Ozzy Osbourne (No Rest For The Wicked) 1988

No Rest For The Wicked is the debut of
Ozzy's longest tenured axe slinger
Zakk Wylde. Returning on skins is
Randy Castillo and long time
Ozzy collaborator,
Bob Daisley on Bass. Rounding out the album is
John Sinclair on Keyboards.
Geezer Bulter (Black Sabbath) would take over Bass on the accompanying tour as well as making appearances in the videos.
I like
Zakk and this album, but it's not perfect. I think the problem I have at times with
No Rest For The Wicked is that a few songs are interchangable because of how
Zakk plays. By that, I mean he has a certain style of playing that resorts to certains licks and riffs over and over. Add that to a couple of songs that aren't strong to begin with, gives it a lower rating. If you have already listened to
Zakk's playing style previously, you will know what I'm talking about. I think as great as songs like
Miracle Man and
Crazy Babies are,
Zakk really gets to shine on the "slower" songs like
Fire In The Sky and
Hero because it forces him to change his approach to playing.
As for
Ozzy, his voice sounds amazing here. He definitely needed to step up his game after going "pop" with
The Ultimate Sin. The production of the album is also a huge step up with it's aggressive and crunchy sound.
The
2002 Remastered Edition comes with 2 bonus tracks:
The Liar and
Miracle Man (Live)Fave Songs:
Miracle Man, Crazy Babies, Breaking All The Rules, Fire In The Sky and
Hero. MVP goes to
Fire In The SkyAlbum cover is cool.