...Yes, that last one actually happened. I still don't know what's funnier about that incident, the fact that he did it at all or the fact that the only reason he was wearing Sharon Osbourne's clothes at the time was because she thought hiding his clothes would stop him from leaving the house. Honestly, I'd have thought Ozzy would have just gone out naked.
But we're not here to laugh at some of the daft things Ozzy has done over the course of his life (...well, I'm not!). We're here to talk about his fourth solo album, The Ultimate Sin, released in 1986. This album has had a rather weird history, to put it politely, coming out after Bark At The Moon (which you're bound to know for the title track at minimum) and having a rather more noticeable glam metal influence. This was the same year that Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet was released, along with Poison's Look What The Cat Dragged In and Stryper's To Hell With The Devil, so it's fair to say that glam metal was rather popular around then (heck, even Judas Priest gave it a go on Turbo, with...well, "mixed results" seems to be the polite way to put it). At the time it was released, the album was the highest charting album of Ozzy's career and was later remastered in 1995, putting the album on CD for the first time. Since then, however, the album (along with a few other albums) has been deleted from Ozzy's discography, allegedly due to a dispute between Ozzy and bassist for the album Phil Soussan over the song "Shot In The Dark", although you can now get the deleted albums on iTunes. The album, however, has not been reissued or remastered at all since then. So, if you are the kind of person who likes having physical copies of albums, you might need to shop around a bit to be sure of getting a copy for this album. I personally got rather lucky, as I found this album being sold for about £4 in a record shop. Was it worth getting for that price? Well, let's find out.
The big thing you'll notice is that this album is definitely taking more than a few cues from the glam metal scene. Now, to be fair, Ozzy had always had a bit of a lean towards being part of the mainstream metal scene (Blizzard Of Ozz isn't exactly what you'd expect Iron Maiden to produce, is what I'm saying), but this is a more noticeable lean towards mainstream metal. The big problem, as you might be able to guess from that thought alone, is that Ozzy's voice doesn't really suit the sound properly. It's not the worst example out there, but glam metal generally has a focus on being fun to listen to and Ozzy's voice doesn't have the right tone to match up with that aesthetic. This isn't album breaking by any measure, considering the music is a slightly darker take on the genre (not to the extent of W.A.S.P., but definitely darker than Poison and Bon Jovi did) and avoids the typical topics for glam, but glam fanatics will be right to say that Ozzy doesn't suit the album's sound properly.
That said, his voice is in fairly good shape on this album when you consider that he must have been 37 when the album was being recorded and then factor in everything he put his voice and body through while he was in Black Sabbath and was part of his solo band. I would say it's his best performance on an album to date, but I'm honestly not as familiar with Ozzy's solo stuff as I really should be, so I can't confirm how accurate that statement is. I do think he sings better here than he did with Black Sabbath, though! Jake E. Lee has the unfortunate reputation of being the guy who happened to be playing for Ozzy between Randy Rhodes and Zakk Wylde, but he's a good guitarist in his own right. It's really a shame that his work with Ozzy is about the only thing he's really known for, so I'm hoping that his new gig (Red Dragon Cartel) ends up working out for him, even if it isn't likely to make him a big name anymore...in fact, I'm going to be REALLY generous to the guy and do a tiny bit of promotion of the band. Here's the official videos connected to the band, go check them out! I'll still be here when you're done!
"Deceived" by Red Dragon Cartel
"Feeder" by Red Dragon Cartel
"Shout It Out" by Red Dragon Cartel
...You heard them all? Good! Anyway, moving back to the review. Phil Soussan is a solid bassist and his contribution to the album (co-writing "Shot In The Dark" with Lee) shows that the guy was a really solid songwriter. I'm sadly not really familiar with his work outside of this album, but I've taken a quick glance at his work and I'm surprised to notice that his last studio appearances appear to have been in 1997. In fact, his appearance on The Ultimate Sin was apparently his first appearance on any album at all, which is really quite surprising: the guy was replacing Bob Daisley, who'd been in Ozzy's solo band pretty much from the start (and who actually ended up replacing Soussan after the tour for this album), and actually did a pretty good job at it. Randy Castillo also makes his first appearance on an Ozzy Osbourne album here, but you'd honestly be forgiven for not noticing him, as he doesn't really shine much on this album. He's good at what he does, but he doesn't really do a lot more than that. Admittedly, this is pretty much true for most drummers in glam metal, so you could fairly blame the material on the album for making the poor guy so unnoticeable.
