Customer Reviews

Prince of Darkness

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I am a longtime Ozzy and Black Sabbath fan, and I think we'll all agree that Ozzy is one of only a handful of musicians who brought heavy metal to us. I had been looking forward to the prospect of a box set from either of them, loaded with rarities and other gems that had been concealed. So when this came about I was excited about discovering its contents. But the Oz (and SHaron) left me quite disappointed with these 4 discs.

Firstly, the Blizzard of Ozz & Diary of a Madman tracks are those hideous butchered ones with the Bob Daisley bass and Lee Kerslake drumming re-recorded. Anyone who has closely followed Ozzy's career knows he had just been ousted from Black Sabbath, and was in career purgatory and fading fast before teaming up with the original BLIZZARD OF OZZ musicians. That band is very largely responsible for helping Ozzy get back into the game, and for Ozzy and Sharon to deny Daisley and Kerslake their well earned and deserved royalties by removing their work from those albums is TOTALLY reprehensible.

(Incidentally, the new recordings on those CD's sound like $h!+ and are disgraceful to both Ozzy's and Randy Rhoades legacies. Just read the majority of the reviews about them on the amazon.com website.)

As for the covers - well, Zakk Wylde is an incredible guitarist and his work is good to his credit. But the covers mostly sound like "fillers" for just that purpose. I also found the majority of the live recordings to be inferior to the studio versions (not to mention that most of that stuff is previously released material that is readily available. Why not release live stuff previously unreleased - especially the Rhoades and Lee years?).

And the rarities - I guess if you're a hardcore Ozzy fanatic, this might serve Ozzy completists who really want that stuff for their collection. I could not get into them much. If Ozzy and Sharon had really wanted to serve their fans well, give us all of the original B-sides of Ozzy's single releases in one collection - INCLUDING the Randy Rhoades years with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake on them.

It was good to see Ozzy with the original Black Sabbath on tour last summer. But releases of this hodgepodge collection of butchered songs and substandard covers is not a good sign of things to come with Ozzy's solo career. I generously gave this 2 stars in the event that the rarities and covers will generate some interest to longtime Ozzy completist fans, although I myself could not get into them. Check this out this boxset online first if possible and spend you money wisely.

For starters, I really had to think long and hard about how many stars I was going to give this thing. "Prince of Darkness" is a four-CD box set, so I decided to look at it disc by disc. That being said, I agree to an extent with some of the critics that said this thing was just another rehash of the same old Ozzy greatest hits things that we've seen at least 3 other times over the last few years. On the other hand, some of the demo tracks of classic tunes included on this thing actually outshine the originals in my estimation, and the cover tune CD is worth the price of purchase alone.

For starters, Disc One has the same old stuff that you could find on any of Ozzy's live compilations, or on the "Ozzman Cometh" greatest hits CD..with one atrocious exception. The classics are there, like "Mr. Crowley" and "Crazy Train", but the bass and drum tracks have been re-recorded by Robert Trujillo and Mike Borodin, as part of Sharon's retribution against original musicians Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley. I'm sorry; I love Sharon and respect a lot of her other decisions, but this is just plain childish. Not to mention, it sounds like crap! Paul McCartney and John Lennon hated each other in the end, but you never heard them re-recording each others parts on the classic Beatles records! Stupid. One redeeming feature of Disc One is the inclusion of "You're No Different", an oft-overlooked ballad from "Bark at the Moon". But then again, why only go "part way" and include only one rare track? I dunno... this CD by itself would get 2 stars; the only redeeming feature being the live versions of "Goodbye to Romance" and "Bark at the Moon".

