Producers include: Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhoads, Max Norman.

Compilation producers: Sharon Osbourne, Michael Guarracino, Bruce Dickinson.

Includes liner notes by Eddie Williamson.

Liner Note Author: Eddie Williamson.

Photographers: Greg Maston; Guzman/Rotterdam Conservatory Orquesta Tipica; Gene Kirkland.

Sony Music's "Essential" series of limited-edition two-disc compilations of major artists has been well-assembled generally, and Ozzy Osbourne's increased celebrity following the success of the "reality" TV series The Osbournes justifies his inclusion, as does his string of multi-platinum albums dating back to 1980. The 29-track collection presents most of the highlights of his solo career, from Blizzard of Ozz to Down to Earth, including such U.K. and/or U.S. hits as "Bark at the Moon," "No More Tears," "Perry Mason," and "Mama, I'm Coming Home," as well as the Grammy-winning live version of "I Don't Want to Change the World." Missing from the song list are such favorites as "Shot in the Dark," a Top 20 U.K. hit that made the Top Ten of Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and "Back on Earth," another major Mainstream Rock hit; both tracks can be found on the 1997 hits collection The Ozzman Cometh. And "Close My Eyes Forever," Osbourne's duet with Lita Ford, which was a gold-selling single and made the Top Ten of the Hot 100, is not in the Sony vaults and was not licensed. So, The Essential Ozzy Osbourne is not the perfect two-CD sampler of Osbourne's solo career. But it is a very good one, and new fans attracted by the TV show who wonder what his music is like will get an accurate representation of it here. ~ William Ruhlmann

Sony Music's "Essential" series of limited-edition two-disc compilations of major artists has been well-assembled generally, and Ozzy Osbourne's increased celebrity following the success of the "reality" TV series The Osbournes justifies his inclusion, as does his string of multi-platinum albums dating back to 1980. The 29-track collection presents most of the highlights of his solo career, from Blizzard of Ozz to Down to Earth, including such U.K. and/or U.S. hits as "Bark at the Moon," "No More Tears," "Perry Mason," and "Mama, I'm Coming Home," as well as the Grammy-winning live version of "I Don't Want to Change the World." Missing from the song list are such favorites as "Shot in the Dark," a Top 20 U.K. hit that made the Top Ten of Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and "Back on Earth," another major Mainstream Rock hit; both tracks can be found on the 1997 hits collection The Ozzman Cometh. And "Close My Eyes Forever," Osbourne's duet with Lita Ford, which was a gold-selling single and made the Top Ten of the Hot 100, is not in the Sony vaults and was not licensed. So, The Essential Ozzy Osbourne is not the perfect two-CD sampler of Osbourne's solo career. But it is a very good one, and new fans attracted by the TV show who wonder what his music is like will get an accurate representation of it here. ~ William Ruhlmann

While the parting of ways between a charismatic lead singer and a popular band is always a dicey proposition (David Lee Roth anyone?), many observers undoubtedly thought that when a depressed, drug-addled, Ozzy Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, a particularly dark day was at hand. Incredibly, however, Sabbath soldiered on, and Ozzy became a bigger superstar than even he himself could have imagined. Beginning with 1980's classic BLIZZARD OF OZZ and its equally classic single "Crazy Train," the Godfather Of Metal released a string of uniformly excellent albums the equal of anything in heavy music. Needless to say, along the way he consistently made the papers with his outrageous antics, headlined the biggest-grossing concert tour of all time, became a television star, and depending on who's telling the story, either sold his soul to Satan or became an average family man.

The two-disc THE ESSENTIAL OZZY OSBOURNE is essentially as advertised: a comprehensive 29-track collection of Ozzy's best-known solo material. Whereas Black Sabbath was all about the biggest monster riffs humanly possible, hammered into the listener's brain until he or she had either a spiritual awakening or a seizure, these discs display a much greater pop sensibility. The Oz-man easily straddles both furious Iron Maiden-style Brit metal and gorgeously melancholy ballads. All of Osbourne's best solo albums are represented (with the notable exception of 1982's essential SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, an album of live Black Sabbath covers), so one might be tempted to consider this the last word on Ozzy's career. Considering his tendency to surprise, however, it might be wiser to consider this set as simply Volume One.