So, now I've talked about the musicians, how does the material stand up? Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag, with some songs being flat out unmemorable, some songs that you'll recognise when you hear them and some which will stick with you for a good while! The songs which have the strong hooks, though, are definitely worth hearing! Take "Shot In The Dark": it's probably one of the best songs on an Ozzy Osbourne album and is certainly up there with "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" as a song which every Ozzy fan should know! The title track is very solid, although I do have to point out that the verses to it appear to have had their melody line borrowed by Five Finger Death Punch to form the melody line for their song "Lift Me Up"...don't believe me? Give both songs a listen right now! Might as well, I'm near the end of my definite praise for the album anyway...
"The Ultimate Sin" by Ozzy Osbourne
"Lift Me Up" by Five Finger Death Punch
...Incidentally, I do like "Lift Me Up", before people start to draw upon their anger at Five Finger Death Punch. It's not a flawless song, but it's at least enjoyable to throw on when I'm feeling particularly pissed off and it's still pretty catchy. Anyway, moving back to the review.
"Secret Loser" is also fairly catchy, if definitely very glam influenced. After that is when things start getting unmemorable, if unoffencive. Most of the guitar work is flat out brilliant on the album, but the hooks just aren't there to transform everything into a solid song, which means that you'll usually have forgotten what you were listening to once you've put on the next track on the album. The least memorable song is "Never", which is a shame as it has a brilliant opening riff. Unfortunately, the song just doesn't stick with you and, considering you'll probably be confusing the song for "Never Know Why" whenever you try to remember it, it might have been kinder to cut this song, or at least give it a different title to help minimise confusion! The same happens with "Fool Like You", only without capable of being mistaken for "Never Know Why". I also would have to say that "Killer Of Giants" takes too long to get to the interesting part, although it's pretty good when it finally gets there. The rest of the album is a bit more memorable, but it's rare that you'll be able to remember more than the guitar riff and most of the chorus to the song in question.
So, after all of that, how does the production stand up? Well, I've got the 1995 remaster of the album, so I can't say how the album sounds compares to the original version of the album, but I think that the big issue is, surprisingly, not the bass being too quietly mixed (it's actually placed pretty nicely in the mix: not so quiet that you can't hear it, but not so loud that it becomes particularly distracting), but Ozzy's voice. It's just a bit too loud for my liking. I also think that Lee is maybe a bit on the quiet side quite a few times on the album, but that's probably a bit of a nitpick, as he commands your attention when he needs to. Other than that, I have to say that the production is perfectly fine. It could have done with a tiny bit more volume, but, since the remaster pre-dates the time when the loudness war really started to push what was acceptable, I can't complain about that on too much. Honestly, if albums sounded more like this instead of how they do today, I'd probably be a lot happier to listen to some of the albums I have, as some of them are just uncomfortable for me to listen to for too much time. Maybe I'm getting old or more elitist about album production, but I'd prefer to not feel like I need to change my ears after a few hours of listening to music...
Well, it's a solidly performed album with production values which are still pretty good (if a bit on a quiet side) compared to today's standards, but which suffers from having a lot of material that isn't as memorable as it should be. Does it deserve the hatred it gets from the Ozzy fans who insist that it's Ozzy's worst album? Hmm...if this is his worst album, then I have to ask what their definition of "bad" is, since I found this to be a fairly enjoyable listen in spite of the songs that were lacking memorable moments. Is it worth seeking out if you've never heard of Ozzy before now? No, it isn't: I'd recommend going for Blizzard Of Ozz instead (and try to make sure you get the remaster with the original bass and drum tracks!). However, if you aren't opposed to 80's mainstream metal, this is worth at least a listen. You'll probably never call this one of your favourite albums, but it's certainly not as bad as you'd expect it to be from the reputation it has among fans of Ozzy's solo work.
Final Rating: 6 Out Of 10
The album contains enough misfires to not really make it worth owning a copy of, but it's certainly an enjoyable listen. If you can find a fairly cheap copy of the album and like 80's mainstream metal, you could do far worse than picking this up.
Personal Favourite Tracks: "The Ultimate Sin", "Secret Loser", "Spark In The Dark"
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