''The Ultimate Sin'' is the fourth solo studio album by British heavy metal vocalist

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

. It was released on 10 February 1986, and was remastered and re-issued on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

on 22 August 1995. It is the second and last of Osbourne's albums to feature

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist

Jake E. Lee Jake E. Lee (born Jakey Lou Williams, February 15, 1957) is an American musician best known as lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne between 1982 and 1987 and later as a member of the band Badlands with Ray Gillen. He formed the band Red Dragon Car ...

, and the first to feature drummer

Randy Castillo Randolpho Francisco Castillo (December 18, 1950 – March 26, 2002) was an American musician. He was Ozzy Osbourne's drummer during the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, and later as drummer for Mötley Crüe, from 1999 to his death in 2002. Ea ...

and bassist

Phil Soussan Philip Raphael “Phil” Soussan (born 23 June 1961, London, England) is a British bass guitarist, songwriter and producer who has gained notoriety as a member of a host of famed rock and roll bands, including some who have been frontman, front ...

, who co-wrote the album's hit single " Shot in the Dark". The album was awarded Platinum status in May 1986 and was awarded Double Platinum status in October 1994 by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Overview

Upon returning from the Betty Ford Center in 1985 where he had undergone treatment for

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

, Osbourne was presented with a substantial quantity of music written by guitarist Jake E. Lee. After having been cheated out of his writing and publishing claims for Osbourne's previous album, 1983's ''

Bark at the Moon ''Bark at the Moon'' is the third solo studio album by British heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, originally released in December 1983. The album marks Ozzy's change to a synth infused pop-metal sound, with both its "sonic production, and in ...

'', Lee says this time he refused to contribute anything until he had a contract in front of him guaranteeing his writing credit and publishing rights. Much of this music would form the basis of the album. The album's lyrics were largely written by long-time Osbourne bassist and lyricist

Bob Daisley Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is a retired Australian bass guitarist. He has collaborated on several occasions with Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, backing vocals, co-production and songwriting. He has also worked wi ...

. Daisley left the band prior to recording after having a disagreement with Osbourne, prompting the hiring of an unknown named

as his replacement. Daisley was not credited for his songwriting contributions on the initial 1986 pressing of the album, though this was corrected on subsequent pressings. Future Y&T and

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

drummer

Jimmy DeGrasso Jimmy DeGrasso (born March 16, 1963) is an American heavy metal drummer. DeGrasso played with Mama's Boys and Lita Ford before eventually working with Y&T and Megadeth and as a session or touring musician for Ozzy Osbourne (1986), White Lion ...

worked with Lee and Daisley on demos for the album, but this version of the band fell apart due to Osbourne's commitment to the

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

summer 1985 reunion concert at

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

; Castillo and Soussan ultimately replaced DeGrasso and Daisley once recording commenced. The

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

for the album was ''Killer of Giants'' after the album's song of the same name. Osbourne opted to change the title to ''The Ultimate Sin'' at the last minute. On 1 April 1986, a live performance promoting the album in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, was filmed and released later that year as the home video ''The Ultimate Ozzy''. In 1987, after the various tours in support of the album had concluded, guitarist Lee was unexpectedly fired by Osbourne's wife and manager

Sharon Sharon ( he, שָׁרוֹן ''Šārôn'' "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname. In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name. However, historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In I ...

. The specific justification for Lee's dismissal remains unknown. Bassist Soussan also departed, with Bob Daisley once again entering the fold.

Reception

At the time of its release, ''The Ultimate Sin'' was Osbourne's highest-charting studio album, as heavy metal was enjoying a surge in popularity during the mid-1980s. The

awarded the album Platinum status on 14 May 1986, soon after its release; it was awarded Double Platinum status on 26 October 1994. The album sold over 2,000,000 copies worldwide. In the UK, it was the final of four Osbourne albums to attain Silver certification (60,000 units shipped) by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

, achieving this in April 1986. Despite its commercial success, Osbourne cites ''The Ultimate Sin'' as his least favorite solo album, saying "If there was ever an album I'd like to remix and do better, it would be ''The Ultimate Sin''." Much of the vocalist's blame has been placed on the shoulders of producer Ron Nevison, saying "(He) didn't really do a great production job. The songs weren't bad, they were just put down weird. Everything felt and sounded the fucking same. There was no imagination."

Availability

Despite being one of Osbourne's most successful solo albums, ''The Ultimate Sin'' was the only album among Osbourne's back catalog to not be reissued or remastered in 2002. Though no official reason was given, rumors circulated that an ongoing legal struggle with bassist/songwriter Phil Soussan over his song "Shot in the Dark" was responsible for the album's failure to be re-issued. The only available CD version of ''The Ultimate Sin'' remains the 1995 remastered version, which is missing four measures of music between the first chorus and second verse of "Shot in the Dark" found on the original CDs, vinyl copies, and cassettes.

Track listing

Shot in the Dark runs 4:28 on the original vinyl and CD issues. The 1995 CD reissue uses the 4:16 single edit.

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitars *

– bass *

– drums ;Additional performers * Mike Moran – keyboardsOzzy Osbourne- ''The Ultimate Sin'' album images @Discogs.com
Retrieved 3 March 2012. ;Production *Produced and engineered by

Ron Nevison Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including M ...

*Additional engineers – Martin White, Richard Moakes *

Remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

by Brian Lee with

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

(1995 reissue)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

References

External links

*
Official Ozzy Osbourne website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Sin, The 1986 albums Ozzy Osbourne albums Albums produced by Ron Nevison Epic Records albums Albums with cover art by Boris Vallejo