Now, Disc 2 on the other hand is something else. On top of live versions of several tracks from the "Ultimate Sin" album(some people may have forgotten that Jake E. Lee was a halfway decent guitarist -- and I wish Ozzy would play "Secret Loser" again live!), there are several demo versions of Ozzy's well-known songs, like "I Don't Want to Change the World", "Desire", "S.I.N.", "Mama I'm Coming Home", and "See You on the Other Side". Believe it or not, these versions are actually BETTER than the originals. Without the slick production that occasionally hindered the raw emotional power of "No More Tears" and "Ozzmosis", these songs flat out kick, especially the last three I mentioned. Interestingly enough, this version of "See You on the Other Side" contains a saxophone...and this brings up an interesting point. If you've heard some of Ozzy's album outtakes and B-sides; songs like "The Liar" and "Aimee", you'd realize that he's a much more diverse musician and performer than many people give him credit for. It's just a shame more stuff like this hasn't made it on his albums. Also, the alternate version of "Facing Hell" from "Down to Earth", here entitled "Bang, Bang You're Dead!" steals the show. Lyrically, it's perhaps one of Ozzy's most provocative songs ever, and it even features a sample of the Riverside County District Attorney who prosecuted Ozzy in the "Suicide Solution" case...wow, Ozzy still has some major juice, as this track shows!

Disc 3 features some of the collaborations Ozzy has done over the years, which are interesting if not too compelling. It's Disc 4 that is worth the price of purchase alone. Here, Ozzy covers some of his favorite songs. "In my Life" absolutely gave me goose bumps. His version of the Beatles tune is absolutely haunting. His version of "All the Young Dudes" is good(although I think Bruce Dickinson did it better), but "Sympathy for the Devil" totally rocks. Think about it; this is a song tailor-made for Ozzy. Arthur Brown's "Fire" also provides a perfect match for Ozzy's sinister, theatrical presence, and "For What It's Worth" and "Good Times" are also quite good. The only thing that ruins this CD is it includes Kelly Osbourne's version of "Changes"...God, why ruin it? Ah, well...I just skip over it.

So that being said, the cover album and the demo CD are what redeem this otherwise average "Best Of" compilation. And they're really that good...that's why I gave this thing 4 stars instead of the lower rating I was tempted to. In closing, it's just a shame that Ozzy hasn't released a "real" B-sides or bootlegs compilation yet; you know, with rare stuff like "The Liar" or "Living with the Enemy". Ah, well...maybe if we wish hard enough, someday it will happen...

Oh look, another compilation from Ozzy. This one according to the liner notes was an idea from the record company; it wasn't Ozzy's original idea. His liner notes on the matter are somewhat interesting, as he talks about having too many compilations as it is. And he's right. Of the 16 unique releases Ozzy's had over his solo career (not counting remasters and reissues), he's had 8 studio albums, 5 live albums, and 3 greatest hits albums (of which this release is one). If you count live albums as compilations as well, that's half of his releases being stuff that has already appeared elsewhere. What's my point in bringing this up? Some folks keep hoping, keep wishing that we'll get the "Real Ozzy" back. The one that was around in the early 80's. I don't think that's ever coming back. That train sailed when he replaced Bob Daisley & Lee Kerslake on the reissues of his first two albums. That's the kind of thing a media star does. Make Money. That's what this set really seems to reek of to me. A cash grab. But let's talk about the actual content here..

Disc 1 has various studio tracks and live tracks (no studio with Daisley/Kerslake, though) on it. There's nothing new here, this is all reissued material that's been released somewhere before. Spiders is somewhat a rarity to the US audience, as it appeared on the European version of Bark at the Moon, and the 2002 reissue of said album in the US. I suspect most casual Ozzy fans don't know that one. The songs covered here run his first three studio releases (Blizzard, Diary, & Bark).

Disc 2 has more of the same, but has some songs in demo form on here. A couple of them are quite interesting, actually. Of particular note is the Bang Bang song, which is a demo of Facing Hell from the Down to Earth album. The demos make this disc worthwhile to me, unlike Disc 1 which is mostly useless if you've been buying all of Oz's output since 1981 like I've been doing.

