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 Good grooves for some good ol' songs Jul 17, 2010
I think Ozzy and band did a good job on most of these songs. My favorites are Rocky Moutain Way, Mississippi Queen (Cantrell and Wyse really jam good on this one), Woman (which I think is beautifully done),21st Century Shizoid Man (another song that Cantrell and Wyse play very well, plus this song seems to fit Ozzy),Fire (with the excellent solo), and Sympathy for the Devil (another good rocker that seems to fit Ozzy and crew well). The rest of the songs are pretty good, although Ozzy does seem tired on some of them as noted before by others.If he had a little more time I think he could have done a little better. But the album is worth it just to hear Ozzy sing some of his favorites plus Cantrell and the band rocking real heavily on most of these songs.The bonus d.v.d. would be worth it IF they didn't bleep out all the cursing, because you have a hard time keep up with the stories. Although if you listen carefully there are some pretty hilarious things that Ozzy and friends have done.If you can buy it for less than ten dollars it's worth it.
What The &$@# Is This? Has He Gone Completely Mad? Jul 28, 2007
On first inspection of this covers album put out by Ozzy you may immediately assume the worst.
If you decide to give it a listen you will find that Ozzy sings some of his favourite songs on this collection or cash cow depending how you see it, however most of it is devoid of the emotive quality that I love so much from the Ozzman. The music is a little bland, except on the more rocking cuts.
The man's love of the Beatles is represented with a tender take on "In My Life". Trust Ozzy to pick the most famous Lennon song with a couple of F-Bombs in it. My favourite tune on here is Ozzy's superb take on "Sunshine of Your Love. HIs voice is great on that one.
All in all an interesting yet odd collection of songs all covered with Ozzy's "sod it if they don't like it" attitude. Don't start your collection here.
it's okay, but far from great... May 10, 2007
I'm an Ozzy fan...I like his music better than his vocals, but I still call myself a fan...and I'm a completist as well and I have to have a complete collection, so that was one of the 2 main reasons why I got this CD. The other reason was because I normally enjoy cover albums, such as "The Spaghetti Incident", "Acid Eaters" and "Yeah!", even if critics don't like `em, fans feel let down and even if sometimes this kind of records end up packing more than one stink bomb.
Well, in the case of Ozzy's cover record, I think it is one of those mixed bags: you'll find tracks that are very much enjoyable, but chances are you're also gonna find more than a few that are gonna make you raise an eyebrow...the rockers are clearly the best, while the ballads and the mid tempo numbers are...well...not quite there...most of the songs are played in a quite respectful way with regards of the originals, although there are a few changes here and there that might not appeal to those who liked the originals.
The CD starts with "Rocky Mountain Way" from Joe Walsh, and while the song is not exactly a highlight, it gets things started with a nice, rollicking pace. Then comes The Beatles's "In my Life", the first of 3 Beatle related tunes included here, and clearly the best of the bunch, by far: this song wouldn't sound out of place in one Ozzy's last 2 solo records, and the influence is obvious. I like it, even if I'm not a Beatles fan.
"Mississippi Queen" works pretty good, especially because of the performances of Ozzy's excellent supporting band: Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) on guitar, Mike Bordin (Faith No More) on drums and Chris Wyse on bass. Actually, I'd have to say that the band are probably the heros here, stealing the show from Ozz. "Go Now" is not a good song to begin with, and this cover doesn't really do anything to improve my opinion of it...
"Woman" is simply...I don't care for the original, I don't care for this cover... "21st Century Schizoid Man" works great: I mean, who can claim those lyrics as his own if not Ozzy?? I never thought I'd hear Ozzy singing a Bowie song (yeah, I know the original version was done by Mott the Hoople, but Bowie wrote it, didn't he?) and the result is...funny, I guess...I'm not particularly crazy about "All the young dudes", the original or any of its hundreds of versions, but for some reason that I can't quite pin point right now, I find this one to be O.K...not great, but O.K...
Can anyone explain to me the presence of "For what is worth" here? This one really doesn't make much sense to me...it's not terrible, but it's not that great, either...the same can be said about "Good Times"...not very good...I was extremely apprehensive about hearing Ozzy's version of one of my favorite tunes, meaning "Sunshine of your Love" and...the track is O.K, a weird intro notwithstanding, but Ozzy's vocals really don't help much...once again, the band steals the spotlight, big time...
"Fire" is a great choice: like "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Fire" makes perfect sense in an Ozzy album, if only because of its lyrics, but in truth, the song sounds pretty cool..."Working Class Hero" is...a little odd...again, the lyrics ring true and feel right for Ozzy to sing, but there's something about this tune that doesn't quite click for me...it's not bad, but I don't particularly like it...
And finally, Ozzy's take on my ALL TIME favorite Rolling Stones song, "Sympathy for the Devil", is pretty respectable, but buyer beware: this is one of the tunes were Ozzy and his band experiment a little with the structure, so you might be a little taken aback... I thought it was fairly enjoyable, and once again, the band steals the show...and who else but Ozzy (and the Stones, of course...) could sing these lyrics? I don't like it as much as the version that GN'R did, but still...
Yeah,, we all know that Ozzy and Sharon have done quite a few controversial (to put it mildly...) and highly debatable business decisions in recent years, and many fans feel that this is yet one more: adding 4 tunes to a CD that was already available (albeit in a boxed set) rang as a rip off to many...and while I do agree with that to some extent, I must say for the record that I personally benefited from that decision, since I hadn't (and I still don't have) any intention of purchasing the box set, which I'm sorry to say, it's quite lackluster...and of course, releasing this also allowed the Osbournes to buy time until the next Ozzy studio album (Black Rain, scheduled for release May 22, 2007). Oh, yeah, the DVD side...not worth the price of admission, really: the full album again in 3D surround, which is pointless for those who (like me) don't have a surround home theater, a video for "In my Life" which is funny but far from essential, and a totally dull, boring and pointless segment called "Dinner with Ozzy and friends" which is little more than Lemmy and Ozzy babbling on in their incoherent, unintelligible way, and to make matters worse, it features the annoying "beeps" of censorship for bad language... I DIDN'T even want the dual disc to begin with, but for some reason that I can't begin to understand, its price was LOWER than the price of the regular CD...oh well...
Bottom Line, I think that this CD is probably meant for a mainstream audience: those who followed Ozzy because of his TV show and not because of his music. You can play this full CD to your mom and she'll probably enjoy it as much (or more...) as you, which I find to be extremely disturbing...there's something wrong with the world when your mom asks you to turn ON the volume of the latest CD from an artist that she has ALWAYS loathed... anyway...this is a mixed bag for longtime Ozzy fans, but it'll probably make for a nice evening of music listening with your parents...I'll leave it up to you (and your folks, haha...) to make up your minds...but I'll tell you this: I'm a longtime fan, and I have to say that this record doesn't do much for me and it's little more than a curiosity item for the mainstream audience...
1 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Drives me crazy! Jan 11, 2007
My husband drives me crazy playing this cd! But he seems to love it! He said he highly recommends it!
3 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Original Ozzy Nov 09, 2006
Its true that other have played the songs of Under Cover, but it is also
true, at least in my opinion, that Ozzy has revamped these songs so
much that they must be considered as original Ozzy. For example,
Sympathy for the Devil has so many subtle changes within it that it is
really a new song, and a really great recording at that, as compared
to the original Rolling Stone rendition. If you don't like Under
Cover, then you never liked Ozzy to begin with, so why plaster this
area with reviews from non-likers of Ozzy?
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