in the style of Goodbye To Romance from the debut, only better. This too became a successful single and music videos were made for both this song and the title track.

There are several different versions of this album but make sure you get the 1995 CD re-master. Avoid the 2002 re-mixed versions! You really don’t need the bonus track One Up The B-Side that is only featured on the latter CD version. On the original UK vinyl the track Slow Down was replaced with Spiders In The Night which is featured as a bonus track on both CD versions. On some versions the track Centre Of Eternity is called Forever. Confusing, isn’t it? It is hard to pick out favourites from such a strong album, but my favourite track is probably the dark closer Waiting For Darkness.

Also, while the production on particularly Diary Of A Madman was not perfect, Bark At The Moon is excellently produced. The cover art is great too with Ozzy dressed as a werewolf.

As you may have noticed, I have a very soft spot for this album; my favourite Ozzy Osbourne solo album!