1222. Ozzy Osbourne / No Rest for the Wicked. 1988. 4/5

By the time this album came around to being released, it had been well over 2.5 years since Ozzy Osbourne and his band had released a studio album. The fan response to “The Ultimate Sin” album has been less pronounced than it had for the other albums released during the 1980’s, and had been beset by problems from its inception and through to the tour that followed to promote it. Ozzy himself had the usual dependencies that haunted him over the decade, while the battle behind the scenes in regards to publishing rights and writing credits continued to be problematic. Some fans also felt that “The Ultimate Sin” album had gone too far towards a hair or glam metal sound than the music which they had enjoyed from him from Ozzy’s Sabbath days and even the Randy Rhodes albums. The end result of this was that guitarist Jake E. Lee was fired, for which there was never a full explanation given, and bass guitarist Phil Soussan also left the band. It seems probable that a combination of all of these factors – Ozzy's drug and alcohol problems, the refusal of both Lee and Soussan to give up their royalty rights, and the slight ambivalence of his long term fans over the recent release – all contributed to this situation occurring. It meant that the Ozzy Osbourne band required rebuilding.
Audition tapes were received from hundreds of guitarists, but eventually it was one from a young unknown guitarist by the name of Zakk Wylde that caught their attention. After auditioning for the spot Wylde was hired soon after, and became a major part of Osbourne’s resurgence into the next decade. The bass player’s spot was more inconclusive, and eventually it was through mutual benefit that former Ozzy band player Bob Daisley returned to the fold once again. Despite having been burned in the past and having issues over the same songwriting credits issue that had forced two members from the most recent line up of the band, Daisley returned to play bass and also contribute to the writing process for what became the album “No Rest for the Wicked”. Daisley had been bypassed for “The Ultimate Sin” album after having been heavily involved in Osbourne’s first three album after his leaving from Balck Sabbath, and his troubles with Ozzy’s management in that time are well known. However, his desire and enjoyment of being involved with Ozzy and his music again saw his return. Of course, as seems to be a recurring them in this story, it didn’t end well for him on this occasion either.

There is little doubt that the music direction here on “No Rest for the Wicked” moves itself forward from the previous album. You can name any number of reasons why this may be the case. The obvious one is the change of personnel. Both Zakk and Bob play their instruments in a different style from their predecessors, and as a result the music here is different. They both also write differently, which is a big thing to take under consideration. And we are now coming towards the end of 1988 and not at the end of 1985, so the style of heavy metal has also changed. Just take a look at Ozzy’s hairstyle as the main piece of knowledge for that! But in the main, Zakk comes in with a heavier riff style which is the dominant factor of the songs on this album.
The mood is set from the outset, with Zakk’s wonderful opening riff on “Miracle Man” tearing up the playbook and making his mark from the start. The fact that his guitar style is again different from all of the players Ozzy has had – Tony Iommi, Randy Rhodes and Jake E Lee – makes him the focal point again, and in the direction the music is taking. Along for the ride again is Bob’s wonderfully written and performed bass work, the perfect undertone to emphasise each track with Randy’s fantastic drumming, precision perfect and annunciating each musical portion of the song. These three combine superbly throughout this album, which only makes it slightly disappointing it was the only time they played together. Zakk and Bob were the main contributors to the songwriting process and they seem to have paired up well.
Ozzy comes back firing vocally, especially on that opening track “Miracle Man”, pointedly another song by a metal band of this era that gets stuck into the televangelism of the day, and the hypocritical acts of those involved. It’s a great song highlighted by Zakk’s terrific solo slot. This is followed by “Devil’s Daughter” and “Crazy Babies” that also feel dominated by the arrival of Zakk Wylde. While the tempo of the songs is not overly fast, they feel as though they are by Zakk’s unique guitar sound and his wailing guitar squeal. The intro and chorus of “Devil’s Daughter” is especially fun and driven, while Crazy Babies is dominated by Ozzy’s lyrical slinging after that initial opening crunching riff from Zakk – magnificent.
Then you have songs such as “Breakin’ All the Rules” and “Fire in the Sky” that slot right into that mid-tempo style and where Ozzy makes the songs what they are, with great vocal lines and melodies over the rhythm of the song. Ozzy is quite brilliant at being able to make these kinds of songs so entertaining and interesting, where other artists would be unable to make them so enjoyable. They are of a slightly different tone that sometimes halt the momentum of albums of other artists, but Ozzy and his crew make them much more than that.
“Bloodbath in Paradise” uses mentions of Charles Manson and the Manson family within its lyrics, while “Demon Alcohol” is so obviously written for Ozzy to sing about himself by Daisley that it should certainly be referred to as biographical. “Tattooed Dancer” also has its obvious reference points, and again is dominated by Zakk’s amazing guitaring, and his couple of riffs prior to and concluding the chorus especially being game changers. The album concludes with “Hero”, with more biographical lyrics from Zakk and Bob that continue to allow Ozzy to sing loudly about himself and be the hero to his fans that he sometimes doesn’t understand that he is.

Ozzy and his music has been a big part of my life since I first discovered it back in the mid-1980's, and while “The Ultimate Sin” had been the first album I had heard at the time (or around the time at least) it had been released, it was this one that was truly a ‘discovered on release’ moment for me. And yes, it is fair to say that the differences between what had come before, and this one, were obvious from the start. Which, at the time for me, was a big thing to take in. I loved the Randy era, and I loved the Jake E Lee era. But this was newer, bolder, brasher than any of that. And that was quite something to take in initially. But it didn’t take long to take the lacquer off the new ball. Zakk’s unique guitaring was a hit from the beginning. Just listening to it in songs like “Miracle Man”, “Crazy Babies”, “Tattooed Dancer” and “Demon Alcohol” was mesmerising, and everything fell into place after that.
This is still a great album, but often you will get asked where it fits in your own personal music rating for the artist. And if you ignore everything after 1994 – which was when Ozzy was going to retire from everything or just from touring or just from doing albums, or whatever that whole kerfuffle ending up being about – then this for me is the least interesting of Ozzy’s albums. His first two Blizzard of Ozz albums with Randy, Bob and Lee Kerslake are magnificent. His next two with Jake E Lee are the perfect 80’s hair metal albums. And the follow up to this, the amazing “No More Tears” speaks for itself. Sas much as I still enjoy this album, it is middle range when you think of the band’s albums as a whole.
After recording this album, Bob Daisley was ushered out the door again, to be replaced in the touring band by Ozzy former bandmate Geezer Butler, only for Bob to be recalled to play (but not write) on this album’s follow up. But that story is available on the episode dedicated to it in season 1 for those that are interested. This album is still an entertaining album of the age, and kept the Osbourne torch aflame into the next decade and beyond.