Page 93 - Classic Rock (January 2020)

borne out in darker moods All the same, two decades half-finished sketches have a raw thunderstruck Bring Back The labelmates), what ensued was
(Mother Of Mercy) and inventive later it holds up pretty well on charm, notably a grungy Spark or the Modern Music Suite extraordinary, with Randy
arrangements (Starblind, The this deluxe five-disc anniversary blueprint of Everything Will Flow centrepiece – stands up rather California, Ed Cassidy and Larry
Talisman). Book Of Souls (2015, reissue. Even if Osborne’s with the working title Repugnant well. The absorbing sleeve notes Knight blitzing much of Twelve
9/10, not remastered), found polished funk-pop production and a handful of acoustic fan- include an essay by Nelson Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus and
Dickinson surviving throat cancer lacks the fissile glam-punk club show tracks. There are which details how, worn down assorted acid jams while
to deliver a bravura performance energy that Ed Buller gave some interesting relics here for by America, he’d spend his sidestepping the excellent Spirit
on a remarkably consistent Suede’s early albums, hardcore Suede-ologists, but no down time on tour sipping Of ’76 and Future Games mash-
double set featuring their most swashbuckling anthems like lost treasures. cocktails in jazz clubs. The extra ups. Some who were there
adventurous epic to date in Electricity and Can’t Get Enough QQQQQQQQQQ tracks, spread leisurely across thought that a shame, meaning
Empire Of The Clouds. still crackle with vintage cock- Stephen Dalton three more CDs and a DVD, the show was a mixed triumph.
Rich Davenport rocking, arse-slapping attitude. include a new mix, a 5.1 mix, plus This reissue of a reissue comes
Brett Anderson’s infantile Bolan- Be Bop Deluxe 1976 concerts in Chicago (much from a rescued sound-board mix
Suede esque lyrics on Savoir Faire Modern Music ESOTERIC of the album concerned Nelson’s and adds the US release Live

Head Music 20th might raise a snigger, but Four-CD expanded version of homesickness while touring the Spirit for sonic contrast. Even
Anniversary Deluxe Edition sumptuous Ballardian ballads fourth album. US) and Hammersmith. There’s though the power trio lacked the
EDSEL like Everything Will Flow and When Modern nothing startling and there’s too avant-garde edge of the original
Suede hit their post-Britpop even the lightweight She’s In Music reached much song repetition, but it band, California and company
peak with this troubled Fashion still ooze voluptuous, No.12 in Britain does give further credence to carried it off thanks to the
semi-classic. opiated elegance. in 1976 it the notion that Nelson is a great enduring qualities of Mr Skin,
When Suede If Osborne was surprised at seemed as lost maverick. Nature’s Way and their (one and
began work how druggy Suede had become though Bill Nelson’s whipsmart QQQQQQQQQQ only) hit I Got A Line On You, and
on their drug- by 1999, weak B-side tracks with mix of guitar heroics, wry lyrics John Aizlewood a bunch of encores including
heavy fourth titles like Heroin and Crackhead and arty invention would be the Stone Free, Downer and All Along
album, they offered subtle clues. It is these beginning of something big for Spirit The Watchtower. An emotionally
welcomed new studio producer extra discs of non-album his band. Alas it was the Two Sides Of A Rainbow draining experience, especially if
Steve Osborne by offering him material which most nakedly beginning of the end. They had ESOTERIC you’d seen them the night before
a pipe to smoke. Mistaking it for expose the band’s flagging chosen the wrong time to California dreaming from the at University of Essex, the
hashish, Osborne unwittingly creative powers, with rare gems bloom: punk swept them aside, vaults. Rainbow concert reunited the
took a deep hit of crack cocaine. like Neil Codling’s Weight Of The and Nelson would go on to the On March 11, West Coast oddballs with their
In May 1999 Head Music became World outnumbered by too marvellous Red Noise, a fairly 1978, Spirit British fan base and proved to
Suede’s third consecutive chart- many flaccid space fillers. successful solo career and played the be a watershed moment. This
topper, but it was born in Among the previously decades of guitar ambience. Rainbow album is a pertinent reminder
a chaotic period of friction and unreleased demos, alternative The John Leckie-produced, theatre in of California’s experimental
addiction, hastening the band’s mixes, instrumentals and live light-of-touch album itself – be it London supported by Alternative guitar prowess.
critical and commercial decline versions here, quality inevitably the elegiac The Gold At The End TV and The Police. If the bill QQQQQQQQQQ
soon afterwards. varies. Even so, several of these Of My Rainbow, the wasn’t weird enough (they were Max Bell

Ozzy Osbourne

See You On The Other Side SONY LEGACY

The Prince Of Darkness flashes the plastic
– all of it.

hile the sensible money is on Ozzy of the studio albums are all eminently
Osbourne making a wholesale worth revisiting too, with 2001’s
Wreturn to action, following bolshy and tune-heavy Down To Earth
a cancelled tour or two, there is definitely a sense being particularly worthy of
of completion and finality to this preposterously reassessment. Three of his live albums
desirable, career-spanning vinyl box set. With 16 are also included, with the immortal
multi-coloured splatter vinyl LPs, plus a bonus Tribute standing out as the obvious
collection of B-sides and non-album tracks, this pick of the bunch, but both Live And
plainly is the full Ozzy Monty. Several of the Loud and Live At The Budokan are
albums have never been released on vinyl in the comparably riotous. The absence of
US before, while No More Tears has been 1981’s Speak Of The Devil is slightly
remastered specifically for this release, and annoying, but 1980’s Mr. Crowley Live
comes as a two-disc set for the first time. The EP makes up for it.
whole thing looks utterly gorgeous and, unlike Bonus extras have become
many Ozzy reissue campaigns in the past, seems mandatory with such lavish affairs,
to have been conceived and executed with and See You On The Other Side boasts a smattering the hell of it, although what that actually means
utmost care for the material within. of bonus goodies, including 10 huge posters, is anyone’s guess, and you might well argue that
Because, despite what some cynics may tell one for each of the studio albums and with the Ozzy has augmented his own reality more than
you, Ozzy’s solo catalogue is pretty damn promise of never-before-seen images (of, we can enough already, without encouraging everyone
consistent. Few would argue with the seminal, only assume, Ozzy gurning furiously), plus an else to join in. But still, a bonus is a bonus, and
decade-defining likes of his 1980 solo debut exclusive flexi-disc of an unreleased demo of this See You On The Other Side does seem to indicate
Blizzard Of Ozz or its superior follow-up, 1981’s box set’s title song. Those taking the financial that Mr. Osbourne has spoilt us enough already.
Diary Of A Madman. But a few wince-inducing plunge can also look forward to “ten AR QQQQQQQQQQ
clunkers aside (Zombie Dance, anyone?), the rest (Augmented Reality) experiences” thrown in for Dom Lawson
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