Salutations™!!

Today is the 34th anniversary of my favorite Ozzy album, The Ultimate Sin. I understand that Ozzy purists will slam that album as polished and over-produced and yeah, it may have been. Or, it may not have been. The biggest complaint the Oz-man himself had was the production. Ron Nevison is revered as a producer but something about it, Ozzy just doesn’t dig. Oddly enough, too, is that this is the only classic Ozzy album that has yet to be remastered. Ozzy said if he had the opportunity, he’d love to remix and remaster it.

The reason it’s my favorite is that it was my Ozzy introduction. I’ve talked about the perils of growing up in rural WV with teetotalling parents and not having access to all the musics in “wild and wonderful.” That was in addition to the onset of the PMRC and the religious zealots who wanted to control our rebellious rock and raunch tendencies. So, I was taught to fear what Ozzy was and could be. I mean, “OMG! He sings about suicide and bites heads off of doves and bats and stuff…” Give me a break.

Anywhat! I got to play in my first band and one of the first things I learned was “Shot in the Dark” from this album. When I moved here to NC, I bought it on cassette along with the tablature sheet music for it and I was taken in. The videos were cool for their time, too, at least to me. I had to go back and hear Ozzy’s previous solo stuff after the fact. Heck, I didn’t even know any Black Sabbath stuff except for “Iron Man” and that was because I was a wrestling fan and the Road Warriors used it as their entrance music. I was so sheltered.

But in looking for a proper cover, I realized people suck at this so I am going with the OG Oz-Man doing it in 1989 with Zakk Wylde and Geezer Butler instead of Jake E. Lee and Phil Soussan from the album. Randy Castillo (RIP) is playing drums and did on the album. Enjoy!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Out on the streets, I’m stalking the night. I can hear my heavy breathing. Paid for the kill, but it doesn’t seem right. Something there I can’t believe in. Voices are calling from inside my head. I can hear them, I can hear them. Vanishing memories of things that were said. They can’t try to hurt me now.” – “Shot in the Dark” (Osbourne/Soussan)