| More than 30 years after its release, Ozzy Osbourne’s sixth solo album–the Top 10 (#7) and quadruple platinum No More Tears will be celebrated with an expanded digital audio album due out September 17th (Sony). Two special editions–a 2LP black vinyl version and a special yellow and red 2LP vinyl version with a specially created booklet (exclusively at .towerrecords.com)–will be released simultaneously. Pre-order the album here. |
| In its release, No More Tears yielded four top ten singles on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart, Mama, I’m Coming Home (#2), Road To Nowhere (#3), Time After Time (#6) and the title track (#10). In addition, the album’s I Don’t Want to Change the World earned Ozzy his first Grammy for a live version of the track that was featured on his 1993 Live And Loud album. The Grammy-winning track was one of the album’s four songs co-written with Ozzy’s longtime friend and colleague Lemmy Kilmister; the others include Mama, I’m Coming Home, Desire, and Hellraiser. The album has remained an Ozzy classic, earning a spot (#22) on Loudwire’s “Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the ’90s” with Ultimate Classic Rock including No More Tears on their list “Top 100 ’90s Rock Albums.” |
| “I have a lot of great memories of making the album,” Ozzy says. “We worked hard on the record with John Purdell and Duane Baron, who became extra two members of the band. Before we went into the studio, we discussed what we were going to do–everything was planned. It’s so nice when you get a producer who’s more like a part of the band than them saying, ’nah, you do it this way.’ Because we write them and when you write the songs, you have a mental picture of how you think you want it to sound. Sometimes you’re surprised for the better, but other times you’re disappointed, but John and Duane did an extraordinary job on the album. It was really, really well done. Every song was worked on for a long time and we spent extra time trying to get things right. But there was also lots of goofing around and we had a good time making it. And Zakk’s playing on it is spectacular.” |
| Zakk Wylde adds, “On the first record, ‘It was like I can’t believe I’m here. I had definitely crawled into the fire and kept thinking. ‘You gotta produce. You got to come up with some cool stuff.’ On No More Tears, I guess I was more relaxed. With Ozzy, whenever we’re playing riffs, he would be like ‘keep playing that riff.’ Pretty much every time he just gets up there and starts singing what comes to him naturally, he knocks it out of the park all the time. I mean, there’s very, very few times where he’s actually said, ‘No, let me come back to that. I don’t like what I’m singing. I’ll come up with something better.’ Whatever you’re hearing on the record is pretty much first thing he started singing that naturally came out of him, that he started hearing in his head. Which is amazing. My love for him and admiration for him has just gotten even stronger and bigger over the years. It’s bigger than the music. It’s always a good time whenever we’re together, it’s always like it’s a laugh fest, and then making the records is beyond hilarious as well.” |
| Mama, I’m Coming Home, the album’s biggest hit which Ozzy co-wrote with Kilmister, started with Zakk at a piano, has gone on to become not only a rock anthem, but a classic song among soldiers. |
| “At that time, a lot of people were going to Iraq war,” Ozzy notes. “We heard that the GIs were sending that song to their wives. Soldiers still love that song.” |
| “I remember when we were working on the album, I originally wrote Mama, I’m Coming Home on a piano,” Zakk says. “I had the music, and then when we got to the studio, I transposed it to the 12-string guitar. I was like ‘oh let me try it on the 12-string and see what it sounds like.’ That’s how it evolved into the song, originally it was just me and Ozz noodling on the piano.” |
| The No More Tears’ expanded digital audio album track listing is as follows: 1. Mr. Tinkertrain 2. I Don’t Want to Change the World 3. Mama, I’m Coming Home 4. Desire 5. No More Tears 6. Won’t Be Coming Home (S.I.N) 7. Hellraiser 8. Time After Time 9. Zombie Stomp 10. A.V.H. 11. Road to Nowhere 12. Don’t Blame Me* 13. Party With the Animals* 14. I Don’t Want To Change The World (demo)** 15. Mama, I’m Coming Home (demo)** 16. Desire (demo)** 17. Time After Time (demo)** 18. Won’t Be Coming Home (S.I.N) (demo)** 19. Mrs J. (demo)** 20. I Don’t Want to Change the World (live)† 21. Road to Nowhere (live)† 22. No More Tears (live)† 23. Desire (live)† 24. Mama, I’m Coming Home (live)†† * bonus tracks currently on the digital album at DSP’s ** demos from the 1991 promo CD The No More Tears Demo Sessions (also the Prince of Darkness box set), not currently at DSP’s † live audio from Memoirs of a Madman DVD, San Diego 1992, not currently at DSP’s †† live audio from Memoirs of a Madman DVD, MTV 1992, not currently at DSP’s |
Follow Ozzy online: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube.
