Another album that celebrates its 30th birthday today and was released in 1991, exactly the same day that "Guns N 'Roses" released the duo albums "Use Your Illusion I & II", is Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears".
Stay tuned for another review in the "Class of 91'" series about the masterpiece albums released in 1991.
This is Ozzy Osbourne's sixth solo album and one of his most commercially successful in North America. It's also the first album Ozzy has recorded as a drug and alcohol-free, after 20 years of addiction. Apparently, Ozzy's 'clean' approach also affected the outer cover which for the first time looks completely mainstream, as well as the material on the album which does not include words about demons, darkness, or madness and is slightly more accessible and lighter than its predecessors.
Guitarist Zakk Wylde co-wrote all of the album's songs with drummer Randy Castillo and Ozzy Osbourne, with Lemmy Kilmister of "Motorhead" writing the lyrics for four of them.
This is the last album where drummer Randy Castillo and bassist Bob Daisley were part of Ozzy's band. Bob Daisley may have played bass on all the tracks on the album, but it was the spirit of bassist Mike Inez that hovered over a significant portion of the bass parts, and he is also the one who wrote the famous and memorable bass riff of the theme song. Mike Inez also co-wrote the theme song and received credit on the album cover as Michael Inez, with the following words written next to his name: "bass/inspiration and musical direction". In 1989 Mike Inez was one of 50 bassists who auditioned for the role of bass player in Ozzy Osbourne's band. The young Inez got accepted and became the bass player of the "Prince of Darkness" in the band's live performances between 1989-1993. In 1993, Inez joined "Alice in Chains" and recorded with them, among other things, the masterpiece album MTV Unplugged.
"No More Tears" produced no less than four crazy singles that entered the Top 10 on American Billboard. "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (2nd place), "Road To Nowhere" (3rd place), "Time After Time" (6th place), and "No More Tears" (10th place). What’s more, this album has produced some of Ozzy Osbourne’s greatest songs that have been part of his setlists in performances for three decades.
"Mr. Tinkertrain" which opens the album tells the story of a pedophile who seduces little girls with the help of sweets and toys, with the suffix of the song's name (Train) intended to illustrate how he passes from one girl to the other like a train.
"I Don't Want to Change the World" won a Grammy for best performance in 1993 for the live version from the album "Live And Loud".
"Mama, I'm Coming Home" was written about Ozzy Osbourne's wife, Sharon Osbourne whom Ozzy used to call "Mama". Ozzy said the melody had been playing in his head for years but he could not write the song until Zakk Wylde arrived and helped him with it. Zakk began writing the song on the piano and later suggested to Ozzy that he will move it to a 12-string guitar. It might be hard for you to believe because it really does not fit in with his pose, but the lyrics to the song were written by none other than Lemmy from "Motorhead".
The song "Desire" is one of the most beautiful, catchy, and rhythmic on the album. Here too, it's another collaboration between Lemmy Kilmister, Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne, and Randy Castillo. The chorus of the song includes the word "Crazy Train" and it seems that an attempt was indeed made to produce a catchy hit in the style of the immortal "Crazy Train" from the debut album "Blizzard Of Ozz".
The writing of the theme song "No More Tears" began with a random jam session when Mike Inez began playing the famous bass line and drummer Randy Castillo joined the drums. Although, as mentioned, the one who plays the bass on the recording is Bob Daisley, the one who appears in the clip of the song is Mike Inez. The theme of the song is about a prostitute in the red light district who is tortured by an obsessive follower.
Immediately afterward comes "Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N.)" a track that opens with a quiet and melodic bluesy solo by Zakk Wylde, but later develops into a rhythmic song with a catchy and sweeping chorus.
The song "Hellraiser" was written by Ozzy Osbourne together with Lemmy. A version of the song also appears on Motorhead's "March ör Die" album from 1992. Watch the excellent version of "Motorhead" here:
Anyone who listens to the first bass notes that open the song "Zombie Stomp" will surely notice the resemblance to the first notes in the song "Would?" by "Alice in Chains". Although the immortal song of "Alice in Chains" was released about a year later, we don't think there is any connection, especially given that bassist Mike Inez will join "Alice" about a year after bassist Mike Starr will record the track himself.
The meaning of the acronym of the song "A.V.H." Are "Aston Villa Highway". This is Ozzy's tribute to the football team that he and his friends from "Black Sabbath" admired in their youth. The song that opens up with a slide guitar played in country style, very quickly becomes a fast track with a riff and guitar work that reminded us of Nuno Bettencourt from "Extreme".
In the song "Road to Nowhere" which seals the album Ozzy looks back on his life after being sober for the first time in 20 years of addiction. It is also a song of thanks to his wife Sharon for saving his life, he claims.
During the recording of the album, two more songs were recorded - "Don't Blame Me" and "Party with the Animals". They were released as B-Sides for singles released from the album. Both songs were later included in the 2002 reissue of the album.
The album "No More Tears" sold 4 million copies in the US alone and is considered his best-selling album in North Africa, along with his debut album "Blizzard Of Ozz". "Classic Rock" magazine ranked it third out of all Ozzy Osbourne's albums (after his first two solo albums) and "Loudwire" magazine ranked him 22nd out of the 100 greatest metal albums of the 1990s.
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