Disc 3 is fairly odd. This is a collection of some (but not all) of the duets Ozzy has done. Some are more serious attempts at songs (Purple Haze, I Ain't No Nice Guy). Some are goofy (Born to be Wild with Miss Piggy & the Bee Gee's Stavin Alive with Dweezil Zappa), and some are really odd (Wu Tang Clan). The studio song Psycho Man by Black Sabbath is on here (from the 98 Reunion album by Sabbath). This disc is an attempt to cull together these oddball appearances by Ozzy. But they're not all here. His most successful such song was "Close My Eyes Forever" with Lita Ford. That was technically a Lita Ford song with Oz on it, so there might be a rights issue, or they might be saving it for Prince of Darkness II. Anyway, I have a hard time saying this disc is bad, because it's not, but it definitely has a weird feeling I can't quite describe. And for the record, I've always loved the Miss Piggy duet. I saw it for what it was, a goof.

Disc 4 is the "new" disc. It's a collection of newly recorded covers by Ozzy. I think your enjoyment of this disc will be dependant on whether or not you like the original songs here. Some of them I do. Most I never much cared for even in their original form. Some of the stuff that works for me is 21st Century Schizoid Man, Mississippi Queen, Fire, & my favorite of the disc, "All the Young Dudes". Sympathy for the Devil doesn't really work here, and the absolutely nauseating cover of the old Sabbath chestnut, "Changes" is here - in it's vomit inducing glory. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but this cover of a Sabbath song he does with his daughter Kelly is really not that great at all. So there's some bright points here, but most of this disc is just "Eh" to me.

For me, the strongest point of this entire package is the packaging itself. The hardcover booklet seems pretty well put together - some of these things feel like they're going to fly apart when you pick them up. Also, some of these multi disc sets feature some really odd CD holders (like ones where you have to remove one disc if you want to get at the one below it). Nothing like that here. All presented nice and neatly. The booklet itself I really like too. Has the self deprecating intro (Not another compilation bit from Oz), as well as a boatload of photographs and pics of memorabilia. My favorite part is the couple of pages where Oz has a few paragraphs about each track that appears on the set. I wish more artists would do that, it does make it feel a little more personal when they write something about everything on there. Finally, there was a pass in the box set for a free ticket to Ozzfest 2005 if you validated it by a certain date. I thought it was a nice value added thing, assuming you were interested in going to Ozzfest.

To sum up, I can't really recommend the set to those fans of Ozzy's who have been following him for a long time. There's nothing inherently wrong with the music on here. The music on the first two discs is good, it's just the entire thing seems like another attempt to get more $ from the fans than an attempt at a heartfelt compilation with lots of odd songs collected in one place. The packaging is good, the music is good, yet I never really find myself wanting to reach for this to listen to it.

If you don't have any of Ozzy's previous greatest hits packages, then this is probably worth it for you, as the production value on the set is high - the quality is there, but long time fans will be bored I think as the majority of the stuff on here they've heard many times before.

"Sell out" cannot even begin to describe the last decade of Ozzy. Miss Piggy?! The Bee Gees?! WTF?! It would be funny if it wasn't so darn sad.

This box set is nothing more than a money grab, much in the vein of his "reality" show on MTV, "The Osbournes". The old man is on his last leg, and the family wants to cash in on his formerly respectful name before he cashes in.

This box set is nothing more than pure cheese, and even if you like nachos, the chips are stale and the cheese hardened long ago. This is the epitome of corporate dominated music business garbage, and it clearly reveals that Ozzy has nothing left in his tank.

He doesn't even sing at his live shows anymore (I witnessed his "vocal double" backstage at the last Ozzfest), and I bet much of this stuff isn't even him in the studio.

Ozzy could have had a great legacy, especially if he just left it with his Black Sabbath and 1980's-early '90's (Randy to Zakk).

But it is obvious he needs the spotlight to validate himself, and he is now nothing more than a cartoon caricature of his former greatness.

This box set does nothing but verify this plain and simple fact.

Do NOT support the commercial music business and it's corporate masters by purchasing this set. It only encourages them to release more of this drivel in the future.

