[.ca] Bark At The Moon

Bark At The Moon "Remaster":
This review is of the second Bark At The Moon remaster, released in 2002 along side the rest of Ozzy's catalog predating Down To Earth. Though Blizzard and Diary feature new drum and bass parts, Bark At The Moon was completely remastered using the original session tapes. Or was it...? I bought Bark At The Moon when it came out, and it was a great recording and very influential in it's time. But Bruce Dickerson's remix is missing major signature solos in Rock N' Roll Rebel, both in the opening licks, and in the breaks. This is one of the most renowned tracks from Bark, delivered in an incomplete state on this "remaster!" The only explanation is that Jake E. Lee recorded his solos over the stereo master in the final hour, and they couldn't be extracted. But it gets worse: You're No Different" was full of keyboards on the original recording, but they are super loud on this CD, drowning out the drums and guitar. It's as if Dickerson just ran the session tapes without checking the volume of individual instruments. It defies explanation, truly. If you haven't heard Bark At The Moon before, you may not notice these omissions. You'll just think it's a record made on the rebound of Randy's death by a weaker band. But Jake E. Lee held his own with Ozzy, and if you dig for earlier releases of this recording, you'll discover an album that stands up to Blizzard and Diary. This is sonething else...

Ozzy's first album with Jake E Lee!:
Bark at the Moon was the first studio album that Ozzy released following the death of the great Rhandy Roads.Bark at the Moon features Jake e Lee on guitar and Tommy Aldrige(Black Oak Arkansas) on the drums.The title track Bark at the Moon is a classic with a great riff.The keyboards have quite a presence on some of the songs, which isn't to bad.Other great songs are the ballad So Tired, and Slow Down, and Waiting for Darkness. The whole album is great, one of my favorite Ozzy albums.

Not Your Average Ozzy Album:
This album is kind of different than Ozzy's previous two or any to follow. It is very good though. It is a little more pop oriented, and a little more moody. Jake Lee's guitar playing is just as good as anything, though. Center Of Enternity is the best song on the album, and one of Ozzy's all-time best. Some lame songs, like So Tired keep this from being Ozzy's best album ever . I love all of it, though. The title track is one of Ozzy's most famous songs, and it is very good.

Keyboard Ozzy:
This is the sound that Ozzy should have never left alone. It's great! He uses substantial use of synthesizers and keyboards, along with the impossibly heavy crunch-crunch of Jake E Lee's guitar playing. Also, Ozzy's singing sounds better than on Diary Of a Madman, which I feel is Ozzy's worst album. This is the best Ozzy album to ever be released. Although his later albums like No Rest For The Wicked and No More Tears are still five-star albums, he should have never lefy this sound behind him and I think it is one of the definitive metal albums.

Greatest Ozzy performance:
This is surely the greatest Ozzy performance to date. His voice sounds amazingly divine, almost supernatural. The great guitar playing of Jake E. Lee and the musicianship of Don Airey add up to one of the greatest music experiences you can have. The unusual song So Tired will surely amuse you in an unexpected way but the album reaches it's peak at it's end, with the killer Waiting For Darkness, which is a reflexion on life's downsides. The bonus tracks on this new release are also not to be missed. Both songs catch up with the rest of the album and are much better than any recent material.

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