Artist: OZZY OSBOURNE
Album: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (4CD DIGI-BOOK)

Release date: 2005/ 2013
Media type: CD

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).

Disc 1: 1981-1983

1. I Don't Know - [live]
2. Mr. Crowley
3. Crazy Train
4. Goodbye To Romance - [live]
5. Suicide Solution - [live]
6. Over The Mountain
7. Flying High Again - [live]
8. You Can't Kill Rock And Roll
9. Diary Of A Madman
10. Bark At The Moon - [live]
11. Spiders
12. Rock 'N' Roll Rebel
13. You're No Different

Disc 2: 1986-2001

1. Ultimate Sin - [live]
2. Never Know Why - [live]
3. Thank God For The Bomb - [live]
4. Crazy Babies
5. Breakin' All The Rules
6. I Don't Want To Change The World - [demo]
7. Mama, I'm Coming Home - [demo]
8. Desire - [demo]
9. No More Tears
10. Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N.) - [demo]
11. Perry Mason - [live]
12. See You On The Other Side - [demo] *
13. Walk On Water - [demo]
14. Gets Me Through - [live]
15. Bang Bang (You're Dead) *
16. Dreamer

Disc 3: With Friends

1. Iron Man - [with Therapy?]
2. N.I.B. - [with Primus]
3. Purple Haze - [with Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo & Geezer Butler]
4. Pictures Of Matchstick Men - [with Type O Negative]
5. Shake Your Head - (Let's Go To Bed) - [with Was Not Was]
6. Born To Be Wild - [with Miss Piggy]
7. Nowhere To Run (Vapor Trail) - [with Crystal Method/DMX/'Ol Dirty Bastard/Fuzzbubble]
8. Psycho Man - [with Black Sabbath]
9. For Heaven's Sake 2000 - [with Tony Iommi & Wu-Tang Clan]
10. I Ain't No Nice Guy - [with Motorhead]
11. Therapy - [with Infectious Grooves]
12. Stayin' Alive - [with Dweezil Zappa] *
13. Dog, The Bounty Hunter *

Disc 4: Under Covers

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man [King Crimson cover] *
2. Mississippi Queen [Mountain cover] *
3. All The Young Dudes [Mott the Hoople cover] *
4. In My Life [The Beatles cover] *
5. Fire [The Crazy World of Arthur Brown cover] *
6. For What It's Worth [Buffalo Springfield cover] *
7. Sympathy For The Devil [The Rolling Stones cover] *
8. Working Class Hero [John Lennon cover] *
9. Good Times [Eric Burdon & The Animals cover] *
10. Changes - [with Kelly Osbourne]

* - previously unreleased tracks