Masochist Music Review: Ozzy Osbourne - Under Cover

What can I say, I’m a masochist when it comes to music.  I like to have complete catalogues when it comes to my favorite musicians.  Sometimes this is a good thing (Alice Cooper, AC/DC) but oftentimes it’s not.  Not only that, but I used to fall into the trap of hearing one or two great songs and purchasing a whole album because of it, which sometimes produced a diamond, but usually only coal.  During this series, we will dwell on some of the albums I have in my collection that are downright terrible.  I will re-listen to them all and give you my impression of them.

Now this is only my opinion, so don’t take it as gospel.  If you like a particular album in this series, let me know, we’ll open up a discussion about it.  I’m always open to discussing the merits of any particular album, and if you have any suggestions (and especially if you have the album itself and are willing to share your views) then let me know and I’d be happy to add it to the list.

Album Name: Under Cover

Artist:  Ozzy Osbourne

Release Date:  2005

Why you bought it:  Ozzy was one of my first “favorite bands” when I was growing up.  Since that time I have devoured anything I can from him, for better or worse.  It just so happens that Under Cover wasn’t for the better. 

First impressions:  I generally like to hear covers of songs just to see how an artist I enjoy puts their own spin on a traditional song (Marilyn Manson is probably my favorite both in terms of his choices of songs to cover and their overall execution).  Ozzy was no different in this respect, except for the most part he stayed a little too “true” to the originals and didn’t even really attempt to make them his own (aside from his voice that is).  That’s not to say that the song choices were all bad, in fact tracks like “Mississippi Queen”, “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Sunshine of Your Love” are excellent choices for a cover album.  The main problem was that nine of the thirteen tracks on this album actually came out earlier that year in the Prince of Darkness box set.  Picking four or five of his favorite tracks from the box set and filling out the rest of the album with ten new covers would have been ideal.  As it was, this seemed like a cash grab during a time when Ozzy’s popularity had exploded (this was shortly after The Osbournes took over television).  While I can understand why they would do it (especially if someone didn’t want to drop the $50 or whatever it was for the four disc box set) for die-hards like me, it felt like overkill and left a sour taste in my mouth from the get-go.

Impressions upon listening to it recently:  It’s not a horrible album by any means.  The songs chosen were pretty much all tracks that I enjoyed in their original iterations, so hearing Ozzy cover them was a bonus.  I still wish there was a bit more “Ozzy” to them though.

Any saving grace?:  Sure.  Like I said, it’s not a bad album.  The main problem was purchasing this a few months after over half the tracks were released on another album.  If I was faced with the same decision today, I would have just purchased the individual tracks for a dollar apiece off Amazon or something like that.

Was it worth the purchase?:  If you love Ozzy or just well executed cover songs than yes, absolutely.  If you already own the Prince of Darkness box set than no.  Just download the four missing tracks.