Prince Of Darkness [Box]

Performer: Ozzy Osbourne
Engineer: Jason Agel; Andy Brohard; Geoffrey Rice; Devin Workman; George Tutko; Jimmy Hoyson; Tom Fletcher; Kevin Churko; Ghian Wright; Alex Scannell; Peter Doris; David Frangioni; Bruce Sugar; Charlie Paakkari
Producer: Primus; Dweezil Zappa; The Crystal Method; Chris Tsangarides; Jack tann; Duane Baron; Sharon Osbourne; John Eaton; David Sickinson; Don St. Was; Jim Vallance; John Boylan; John Purdell; Keith Olsen; Lee Kerslake; Mark Dodson; Mark Hudson; Max Norman; Michael Wagener; Mike Muir; Pete Solley; Randy Rhoads; Rick Rubin; Robert Kraft; Robert Trujillo; Terry Date; Thom Panunzio; Tim Palmer; Toby Wright; Bob Daisley; Bob Marlette; Bruce Fairbairn; Sharon Osbourne (Compilation); Bruce Dickinson (Compilation)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Includes a 60 page book. Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals); Ozzy Osbourne; Ian Hunter, Kelly Osbourne (vocals); Jim Vallance (guitar, keyboards, drums); Jake E. Lee (guitar, background vocals); Joe Holmes, Jerry Cantrell, Leslie West, Nuno Bettencourt, Randy Rhoads , Robert Randolph , Steve Lukather, Tim Pierce, Warren DeMartini (guitar); Don Airey, John Sinclair, Michael Railo (keyboards); Mike Bordin (drums, percussion, gong); Tommy Aldridge (drums); Bob Daisley (background vocals); Dweezil Zappa, Zakk Wylde (guitar); Randy Castillo (drums); DMX, Fuzzbubble, Geezer Butler, Infectious Grooves, Miss Piggy, Mot�rhead, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Primus, Crystal Method, Therapy?, Tony Iommi, Type O Negative, Was (Not Was), Wu-Tang Clan, Black Sabbath. Audio Mixers: Dweezil Zappa; Bruce Sugar. Liner Note Author: Ozzy Osbourne. Photographers: Dennis Keeley; William Hames; Mark Weiss; Annamaria DiSanto; David Daoud Coleman; George Chin; Ross Halfin; Scott Seiner; Jorgen Angel; Sam Taylor-Wood; Fin Costello; Nitin Vadukul; Gene Kirkland; Neil Zlozower; Jeanette Wright Black. Arrangers: Dweezil Zappa; Steve Dudas. It's surprising that with all of the media attention aimed at Ozzy Osbourne, the self-crowned "Prince of Darkness," since his debut as the perpetually numb rock star dad on The Osbournes, it took so long for his incredibly savvy marketing-machine/wife to put out a proper box set. Prince of Darkness is problematic from the get-go; here you have an artist who fronted one of the world's most influential and coveted heavy metal bands and put out a string of excellent solo albums and singles, then went on television and became the world's most gawked-at wreck on the pop culture highway since Michael Jackson turned white and hijacked Diana Ross' nose. The four-disc set aims to satisfy fans of both Osbourne personas. Discs one and two storm through the singer's '80s and '90s solo heydays with an emphasis on previously unreleased live recordings ("Goodbye to Romance"), B-sides ("Spiders"), as well as classics like "Flying High Again" and "Crazy Train." Disc three is a compilation of bizarre collaborations with everyone from Kim Basinger ("Shake Your Head [Let's Go to Bed]") to Miss Piggy ("Born to Be Wild") to Dweezil Zappa ("Staying Alive") that culminates in an oddly affecting ballad ("I Ain't No Nice Guy") with Mot�rhead mouthpiece Lemmy Kilmister. Disc four features newly recorded covers, some that work (King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" were tailor-made for Osbourne's wily vocal style) and some that don't ("For What It's Worth" and "All the Young Dudes," the latter featuring a very manic Ian Hunter guest vocal that sounds more like an old man stuck in his bathroom than it does a rowdy call to arms). Osbourne states in the beginning of the impressive 40-page booklet that he "wasn't terribly happy about the prospect of repackaging and reissuing another compilation of the same songs you can get on another one of my albums," and the care that's been put into heeding his sentiments is apparent throughout, but one has to wonder whether or not it's fair to the man himself, as his slow climb to the throne has seen him go from mad pauper to prince of darkness to a sad and clueless king. ~ James Christopher Monger It's surprising that with all of the media attention aimed at Ozzy Osbourne, the self-crowned "Prince of Darkness," since his debut as the perpetually numb rock star dad on The Osbournes, it took so long for his incredibly savvy marketing-machine/wife