Ozzy-The Ultimate Sin

Background/first impression
During the Bark at the moon tour in 83-84, Ozzy started to really get the reputation of being a madman. However stories of his addictions were becoming very famous and although the tour did well, Bark at the moon the album drew some harsh criticisms about heavy use of keyboards and mediocre songwriting. By early 1985, Ozzy had been in and out of the Betty Ford clinic and he was claiming to be clean. He reunited with his old mates in Black Sabbath to play a short set at live aid in the summer and he was looking better than he had in about four years. He had a new album on the way and the album was going to be called Killer of giants and it was originally supposed to be out in early fall of 1985, but it got pushed back to early 86 and the title became the Ultimate Sin.

I heard this probably the week it came out and I liked it, but found it to be decent rather than great. Strong production, but just overall decent. A lot of people loved it. I began to like it a lot more around the early 90's when I bought it on CD and listened to it fairly often in college. It has been at least four years since I have heard the whole thing. I pulled out my vinyl copy of this on Friday evening and stuck it on the turntable. Metalgirl and I were cutting shapes out of playdoh with old cookie cutters while we listened and here is what I heard.


1. The Ultimate Sin
The drums come on with a solid simple beat and the heavy, but smooth lead follows and the title track kicks off. Ozzy tries his best to sound semi-sinister and it works enough for the song. Fairly strong opener that gets your attention.

2. Secret Loser
The next track rolls on fast and goes straight to work. We get to hear a bit more of Jake E. Lee's solos and lick here and they are fairly sharp. The song is overall good, but seems a little rushed for the most part.

3. Never Know Why
Track three comes on and the lead isn't terribly memorable, but everything else about the song works right away. Ozzy sounds very comfortable and there are really nice tight licks from Jake in this one. The only other problem is the chorus that goes "You'll never know why we rock". Yuck, those lyrics were dated by 1986 standards. Still a strong song for the most part.

4. Thank God For The Bomb
This song is a little slower than the previous tracks. It feels like there is a real stretch for this song to have some sort of dramatic impact, but it falls kind of flat. It feels like someone though Ozzy should attempt to be sort of political and it sounds like someone wrote one draft and handed it to Ozzy and he tried push through it. Doesn't work for me I am afraid.

5. Never
The last track on the first side rushes on and the lead isn't that memorable. Ozzy seems almost to be hurrying through it and has a real jumbled sound to it. Not a bad song, but certainly a filler track.

6. Lightning Strikes
The second side starts out with a simple, but cool riff from Jake E. Lee.
The Metalgirl was banging her head to this one so it earns points for that. It is also one of the heavier songs so far along with the title track.

7. Killer Of Giants
The second of two songs that people said were political. This song works far better than Thank god for the bomb. It's a tad slow and polished, but has almost haunting quality to it. Certainly one of the more memorable songs so far.

8. Fool Like You
Some nice guitar effects on this song, it's not overwhelmingly complicated, but this has a strong structure that flows nicely. Ozzy sounds varies strong here as he delivers his lyrics with greater feeling than most of the songs on the album.

9. Shot In The Dark
This one starts out like movie soundtrack music rather than metal. Ozzy sounds confident and the song flows nicely although it's a bit light. I would liked to have seen the album end on a heavier note, but it's still a good song.


Final Judgment- The Ultimate Sin is really kind of a bit of fluff in Ozzy's career. I think it was very carefully planned out and geared towards bringing in some of the audience that were enjoying mainstream metal. However, it is enjoyable fluff because there are enough good licks in there and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. In Ozzy's solo career, I would say this one ranks fourth after Blizzard, Diary and No more tears. It was a very successful album commercially as it #6 on the charts and Shot in the dark cracked the top ten. The tour was huge as well and greatly helped Metallica who were the opener for most of the tour.

That concludes vinyl week. The voting for my March review is still open. The current tally is:
Poison-Look what the cat dragged in: 6 votes
Ratt-Dancing Undercover:4 votes
Stryper-To hell with the devil:0 votes
If you not already voted then you have until the 15th of this month to add your vote. You can just put it in your comment on this if you want.