I can't really see what most of you are whining about. Most people already bought the 1995 remasters of the 3 CDs that got totally mangled and the 4 that got completely deleted. Though I will admit that really annoys me as well, especially the deleted discs. Ultimate Sin has more tracks I like than Bark at the Moon does. I don't see why he's scrapping all his live stuff aside from Budokan and Tribute either, but that's not the point at all, we're talking about a boxed set.

This really is an interesting compilation, and I can't really complain about $27 I spent at Circuit City either. Not a bad value even without the Ozzfest deal, which I probably won't take advantage of, unless the fact that it has to be a General Admission ticket allows me the legal loophole of getting an extra General Admission Pit ticket for free (once you go pit there's no going back, besides, it's just such a cool lineup this year, much like last year actually, it would be a tragedy to go for the cheap seats). So, I'm going to base this on the merit of the actual tracks. I mainly purchased this set because of discs 3 and 4 because I have all the studio albums (1995 and 2002 releases), so I thought it was great that some live tracks and demos got put on the first 2, it's something different to listen to. I was looking forward to hearing the new covers and they did not disappoint (was expecting "Fire" to be a Jimi Hendrix cover, actually, but that's OK, I like this one even better). But I was especially looking forward to finally having high quality versions of three tracks specifically, because finding the original CDs they were released on was proving difficult if not impossible. Purple Haze and Born To Be Wild did not disappoint. Sadly, I discovered they remixed Stayin' Alive and it just doesn't sound right, I'll be sticking to my low quality 128K mp3 I guess (until I can find a lossless of the bootleg, since it's not even on a commercial CD, which is why I'm taking a point off for them getting it wrong). I also find it hard to believe Ozzy thought no one had heard it, I mean google for "ozzy osbourne + stayin' alive" and see if the first link doesn't get you a web site with a 128K MP3 of the original. Of course, he tends to be the king of understatements. Like, when he says he could have done two discs like disc three. When he could have done three or four. Which brings us to the next point.

Many of you noted the lack of "Close My Eyes Forever" and "Shock the Monkey". Some of the more observant noted "You Said It All" also wasn't there and even some people mentioned the Gary Moore and Bill Ward solo album tracks. For the record, there's also "Buried Alive" from "Return to the Centre of the Earth" and "Who's Fooling Who" from Iommi's solo album, not to mention Black Skies from a PC game that never emerged (available on the Dreamer single) and the song "No Place For Angels" for all those people who missed it on the "Gets Me Through" single. And let's not forget "Living With The Enemy" and "Voodoo Dancer" -- the two Ozzmosis extras that didn't get added to the re-issue as bonus tracks. Oh yeah, and "Vertical Man" from Ringo Starr's solo CD. Are you starting to get the concept here? Let's face it, there's too much stuff for him to have possibly included it all, besides, I already had everything on disc three except for four tracks, I had even burned it to my own "rare Ozzy" compilation (and it does have "Close My Eyes" and "Shock the Monkey" on it, and a fully uncensored "Nowhere to Run", in fact, I even ripped "Blue Suede Shoes" from the Black Sabbath - Musicladen DVD for it, but I did what fit my tastes). So would I rather see exactly what I already have or four tracks that I didn't? I wasn't crazy about "Shake Your Head" but I'm glad they included it and saved me from buying the CD it was on. It's also great they saved me the hassle of ripping the other "Walk On Water" from the DVD. Gives me more time to devote to making audio CDs from Metallica's boxed set DVDs.

Instead of complaining about what isn't there, you should make your judgements based on what IS there. That's what I'm doing, I don't like the remix of Stayin' Alive, and I think it was lame to use the censored version of Nowhere to Run (not that I can't fix that for the copy I burn to keep in my car anyway, I have the completely uncensored "extreme" version of Chef Aid, but it's extra work), that drags it down a notch or it would get a perfect score. It really is a great value for what you get.

