Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne
Bark at the Moon is the third studio album by British vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, originally released on December 10, 1983. It is the first of Osbourne's solo studio albums to not feature guitarist Randy Rhoads who was killed a year earlier in a plane crash. This album features former Mickey Ratt, Rough Cutt, and Dio guitarist Jake E. Lee. This is the only Ozzy Osbourne album on which the songwriting credits are given solely to Osbourne. However, he stated several years later in the liner notes to The Ozzman Cometh that the title track was in fact co-written by Jake E. Lee. Osbourne's bassist at the time, Bob Daisley, has stated that he co-wrote most of the music with Lee and wrote the vast majority of the lyrics. Due to legal issues, neither Lee nor Daisley's names were listed in the songwriting credits. Daisley has stated, however, that he accepted a buyout from Osbourne in exchange for writing credit. Bark at the Moon was remastered and released on CD in 1995. It was reissued again in 2002, although this version was actually a remix of the album. Many fans were displeased with the remix, noting that some elements found in the original mix are not present in the remix, namely several lead guitar parts. Some European pressings identified the track "Centre of Eternity" as "Forever". On tours for the album, Osbourne referred to it as "Forever". This can be heard on bootleg recordings of tours promoting the album. The release of "So Tired", a ballad, as the album's second single, was unpopular with many longtime fans. The album peaked at number 19 on the Billboard album chart and within several weeks of release was certified Gold for over 500,000 sales in the United States alone. To date, it has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the U.S. In the U.K., it was the third of four Osbourne albums to attain Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in January 1984.
When virtuoso guitarist Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982, not long after collaborations with Ozzy Osbourne turned him into a hard-rock hero, the metal world held its collective breath. They knew Ozzy would continue: He’d already brought in temporary replacements with Irish wunderkind Bernie Tormé and Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis. But who could fill Rhoads’ shoes on a more permanent basis? The answer was Jake E. Lee, the San Diego shredder who helped make 1983’s <i>Bark at the Moon</i> one of the most exciting records of Ozzy’s career. Though the album’s poppier, synth-enhanced sound has its detractors, <i>Bark at the Moon</i> is nothing short of a revelation. The title track and lead single, which also became the basis for Ozzy’s first music video, kicks off with a machine-gun riff and Ozzy’s diabolical laugh. Replete with 1980s horror synths, werewolf lyrics and Lee’s mind-bending guitar work, it became an instant Ozzy classic. But Lee wasn’t the only new member of Ozzy’s band. Former Black Oak Arkansas and future Whitesnake drummer Tommy Aldridge had taken over for Lee Kerslake after the recording of 1981’s <i>Diary of a Madman</i>, and retained the position for <i>Bark at the Moon</i>. Bassist Bob Daisley also returned to the fold. Though he’d played on and written lyrics for Ozzy’s first two albums, Sharon Osbourne ousted him from the subsequent live band—twice. This led to another issue: Though all of the songs on <i>Bark at the Moon</i> were credited to Ozzy at the time of its release, it eventually came out that Lee and Daisley had written the vast majority of the album. Former Rainbow keyboardist Don Airey reprised his role from Ozzy’s first two albums, bringing swelling synths to the moody “You’re No Different” and the incredibly ELO-esque “So Tired”. Daisley wrote stomp-rocker “Now You See It (Now You Don’t)” as a fuck-you to Sharon for all the firing and re-hiring he had endured. (Opening lines: “Overbearing woman, making it so hard for me/Can I ask a question? Do you think that you can take a blow?/This is why I always come and go.”) Ozzy and Sharon either didn’t realise, or didn’t care. Thematically speaking, “Rock ’n’ Roll Rebel” is a slight variation on <i>Diary</i>’s “You Can’t Kill Rock ’n’ Roll”, though musically heavier and lyrically more autobiographical. “Centre of Eternity”, listed as “Forever” on European pressings and introduced as such by Ozzy onstage, opens with tolling bells, monastic chants and church organ before Lee punches a hole through the wall with a vicious riff. The album’s closing tracks, “Slow Down” and “Waiting for Darkness”, are its most underrated. The galloping bass and guitars of the former are pure Iron Maiden, but Ozzy and Airey add gravitas and melodrama in equal measure. The dark-alley atmosphere and slow-burn histrionics of the latter are unlike anything Ozzy did prior, and hint at some of the new territory he and Lee would explore on their next collaboration, <i>The Ultimate Sin</i>.