to put out a proper box set. Here you have an artist who fronted one of the world's most influential and coveted heavy metal bands and put out a string of excellent solo albums and singles, then went on television and became the world's most gawked-at wreck on the pop culture highway since Michael Jackson turned white and hijacked Diana Ross' nose. The four-disc set aims to satisfy fans of both Osbourne personas. Discs one and two storm through the singer's '80s and '90s solo heydays with an emphasis on previously unreleased live recordings ("Goodbye to Romance"), B-sides ("Spiders"), as well as classics like "Flying High Again" and "Crazy Train." Disc three is a compilation of bizarre collaborations with everyone from Kim Basinger ("Shake Your Head [Let's Go to Bed]") to Miss Piggy ("Born to Be Wild") to Dweezil Zappa ("Staying Alive") that culminates in an oddly affecting ballad ("I Ain't No Nice Guy") with Mot�rhead mouthpiece Lemmy Kilmister. Disc four features newly recorded covers, some that work (King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" were tailor-made for Osbourne's wily vocal style) and some that don't ("For What It's Worth" and "All the Young Dudes," the latter featuring a very manic Ian Hunter guest vocal that sounds more like an old man stuck in his bathroom than it does a rowdy call to arms). Osbourne states in the beginning of the impressive 40-page booklet that he "wasn't terribly happy about the prospect of repackaging and reissuing another compilation of the same songs you can get on another one of my albums," and the care that's been put into heeding his sentiments is apparent throughout, but one has to wonder whether or not it's fair to the man himself. ~ James Christopher Monger Released nearly three decades after Ozzy Osbourne departed Black Sabbath, 2005's PRINCE OF DARKNESS represents the first attempt at encompassing Osbourne's solo career in a box-set format. In the thoroughly entertaining liner notes, Osbourne admits that he was skeptical about taking this record company-prodded step, agreeing to the project only when allowed to fulfill a longtime musical goal--to record an album's worth of cover tunes. The first two discs of this collection are divided between studio cuts, live recordings, and numerous demos of many bright spots in the Osbourne canon, including "Mr. Crowley," "Goodbye to Romance," and, of course, "Crazy Train." The third disc is a compilation of the Ozzman's non-album sessions, ranging from Sabbath standards with Therapy? ("Iron Man") and Primus ("N.I.B.") to a surprisingly low-key Motorhead collaboration ("I Ain't No Nice Guy"), a head-scratching duet with Miss Piggy ("Born to Be Wild"), and a previously unreleased romp through the disco smash "Stayin' Alive," with Dweezil Zappa. The highlight of the set, however, may be the newly recorded fourth disc. Here Ozzy pays homage to his heroes--including John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix--and contemporaries such as David Bowie and King Crimson. (Osbourne's unexpected take on Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" is particularly fierce.) For Ozzy fans, the 52-track PRINCE OF DARKNESS is a must-have collection.

Rolling Stone (p.81) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[T]here may be no better measure of Osbourne's miracle ride since he was sacked from Black Sabbath in 1979 than the extreme zigzags between hellfire classicism and hilarious anomaly...in this delightfully motley four-CD anthology..."

Getting his start with heavy metal monolith Black Sabbath, singer Ozzy Osbourne split from the band in 1979, and forged a highly successful solo career that quickly matched his former outfit. While Osbourne's strange antics sometimes overshadow the music, he helped introduce one of metal's greatest guitarists in Randy Rhoads, creating numerous metal classics in the process. Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982, ending the first great era of Osbourne's solo career, but Ozzy soldiered on to continued success. In the '90s, the Ozzfest was inaugurated, a heavy-metal package tour that helped introduce some of the biggest nu-metal bands of the late '90s/early '00s. Ironically, Ozzy's greatest stardom came in 2002 with MTV's reality show THE OSBOURNES, focusing on the amusing foibles of Ozzy's family life.

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