And for those complaining about this not being "the real Ozzy" the "Prince of Darkness" with some "serious metal" well, I thought the point of cover songs was something artists did for fun, not to be serious, not to be like "this is the new direction I'm taking" or anything, just something for amusement and maybe a good laugh (like Born to be Wild, the "Oh Ozzy, Yes" part still cracks me up, and I've had a low quality mp3 of it for years). The problem I have is "Stayin' Alive" sounds too authentic and serious and not as much poking fun at Disco like the original was (well, that and they took all the distortion out so it doesn't have that metal sound anymore). It's like my gripe about Metallica's "Tuesday's Gone" (they forgot to Metallicize it) but this one has been de-metallized so that's a bit worse. But hey, I'm not letting one bad track ruin the entire compilation for me. It's just one track, no need to go blowing it out of proportion. Overall, it's still a good collection and still well worth the $27 I spent (though I wish I'd known Best Buy gave you a DVD, now I'll have waste time downloading that thing, since it wasn't included).

My first question is how can fans hate this box set? It has as little standard Ozzy as possible; instead it fills that space with live versions of the tracks. There are many songs that are different from their original versions and others that have never been released before. In defense of some of the songs on disk three, it is my opinion that Ozzy screwing around and having fun create some of the greatest performances of his career. If you want a standard Ozzy album, save you money and got buy the Greatest Hits album. If you like less heard songs, live versions of more popular songs and some vintage Ozzy, this box set is worth every penny.

Leave it to the Osbourne corprate machine to pull this one over on the fans(if Ozzy has any real fans anymore that is).

The sole fact that this 4 disc box set uses the "Sharon" rerecored versions of the Blizzard and Diary songs instead of the original ones is reason enough not to buy this waste of precious metals and plastics. Osbournes, you are wasting valuable earth resources!

On top of that you get crap live versions of songs no one could give a (...) about. You think they would put better quality live material here, you know, for the fans that have made them millionares?...nope.

But wait,thats not all folks! we also get material from Ozzy's exellent 90's albums(insert sarcasm here)! Oh, even better, we get a disc full of the former Black Sabbath frontman(even madman?) making a complete (...) out of himself which includes a duet with Miss Piggy(the effing Muppet) and other frankly retarded songs!


This box set has cash grab written all over it. It's just the next product in a line of crap that Ozzy and Sharon have been pushing to get even richer off of. And you think with being a millionaire you could atleast pay royalties to the musicians who helped you get there in the first place. Sharons eyes must look like this $ $ now becuse of her manipulative ability to market Ozzy who has now become nothing more then a puppet. Ozzy's musical ability died once the original line up for his solo band disolved in 82 or 83.After that it was all down hill because Ozzy can't write songs, plain and simple, it is just imposible for him technicaly. All of his lyrics were/are written for him, from the earliest days in Sabbath up till now.Don't support this corprate greed machine known as the Osbournes, i was horrifed when two of my favorite albums (Blizzard and Diary) were discontieud and replaced with (...) versions. I effing hate you Ozzy, you are the biggest (...) in the music buisness and i hope Bob and Lee reopen the court case some how and sue your greedy @ss so you,your money loving wife and your two ignoramus kids for every penny you have.Ifthe guy below me is right ( and i have a feeling he is) about Ozzy useing recorded backing vocals for his shows now because he is too effing lazy to sing for his fans, this is truely the end. I was also P.O.ed about the comment he made about Ronnie James Dio (who has one million times the talent), he has no right mainly because Dio is a MUSICIAN and WRITES HIS OWN SONGS!

