Ozzy -- Ultimate Sin OOP?
 

I've noticed that Ozzy's "Ultimate Sin" album has been seemingly out of print for quite some time.

So, what's up with this? Are there any plans to re-release it? I would think that with Ozzy's popularity at a recent high with the MTV series, that all of his albums would be available.

I've heard that Ozzy was never very happy with the album. And, truthfully, it wasn't a very good album, but "Shot in the Dark" was a pretty good song. And it had a neat cover by Boris Vallejo.

Ozzy (or Sharon, most likely) thinks it sucks, so it's out of print. You'll notice that it was completely skipped over for the recent Essential Ozzy 2 CD compilation. Hard to believe that even "Shot In the Dark" wasn't considered worthy of inclusion. I think it's a decent album, with some solid songs and great work by Jake E. Lee, but the production is extremely dated; very '80s in a bad way.

I'm much more bothered by the fact that "Speak Of The Devil" is out of print. If you're not familiar with it, SOTD is a double album (issued on a single CD) that was released in 1982 to fulfill Ozzy's contractual obligations to Jet Records. It's an awesome live album of Ozzy covering a bunch of Sabbath classics with Brad Gillis on guitar and the Rudy Sarzo/Tommy Aldridge rhythm section carried over from the Randy Rhodes band. It's understandable why Ozzy isn't too crazy about it, since he only released it to get out of a contract, but it's a terrific recording and performance. It also features the most repulsive Ozzy album cover ever!

I just picked up Ultimate Sin a few weeks ago. As I don't have all the original remastered stuff from a few years back (as I hear the new ones have been tampered with) I always look for old copies at the store.

The Ultimate Sin is OOP !
I Love that record.Its one of the1st Cassettes that i ever bought.
There are actually some really good songs on that album like "Killer Of Giants" "Lightnin Strikes" "Secret Loser".
Hell, theyre all good.
Ive got it on all 3 formats.Cassette,Vinyl, & CD

In a nutshell . . .

The Ultimate Sin is not available any more because of a royalty dispute between bassist Phil Soussan and the Osbournes. Apparantly he believes he was financially slighted by the Osbournes.

Phil claims that he used to do "Shot In The Dark" in his old band and when he joined Ozzy he contributed the track to the album. I guess he feels that proper credit or payment has never been made. He has been in litigation for several years over the situation.

The Osbournes have gone to some lengths to NOT give Phil any further claim to royalties. The Ozzman Cometh cd used to include "Shot In The Dark." Now that track has been removed and "Miracle Man" has replaced it on newer copies. Also the Album "Live & Loud" has been deleted from Ozzy's catalog, therby erasing more of Phil's work.

In the liner notes of the original Ozzman Cometh cd Phil was insulted even further when his name was mispelled, "Bill Susan." Even Bob Daisley & Rudy Sarzo had jabs taken at them on that album as they were refered to as "Bob Daisy" & "Trudy Sarzo." -- Real childish stuff there . . .

~Cheers~

The Ultimate Sin is a pretty solid album. Killer of Giants, Ultimate Sin and Shot in the Dark are some of my favorite Ozzy tracks of all time, and even if the rest of the tracks aren't up to par, those three are enough to leave me happy.

Mordred

Anyone heard any info about this cd being remastered anytime soon, this post goes back to last july, with ozzy's popularity increasing by the day i would hope something would get resolved between (he) & (sharon) and his former bandmates, this album and "bark at the moon" are my personal favorite ozzy albums...

I would love to see Ozzy and Jake E. Lee make another album together, i believe Jason Newsted is Ozzy's bass player now, yes that would be sweet, all i need now is Tommy Lee on drums...

I'm glad I've got all the remasters from Blizzard of Ozz to No More Tears then. :D

Has anyone checked to see if its gone up in value on ebay?

if any of you guys want The Ultimate Sin, you'd better buy the old remastered version, I doubt we'll see this one get remastered again.

Sharon is one unethical and ruthless manager.

Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake have been suing Ozzy and Sharon forever over money and credits issues. Blizzard of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman were both Written and co-produced by Bob, Lee, Randy Rhoads, and Max Norman. Bob and Lee were replaced in the band after Diary was completed and they got no credit for haiving played on the album (credit went to Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo instead).

Bob wrote or co-wrote all of Ozzy's lyrics up through No Rest For The Wicked, and helped with the arrangements, but rarely got credit and was always promised that he'd get paid. He played on No More Tears and co-wrote several songs on that album after reaching an agreement with Ozzy and Sharon for payment of back royalties that he hadn't received. Apparantly that never happened.

He and Lee Kerslake then sued Ozzy and Sharon leading to their performances on the first two Ozzy solo albums being replaced by Ozzy's (then) current band members in retaliation.

It seems that Sharon plays favorites. If she likes you you get paid and get proper credit. If she doesn't then you don't.

Personally I would never want to work with the Ozzy/Sharon machine.

I loved the Ultimate Sin.

You can still get all the original remasters from Amazon UK. I just placed an order for Speak of the Devil and Ultimate Sin.

I find it interesting that, considering all of the turmoil around Ozzy's band, that Zakk Wylde has been with him for about fifteen years.

And, to be quite honest, I've never seen what the appeal of Zakk is. People constantly tell me what a great player he is, how he can duplicate Randy's style, and whatnot, but every album he's done with Ozzy has blown goats. The Wylde albums make "Bark at the Moon" and "Ultimate Sin" look like masterpieces.

Bring back Jake E Lee?