OZZY OSBOURNE — Bark At The Moon (review)

OZZY OSBOURNE — Bark At The Moon album cover Album · 1983 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
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.
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