Peace out

Very Enjoyable disc set.
I think the Title is more of a thumbing his nose at what people expect Ozzy Osbourne to do as "OZZY". Whilst Ozzy still does his stage persona very well, even though it seems like he may have mostly retired due to health reasons( however, he has retired once before). Ozzy seems to offer this more of a thing as to this is who I am,this is who I was, this who I am becoming ; Disc one... great Standards; Disc two, great Live and Superb Demo versions; Disc 3, Great Covers, maybe showing a side of Ozzy that he says/indicates is part of his musical makeup, with Some Superb Sabbath New Tracks from the Sabbath Reunion work, plus Track 10 is possibly the best Ozzy and Lenny co-write this side of HELLRAISER, and Track 12... some satire ???; Disc 4 has the best Covers by Ozzy, ALL THE YOUNG DUDES, IN MY LIFE, FIRE(totally Appropriate), FOR WHAT ITS WORTH,SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL(done as superbly as only Ozzy Can), and WORKING CLASS HERO has as much Venom as Ozzy can put into it.
The Last Track may very well be the Epitaph for this stafe of Ozzy's life ... We're going through changes, both Ozzy and Kelly Sing; Indeed they, and we, all are.

Ok, the first 2 CD's are good. Demos, live songs, etc... What else can you ask for? then you start listening to CD #3. Ummm, duets with rappers??? what the $#$@% was that??? come on, is true Ozzy is not out to please loyal fans but to make new ones. I agree with most reviewers, the price of the boxset is a bargain, but if I want to pay money to listen to Ozzy stuff, it BETTER be Ozzy stuff, not collaboration with others that is just crap. What's next? Maiden doing duets with Gwen Stefani? Oh please no...I'm a huge METAL fan...lets keep it that way...
Bottom line, buy at your own risk. If you are an loyal Ozzy fan, you may not like it. If you are a newbie that listens to today's mainstream music, maybe you'll find this pleasent to your ears.

Here's What The Tracklist Should Have Been:

Disc 1: 1980-1990
1. No Bone Movies (Blizzard Of Ozz Demo)
2. Steal Away The Night (Blizzard Of Ozz Demo)
3. Crazy Train (After Hours)
4. You Said It All (Mr Crowley EP)
5. Over The Mountain (Diary Of A Madman Demo)
6. Centre Of Eternity (Alternate Lyrics)
7. You Looking At Me (Live)
8. Bark At The Moon (Live)
9. Waiting For Darkness (Bark At The Moon Demo)
10. The Ultimate Sin (Live)
11. Never Know Why (Live)
12. Thank God For The Bomb (Live)
13. Fire In The Sky (Live)

Disc 2: 1990-2002
1. Mama I'm Coming Home (No More Tears Demo)
2. I Don't Want To Change The World (No More Tears Demo)
3. Desire (No More Tears Demo)
4. S.I.N. (No More Tears Demo)
5. See You On The Other Side (Ozzmosis Demo)
6. Walk On Water (Demo)
7. Walk On Water
8. Perry Mason (Ossmosis Demo)
9. I Just Want You (Ossmosis Demo)
10.No Place For Angels (B-Side)
11.Black Skies (Unreleased)
12.Bang Bang Your Dead (Down To Earth Demo)
13.Dreamer (Accoustic Version)

Disc 3: Collaborations With Other Artists
1. Led Clones (With Gary Moore)
2. Pictures Of Matchstick Men (With Type O Negative)
3. NIB (With Primus)
4. Iron Head (With Rob Zombie)
5. I Ain't No Nice Guy (With Lemmy)
6. Close My Eyes Forever (With Lita Ford)
7. Stayin' Alive (With Dweezil Zappa)
8. Who's Foolin' Who (With Tony Iommi)
9. Hey Stoopid (With Alice Cooper)
10.Purple Haze (Zakk Wyld/Randy Castillo/Geezer Butler)
11.Iron Man (With Therapy?)

Disc 4: Cover Songs
1. Rocky Mountain Way
2. Sunshine Of Your Love
3. Blue Suede Shoes (Black Sabbath 1970)
4. Sympathy For The Devil
5. All The Young Dudes
6. In My Life
7. Fire
8. Mississippi Queen
9. 21st Schizoid Man
10.Working Class Hero

If these tracks were on the box set this set would be a great addition to any fan of Ozzy Osbourne. I recommend not getting this unless you are a diehard fan.