"Under cover" CD by Ozzy Osbourne

by Lothar Landt (September 2005) This album was released last year as the Bonus-Disc of the excellent Box-Set, "Prince of darkness". Since many fans had the original records and didn't necessarily need the whole set, this cover-album is now being re-released named "Under cover" as a single CD. Musically, it's a very worthy album because almost every song is an absolute hitter. Only the known duet, "Changes" with his daughter Kelly is rather weak. But that one's made up by such brilliant songs as the Rolling Stones-song, "Sympathy for the Devil" or the exceptional version of "Fire" showing what music grew up with himself. The songs are pleasantly rough produced, the guitars are crashing in the rocky-songs clearly more than on the last album. Like before Bruce Dickinson, also Ozzy uses "All the young dudes" (Mott The Hoople), but also pays tribute to his idol, John Lennon and the Beatles ("Working class hero", "In my life"). So, this album is a cool thing to have, bringing the artist closer to people outside the metal scene, too. At the same time, Ozzy doesn't forget to rock and presents himself from his good side. (Lothar Landt - October 2005)