14 Responses
I saw this tour in November ’92 at the Norfolk Scope, – Ozzy, Alice In Chains, and Sepultura. Oz, Zakk, Mike, and Randy were great, and surprisingly to me so were Sepultura, but that night belonged to Alice In Chains! “Dirt” was just starting to explode, and in my opinion Ozzy (or Sharon) couldn’t have picked a better band to set the stage for The Prince Of Darkness! 😉
I know I’m in the minority here, I did not really like the album other than the title track, Zakk iz a monster player love everything he does, I just didn’t really like this album –
Robert,
All opinions are welcome, and you are entitled to yours.
I like the album, but the title track is probably one of my least favorite. When Ozzy sings “crack in the sky,” with which I assume is a purposeful crack in his voice, it’s painful.
On a superficial plus side, Zakk looks GORGEOUS in that video, especially while playing his solo…wowza.
I agree, the song “No More Tears” isn’t 1 of Ozzy’s finest vocals, but Zakk’s guitar erases Ozzy’s annoying vocals! “Desire,” “Road To Nowhere,” “I Don’t Want To Change The World” are my faves from NMT. I was very surprised they didn’t play “No More Tears” when I saw them, maybe Mason wasn’t available that night to help Oz? 😉 It was still a f–king great performance! Most of it’s a blur now, but I do remember Ozzy running around like a madman throwing buckets of water on everybody in the first 5-10 rows, well, at least I think it was water, with Ozzy you never know! 😉
I saw that tour, don’t remember much except that we were sitting on Zakk’s side of the stage. 🙂
I am not a fan of ballads, but I do really like Time After Time, far better than Mama, but again, it is all personal preference.
I really like Ozzy’s “Time After Time” as well, as far as “Mama,” I just have to be in the right mood for it, sometimes I am, sometimes I ain’t. LOVE “Road To Nowhere,” definitely my fave from NMT. My ex brother-in-law and I had great seats, but not too great, we didn’t get drenched! But still close enough to “Party With The Animals!” 😉
Robert, I’m in agreement with you….I started to tune out from Ozzy after the release of this No More Tears album.
As did I…
Same here, I love NMT, and other than “Black Rain,” everything else falls flat.
I like this album, but I don’t have a turn table. Also, I no longer buy digital download, just crappy sound. No cd , so I won’t get it, have the album anyway. Hey, it just dawned on me, what the hell is the point of a preorder for a digital download?? It’s not like old days that they are going run out of downloads, just stupid.
I went to my record store for the last time. Just sad, Vintage Vinyl been around since late 70s. Now, I have nothing close, so I’ll be stuck ordering from Amazon. Now I have to worry if the cd will get to me without being damage, just sad.
Charles, I know exactly how you feel! It absolutely sucks that so many new releases aren’t being released on CD, it’s bullsh-t! I love vinyl and always will, but I refuse to rebuy everything again on vinyl after re-buying everything on CD that took years to do! And a small fortune…
I feel so lucky I have hung on to my vinyl , I’ve always taken good care of my collection ,and have only had to purchase a few replacement albums – I only listen to digital music in my vehicle ,at home it’s vinyl only ~
Robert, I’ve also hung on to my vinyl. My vinyl, particularly my rare NWOBHM stuff, is a better investment than my Certificates of Deposit!
I never listen to my vinyl any more, I’ve got it all on CD, too. I buy CDs, I invest in vinyl.
Now that they’ve had some time apart, I wonder if Ozzy is thinking that it might be nice to work with Zakk again. Gus had a lot of pressure (as does anyone filling that spot in Ozzy’s band) but the chemistry just wasn’t there IMHO.