After two successful ‘comeback’ albums after his dismissal from Black Sabbath, lead guitarist Randy Rhodes had been killed when a plane he was in crashed into the band’s tour bus. Apart from this traumatic event, the band then had to regroup. Brad Gillis from Night Ranger came on board to play the end of the tour, but once he had returned to his band, and bass guitarist Rudy Sarzo had returned to Quiet Riot, Ozzy was left to start again from scratch.
In order to put together what eventually became the album “Bark at the Moon”, the band needed to find a new guitarist and bass player. The guitarist came in the form of Jake E. Lee, who had flirted with bands such as Ratt and Rough Cutt before coming under the Osbourne radar. He would have a difficult job living up to the previous holder of the position in the band, but would eventually come through with flying colours. The bass player replacement came to be Bob Daisley, who had played on and written the first two albums by the band, before he and drummer Lee Kerslake were unceremoniously dumped for asking for what Osbourne management concluded were “unworkable conditions”, in regards to what they believed was a rightful share of the proceeds from those two albums. Now however, the call for help was answered.
One of the biggest oversights in regard to this album is the publishing rights, and the credits for the writing of the album. The album has always insisted on the back cover that all songs were composed solely by Ozzy Osbourne, and that always seemed to be a stretch. Jake E. Lee came out some years later and disputed this story, saying that he had been ambushed once the writing of the album had been completed, and he had recorded all of his guitars for the album. His story claims that at this point, he was presented with a contract that would nullify any claim to writing or publishing rights to the album, and that he would subsequently also not be allowed to ever mention this publicly. If he didn’t sign it, he would be fired, and his guitar parts would be replaced by another player. Given at the time he had no legal representation, he felt compelled to sign it, something that he was upset about, and with good reason. It was something that he didn’t fall for when it came to the following album.
In Daisley’s case, according to his excellent autobiography, he was hired by management to come on board and practically write the album, to run the show. With a proven track record on those first two albums, no doubt the Osbourne conglomerate could see that Daisley was the one to help produce an album that would herald in the post-Rhodes days. However, like Lee, Daisley was offered a lump sum to do the job that was asked of him, and to also therefore forego his share of writing and publishing rights, which given his dispute with the Osbournes over those first two albums he felt was an easier solution in the long run on this occasion. And so, while the album states that Ozzy wrote all of the songs, it was the partnership of Daisley and Lee that did the bulk of the heavy lifting in composing the music, and Bob who also contributed most of the lyrics. Yes, they were paid (a pittance one suspects considering the album has since sold over 3 million copies worldwide), but their contribution to the album is not officially recognised, which remains a shame. The world of business and money is rarely a fair and equitable one across the board.
They probably had no idea when it was being written and recorded, but the opening title track has become one of the most iconic heavy metal songs of all time, and is inevitably tied to Ozzy Osbourne as one of his greatest moments in a long and heralded career. The opening riff, into the opening verse, the bridge and chorus, the Jake E Lee solo through the middle, and Bob Daisley’s amazing bass line running through the whole shebang, is still as spine tingling as it was when it was first released. Who could ever forget the music video that goes with the song, and how often that was played on music video shows around the world. The howl and the exit solo and bass line is still just a dream. And what a way to be the first song in the Osbourne years without Randy on guitar. Jake steps up and leads from the front from the outset. A great opening in every respect.
The remainder of the first side of the album treads a different path. It isn’t as heavily keyboard oriented as “Diary of a Madman” and doesn’t have that same emphasis of the guitar that the previous album had. Instead, we have a more synth-oriented tracklist which is the way it was used in that era rather than going for a piano or organ based keyboards of those first two albums. “You’re No Different” is a gentler song than the opener, giving Ozzy the opportunity to show the reflective side of his vocals after the powerful performance on the opening track. The third track, “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” is the best example available as to the fact that Ozzy did not write this entire album by himself. The lyrics, written by Daisley, are quite obviously a dig at Sharon Osbourne over his previous dealings with the Osbourne conglomerate. The opening lines of “Overbearing woman makin' it so hard for me, Now you've laid it down for all to see, yeah, Can I ask a question, do you think that you can take a blow? ,This is why I always come and go, yeah” could be nothing but a direct hint of what occurred with Daisley over the previous albums. In his autobiography Bob expressed surprise that the lyrics were left unaltered and were allowed on the album at all. With this information in hand, it is hard not to laugh as you listen and sing along. This is followed by “Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel” which is another of many tracks where Ozzy speaks to us all about himself, and closes out the first side of the album.
