OZZY OSBOURNE — Under Cover (review)

OZZY OSBOURNE — Under Cover album cover Album · 2005 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Under Cover" is the 9th full-length studio album by UK heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne. The album was released through Epic Records in November 2005. The album is a compilation of cover tracks. Nine of the thirteen (ten if you count the bonus track) also appeared on the 4 disc "Prince of Darkness" box set released in March 2005. Session musicians for the project are guitarist Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), drummer Mike Bordin (Faith no More) and bassist Chris Wyse.

Ozzy Osbourne has chosen to cover tracks from, among others, Joe Walsh, The Beatles, King Crimson, Cream and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Some covers are better than others, but none of them really shine. It´s all a bit flat and uninspired. Things aren´t helped along by the polished sound production, which doesn´t exactly spell rock´n´roll blood, sweat and tears but rather dollars and mainstream appeal. I have absolutely no problem with the latter if the project felt honest and sounded great, but that´s not exactly the case here. If the booklet at least had told a story to each track about why Ozzy Osbourne had chosen to cover those particular tracks and what the tracks meant to him, it might have given the album another dimension, but of course it wouldn´t change the fact that "Under Cover" sounds a bit tired and dare I say soulless. Maybe best exemplified by the fact that the cover of "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson leaves out the kickass progressive middle part and turns even that badass track into an easily digestable mainstream heavy metal track. Where´s the grit and bite in that? The very soul of heavy rock/metal is simply missing here. Yes quite a few of the tracks are rock ballads and therefore shouldn´t be faulted for not being metal, but you don´t need to arrange them in the most saccarine way possible. Too many of the ballads on Ozzy´s own albums can be a bit of a trial to get through already and the ones on this album come off even worse.

While I´m tempted to give this album a really low rating, as it goes against just about everything I believe that rock/metal is and should be (call me conservative if you will), "Under Cover" does come off as a professional product, written and performed by professionals and I guess the craftmanship deserves a 2.5 star (50%) rating. I ain´t happy about it though and I certainly wouldn´t recommend "Under Cover" to anyone I know.
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dreadpirateroberts wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Agreed, these covers don't quite hit the mark. I would have loved to hear some of these attempted by Ozzy in his prime - or even in say from the Ozzmosis lineup

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