It is the second half of this album that I think is still so terrific, and yet these songs never come close to making a live set over the years. The opener to side two is the excellent “Centre of Eternity”. Early on this song was called “Forever” and apparently publicised as such at some concerts. The opening mirrors the bells and church organ for the start of a hymn, before breaking out into the hard riffing start of the song proper, drilled along by Tommy Aldridge’s wonderful drumming and Daisley’s rumbling bass line. This is a great song, played at a good clip and featuring everyone in the band offering something to the song.
“So Tired” follows, and that is an apt title, because this is how this song makes me feels. It is the ballad of the album, and I am no fan of the ballad. It has always sounded to me like the song that was written to be released as a single in order to draw in the fans who wanted something different. Which is what they did, though to little or no applause from the community. In the context of the album, it is out of place, but by this stage of my listening, I barely notice it anymore. It is part of the furniture, I know its there and I know I have to hear it every time I put on this album. It is for me a lot like “Fluff” off Black Sabbath’s album “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, it’s like call waiting music, as I wait for the next track to begin. That song is “Slow Down”, which picks up the tempo perfectly, utilising early 80’s synth in its most intended form, but starring the brilliant running bassline from Daisley that dominates the song, even through the guitar solo. Bob’s bass guitar has always been legendary, and it is at its best on this song.
The final song of the album is an underrated, often forgotten masterpiece. “Waiting for Darkness” should have had far more love than it has ever received, it should have been played at every Ozzy Osbourne concert since this album’s release, and it should be considered one of the greatest songs of his career. The mood of this track is sensational, with Don Airey’s keyboards finally moving out of the 80’s synth mode and bringing back the goth atmosphere. Ozzy’s vocals are at their absolute peak on this song, helping to create the majesty of the song. How is this not considered one of his best songs ever? Jake’s guitar solo is the crowning glory, and it is the one song on the album that truly is improved by every musician here. The vocals on the lyrics into the final bridge, which are “Who knows the answers, Is it friend or is it foe, Don't ask me questions, There are things you should not know” is spine tingling, and combines to be a brilliant end to a brilliant album.
Ozzy Osbourne was one of the first artists that I really got into when I started to discover heavy metal music, even before Black Sabbath. Those first two albums were what were circulating early in those days for me, and it was Ozzy’s amazing vocals and Randy’s guitar and Bob’s bass that really dragged me in. Their fourth album “The Ultimate Sin” was also released right at that time, so all three of those albums attacked me at the very start of my heavy metal obsession. This of course then also included “Bark at the Moon”, released two years earlier, which blended into the music cavalcade I had orbiting me at that time.
How do you clinically separate two dozen or more albums that you get at the same time, and give them all equal hearing, and learn to appreciate them individually? When you are 15 I guess it is easy. You just listen to everything all the time. And this is what I did during that first six month period of this new genre. And with Ozzy, I had two different periods, the Randy period and the Jake E Lee period, to decipher.
This album for me is as good as anything the band in all its formation ever produced. “Bark at the Moon” is a seminal track, one that is still just as good as when it was released. It was the first song I saw Ozzy perform live when I saw the band in Sydney in 1998, and is still up there with one of the greatest moments of my life. And you can’t get any more iconic than playing this song in the middle of a solar eclipse, starting the song in daylight, descending into darkness as they play the song, and then finish in daylight again. Look it up on YouTube, it’s totally worth it. And as I’ve mentioned, “Centre of Eternity” and “Slow Down” and “Waiting for Darkness” are such amazing songs, they rank alongside anything the band has done.
I had this album taped on one side of a C90 cassette back in my late high school years, with their following album “The Ultimate Sin” recorded on the other side, and once I got my drivers license I used to have this going around and around as I would drive everywhere. The two albums together are just perfect, and yes, Ozzy definitely goes through his hair metal phase in his hair and outfits at this time, but he was able to channel that mood of the day into further popularity, becoming a true icon that he could never have become as the lead singer of Black Sabbath.
Looking back retrospectively, “Bark at the Moon” was one of the best albums released in 1983, a year that had some pretty fair releases. The album did what the Osbourne clan wanted, to get past the tragic events of the previous 12 months, and get Ozzy back on top and being the centre of the music universe. It is a shame that it came at the expense of the three people who helped to get him there – touring drummer Tommy Aldridge who moved on to Whitesnake, guitarist and co-writer Jake E. Lee, who was sacked without official reason after the Ultimate Sin album, and bassist and co-writer Bob Daisley, the true force of those first three Ozzy Osbourne albums, who despite being involved for 12 years was eventually cast aside and snubbed of his contribution to resurrecting Ozzy from what could well have been immortal obscurity. We can at least thank these three highly talented musicians that that didn’t become the case.
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